An apology. I have been remiss in posting
here. My daily Month-of-Recipes on another blog interfered with keeping up with
the other three blogs. But, I’m back and will post weekly again.
I’ve been working
on the development of a monthly newsletter, Murders
with Taste. The newsletter will include information about my
books, upcoming events, the occasional book review, and a recipe or kitchen
hack, among other things. Isn't the graphic for the newsletter too, cute? I think it signals "cozy mystery" very well.
So what’s the problem?
Why am I blue? Well. Here goes. My confession.
I’ve never had a
natural affinity for spread sheets or desk top publishing programs. I’m pretty
good with Word, and that’s about all I can claim.
When my new
publisher suggested her authors should all consider doing a periodic
newsletter, I perked up. I love new projects. I love the challenge of
identifying interesting content. I can work to deadlines (I write two monthly
food columns). And I love new projects. Did I already say that?
How hard could it
be, I told myself. Writing content is pretty easy for me. After all I keep up
with four blogs weekly, what’s the big deal about a short monthly newsletter?
Uh, a lot, as it
turns out.
I didn’t even know the questions I needed to ask until
I hit the hurdles, road blocks, and detour signs. I thought I had done my due
diligence. I had read newsletters. I read about how to produce newsletters, but
there were a few gaps between reading about and doing that had escaped me.
The articles I
read about producing newsletters were about creating fresh content and keeping
the newsletter a balance of news and promotion and using appealing graphics.
But, um, how do
you get readers? How do you let people know you exist? How do people have 10K
subscribers?
So I read a few
more articles about how to attract followers to your blog/website/Facebook
page, et al. I attended a couple of workshops on social media and how to build
a following.
Here’s a news
flash: This.Does.Not.Happen.Overnight.
Yeah, naïve of me,
eh?
So I put out a
call to get people on my mailing list and I finally (after viewing a tutorial)
learned how to add names in MailChimp. I do not know a whole bunch of other
stuff, however. For example, can I just send the newsletter to new subscribers
after the initial mail out or do they have to wait until the next month. And
there’s more, but I won’t bore you with what I’m still trying to figure out.
I also learned, to
my dismay, that I must use the publishing program in MailChimp. I can’t create
it in Word and import it. See above for me and desk top publishing issues.
I also would like
to use MailChimp for mailing to subscribers content that isn’t created in the
Mail Chimp program. But at this point, I can’t see a way to do it.
So the newsletter
is done—content-wise. I can’t get the formatting right. I can’t get the
pictures/graphics right. And I am very frustrated.
I learn best by
doing with someone who know what to do. I read well, but there’s a big step
(for me) from reading how to do and learning how to do.
I’m a pretty
visual person. So show me. Don’t tell me. Don’t give me only written
instructions. Written instructions work best (for me) as a back-up, a reminder
of what I was shown to do.
Oh, and so much
more is tripping me up. Can you tell I’m frustrated?
So, if you’re one
of those already subscribed to Murders
with Taste, I apologize that a newsletter I wanted to publish in
mid-January still isn’t available. I am working on it, but it’s like working in
the dark.
Hey, are you
interested in subscribing to my short monthly newsletter? If so, give me your
e-mail address, and I’ll pop you into MailChimp. This will happen. I promise!
Facebook: Have you struggled with creating, publishing, and distributing a
newsletter? Have you had any of these struggles or are yours different? Sharon Arthur Moore bares her pages
for you. http://bit.ly/2FdnpuJ
Twitter: #Authors, have you created a newsletter? Did you struggle with these
issues as @Good2Tweat describes? http://bit.ly/2FdnpuJ
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