I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this week I have been posting a box at the end of my stories which gives readers a chance to subscribe to my blog.
I have been thinking of promoting this way of accessing my writing for a while now, but I’m a bit tech challenged and so approached it cautiously. I’ve done some testing and am satisfied that the WordPress system I have put in place will work well.
If you share your email address with me (no one else will see it), you will receive my latest offering in your inbox every day. (I post another story at 12:05 a.m. daily.) The instant my scheduled story is posted, it is sent to you by email.
I realize this could reduce the traffic to my blog, but apparently “newsletters” are the way to go in this day and age when people are so busy. In addition, blogs are less popular than they once were and getting content by email is easier and quicker.
I ran an experiment using my wife’s email and the results were good. Along with my story, there is an opportunity for readers to manage how often you receive my stories. They will appear daily in your inbox at first but if that is too often, you can change the frequency to weekly. There is also a box which invites you to leave a comment.
As well, you can unsubscribe any time you like if you find this whole system to be a bother.
The process is entirely free, although there is an opportunity for fee-based subscriptions in which I have no interest at the present time. But if I do go in that direction, you will never be suddenly presented with an invoice if you simply subscribed. The stories will come to you free of charge – forever.
Some bloggers will sign up fee-based subscriptions for those who would like to access more than the basics, in my case, a story a day. Even if I institute something like this someday, you will never be switched over to that system. You might, however, be invited to go fee-based if that ever comes about. I would publish notices about it and it will be entirely your choice. And, I assume, you will be able to return to the free subscription at any time.
So give it some thought. And if you know of readers who you think would enjoy my stories, it would be great if you could tell them about me and my blog.
I really appreciate your interest in my scribbles which date back more than five decades. Yes, I’m old, but still not beyond my best-before date. Not every story I write and have written is a crackerjack but I do hit one out of the park now and then.
Thanks again.
Jim Hagarty
