Okay, this is just a quick note to bring you all up to speed with what’s going on with my newsletter. I know I haven’t sent one out in absolutely ages (read: years) but I’m hoping to change that.
The past
Previously I was using a fiddly plugin for the website, and my webhost kept spanking me for being a Spammy Spammer Who Spams. I was poorly and the struggle to create and send out the newsletters became just one more thing I didn’t have the spoons to deal with, so I kind of . . . let them go. Not proud of that, particularly, but wishing it could have been different won’t make it so. Now that I’m a bit more adept at managing my limitations, I can only try to do better.
The future
2018 is a new year. I have a new web host (a much nicer one, that’s actually in my time zone, more or less) and I have ported all my mailing list contacts over to a new home at MailChimp, whose tools make producing newsletters a snap. I am hopeful that this means you’ll all start hearing from me again soon.
A caveat
One little wrinkle in all this is the imminent arrival of The General Data Protection Regulations or GDPR on 25th May. This is EU legislation designed to ensure online marketers secure your explicit permission to send you stuff. To make my newsletter subscription form GDPR-compliant, there is an extra box for you to check. This means I have to ask you all to sign up again, if you want to stay on my mailing list.
I sent out an email this weekend to all my subscribers asking them to do this. You can use the same email address you originally signed up with, or a new one; it doesn’t matter. Everyone who has not already re-registered has now been unsubscribed, so you shouldn’t get any annoying “this email address already exists” messages.
If you don’t want to stay on the list, that’s fine. Your email address has been unsubscribed and will be deleted from my list before the new regulations come into effect. You won’t hear from me again. You are, of course, welcome to resubscribe at any time.
If you do want to be on the list, please click the Newsletter link in the menu at the top of the page and fill out your details. New peeps are always welcome. If you change your mind at any time, there’s an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every newsletter.
What you can expect from my newsletters
I’ll try not to bother you more than 4 – 5 times a year. My aim is to keep you updated with news about my books – including THE DRAGON HOUSE. I’ll also be telling you about any cons or events I’m attending, there’ll be subscriber-only giveaways to enter, and maybe some deleted scenes and sneak-peeks at upcoming stuff.
Don’t hesitate to drop me a line if there’s something else you’d like to see!