Authors, like everyone selling a product, need to market. They need to tell you about their latest work and they’re usually pretty proud of what they’ve accomplished — with good reason! With the internet it’s pretty easy to market–and pretty easy to get it wrong.
A recent discussion on a writer’s yahoo group I’m on, prompted me to write the following. So if you find yourself getting email you don’t want, take a look at these suggestions:
A number of good points have been made about protecting your account from hacking and good newsletter nettiquette. Security is very important as these hackers are even smarter than the ones we create for our stories. To protect yourself from being added to anyone’s list–either intentionally or not–here’s some suggestions:
- Make sure the security on your website is very tight, particularly if you have a blog or other way of interacting with the public.
- Don’t click links in emails, particularly if that’s the only thing in the email, even if it’s from someone you know.
- As someone mentioned, don’t let Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Linkedin or anyone get access to your contact list.
- Always check out the person who wants to “friend” “connect” or “follow” you. My policy is I have to know you in some way to connect on FB, Linked In I’m a little broader on–if I feel we can do business together in some way, I’ll connect. Twitter, you have to have a profile, post intelligent tweets (and not just quotes…good grief). I haven’t done a lot with Good Reads, although I’m connected to 1 or 2 people. No time to figure it out, yet.
- If you do wind up on someone’s list and you don’t want it, unsubscribe if possible, send a polite note if you want and mark it spam if they continue to block their discourtesy.
I know a lot of small business owners as well as authors and there’s an attituded among some marketers that if you give someone your email address, you’ve given them permission to contact you in any way they want. Same if you’re in a group (Linked In, Yahoo, etc.). I find that attitude discourteous at best, but it’s out there.
The amazing part is that people don’t realize that it’s the worst thing they could do to market themselves. It’s not the size of your list that matters, it’s the quality. If you’re accumulating names for your upcoming book, I find using a reputable email program with a double-opt in option the best way not to annoy people and get the quality of list you really want. And then, make sure you’re giving something of value when you contact them, not just a sales pitch.
A number of good points have been made about protecting your account from hacking and good newsletter nettiquette. Security is very important as these hackers are even smarter than the ones we create for our stories. To protect yourself from being added to anyone’s list–either intentionally or not–here’s some suggestions:
· Make sure the security on your website is very tight, particularly if you have a blog or other way of interacting with the public.
· Don’t click links in emails, particularly if that’s the only thing in the email, even if it’s from someone you know.
· As someone mentioned, don’t let Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Linkedin or anyone get access to your contact list.
· Always check out the person who wants to “friend” “connect” or “follow” you. My policy is I have to know you in some way to connect on FB, Linked In I’m a little broader on–if I feel we can do business together in some way, I’ll connect. Twitter, you have to have a profile, post intelligent tweets (and not just quotes…good grief). I haven’t done a lot with Good Reads, although I’m connected to 1 or 2 people. No time to figure it out, yet.
· If you do wind up on someone’s list and you don’t want it, unsubscribe if possible, send a polite note if you want and mark it spam if they continue to block their discourtesy.
I know a lot of small business owners as well as authors and there’s an attituded among some marketers that if you give someone your email address, you’ve given them permission to contact you in any way they want. Same if you’re in a group (Linked In, Yahoo, etc.). I find that attitude discourteous at best, but it’s out there.
The amazing part is that people don’t realize that it’s the worst thing they could do to market themselves. It’s not the size of your list that matters, it’s the quality. If you’re accumulating names for your upcoming book, I find using a reputable email program with a double-opt in option the best way not to annoy people and get the quality of list you really want. And then, make sure you’re giving something of value when you contact them, not just a sales pitch.
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