Including all the agents you queried before you were published?
I don't know how other agents deal with this, but when you send me an email like that, I add your email address to my spam filter so I never have to hear from you again.
This might not be what you want to accomplish.
At some point in the future you might want to get in touch with me. You might want one of my clients to blurb your book, or invite me to your conference, or even ask a question for Friday Night at the Question Emporium. If your email is listed as spam, it doesn't go to my spam folder. It gets discarded. I'll never see it.
It's a Very Good Idea to use a mail service to send your promotional emails. At the bottom of those emails are instructions on how to unsubscribe. If you send me an announcement with an unsubscribe button, I'll click that rather than listing your email as spam.
16 comments:
Well, it's also important to note that you cannot, from a legal sense, copy your personal address book into your new fancy mailing service.
I like to think that this is one of those rare instances where the gov't ineptitude is actually saving us from bulk email.
So, what you're saying is that mass emailing "HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW?!" and an attached file of the Toby Keith song along with your sales states is a bad call, right?
:-P
i dunno Josin, I kinda like Toby Keith.
Thank you for the post regarding email lists. (I hope it goes through this time because I've tried three times now and Blogger keeps picking up a client's account) I work with authors for websites and marketing, through http://authors.barjd.com. When there is an opportunity for readers to continue contact with the authors, the forms are connected to either Aweber.com or MailChimp.com. Both require an opt-in confirmation before the reader is added to any list. We still plan to email only news because there can be too much, coming close to spam. We know how spam feels due to the spammy commenters on the websites. Fortunately I keep moderation in place on them.
Valerie Haight recommended your blog at a Facebook group, Writers Harbor. mr. Haight and several FB commenters are personally acquainted with you.
Thank you again. I like the way you think and will enjoy reading your blog.
JudyAnn Lorenz, Mansfield, MO
Well...actually...ah, I don’t know how to say this without watching you splash around in shallow water looking for limbs, but well, I’ll just warn you now because when my book gets published I AM SENDING YOU AN EMAIL. And, because you will spam me I will not only send you a signed copy of the book but also a can of Spam...so there, you son-of-a-shark.
Hey, calm down, don’t get your fins all uppity with me Missy. Why wouldn’t I want to share my success with the big fish who taught me how to swim in this very scary sea?
Wry
Wry, there's a HUGE difference between "Dear Shark for Brains, thanks for your help" and "Dear Friends, Family and Everyone in My Address book" emails.
I get the first kind sometimes and they always warms my cold dark heart. I don't mark those emails as spam. I code them as "authors to buy."
I'm always astounded by some of the behavior I read about when it comes to writers/authors. Someone ought to put together a book on etiquette, i.e. the do's and don'ts with agents, editors and publishers, titled "Don't Be An Idget; How To Act Like A Mature Adult In The Publishing World."
The best dos-&-don'ts manual out there is Janet's "Annoy Me" posts. Read them and quake.
Yes Bonnie, that was a subliminal hint...to Janet. She could write the book for sure and all she'd have to do is take those posts, maybe add in a few "Rants" and "Suck It Up" sections = Best Seller IMHO. :>)
Actually think 'Annoy Me' would be a great title...
It would be a brilliant title. I love the idea of a Suck It Up chapter too -
Okay Janet, the beach ball is in your corner.
When is YOU'RE A WRITER YOU ANNOY ME going to be published in book form.
Well, I'd have to find an agent and of course I've heard that's really hard; you have to know people; you have to already be published; and it's really better to self-publish first. I'm sooooo confused.
IF YOU’RE A WRITER, YOU ANNOY ME
A how-to book, about swimming with the big fish.
By
Janet Reid
Ms. Reid’s debut ‘you annoy me’ manual on how not to act like the much-maligned anchovy, while seeking fame and fortune via the tidal-page, is a must Reid.
Fathom One - “Find an agent”, they live in silt and are real beaches.
Fathom Two - Know people, always be formally introduced to your next meal.
Fathom Three - No need to be published, you have a week named after you.
Fathom Four - Self-Publish versus traditional. Sharks are solitary creatures self-gratification has its place.
Fathom Five - You think you’re soooo confused...think about us krill.
Fathom Six – If it’s all about the platform than why are you lurking under it?
I wouldn't imagine a busy agent has time to read my book. I'd guess you'd be too busy with your own clients.
And it does seem a bit like the "how do you like me now!" crap.
Well, that was fun. I'd buy ANNOY ME; And Other Things Writers Shouldn't Do.
(I took liberties with the title)
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