Hi, everyone. I write a weekly essay called Booked, which is about reading and other pleasurable pastimes. I have 196 on my email list, 43 of whom are paid subscribers. I hesitate to link my newsletter updates to Facebook on a regular basis because I fear that people will rely on Facebook to receive it, rather than subscribing. I suspect…
Hi, everyone. I write a weekly essay called Booked, which is about reading and other pleasurable pastimes. I have 196 on my email list, 43 of whom are paid subscribers. I hesitate to link my newsletter updates to Facebook on a regular basis because I fear that people will rely on Facebook to receive it, rather than subscribing. I suspect I am shooting myself in the foot. Anyone else wrestling with this? Thanks. https://sheilacallahan.substack.com/
It looks like you are using some buttons in your posts. In every post, we recommend you should use buttons and email headers and footers to ask readers to sign up, become a paying subscriber, comment, or forward your emails to their friends. Ted Gioia does a great job of highlighting his subscribe button and publication description here: https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/notes-on-my-pandemic-reading
This can help with readers who find you on Facebook or elsewhere
I've been wondering the same thing Sheila, although I've been more concerned that the people who are subscribed are seeing the link on Facebook first and then never opening the email because they've already clicked through and read it, thus hurting my open rates (and eventually, possibly, my deliverability). An idea I've been toying with but haven't tried yet is not posting to social media until several days after the newsletter goes out and mentioning in the post something about "As subscribers read on Sunday...". My thought is that will give subscribers time to read it from their email before they see the link elsewhere, and might make some other people feel like they're "behind" if they don't subscribe. But as I say, just an idea; I haven't experimented with it yet.
Thank you both for addressing this issue. I was contemplating the same thing. Right now we do a monthly newsletter and send it out on Mailchimp to donors and people who are interested in our organization. It is free. However, then why would people pay to read it on Substack?
Marilyn, I am taking up your suggestion. I published this week's essay yesterday and just posted this note to Linked In. I will do the same on Facebook tomorrow. Let's see if it bumps up the subscription numbers.
Hi, everyone. I write a weekly essay called Booked, which is about reading and other pleasurable pastimes. I have 196 on my email list, 43 of whom are paid subscribers. I hesitate to link my newsletter updates to Facebook on a regular basis because I fear that people will rely on Facebook to receive it, rather than subscribing. I suspect I am shooting myself in the foot. Anyone else wrestling with this? Thanks. https://sheilacallahan.substack.com/
Hi Sheila,
It looks like you are using some buttons in your posts. In every post, we recommend you should use buttons and email headers and footers to ask readers to sign up, become a paying subscriber, comment, or forward your emails to their friends. Ted Gioia does a great job of highlighting his subscribe button and publication description here: https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/notes-on-my-pandemic-reading
This can help with readers who find you on Facebook or elsewhere
I've been wondering the same thing Sheila, although I've been more concerned that the people who are subscribed are seeing the link on Facebook first and then never opening the email because they've already clicked through and read it, thus hurting my open rates (and eventually, possibly, my deliverability). An idea I've been toying with but haven't tried yet is not posting to social media until several days after the newsletter goes out and mentioning in the post something about "As subscribers read on Sunday...". My thought is that will give subscribers time to read it from their email before they see the link elsewhere, and might make some other people feel like they're "behind" if they don't subscribe. But as I say, just an idea; I haven't experimented with it yet.
Thank you both for addressing this issue. I was contemplating the same thing. Right now we do a monthly newsletter and send it out on Mailchimp to donors and people who are interested in our organization. It is free. However, then why would people pay to read it on Substack?
Marilyn, I am taking up your suggestion. I published this week's essay yesterday and just posted this note to Linked In. I will do the same on Facebook tomorrow. Let's see if it bumps up the subscription numbers.
Subscribers read this yesterday. Enjoy this edition of Booked, a weekly newsletter devoted to how we spend our time. https://sheilacallahan.substack.com/p/finding-the-measure-of-things
I hope it helps! I'm going to try it out myself for the next few weeks as well. :)
Marilyn, I am going to think on this. I really like this concept.
I like this idea!
I think readership > everything. We are fighting for attention. If people read it through a social link or through an email, then that's still a read.
Thanks, Jack.
Sheila, thanks for asking this :)