Information Outlook, vol. 3, no. 6, June 1999, pp. 54, 56.

For a number of years, I have been publishing newsletters for various
organizations and in various formats: print, e-mail, and on the web. The
advantages of digital over paper make electronic newsletter publishing
especially attractive when funds are limited. You no longer worry about paper
and postage costs. You don't fiddle with printing and pasting address labels.
You don't have to learn and use complicated layout and publishing software.
Distribution is practically instantaneous. If you already have experience
producing print newsletters, many of your skills will transfer over into the
electronic medium. However, before you make the decision to go digital, it helps
to familiarize yourself with some of tasks that are unique to electronic
publishing. Some of the differences you will encounter between print and
electronic media include design and layout, distribution, publicity, subscriber
list maintenance, and handling back issues.

Design and Layout: "Branding" Your Newsletter

If you are converting an existing print newsletter into an electronic
publication, note that many design details that work in print don't translate
well into electronic format. For example, colors and graphics can pose problems
even for web-published newsletters. Choose colors carefully; colors that look
great in printed materials can be unattractive and distracting on the screen. If
your newsletter is sponsored by an organization that already has identifying
colors and logos, try to match them in your web newsletter. This will provide a
consistent appearance and help readers identify your publication with your
organization. Do keep graphics and their file sizes to a minimum; readers with
slow Internet connections will appreciate graphics that don't take forever to
appear on their screens.

There are many basic web design guides (both books and web sites) that you can
consult for layout advice. Jakob Nielsen's "Alertbox" is a good source of
tips--see particularly the January 24, 1999, column, "Differences Between Print
Design and Web Design" www.useit.com/alertbox/990124.html.

E-mail-only newsletters published as plain text force you to limit your design
options even further. However, limited layout doesn't have to mean lousy layout.
E-mail 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; point your readers to a web site where they can view
any non-text materials. Line lengths are important in e-mail newsletters--watch
out for the "disappearing end of line" when line lengths exceed the width of the
reader's screen. It's a good idea to send yourself a copy of the newsletter and
then view it on a small-screen monitor so you can get a preview of what many of
your readers will encounter. You may find you need to adjust line lengths or
line breaks before e-mailing out the final copy.

Distribution: Getting the Newsletter to Subscribers

Before you send out your e-mail newsletter, familiarize yourself with the
technicalities of e-mail distribution lists. Unless your subscriber list is
extremely small, you will need a distribution system composed of the hardware
where the subscriber list resides, the distribution software that gets the
newsletter to the subscribers, and the technical staff who keep everything
running smoothly. Your organization may have all or part of these components
already in place. If not, check out these resources for some suggestions:

Vivian Neou's "E-mail List Management Software"
www.catalog.com/vivian/mailing-list-software.html

Tim Tripp's "Overview of Software"
www.inforamp.net/~ttripp/ola/

If your organization can't set up a distribution system for your newsletter,
there are a few web sites that will "host" your subscriber list, often in
exchange for including their advertising. For a list of these services, see
Vivian Neou's "Internet Mailing List Providers"
www.catalog.com/vivian/mailing-list-providers.html.

Currently there are few companies where you'll be able to purchase a list of
e-mail addresses to get your subscription list started; however, there are a
number of ways you can get potential subscribers to come to you. Try advertising
your newsletter in print publications, both in and outside your organization.
Use other electronic newsletters in related fields as sources for publicity.
Just as you are, their editors are constantly looking for content. They may be
happy to announce your publication, especially if you provide them with a
ready-to-use copy of your announcement with details on how to subscribe.

For either e-mail or web newsletters there are several free electronic resource
announcement services available. Before submitting your newsletter announcement,
check out any submission guidelines so you don't waste time submitting
information to services that are not interested in your newsletter's subject
area.

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

Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries E-Journal Website
www.coalliance.org/ejournal/

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

Net-Happenings
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/net-hap/index.html

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

Submit It! Free

www.siteowner.com/

Qwik L@unch

www.qwiklaunch.com/

Add It!

www.liquidimaging.com/submit/

Net Announce!

www.erspros.com/net-announce/index.phtml

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.

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.

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.

Publishing your electronic newsletters can mean stretching your technical
skills. Be patient and give yourself permission to make some mistakes. Then
enjoy the rewards. An electronic newsletter can be a valuable marketing and
public relations tool for your organization. It's a low cost way to provide
authoritative information, advice, and instruction to staff, clients, or
customers. It will get you noticed by more people within and outside your
organization. You may even get a surprising number of nice letters from
appreciative readers, letting you know that your work has a positive impact. If
you do get negative comments, don't dwell on them, but see if there is something
in the comments that you can use to improve your newsletter. Above all, don't
forget to take time to enjoy the experience.

For a list of useful books, articles, and web sites for electronic newsletter publishers
see: www.unc.edu/~kotlas/sarc99.html#read.

by Carolyn Kotlas. This article is based on a presentation, "Self-Publishing Electronic Newsletters," http://www.unc.edu/~kotlas/sarc99.html; given at the Special Libraries Association South Atlantic Regional Conference, March 11, 1999, in Charleston, SC. Kotlas is information resources consultant at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for Instructional Technology and publisher of the Infobits electronic newsletter http://www.unc.edu/cit/infobits/infobits.html;. She can be reached via e-mail at carolyn_kotlas@unc.edu.