The Fun and Games (and Frustrations) in Trying to Receive Author Newsletters via Email

A decade ago it was easy to subscribe to an author’s newsletter email and receive every newsletter email they sent. 

Like clockwork, the emails would land in my inbox (not my spam folder) and I could open them at my leisure to catch up on the author’s news. It didn’t matter if I missed opening the emails for 3 or 4 months because they’d continue to arrive unless I unsubscribed.

Fast forward to 2024 and the world of newsletter emails is very different. 

There are strict anti-spam laws in place in countries around the world to try and prevent our email inboxes from being attacked by a tsunami of unsolicited emails. 

Every day I’m confronted with unwanted email from unknown sources that clutter my inbox. A large portion of these unwanted emails are malicious spam. I now auto-delete emails every day without opening them. 

Why aren’t I receiving emails from the authors who I want to hear from? 

I have been researching this question because I believe that author emails should be a reliable way to receive information from authors. I’ve found this often isn’t the case and it usually isn’t the author’s fault. There are things I can do, as a reader, to try and maximise my success in receiving the emails I want to read. 

My tips for receiving newsletter emails:

• After I subscribe, I always look for the follow up email and click on that email to confirm I want to receive the emails. This is called double opt-in and it’s an industry standard for best practice. 
• I open every email I receive, even if I’m not planning to read it straight away. An active subscriber is someone who has opened an email within the last 90 days. Many authors only send emails to active subscribers because email open rates matter. Poor open rates can negatively impact future email deliverability. 
• If I haven’t received an email in a while, I will go back and subscribe again. This can reset my email address to active subscriber status. 
• If my email address has somehow bounced an author newsletter email, it’s unlikely that I can resubscribe and receive future emails using that email address. This is when I switch to a different email address and start over as a brand new subscriber.

There are many ways to follow authors and I’ve found author emails are a good option for receiving timely information with minimal effort on my part.

If you’re not receiving emails from authors you follow and want to hear from, reach out to them via contact forms on their websites. I’m sure they’d love to hear from you.