If you follow me on any of my socials, you may have seen me invite you to subscribe to my newsletter. I’ve had my newsletter for a few years now. I love it. I love being able to write an email and send it out to hundreds of my readers in one go. These emails can be as long, short, simple, or chock-full of info as I want. I like to send out news to my newsletter before I post it anywhere else. The newsletter also makes it easy to give away books to my readers.
Recently, it occurred to me that it might be fun if I figure out a more specific theme for my newsletter. It already had a purpose —to keep my readers updated on my book news and publishing news, and to give away free stuff. But because I’m a fiction writer, establishing a theme is important. That meant having a name for the newsletter. Because once it had a name, an identity would follow. At least, that’s what I hoped.
So I made a list of name ideas. I came up with a few. I wanted a name with the word “shipping” in it. Because… shipping! Right? Options included “Shipping News” and “Shipping Included”. I had also thought of using the name “’Shipping and Handling” but there was already a podcast with that name. And while I liked “Shipping Included”, I figured that anything with the word “shipping” in it would just confuse people if I were to talk about, say, how to order print books from me. So with a heavy heart, I nixed all the options with the word “shipping” in it. After a day or two, I added “W.I.P.” to my list of choices.
If you’re an author, you would know that W.I.P. stands for “work in progress”. Before I wrote books, I didn’t know this term, so I don’t expect all my readers to know it either. Still, I thought it might make a good name for my newsletter. If you think about it, aren’t we all works in progress? If that wasn’t a great theme for a newsletter where I talk about the books I’m serializing and the new recipes I’ve been trying ( just started including my cooking experiences in my last two newsletter issues), then I don’t know what is.
So that’s the story of how I rebranded my newsletter.
After I whipped up a simple logo, I was ready to send out my first email. And I did, a few days ago. I announced the promo I’m currently running on Radish for my L. A. Players series — reduced wait times. I also announced that I would do a live video tutorial on how to read my book for free with the wait-to-unlock model. Alas, I was pressed for time and wasn’t able to include anything about cooking. I will definitely do that next time.
I’m pretty excited about where this new theme and new direction will take me. It would be amazing if you can join me on this journey. So you haven’t yet, sign up to get The W.l.P. here. You’ll get a free short story ebook when you subscribe.
If, after one or two emails, you find that you’re not feeling it, you can unsubscribe (and keep the ebook and any other freebies you’ve already received at that point). In fact, you can unsubscribe anytime. Because that’s how newsletters work. Also, another way newsletters work — I will keep all your information private and confidential (is that redundant??), and will never give it away or sell it. I promise.
I’ll be sending out a new issue before the end of this month. Please drop a comment below if you have any topic suggestions. See you at the W.I.P.!