All the news that's fit to transmit: publishing an electronic newsletter - speech by information resource consultant Carolyn Kotlas delivered at the Special Libraries Association South Atlantic Regional Conference on March 11, 1999 - Transcript

Information Outlook, June, 1999

Now that you've got your newsletter written and publicized, what's next? If your newsletter is distributed by e-mail, you'll have to create the subscriber list. Your distribution system may have commands that allow you to have exclusive control over the circulation list. This is useful if you want to restrict who can receive the newsletter. However, if your newsletter is freely available, it will be less work for you to let people subscribe themselves. Keep in mind self-service subscribing doesn't get you completely out of the loop; some people will still ask you to handle the subscription process for them. Always include instructions on both how to subscribe and how to unsubscribe to the newsletter in every issue. This will cut down on, but not necessarily eliminate, the number of messages asking you how to get off the subscriber list.

After your newsletter has been sent out, get ready for "bounced" e-mail, the electronic equivalent of "Return to sender; address unknown." When the receiving end can't route the e-mail to a user on its system, you'll get an automated error message notifying you that your message couldn't be delivered. Some distribution software will try to automatically remove inactive addresses from the subscriber list, but none seem to do a complete job. So resign yourself to periodically deleting non-functioning addresses.

If your newsletter is only published on the web, do you need a subscriber list? Maybe. A web-published newsletter makes more demands on its readers: They have to remember to check the site periodically to see if there's a new issue. To keep your readers coming back to your newsletter site, think about setting up a mailing list to alert readers when new issues are put on the web. You should include the table of contents in the message to engage their interest.

Back Issues

Another advantage electronic newsletters have over print is in dealing with back issues. Your newsletter never goes out of print when it's archived on the web. Distribution software often can handle the archiving chore automatically and preserve your newsletter as a plain text file. If your e-mail newsletter includes web links in its articles, consider archiving the issues as web pages, using HTML tags. Readers can then easily link to the sites.

Subscriber Feedback: Listening to Your Readers

One of the pleasures of publishing electronic newsletters is the contact you can expect from subscribers. The speed and casualness of Internet communication makes readers more comfortable communicating with a newsletter's editor. It is not unexpected to receive e-mail from readers just minutes after you've sent out your latest issue. Readers will send you their comments and questions, notify you of changes of in their addresses, and alert you of errors in the newsletter.

Include as much contact information as possible in every issue: your name; e-mail address, postal address, telephone number, fax number, etc. If your newsletter is published on the web, consider providing a form that readers can use to send you feedback. You can set up the feedback form to send readers a standard acknowledgement of receipt. However, a more personalized reply from you is even better, if you can take the time.