If you email me, I will answer. Honestly, even if your email is something presumptuous (like asking me to take a look at your work), I’ll probably do it, because I admire gumption. However, the downside of this is that I in turn also have lots of gumption. An example of this: I just spent the last hour going through anyone who’s ever emailed me out of the blue and sending them a tailored form message asking them to sign up for my email list. Hey, I figure they owe me! But they might possibly see it differently =]
(P.S. Have I ever mentioned that you should sign up for my email list?)
Also, in case you want to know what a form letter from me looks like, here it is (I usually added a personal message at the top):
Since we’ve corresponded before, this appeal hopefully won’t be too too awkward, but I’m hoping you’ll sign up for my email list.
You see, my debut’s release date is approaching (in almost a year), and like any debut novelist I am going completely crazy, tormenting myself with the idea that I’m not doing enough marketing.
Now, I have a pretty decent social media presence–you found me off social media after all! But the challenge of all online marketing is to convert friends, followers, and acquaintances into people who might potentially buy your book. People follow a lot of folks online, and they don’t necessarily feel at all close to them.In response to this challenge, the gods of marketing say an author’s best recourse is to get people to sign up for an email list. This serves two purposes: the first is practical–you can tell them when your book comes out, and ensure that knowledge isn’t lost in the general noisiness of Facebook or Twitter. And secondly, you’re creating a more personal connection with them. Email is personal. It’s addressed to you. It shows up in your inbox. And even the mass-produced text in an email (like this paragraph) has a more intimate feel–one that draws people closer. Anyway, I hope you don’t think the above is too manipulative, but I wanted to explain why I think it’s important for me to push my email list.Which is a long way of saying that I’d like you to join my newsletter! I post very infrequently (less than once per month) and my email newsletters are fantastic. They’re short, and they’re honest–they’re basically a vehicle for me to say things that’re too secret or too sensitive to say on social media. And, needless to say, I’ll never give out your address.
Sign up is below! Please let me know if it’s not working, because I’ve never actually embedded HTML in an email before, so it’s entirely possible that this is going to fail horribly.Sincerely,Rahul