Newsletters: Do you read them?

I've been contemplating putting together a newsletter.

From what I've heard and read, it's a great way to keep connected with one's "clients"--that once you've got enough people interested in your work, it's a great way to share with them what you've got that's new or that you're working on.

Something really appeals to me about newsletters.  I subscribe to a few artist and blog-oriented ones that I get in my email, and through my business I get a couple from vendors that let me know about their sales or what they're offering that I didn't know about.  They're things that I'm interested in, and I they're easy to glance through or ignore if I'm too busy.  I think I'd rather have them than not, and they don't take up too much space in my email box.

I've learned, though, that subscribing to newsletters can be a dangerous thing--the "sharing" of email addresses (or selling of them if the company is less reputable) can result in a flood of unwanted spam in one's email, making the entire experience somewhat less desirable...  I take great pains to make sure the ones that I subscribe to explicitly state that they don't do anything with your email address, so my spam-factor is pretty low.  I suppose over time, it'll get worse naturally, so I don't need to be signing up for it before it happens!

Newsletters have to be more than simple "look what I've got for you to buy now" experiences... There has to be content that's useful.  Otherwise it's just an ad.  There has to be some integrity and authenticity to an email newsletter, I think.

And they can't be an "every single day" kind of thing...  I've heard that the optimum for newsletters in the art field is about once a month, sent on the same day at the same time.  No spamming.

I was wondering if any of you had any thoughts or opinions on newsletters, and if you think they're effective for you.  Do you create one of your own for your work?  Are there favorites that you enjoy getting?

There's also the blog factor--are newsletters more effective than what I enjoy now?  I get new posts to blogs in my Google Reader mechanism, and I scan through the entries 3 and 4 times a day as they come rolling in, taking care to save the ones in a separate window that I'd like to comment on if I don't have time to do so immediately.  Is there that much difference between a blog and an email newsletter?

I was curious about what you all thought...  Maybe I'm not "big enough" for a newsletter yet--I don't even have an email list to send it out to!  Haha!  I'm sure some of you independent artist crafters out there have debated creating newsletters before... Maybe in the back of your mind...

Hm.

Well, until next time, Live Life with Relish!







Top Image by Rob Reiring via Flickr.  Creative Commons License.
Second Image by Joel Washing via Flickr.  Creative Commons License.
Bottom Image by Doug Schick via Flickr.  Creative Commons License.