| Hey, There's nothing more fun than launching a book - the culmination of all that effort, all that wailing and gnashing of teeth. Perhaps my favorite part of the process - aside from writing The End and diving into a lake of wine - is hitting Send on the launch email. Or launch emails to be precise. Because I like to split my list, staggering the send over several days rather than hitting it all at once. And if you're a regular reader of this here newsletter - or indeed any of my books for authors - you will already know that I do this because Amazon's idiosyncratic algorithms are much more likely to be seduced by consistent performance over one big blowout. Not unlike a real relationship, I guess. switching horses But a launch isn't the only time you might want to spread out a send. One of the more common scenarios is switching email provider. Another is if you go dark for a while and then need to hit your list again after an extended absence. In both cases, services like Gmail can freak out in very similar ways, dumping your precious emails in Spam or Promotions - or often not delivering them at all! - which can drop you into a Sender Rep Death Spiral. Which sounds like the metal band playing at an email marketing conference, but I digress. Even though these scenarios are quite different on the author's side of the fence, the remedies are near-identical, so let's tackle them together. This is a twofer, a break-in-case-of-emergency pack which all of you are likely to need at least once in your writing career. And it's important you take some care in these situations and avoid the standard approach which most people adopt. Namely, simply hitting their list all at once and hoping for the best. This, in case I need to underline the point, is not a good idea. Especially because the solution is actually quite manageable and can really set you up for success. If you are some kind of expert at reading between the lines, you might have already guessed that the solution is to spread out your send. But how you do it is incredibly important - or else this would have been a one paragraph email, and I could have hit the beach already. So, let's break it down. manage the splits When launching a book, I'm looking for a consistent push across 5+ days. But this is very different. What you are seeking to do here - in either scenario previously mentioned - is warm up your list. And you need to do it gradually. That's key point #1 - if you're into that kind of thing. Key point #2 is this: start with your besties. Your most engaged sabs. The guys who open and click everything (you know who you are, mwah!) It's also smart if this next email you're sending - i.e. the one you will be staggering - is something people might actually open and click to maximize the boost you will receive in sender reputation (more on that in this newsletter). That means an enticing subject line and minimizing links and images (which will maximize deliverability and desirability), and then something inside people which makes people click. Of course, it's harder to get a click than an open, but you should do the best you can. Let's drill deeper into both aspects with some examples. Sometimes you have health issues or something else in life which keeps you absent for some time. If it's a gap of several weeks, you might consider warming up your list before resuming service. If it's a gap of several months or more - like if you decided to thaw out a pen name which has been on ice or did a spell in the clink for mail fraud, then it becomes more of a must. Alternatively, if you switch email provider - say, from Mailchimp to MailerLite - then you are kinda in the same boat, in the sense that Gmail will be getting a digital handshake from a new company, and warming up your list first is definitely recommended. In either case you will want to: - send to your list in batches
- start small
- increase the size of those batches as you go along, and
- make sure to start with the most engaged peeps.
content differences The content of that warm-up email, however, is going to be very different depending on your circumstances. In Scenario B – i.e. changing provider - the email is quite simple. Unless you have some additional pressing need (and I recommend switching when you don't), then you can just write a quick note - stating you have switched provider and asking them to click a nice big (red) button to ensure they keep getting your lovely newsletters. And if you have something you can dangle to make that click more attractive - like a short story otherwise gathering dust, or some other bit of fan service - then all the better. But in Scenario A, especially if you are coming out of a cryogenic freeze of sorts, you might have some hearts and minds to win back (and some trust). This is where giving something cool, or composing a really stellar email perhaps, becomes more of an imperative. Whichever your situation, don't forget to spend some time on that subject line! If they don't open, there's no chance of them clicking... Dave P.S. Music this week is Sacha Distel with Oui Oui Oui Oui. | 
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