SPA Girls Podcast – EP150 – Should I Prune My Mailing List?
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The recent kerfuffles with MailerLite raised an interesting point for those of us in the SPA – should we be pruning our mailing lists, and if so, how do we go about doing that?
This week we talk about mailing list health, what it actually means, and how to make sure your mailing list is the best it can be.
This includes everything from when to cull people from your list, how to try to re-engage with people who don’t seem to be engaging, how to ensure you have the best quality list you can have, and how to increase your email deliverability.
Some sneaky tips for sexy-ing your subject lines:
- use emojis
- promise a benefit, surprise or create mystery – goal is to get folk clicking the email to open
- leave off the spammy words (GIFT! FREE! BUY MY BOOK!) writing in CAPS, and over-punctuating !!!!!!!
- split test subject lines
- try seasonal approach – tie into holiday or celebration
If you’re worried about your list, or thinking you might need to cut some people, hopefully this podcast will give you something to help you make the decision you need to make. 🙂
Some of the links we promised:
Spa Girls Podcast Episode #145 – Interview with Newsletter Ninja, Tammi Labrecque
MailChimp open rates information
Spam Filter Triggers information
Recommended Reading:
Newletter Ninja, by Tammi Labrecque
Strangers To Superfans, by David Gaughran
SPA Girls Podcast – EP138 – Getting Your Motivation Back
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This week we talk about how to get yourself motivated again after life gets in the way. It could be illness, personal issues, a holiday, an injury or even just your own negative self talk. Whatever it is that has stopped you from doing the amount of writing you want to do, we’re here to bust those barriers down and find ways to get you back on track.
We’ve all experienced it at some point in our lives; that feeling that you’re wading through the quicksand, your body and mind not working as quickly as you want them to. It can feel almost impossible some days to get out of that quicksand, but we’re here to help. This episode is all about the ways we’ve managed to get back into healthy, happy writing routines after problems in our lives, and what you can do to do the same. We’ve got an array of options for different types of writers because we’re all different and what works for one person won’t necessarily work for another.
The beginning of this conversation was a series of tweets by author Courtney Milan, who talked about how she got herself back into the writing groove after her writing mojo took a dive, by being more aware of how she was ‘training’ herself to write, and making writing fun again. Let’s all make writing FUN!
Mel Robbins TedEx talk: https://www.ted.com/…/mel_robbins_how_to_stop_screwing_your…
If you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill the idea.
The 5 Second Rule in a nutshell gets you from knowing what you need to do to taking action (and firing up your prefrontal cortex). Knowing what to do will never be enough and if it was as simple as “just do it”, we would all be productive writing stars and healthy, with no bad habits! Mel Robbins talks about us needing to conquer our own feelings and if there is a disconnect between what you feel like doing (sleeping late) and what you should be doing (getting your words down), because of the way your brain is wired, your feelings are going to win. So the five second rule – when you literally count down 5-4-3-2-1 (like the Nasa countdown) you’re pushed out of autopilot into taking a small deliberate action and taking control of your brain.
https://melrobbins.com/…/5-second-rule-hack-science-explai…/
Write Better Faster course led by Becca Syme – highly recommended by Shar
https://www.margielawson.com/…/june-2018-write-better-fast…/
Becca and Chris Syme’s writers podcast : https://cksyme.com/podcast/
Cal Newport’s Deep Work https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Succe…/…/1455586692
You can only function/achieve well if you know what makes you spin out of control.
Don’t take what others do as your blueprint.
Find your person/people who will help lift you up and don’t forget to return the favour. Helping others can also help your mood.
This is your life so make it work for you in a good way-one day/step at a time.
SPA Girls Podcast – EP20 – Find Your Tribe Challenge
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This week it’s a challenge episode – please ignore the weird silence at the beginning of the recording, it was supposed to be our new theme song, but technical issues got in the way…! And then we ask what you thought of it…? Ha, just try to comment on something you can’t hear… Sorry, we’ll do better next time. 🙂
We talk about the ways we decided to meet new people – preferably other authors who could help with the self publishing process. We all found ways to get into Facebook groups, Google + hangouts, and forums and online groups. Listen in and find out how you can find the kind of people who will support you through the ups and downs of the self publishing process.
What Groups Did We Join?
Cheryl – was invited to join a group called ‘World Building,’ and they are planning to write books that relate to this subject and bundle them into a boxed set. This is an on online, world-wide group. Networking with this group will enhance her profile and also widen her writer connections. Groups like this help hugely with promotion.
Remember if you join a group you can always leave if it doesn’t suit you.
Wendy – is in a closed group (FB invitation only) of Hybrid and traditional published writers. The group is diverse and the writers at differing stages in their publishing journey. Most are based in the USA, and their knowledge base is huge and they are more than happy to help if you ask for it. This group has taught her that you never stop learning.
Be aware of the group setting that you choose to join. Remember, once it’s online, then it can be shared, especially if this is not a closed group, so be careful what information you post.
Trudi – did the Nick Stevenson course called your first 10k readers, and from that she joined the private FB group. The group was helpful when she was doing the course because could interact with other people and join discussions. As a result of this group, she put one of her books into a paranormal romance boxed set, which is helping with exposure, and often does google plus hangouts with other writers.
Remember to say yes occasionally, you never know what opportunities can arise from it!
Shar – she joined Romance Diva’s an online writer forum (not a FB group), this group has many writers all at different stages, both traditionally and self-published. There are a huge number of romance writers on there. It’s monitored, and very active and they expect you to be active also and will kick you off if you do not post. If you are active, you will benefit by exposure to their resources. There are mentoring programs and boxed set opportunities. She also joined Indie Pub Club. This also demands a high level of participation from you, or you will be asked to leave (like Shar). This is not romance pacific, and very business oriented, but they do welcome romance writers.
Maybe to begin with, look for a group that suits your genre. Now, go out there and find a group that suits you!!
Exercise challenge – the SPA girls have taken up the challenge to get moving. So you can too! Don’t be inactive all day, find something that suits you and remember, small steps lead to big ones.
If she can to it…just saying!
What’s coming up?
Pre-loading Podcasts – we will be discussing what you need to do to get your book ready to load on Amazon.
Links
https://www.yourfirst10kreaders.com/
http://www.pbs.org/video/2364990532/ – Michael Mosley (exercise)
http://www.builtlean.com/2011/05/25/basic-stretching-exercises-routine/ (stretching exercises)
