Now I’m no Marie Kondo. Make no mistake. I hold onto things for years, decades, life if they have sentimental value.
I’m not a fan of change
But clutter does get overwhelming sometimes, so in recent years, I’ve developed a policy: don’t buy junk, and when I move, if something has no sentimental value, get rid of it. I usually prefer recycling or taking to a charity store, but I can let go of stuff that has no sentimental value.
My sisters (and I’m supposed to be helping) are in the process of sorting through my parents’ farm house. Mum and Dad have recently moved to the aged-care home in the next town. Mum has taken as many bits and pieces that reflect her as she can possibly fit into the room. But their farm house is huge. It is an old homestead, and they have many pieces of old furniture and china, silver, crystal, bits and bobs of all shapes and sizes. One of my sisters might be related to Marie Kondo. I’m the opposite. Don’t change a thing. Leave it exactly how it was. I don’t think I am any real use to them as I’m too sentimental and hate change.
I can see that we need to declutter, so when I was there on the weekend, I attacked anything that wasn’t a life-long fixture. It does feel good to be a part of throwing something out. Anything. But if I was there when they are going to look at other stuff, I feel a bit like those activists who chain themselves to a tree to stop it being cut down.
Why am I talking about decluttering and being overwhelmed with clutter?
Well, I might be wrong, but it seems as if the rise of independent publishing has given rise to the amount of inbox clutter that comes our way. And I know I contribute to that.
In early days as writers, we kept alert to any trick that would help us become noticed by new readers:
- Free promotions
- Ninety-nine cent promotions
- Free novellas with a sign up to newsletter
- Group projects – each author promoting the others
- Newsletter swaps
- Weekly newsletter
- Monthly newsletter
- Paid promotions through groups like Book Bub
- Face Book genre/interest groups
- Tik Tok
The list goes on.
I’ve tried them all. I’ve had some good results with some of them. Brilliant on a couple. But I’ve noticed that as time has worn on, and more authors jump onto the same promotional bandwagon, it isn’t long and the game is saturated. Before long, people are decluttering their inboxes. Unsubscribing. Disengaging.
Recently I was sad to read that one person stays subscribed only to look out for the freebies.
This is what our hours of skills development, careful crafting, editing and paying for design has come to. Have we accidentally created a group of readers who will give us a go only if it is free, or maybe 99 cents?
A reader can only read so many books in a year. And certainly, full price paperbacks are not affordable for anyone on any sort of budget. Even modestly priced eBooks (3-4 dollars) can run into a lot of money if we expect readers to keep up with us all.
On the one hand, it is wonderful that so many writers have an opportunity to get their work into a format for readers to enjoy.
On the other hand, the market has become cluttered, and we are all casting our books out into the same pond with the hopes of engaging loyal and faithful readers—but they are often the same readers.
It is not a realistic hope. In my humble opinion at least.
There are only a few writers (and they’re mainly my Australian writer friends) who I will always maintain and read their newsletters, and buy their books. There are a couple of internationals who have caught my interest and I’ve enjoyed the books I’ve got from them, but I confess, I’ve only bought the cheap promotions (1.99 or less).
What’s to be done?
Have I accidentally devalued my work offering it at a price where I make 30 cents a book on a promotion that sells maybe 50 copies. A grand total of fifteen dollars. I am pleased that there are fifty new readers, and that they seem to enjoy the story. And, I guess I could say, it’s not about the money. Certainly, if it was about the money, I would have ceased writing twenty years ago.
I guess I’m not really offering any sage wisdom at this point. I’m trying to figure it out for myself. How do I feel about being one of the clutterers? How do I feel when the best response to my newsletter each month is the number of unsubscribes? How do I feel when people look at the modestly priced new release of $2.99 and decide it’s too much?
Overly negative? Perhaps. I am truly trying to decide whether I will ramp up the clutter bomb, or rest back into a more sedate posture, and be thankful for those who do engage and enjoy the work that I put so much time and effort into.
I don’t sign up just for freebies in fact I don’t often download the freebies. The same with the promotions that are for free books but you end up signed up to author newsletters. I am on several author email lists and admit the only reason I stay on a couple weekly ones is cos of certain content. One has a cat or pet segment if not for that I would go to the monthly option. I don’t like weekly emails I get enough emails as it is. I also don’t go for a lot of the sweepstates etc cos often in fine print or in an obscure place you end up signed up to all the newsletters. This happened recently got the book but didn’t see anywhere saying I would be added to all the newsletters. I have to say several had that annoying welcome sequence one sending all on the same day. I unsubbed after the 3rd and and still got then next one. It would take a lot for me to stay on any list if I am going to get an email a day for several days that could have all been in the one welcome email. I would love to know what the rate of unsubscribing would be to the single welocme email or the sequence.
I have a few authors I will buy the ebooks when they come out and will pay over $4 for them
on the newsletter swap I hope it does work but I have to admit I haven’t gone and signed up to any that I can think of. I tend to skip over the info but thats just me. I have how ever bought a book due to a recommendation in a newsletter. A cozy Mystery and I preordered the second one.
I have unsubbed from a number of newsletters because I am no longer reading the genre, or when they have a new release they send so many in the lead up and in one case it was becoming 2 a day. another it was daily with a preorder with proof and you get some extras. I like some info. I like yours.
It seems to be an ongoing problem, and I don’t know what the answer is from an author’s point of view. Thanks for your feedback.
I can understand its hard. I like your newsletter its not full of buy my book. and then the if you have now read my book please review etc. I had one I was on that was just full of buy my book, review my book etc nothing else but it was the same every week. I am not on the list now. I like a little info and I love when there is a question for readers to answer. I may not always want to reply but One author asks questions often to do with whats happening. (like if one comes out around her birthday it maybe what sort of cake do you like, or recently they did something for the first time and it was what would you like to do for the first time) I will often reply to these questions.
I admire the fact that you try to support as many authors as you can. Let’s face it, all our effort as authors is a waste of time if someone doesn’t read it, and to have avid, enthusiastic readers like yourself, is a wonderful thing. Thank you.
Hi Meredith, I always appreciate your honesty in your posts. This is an important conversation.
According to my phone, I have tens of thousands of unread emails. I use more than a dozen email accounts to try and manage the deluge, but things inevitably get missed. Email fatigue is a real thing, and it’s made worse by all the scammers who harass us. I block emails from repeat offenders who spam my inbox.
For my author newsletter, I put my reader hat on and think about what I personally like/dislike about the author newsletters I receive in my in-box. I send a monthly newsletter because that’s my preference as a reader. That said, I don’t mind an occasional extra email if it adds value to me as a reader. I’m interested in hearing about an author’s free/99c sales. I’m less interested in hearing about their author friend’s book because I know it’s likely that they haven’t actually read their friend’s book that they’re recommending unless they’re linking to a book recommendation or a review they’ve written.
I’ve learned that not opening emails means that, after 90 days, I will move into ‘inactive’ status and I’ll likely need to resubscribe to start receiving emails again. Sometimes I’ll miss seeing author newsletters because the author has used an obscure email subject line that didn’t stand out when I’m skimming my main inbox on my phone.
Like Jenny has mentioned, I’m not a fan of lengthy onboarding email sequences and I usually don’t bother opening all of the welcome emails. I’d prefer to receive all the information in a single welcome email and reduce the in-box clutter.
I’m hoping that the domain verification process that all the newsletter companies have been telling their business customers to comply with will help reduce the number of spammy emails I receive. I use Sendfox and did the domain verification thing a while ago when Gmail started bouncing a lot of my newsletter emails. I only send my author newsletter to active subscribers who have opened an email from me in the last 90 days and my email open rate is consistently over 80%. I’m not planning to email my full list until I have my next book on preorder, which is awhile away. That’s when I’ll see the uptick in unsubscribes.
My conundrum as a reader is that author newsletters are the most reliable way to keep up with author news. The social media algorithms hide posts and many authors don’t blog somewhere where I can stop by and see when they have an upcoming release that I’d like to preorder. I’m not sure what the answer is to the email clutter issue?
I’m like you, Narelle. Once a month, max, for a newsletter both as a reader and a writer. And if I’m going to do a newsletter swap, it will only be from authors I actually know and can endorse their work. So I don’t do random newsletter swaps.
I’m also a bit wary of constantly cluttering my social media feeds.
Email fatigue – promotional fatigue.
Still don’t know that answer, but I’m glad I have the support of a network of wonderful writers, and that we can support each other.
I totally relate to promotion fatigue and I’m finding that social media clutter is both painful and unavoidable. X is the only platform that still has the functionality to easily create lists of accounts where you can see every post in a list feed without an algorithm interfering and hiding stuff. I listen to podcasts and read blogs using the Feedly app instead of spending time in the social media circus.
I don’t bother looking at my social media feed for my Facebook profile because it’s always full of junk posts. I’ve accepted that I’ll miss seeing stuff on Facebook unless I specifically go looking for it because Facebook notifications are unreliable.
I have mixed feelings on what the marketing gurus say is the right or best way to promote my books. I’ve been a published author for a decade and the whole ‘look at me and my books’ expectation for book promotion isn’t something I find comfortable or easy. I’d much prefer to promote books by other authors than talk about my own books. A supportive writing community with a focus on helping other authors instead of an ‘all about me’ achievement mentality is what I value and appreciate.