It’s Not Them, It’s Me. And That’s OK
I Got My First Unsubscribe
And I’m Happy About It!
I got my first unsubscribe! There’s an instinct when seeing the number of subscribers drop — in my case from 24 to 23 — to feel rejected or like you’ve done something wrong. Should I have written my emails differently? Is there something wrong with my novella? Maybe my content is off?
I use MailerLite (which is so easy to use that I can do it) and so I can see that this person opened three of my emails and clicked on a couple of links. So it’s not as if they signed up and then had second thoughts. They seem to have interacted with my content.
It’s not you…
So is it me?
The answer is yes. But that’s ok. I’m not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Some people won’t like my personality. Some won’t like my writing. Some people just don’t need a monthly email from me. Perhaps, like I thought in this article, my ad didn’t hit the mark and this person thought I was writing something different.
Trying to find your reader group is like speed dating. Or at least I assume it is; I’ve never actually done speed dating. Maybe a better analogy is that finding your reader group is like Love Is Blind, the dating show in Netflix where the couples don’t see each other until they propose.
At the beginning of the journey, where I am, readers are testing you out to see if they like you. That’s why my novella is free — people can have a go and see if they like the way I write and what I’m writing about.
It would be awesome if everyone loved my books and thought my newsletter was the most amazingly informative and hilarious monthly prose they had ever read, but I’m happy for those who don’t feel that way to head off and try to find their people. And I’ll keep looking for mine.
It’s also more cost effective. I’m still waaaaay below the threshold to need to pay for a larger MailerLite plan, but when I get there (positive thinking) I’d much prefer to pay for subscribers who want to be scintillated by my newsletter than those who upon seeing my emails, emit a loud groan and throw their phone at the wall. Or, possibly more likely, just don’t open it.
If a newsletter falls in the woods…
I have a confession. Calling it ‘my newsletter’ feels a little bit misleading. Because currently, all of my subscribers are working their way through my welcome sequence. I have the first actual newsletter email ready to go later this week, which is pretty exciting! Unless everyone unsubscribes after reading it…
Update on (slow) progress
So as I said, I’m down one subscriber to 23 but I’m up to 19 downloads of Regent — woohoo! That’s two lovely people who have popped over and downloaded it since last time. The list isn’t moving since I’m still in hiatus having stopped advertising and still a couple of days off the start of the Bookfunnel promos.
My big addition is Facebook page likes and follows. I have a confession. I’m terrible at Facebook. I’ve not really been using it the past few years — maybe a scroll every few months to see what my friends are up to. So I’m learning. And my big takeaway this week was that you can invite people to follow your page! Who knew? (Probably literally everyone but me).
So I went back to my ads that had gathered some interaction and hit invite and now I have 8 likes and 12 followers! I’m practically an influencer!
Next steps
For me, my focus at the moment is on the writing. I’m currently plotting out a new series while book two of the Royal series is with my editor. At the end of the week the Bookfunnel promos will kick off, and so I’ll switch focus to promoting them to see what kind of results they bring.
Check back in soon to see what happens!
Cheers, K.T.
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