(I was going to call this post “the agony of email”, but come on. That was mildly amusing.)

Raise your hand if you’ve received a bunch of emails lately asking you to update your preferences and give permission for authors and other marketing types to send you emails.

Okay, I actually can’t see you. You can put your hand down.

I’m guessing it’s at least a few of you though, right? And if you’re on my list or Tanith Frost’s, you’ve definitely received them from us.

Or your spam folder has. And if that’s the case you’re going to want to go hunt for them ASAP, assuming you want to stay subscribed to get news on upcoming giveaways (both), cover reveals (Tanith), upcoming new releases (also Tanith), and future free stories (fingers crossed all over the place on that one). Because as of May 25, subscribers who haven’t confirmed permission for us to send emails are going to be unsubscribed.

Dun dun dunnnnnnn…

Spoiler alert: The actual cover will look significantly more badass than this

I mean, I know. What a pain in the ass, right? You already took time to sign up once. WHAT MORE DO WE NEED?

Honestly, I’m not the best person to ask. I know this is a Serious Legal Thing that has something to do with Europe and privacy, and we can get in Big Trouble if we’re caught sending emails without the proper permissions*. So yeah. We asked you to do this. There may be some marketing types who are super organized and on the ball and already have the right permissions, or who actually keep track of which subscribers are in the EU and which aren’t.

If such unicorns exist, I am not one of them. If you’re one of my subscribers, you got the email. And whether you live in Topeka or Tuscany I’ve asked you to update your permissions just so I know who still wants to be on the list.

Two birds/one stone. Bumbling GDPR compliance/”are you still there?” service. Boom.

BUT KATE, WHAT A PAAAAIIIIIIIN.

I know.

But look at it this way. It’s like spring cleaning for everyone! If you signed up for my newsletter because you wanted to win something in a giveaway but haven’t opened one since, you never have to see them clogging up your inbox again!** Same goes for anyone else who’s doing a big clean-up. We’re doing the work for you! YAY! And if you do find our content interesting and want to keep receiving our Big Fun Newsletters, it only takes a minute to click the button, check the boxes, and submit… and then maaaaybe some authors might be planning fun stuff for the subscribers who stick around.

I dunno. It’s just something I heard.

Gratuitous photo of a past giveaway

And though it’s maybe a liiiiiitle bit painful to let go of all of the people who haven’t updated preferences and won’t be receiving future Big Exciting News, this is good for me, too. I do this now, and in the future I’ll know that everyone who’s getting my emails is getting them because they’re excited to see what’s coming next, not because they entered a giveaway or other list-builder promotion and happened to get signed up along the way. The people who stick around now are in it for the long haul. THEY WANT TO WIN THE SIGNED PAPERBACKS. GO TEAM!!!***

I already refer to my newsletter subscribers as VIPs, and that will only be more true by next week.

So long story short: If you want to keep receiving my super-fun newsletters packed with good stuff on a seriously irregular basis (because hey, I’m not going to bother you if I don’t have anything to say), please make sure you check for either the first GDPR email or the update I sent today (and Tanith asks that you do the same) and take a minute to click and update your preferences.

You can of course sign up again at any time in the future if you get bumped. But this feels easier, doesn’t it?

(And if you’re not subscribed yet but want to be, here’s the link for mine. And what the heck, here’s Tanith’s, too. We do have fun.)

—

*Dammit, Jim. I’m an author, not a marketer. I DEAL IN MAGIC, NOT LEGALITIES!

**Yes, yes, or your spam folder…

***Fun fact: I didn’t know until I had to start a newsletter list that it costs money to have subscribers on there whether they’re opening emails or not. So releasing uninterested parties back into the wild (hopefully we’ll meet again some day, insert wistful sigh here) means I may just have a liiiiitle bit more in the ol’ budget for more awesome giveaways. ANOTHER WIN! HOLY CARP! (Side note: NEVER take marketing advice from me. This is probably terrible.)