Self-Publishing Electronic Newsletters

By Carolyn M. Kotlas
2008 Revision

Getting Started
Purpose or Objectives
Audience
Pre-production Decisions
Content Decisions

Producing the Newsletter
Research and Fact Checking
Writing, Editing, and Proofreading
Design and Layout

Subscription Management
Distribution
Getting Subscribers
Circulation Management
Subscriber Feedback

Reprint Permissions and Copyright

Archiving Back Issues

Assessment of Success

Final Advice

Further Reading

Your Newsletter's Purpose or Objectives

What do you want to accomplish with the newsletter?

promote your business or organization
use it as a marketing or public relations tool
broadcast internal information to staff
inform your clients, customers, etc. what you're up to
make it one of your organization's products
provide authoritative information, advice, instruction

What do you get back from publishing the newsletter?

readers identify the newsletter with its source
the newsletter's purpose melds well with your organization's mission

Always keep focused on your objectives.

Who is your Audience?

Your audience will determine the tone and content of your publication: casual/informal/personal, scholarly/formal.

Knowing your audience will help you develop a "voice" or style that is consistent across issues . . . but be careful that the "voice" isn't projecting personal bias, unless, of course, that's the point of the newsletter.

Does the level of complexity or technical information in your newsletter match the level of the readers?

Will your audience perceive your newsletter as a benefit? Always give your readers something to keep from each issue.

If your audience is global, watch out for jargon, slang, and chauvinisms that may be misunderstood by readers outside your country.

Pre-production Decisions

Frequency & Length:

Base your decision on the frequency of publication and the length of the newsletter size realistically on the time you have available; it's better to publish fewer, but better, issues.

Regardless of publication frequency, consistency must be maintained once you project a schedule, otherwise readers could wonder if you've ceased publication.

Shorter is better, both for individual articles and for each issue as a whole, and both for the reader and for you.

Newsletter Title & Other Identifying Details:

Choose a title that reflects your organization and the newsletter's content.
Make sure you don't use a title that's been trademarked by another organization or a title that readers could confuse with another publication.

Include a statement about the newsletter's purpose and/or audience. This will be useful for new readers.

Devise an issue date and number scheme (volume, number, issue, etc.) that won't make serials librarians crazy.

Apply for and display your newsletter's ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) -- it makes your publication look more professional and substantial.
In the United States ISSN's are issued by the Library of Congress: http://lcweb.loc.gov/issn/

Content Decisions and Article Topics: What will your newsletter contain?

Keep "fluff" articles to a minimum. This includes items such as "Letter from the (President/Director/CEO, etc.)"

Will each issue have a theme or will there be a variety of topics?

Will you have regular features/columns in each issue?

opinion feature
letter from the editor
trends/analyses
monthly spotlight feature
product/industry news
how-to articles
reader involvement columns
book reviews
news flashes
interviews

Use attention-getting headlines.

Will you have advertising in your newsletter? If so, establish some criteria for acceptable ads. Keep in mind that most of your readers probably do not care for advertising in email newsletters.

Will you have "outside" contributed articles; what criteria will you use to select "expert" contributors?

Research, Fact-Checking, Errata

How much in-depth research is needed and how much time do you have to do it? Don't research more than you need; don't get caught in the research trap -- it can keep you from finishing an article.

On the other hand, do enough research/fact-checking to develop your reputation for accuracy and authority in your publication.

Will your articles have to be approved by dept. heads/attorneys/others? If so, allow plenty of time for this part of your production process.

What will you do when/if errors escape your notice? The electronic world is fast and unforgiving. Literally within minutes readers will report any factual errors that they discover in your newsletter.

Decide on case-by-case basis on how to handle errors.
In some cases, an "errata" or "corrections" section in the next issue will suffice. However, some mistakes need immediate attention, and may require a special mailing to fix the mistake. For example, meeting dates, telephone numbers, anything that can't wait for the next scheduled issue.

Writing, Editing, & Proofreading: Write it right

Will you have an editorial board or are you on your own? At the very minimum get someone else to proofread newsletter copy for typos and clarity.

Even good writers need to understand how writing for the Web/email differs from writing for print medium. Check out Web style guides for help with making the transition from writing for print to writing for an electronic environment.

More detailed information:

Morkes, John, and Jakob Nielsen. "Writing for the Web." January 6, 1998.
http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/
(A research project about how users read on the Web and how authors should write their Web pages.)

Some examples of style/writing guides:

Stilman, Anne. Grammatically Correct: The Writer's Guide to Punctuations, Spelling, Style, Usage and Grammar. Rev. ed. Cincinnati: Writers Digest Books, 2004. ISBN: 1582973318

Shaw, Harry. Punctuate It Right! 2nd edition. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0-06-461045-4

The Associated Press. The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. Reading, MA: Perseus Press, 2000. ISBN: 0-7382-0308-4

Design and Layout: "Branding" your newsletter

Are you moving from a print-only publication to electronic format? Don't lose an existing identity by changing the appearance when you move from print to electronic format. Keep in mind that not everything that applies to print newsletters works as well in electronic format.

If your newsletter will be published on the Web, consult basic Web design guides or take a Web design workshop for layout tips and advice.

Be considerate of readers with slow Internet connections: keep graphics to a minimum.

Choose colors carefully; colors that look great in printed materials can be unattractive and distracting on the screen. If your organization already has identifying colors,use these for a consistent look across all the organization's communications.

For newsletters published on the Web, decide if you will have a logo or other graphic identity. Use existing organization logos when possible.

Plain-text, email-only newsletters force you to limit your design options. However, limited layout doesn't have to mean lousy layout. Email newsletters can benefit from even the most rudimentary graphic design: use spaces or other devices to separate articles; break articles up into easy-to-absorb paragraphs.

How will you deal with non-text materials (graphics, audio, video) in a text-only newsletter? Will you point the readers to a Web site where they can retrieve the non-text materials?

Line lengths are important -- watch out for the "disappearing end of line" (both in email and Web newsletters). Make sure you accommodate small screens when formatting paragraphs.

Before sending out an email newsletter, send yourself a copy to see what your readers will see. You may find you need to adjust line lengths or line breaks.

Some basic elements to include in each issue:

title
date and/or number
masthead or contact information
ISSN
how to subscribe and unsubscribe
table of contents
copyright statement

More detailed information:

Nielsen, Jakob. "The Alertbox: Current Issues in Web Usability."
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/
Biweekly online column covering Web design topics.
See especially "Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design," May 1996.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html

Instone. Keith. "Usable Web: Guide to Web Usability Resources."
http://usableweb.com/index.html
A collection of links and accompanying information about human factors, user interface issues, and usable design specific to the World Wide Web. No longer updated, but about page (http://usableweb.com/about/) links to many other usability resources.

Williams, Robin. "Bad Design Features."
http://www.ratz.com/featuresbad.html
Concise list of things that make Web pages look bad.

Flanders, Vincent. "Web Pages that Suck.com."
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/
Learn good design by looking at bad design.

Distribution: Getting the newsletter to subscribers

Regardless of how you choose or are forced to distribute your email newsletter, be prepared to learn some technical stuff. Be patient with yourself and prepare to make mistakes at first.

Make friends with your listerver/system administrator -- the person who will keep the list distribution hardware and software running smoothly.

If you plan to have someone outside your organization distribute your newsletter, see Email Universe for a list of providers:
http://emailuniverse.com/

Above all, make it easy for people to subscribe. Give them the option of self-subscription, but, if possible, be willing to subscribe people yourself. Don't let frustration with the subscription process cause you to lose readers.

Publicizing Your Newsletter and Getting Subscribers

It's unlikely you'll be able to purchase a list of email addresses to get you started. You'll have to do more than print newsletter publishers do to generate your subscriber list.

Advertise your newsletter in print publications both in and outside your organization.

Ask other electronic newsletter publishers in related fields if they will mention your newsletter. It helps if you have a ready-to-use announcement that they can put into their publication.

Take advantage of electronic resource announcement services; most are free. Here are some places to start. Before submitting your newsletter announcement, check out any submission guidelines. Don't waste time submitting information to services that are not interested in your newsletter's subject area.

NewJour
http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour/

ListOpt
http://www.listopt.com/

The Scout Report
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/index.html

Try these sites for announcing newsletters that are published or archived on the Web:

Newsletter Access
http://www.newsletteraccess.com/

Add Me!
http://www.addme.com/

Self Promotion
http://www.selfpromotion.com/

Submitside.com
http://www.submitside.com/

Circulation Management

Will people subscribe themselves, or will you control who gets on the subscription list ("closed subscription list")?

How much privacy will you give your subscribers? Decide whether or not your subscription list will be open to the public, open only to other subscribers, or completely hidden.

Keep your subscriber list clean and up-to-date. "Bouncing" email comes with the territory, so be prepared to clean up the subscriber list regularly.

Some list management software will perform periodic "probes" for inactive email addresses and notify you of inactive email addresses.

Some software will automatically remove inactive addresses, but, none seem to do a complete job. For example, the listproc software says it will do this, but does it for only about 10% of the bounced mail.

Subscriber Feedback: Listening to your readers

Have you given your readers a way to get in touch with you with their comments and questions?

Include as much contact information as possible:

name of the editor or other contact person
email address, postal address, telephone number, fax number, etc.

When subscribers give you feedback:

Don't take subscriber "flames" too personally
But do try to acknowledge and respond to reader suggestions

Let your readers know if you accept reader contributions and what sorts of contributions you look for. If applicable, include a contribution statement in each newsletter issue.

Example contribution statement from TL Infobits:

Article Suggestions

Infobits always welcomes article suggestions from our readers, although
we cannot promise to print everything submitted. Because of our
publishing schedule, we are not able to announce time-sensitive events
such as upcoming conferences and calls for papers or grant
applications; however, we do include articles about online conference
proceedings that are of interest to our readers. While we often mention
commercial products, publications, and Web sites, Infobits does not
accept or reprint unsolicited advertising copy. Send your article
suggestions to the editor at carolyn_kotlas@unc.edu

Reprint Permissions and Copyright: Getting and giving permissions

Although not required by copyright law, it's a good idea to put a copyright statement on each issue.

Example from TL Infobits:

 © Copyright 2006, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ITS
Teaching and Learning. All rights reserved. May be reproduced in any
medium for non-commercial purposes.

Getting permission to reprint from other sources:

Fair use permits you to quote small portions of copyrighted material for review purposes.

Ask for permission to reprint entire articles or large portions.

It's courteous to notify people that you are mentioning them in your newsletter, esp. when including contact information (their email address, telephone number, etc.) This prepares them for any wave of email that might result from your newsletter article.

Giving permission to others to reprint from your newsletter:

Decide under what circumstances you will grant others the right to reprint from your newsletter.

Include a reprint right statement that will minimize handling reprint requests.

Example from TL Infobits:

May be reproduced in any medium for non-commercial purposes.

Archiving Back Issues

Will you make back issues available? For how long?

What archiving method will you use: plain text files, HTML files, listserver archiver, some combination of these methods?

Example of archive of plain text files of TL Infobits newsletter:
http://its.unc.edu/tl/infobits/text/

Example of archive of HTML-format files of TL Infobits newsletter:
http://its.unc.edu/tl/infobits/

Assessment of Success: How do you know you're succeeding?

Decide how you will measure the success of your newsletter. Will you conduct a readership satisfaction survey? Will the number of subscribers be a measure of success?

Counting subscribers:

Is the number of subscribers your measure of success? I keep an annual tally of the number of subscribers and also try to determine what country they are in. In addition to the numbers, I try to determine what percentage of subscribers fit into my target audience (in this case, faculty and staff in higher education).

If your newsletter is only published on the Web, you probably won't have a subscriber list. In this case, you can use a website "hit" counter to get statistics on site visitors. For a small fee (or, in some cases, at no cost), website counter services provide you code that can be inserted into your web page to keep track of visitors. Here is a sampling of some of the available counter services:

Google Analytics
http://www.google.com/analytics/

TheCounter.com
http://www.thecounter.com/

Web-Stat
http://www.web-stat.com/

Counter
http://counter.superstats.com/

Losing subscribers: Don't take unsubscribing personally -- as people move jobs and their interests change they may unsubscribe, but that is no reflection on the quality of your newsletter.

Reader feedback:

Does your organization recognize the value of the newsletter by using it as a promotional piece?

If you receive complimentary letters from readers, pass these on to those in a position to support the continuance of the newsletter.

Has your newsletter received recognition from other organizations? Make sure your organization knows about honors/awards the publication has received.

Some Final Advice from One Who Has Been There

Savor the rewards of publishing your own newsletter:

Publishing a newsletter gets you noticed within your organization.
You'll get access to more people and information inside and outside of your organization.
You'll get a warm feeling from the surprising number of nice letters from appreciative readers.
You'll get asked to share your experiences with others in your institution, at conferences, in workshops.

Use criticism productively:

Don't dwell on reader's negative comments or see them as evidence of personal failure on your part.
See if there is something in the comments that you can use to improve your newsletter.

Most of all . . . HAVE FUN! (Yes, you can!)