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150 Building a Mailing List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A list of e-​ mail and home addresses should be composed of people who are predisposed to buying your book—family, friends, colleagues , and, if you have already published a book, fans of your work. In addition to being a great tool for jumpstarting sales when you have a new book released, these lists are invaluable for notifying people about your readings and book signings via e-​ mail blasts and/ or postcards, hopefully insuring that someone will be at the event. (After a book-​ signing event, you want the bookstore manager to feel as though the event had been worth the time and energy. Such events are always more time-​ consuming—and disruptive to the usual flow of foot traffic—than most authors realize.) Here are three good ways to build a mailing list. 1. Include on your website a mailing list option for anyone who wants to add their name, home address, and e-​ mail for periodic updates. 2. When someone writes a fan e-​ mail to you, save the e-​ mail. It’s not a bad idea, either, to make a notation regarding why this person contacted you. (Not everyone who contacts you is a fan, and you don’t necessarily want to tell them about a new book or where you’re going to be promoting it.) 3. When you give a reading, provide a sign-​ up sheet for those people who want to receive e-​ mails about you and your books. When constructing your e-​ mail list, be careful whom you include on it. As I learned recently, some people will look for a reason to be offended when there is absolutely nothing to be offended by. An innocuous mass e-​ mail that I sent announcing the release of my new book prompted two angry replies—one from an author, who must have e-​ mailed me in the past few years in order for me to have had his e-​ mail address in the first place, who thought I was trying to get him to review the book (I didn’t know he reviewed books) and one from a bookseller who thought I was simultaneously urging people to buy the book online while insulting independent bookstores. This last e-​ mail, from someone who had supported my work in the past, ranks up there as perhaps the most bizarre misreading of one of my e-​ mails I’ve ever encountered, especially since my e-​ mail announce- Publicity 151 ment specifically stated, “Support your local bookstore!” The bookseller informed me, however, that my plea was disingenuous. Therefore, my advice for mass e-​ mails is to stick to friends, family members, and people who have identified themselves as fans of your work. Venturing beyond those groups may prove to be an unnecessary headache. ...

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