That does seem to be the question—at least among authors, both independently and traditionally published. And in both camps, the answer is usually a resounding “yes!”
I balked at starting one for the longest time, but finally caved in and created The Happy Valley Gazette earlier this year. I wasn’t all that excited about it, but I began to get a few subscribers and that was good. Still, the newsletter didn’t have nearly the range that my Facebook author page did…(cue the menacing soundtrack)
…and then my reasonably successful Facebook account was hacked, suspended, and ultimately kicked off the face of the earth, and there I was—stranded, with most of my followers gone and no way to reconnect with them.
Except, I now had a newsletter. Thank goodness. The mailing list allowed me to touch base with many of my Facebook followers, and while I’m still not back to normal, whatever normal looks like, I have grown the following more quickly than I might have without those newsletter connections.
As for newsletter content, I’m still working on that. But I think this month’s offering is particularly good. I added a bit of flash fiction—a sweet little prequel to the Happy Valley series.
If you’ve got a hankering to receive the newsletter, you can sign up on my website at leslienoyesbooks.com. And honestly, I don’t know if you’ll have access to previous newsletters, but I’ll plan on resending the current edition to new subscribers later this month.
Peace, people!
Praying for Eyebrowz 
How such sites can destroy friendships
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Like scale media sites?
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Social, I meant.
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Fortunately I don’t have any knowledge of them
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I had developed a really terrific, supportive following on Facebook. And then I fell for a scammer—not on fb, but it affected all of my social media accounts. I was totally blindsided. My sales plummeted. I went from earning really nice royalties to making almost nothing from my books. Thank goodness I’d saved most of my royalties, and that I don’t rely on them for my quality of life, but it’s been a huge blow to my once thriving indie author account.
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Makes me mad to read this. My hacked accounts were not monetized, but I take it as a sign of what could happen… Also reminds me to periodically export my subscribers to some external thing, a spreadsheet or something. At least then you can keep in contact… Even if it means hand writing emails into a bullet journal.
Sigh.
Btw I like your newsletter! Don’t be shy and send them out. People can always unsubscribe if they want to.
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I still can’t believe I fell for a scam. I’m so careful. But it came in the guise of a friend in need and I just reacted.
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I am very sorry to learn that, Leslie
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Oh the challenges of an author. Not only pouring your brain and heart on (digital) paper, loosing sleep, and stressing over word counts, but also dealing with hackers and fans who are blithely awaiting your next installment. So glad to have Happy Valley to retreat to. Thank you.
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Thank you!
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I can’t believe you were hacked, that is aawful!
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I was gullible!
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We’ve all done it. They are REALLY clever these days
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I am so sorry your facebook got hacked. Who on earth would do that? The internet is wayyyyy to populated 😦 I have clicked and subscribed to your newsletter, however, and have missed your blogs! So I look forward to reading your letter emails instead 🙂
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As an author, I too have been encouraged to start a newsletter. But it seems a bit redundant when my blog already has quite a few email followers. Am I simply missing why I should do both?
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