On the Words "Newsletter" and "Mailing List"

On the words "newsletter" and "mailing list."

I don't know—there's just something spammy feeling about both of those words to me. After extensive research, I've discovered sites out there allow people to join a list and receive regular emails, like zen habits, but don't use the typical terminology. Newsletter certainly sounds less spammy, though. So, I've decided to join the movement and do that. I've officially launched my not-yet-named email thing and put up the short story audiobook of Inching Along After the Apocalypse. I'm still formulating my plans on precisely what I want to send regularly. But, here's the thing: I want it to be valuable. As a daily user of everything online—I'm so tired of clickbait. I'm not here to push "content" to "get eyeballs" and pull in ad revenue. I'm trying to build something fun, great, and horror-specific, of course. More thinking on this is required. 🤔

What's next?

Still plugging away at my second draft. A particular passage in chapter one revisions was a bit of a roadblock for me, and I've finally made it past that. I've also sent out the revised first chapter for some alpha reader feedback. I've had great responses so far, so I think my revision plan is working. I'll continue with this plan until I've finished revisions on the entire thing. 

What's new since last week?

• My free short story audiobook is live! Check out the footer on every page of my website. I want to make sure you don't miss it.
• I've figured out how to put all of the pieces together for emailing people. It's a combination of Webflow (this website), ActiveCampaign (a tool to manage emails), and BookFunnel (a tool to securely deliver exclusive stories). There's a lot to set up and even some laws to comply with, so it's no wonder more people don't set these things up. But it was worth it. I've learned a lot, and I plan on making great use of this whole thing to create something exciting and valuable to readers.
• The second draft checklist I created for my novel is working great! I'm glad I made it. Also, I like lists.
• I created my own book cover for Inching Along After the Apocalypse. Fun! It was a good learning experience. I ended up using the free version of Canva. I did purchase a stock image (properly licensed!) and edited it myself using Krita. On stock images—it's nearly impossible to find stock images of a black male teacher in the post-apocalypse. Who knew?
• I did the final editing and audio mastering for the free short story audiobook. I was already somewhat familiar with Audacity, but my usage in the past was limited to quick edits. This past weekend, I researched and learned more and made my short story audiobook compliant with ACX format and Audible. It's not on Audible, of course—because it's exclusive to you, the reader who joins my website. But it was excellent practice for the future because I do have more planned for audiobooks. I even created a sample snippet and embedded it with the HTML5 `audio` tag in the footer.

I've learned so much! All of these tools I'm learning are going to come in real-handy in my other line of work.