Think about ways to create small amounts of joy-- to yourself and others. In fact, the best way to create joy is to give it away!
For example, I witnessed this phenomenon today when I delivered Meals on Wheels in my neighborhood in Indianapolis. This activity allows me
to meet a lot of elderly people, most of whom are homebound. Most of my
grandparents and elderly relatives died in their sixties, so I never really
have known old people close up. Delivering the meals gives me a chance to interact with some
kind of routine basis. Sometimes it's depressing. Some clients are in pain or fatigued, and they give the impression that there's no joy in their lives, far from it. As I said, I'm not experienced with older people, and I find myself thinking, "I can't blame them. There's a point when there's no joy left to find."
Well, that depresses me too, especially when I look forward to the future! Is that what I have ahead? Infirmity and apathy?
But then I'll deliver a meal to someone like Mr. Wilbert, and he reminds me that there's always some joy left, even if you have to make it yourself.
Mr. Wilbert is over 80 and in a wheelchair, and
only gets out when his aide comes to take him to the doctor. Even on the prettiest days of the year, which today definitely was, he can barely get out onto the porch, much less out into the sunshine.
But he doesn't let that keep him from creating joy. I noticed today as I came up his walk that he was out on the porch. He was bending down in his wheelchair, but looked up guiltily when I approached. He shrugged and sat back, and I could see what he'd been doing. He was putting out little cups of food and milk for the feral cats who live in the neighborhood.
As I watched, a whole family of pretty little grey kittens and their mom sidled up. Mr. Wilbert turned his wheelchair and went back into the house, calling back over his shoulder, "You better drop my meal off and get back in your car. They won't come up on the porch if they see us here."
And in fact, as I retreated to my car, I looked back to see the mother cat leading her kittens up onto the porch, and one by one to eat, they bent delicately to each what Mr. Wilbert had left for them. He sat in the doorway and watched them. He knows that feral cats won't let him come out and pet them of course. But he doesn't mind, because he can watch through his
screen door, taking such pleasure in his kindness.
So here is a man who is poor enough to need subsidize meals, and infirm enough to be wheelchair-bound, and confined to his home. And yet he has
learned that doing good for helpless creatures makes him feel good, and he also
knows enough to get job just from watching them eat and
accepting their fear of humans without taking offense.
If a man in his
situation can get pleasure out of doing good, so can we all.
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I talk constantly about the importance of setting up an email list. It’s the
single most important thing you can do to build your author platform. I make this very clear in my book Your
First 1000 Copies:
“Your #1 goal as an author should be to grow your email list as much as
possible. Write that on a post-it. Recite it to yourself every morning. Tattoo
it on your forehead. Do whatever it takes to make sure that developing
your email list is the #1 goal of your platform
strategy.”
So let’s say you’ve got that working for you.
You’ve set up an email list with a solid email service provider, and you’ve
started getting subscribers. Now what?
Most writers let those subscriber names just sit there, gathering dust.
They never actually email them.
Or they only email them right before their new book comes out.
Which begs the question …
How often should you email your subscribers?
The conventional wisdom is, “Don’t email them too often, because you don’t
want to annoy them—they might unsubscribe!”
However: Take an even halfway logical look at that statement, and you’ll see
it’s false reasoning.
I’m subscribed to the email newsletter NextDraft, which sends me an
email every day. And every day, I read it.
I also get emails every day or two from an online clothing store I like.
I’ve kept my subscriptions to both of them. I’m not at all annoyed by the
frequency of their emails.
Because here’s what I’ve learned: People have a high tolerance for receiving useful, entertaining
content.
It’s not about frequency. Your goal is to focus on sending content that is
compelling. My definition of marketing is:
Creating long-lasting connections with people (getting people onto your
email list)
Being relentlessly helpful (sending them useful, entertaining content)
So what does that mean for your email list? How often should you send? What should you send?
If you’re not sure where to start, here’s what I suggest:
1. Set a schedule
Remember, the schedule isn’t for your readers. It’s for you.
Most people are not going to be checking their in-box every day, waiting for
another email from you.
You need to stay in touch, and setting a schedule ensures that you don’t go
six months between emails.
If you don’t have a schedule you’re sticking to, it’ll be too easy to just
stop sending emails.
Then suddenly, when your next book is about to come out, you’ll start
spamming them with messages to buy your book, even though they haven’t heard
from you in a year.
You don’t appreciate that sort of non-involvement from the people you
subscribe to, and neither do your subscribers.
So pick a schedule, and stick to it.
My Suggestion
If you don’t know what schedule to set, here’s what to do:
Send two emails a month.
Send the first email on the first Tuesday of the month, and the second email
on the third Tuesday of the month.
2. Decide on the Content
It’s important that you decide early on what type of content you’re going to
send your list.
Every week, Shawn Coyne publishes a new blog post at StoryGrid.com. And every
Tuesday afternoon, he sends out a link to that new blog post to everyone on his
email list.
He doesn’t have to decide every week what he’s going to send. He decided what
content to send a long time ago.
He just has to send it.
My Suggestion
If you are sending out two emails a month, here’s the content you should be
sending:
First email of the month (1st Tuesday): Send new content.
Whether it’s a short story, a new blog post, a book review, or a new podcast
episode. Make this email a “give” of newly created content.
Second email of the month (3rd Tuesday): Send an author
update. Remember that your subscribers signed up for your email list.
Make sure you let them know what you’re working on. Include an update on your
latest book, links to anywhere you’ve been interviewed, places you’re traveling
to where they can meet you, upcoming interviews.Let them know what’s going on
with you professionally.
That’s only twelve pieces of original content a year, and twelve author
updates a year.
That is a very doable schedule, even if you’ve got a full-time day
job.
It ensures that you invest in your relationship with your readers, and stay
connected to them.
3. Stick with it for 6 months
Do not change your schedule for six months. You need to give it time to see
how it’s working.
I’ve seen two types of mistakes that can occur when writers don’t adhere to
this kind of set schedule. First, you start scaling back on how many emails you send.
Maybe you got a bunch of unsubscribes, or got a mean reply from a reader. Or
you just got lazy.
Either way, you start slipping and missing your deadlines. The problem with
this, of course, is that it too quickly turns into you not emailing your email
list for six months. Second, you send a bunch of emails early on.
A lot of people get excited about the prospect of sending great content to
their list. So they quickly write a lot of content, and decide to send three
emails in a single week.
Sounds great. But at that pace, you’re going to get burnt out very
easily. You’ll send three this week. Then three next week. Then nothing for
three months.
The excitement is good, but breaking the schedule is not.
If you’re inspired to write three pieces of content, go ahead and create
them.
Now you’re ahead of schedule, and don’t have to worry about email content for
three months. You can work on your next manuscript instead!
If you change your schedule too soon, you’ll not have given it enough time to
see how well it’s working. Wait six months, then step back and evaluate your
schedule.
How does it feel? Are people enjoying the emails? Are you enjoying the
content you’re sending? What could be tweaked and changed?
If you are easily creating enough content to start sending out once a week,
make the change and stick to that schedule for three months.
If you’ve been struggling to get the emails out on time, maybe scale back to
once a month, or once every three weeks. Building your email list is important, but so is staying engaged with
your new audience.
So pick a schedule, choose the content, and then stick to it. This will
ensure that you’re investing in your audience.
You want them to be excited to buy your next book, and you help them do that
when you use your blogs and updates, shared at a steady pace, to keep them
engaged with your work. Because people unsubscribing from your list is not the worst
thing.
The real tragedy is not staying steadily involved with your readers in
positive ways.
I hope you're enjoying the last few weeks of summer. The
nights are cooling down here in California and I'm finding myself craving
falling leaves, sweaters and scarves.
Even though it's been years since I finished my master's
degree, there's something about knowing fall's around the corner that makes me
want to stock up on school supplies.
Last week, I even bought two FIVE STAR notebooks and a
new set of pens!
This is also a time when many of us feel called to take
a step in a new direction, pursue a goal and feel a surge of motivation to make
things happen in our lives.
For anyone interested in taking a business or project to
the next level, earning credibility or sharing your work with the world, I'm
happy to announce I have 4 spots open to work with me one-on-one for PR and Publicity Consulting or Business Coaching and 8 spots open in my Media Master Class.
Here's how I can
help: DIY PR and Publicity
Course and One-on-One Consulting: Learn step-by-step how
to get in the media so you can take your business to the next level, earn
credibility and share your work with the world.
Click HERE for details and to reserve your
spot! Media Master
Class: During 8 bi-monthly 90-minute calls,
you'll receive professional feedback on press materials, ideas and advice for
story ideas and pitches, plus personal support from myself and fellow
students.
Click HERE for details and to reserve your
spot! Business
Coaching:
One-on-one coaching to transform your business so you
can make a living doing what you love!
Click HERE for details and to reserve your
spot! One of my favorite quotes is by Thoreau. He
said, "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've
imagined."
We all have unique gifts and deserve to make a living
and life doing what we love.
If you feel called to take a business or project to the
next level and share your work, messages and YOU with the world, I'd love to
help.
I look forward to connecting!
With love
and gratitude,
Thank you for being
part of my community and for letting me share my newsletters with
you!