Author Newsletters ~ love 'em or hate 'em?

+AneMulligan  @AneMulligan

On an author loop I'm in, I saw someone say they didn't have the skill or the time to do a newsletter.

Huh? A writer who can't do a newsletter but has the skill to write a book? A book is way harder than a newsletter.

They went on to say they could do email. Well, isn't a newsletter like a fancier email? With photos?

What do you mean by "not quite?"

Okay, then what does go into a newsletter?

Well duh, news. About you, the author. What you're doing, what's coming up, what's going down. Isn't that what you'd want to know from your favorite authors?

I checked out the newsletters I receive from some of my author friends. Some are monthly and some are quarterly. I'm thinking quarterly for mine.

Since my books have some humor in them, I'll try to add a little something in the way of a funny story. Food always plays a prominent role in my books, so a recipe should be there. 

And "the boys" ~ our two English mastiffs, who receive a lot more comments on Facebook than I ever do. They have to be there if I want anyone to read it.

I don't have a green thumb, like Deborah Raney, so no one wants to see pictures of my garden. However, I saw a clever blog Kate Lloyd did where she included lots of photos from a nursery. 

What I'm saying here is that I think people like photos better than an author nattering about themselves. Unless you're a Pulitzer Prize-winner. Then you can natter.

I can mention speaking engagements, book signing events, and book club appearances. Especially for those who are near me. But there needs to be (I think) information about where they can get my books, find my website, and follow me on Social Media, too. 

And to me, the cardinal rule is: Keep it short and sweet.

Those are my ideas. Do you have any you can add? I'd love to hear them. 

While a floppy straw hat is her favorite, novelist Ane Mulligan has worn several including legislative affairs director (that's a fancy name for a lobbyist), drama director, playwright, humor columnist, and novelist. She firmly believes coffee and chocolate are two of the four major food groups. Ane writes her Southern-fried fiction in Sugar Hill, GA, where she resides with her artist husband, her chef son, and two dogs of Biblical proportion. You can find Ane on her Southern-fried Fiction website, Google+, Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, and Pinterest.