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[azriona]

 I sent out a nerve-wracking email today to Pen's mailing list. There's a new EU law on the books that has some pretty steep fines for those who operate mailing lists without the express consent of the people on them - which means that basically, if there's anyone who lives in the EU on Pen's mailing list, and I don't verify that they want to be on

Comments

[develish1]

I'm subscribed to rather a lot of author newsletters. In fact I didn't realise just how many till the "You need to opt in again" messages started arriving, as quite a few of them don't send out emails all that often.

In case you're curious about how others are handling this though, all of them, without a single exception, have stated in their emails that if you don't "opt in" by whatever date, you'll be removed from their list. So I'd say you're doing it right :)

[azriona]

Yeah, every email I've received has said the same. One thing I did see suggested was to give an additional incentive to stay on my list by offering a free thing, which I thought was a nice touch. So I'm doing that as well. It's something I've been saying to myself anyway, that I'd offer a free thing for signing up in the first place - I know some authors do that - but I don't have the backstock to really implement it in full. Well... I probably do now. We'll see how hard my list is hit at the end of the month and then if I need a kick to bring the number back up again, I'll make that my summer project.

[develish1]

Yeah, most of the ones I'm signed up to gave out a freebie for joining, some it was a standard sized ebook, some just a novella etc, while others offer free epilogues exclusively to newsletter subscribers, or do monthly draws etc. They've nearly all got little "hooks" to keep people interested.

I've clicked to "opt in" again for so many lately my head is spinning, so I can't recall who is giving out what this time, but you're definitely not the only one I'm expecting a freebie from for staying subscribed (because yes, I've already clicked yes to you), as several have promised something extra in their June newsletters.

[azriona]

Having a hook was something I saw very early on, and it's a fantastic idea and I know it would be a great draw, but at this point I'm not entirely sure what the hook should be. Especially when I'm cramped for writing time as it is and it's all I can do to get two books out this year.

(And yay! Thank you for opting in. And I just saw that it might affect WordPress subscriptions too, which is just... I mean, I kinda want to say it's overkill? I'm not even sure I have access to the folks who subscribe to that, do I? I mean, I can't figure out how to find them anyway.)