It's Not About You! (Except When It Is)

Reflections on our (un)subscribing practices

Well, the sky didn’t fall.

There was no mass exodus of subscribers after my provocatively titled last post: “Please Unsubscribe.”

Did I think I’d lose many? Not really. But you can’t write or think about a subject like this—about people rejecting you—without some self-reflection and maybe a pang of self-doubt. I felt it, and I heard it from readers and writers in the comments and in the back channels.

All told, I lost 2 subscribers and gained 4.

As usual, unsubscribers just disappeared into the mist. There were no break-up notes, no “it was fun while it lasted,” no “I took a left turn when I shouldn’t have turned right,” no “you suck.” Oh well.

In the end I learned a little bit more about you and a little more about me.

Below, you’ll see the results of the survey from last week (it’s still live), with a brief observation about each. I’m especially interested to hear your observations in the comments.

In the end, I conclude that having someone unsubscribe just comes with the territory. Mostly it’s not about you—but yeah, sometimes it is. So suck it up and deal with it.

I think most writers conclude that the best they can do is be honest and true to their vision and let the chips fall where they may. That remains my plan, and I thank you for sticking with me.

Question #1:

My take: Most people are fairly selective about what they subscribe to. That makes me appreciate my subscribers even more, knowing that they’re not just subscribing willy-nilly to everything under the sun (like I do).

Question #2:

My take: Boy Tom, that wasn’t a very well-written question! The results just don’t tell me much, other than that having a recognizable “voice” matters.

Question #3:

My take: There’s a whole lot of folks (62%) who either don’t want to take the time to unsubscribe or don’t want to hurt the author’s feelings, so they allow their email to get cluttered with stuff they don’t like. Aren’t we humans funny? (Side note: My wonderful mother-in-law just visited and I saw that she had 100,584 notifications in her email. She could do with a little unsubscribing!)

Question #4:

My take: This was the most instructive advice for me as a writer: don’t send too much and don’t be boring. I take this response as a strong reminder to only send distinct and interesting content. (Would there was a formula to figure that one out!!)

I’d love to hear any alternate readings on this topic or these results.

And, I’ll be back next week with the next chapter in my novel, followed a week later by a dive down the bagel hole, of all things.