Much as we moan about marketing emails, Facebook adverts, stuff pushed into out letterboxes, we are very lucky to live in the information age. Honestly.
As a child, I used to have to look up topics in the ginormous Encyclopaedia Britannica at home, cycle to the local reference library or write off to organisations and companies. Then there’d be hours making copious notes, shelling out for postage or photocopying (if you were lucky) and then waiting. And waiting….
Today, all we do is tap a few keys and hey, presto! Pages and pages appear in front of our goggling eyes. Now, there’s a lot of rubbish out there, but amongst it there are expert sites, photos, access to university research, virtual visits to the world’s wonders, even direct contact with astronauts circling that world. Somewhere, there is information about everything.
But… (You know me 🙂 )
The biggest problem is overload. Where do we start?
I’ve found that if I sit down and make a list of what interests me, what I’d like to be updated on, whose blog I find amusing, informative or thoughtful, I can weed out all the extraneous stuff. This is also the hardest step. But once decided, you can then choose which information you want to receive and ditch the rest, usually via the spambox. If you receive emails from a list you didn’t subscribe to, that’s now illegal in the EU.** But perhaps you’re like me and have forgotten what you signed up to. Just use the unsubscribe link. If there isn’t one, report the sender to your local data protection agency.
Turning it round the other way, I’d rather have 400 interested and participating newsletter subscribers than 40,000 who just clicked for the free book. Numbers aren’t everything (although 40,000 engaged subscribers would be lovely!).
So what would you get from signing up to my newsletter?
1. You join an established and select team – you get involved, you can share your thoughts.
2. You stay in the loop. In the age of info overload, subscribing means you’ll never miss out on what you actually want to see.
3. You read the latest info from Ancient Rome including photos (Yes, history changes continuously.).
4. Free stuff and offers, the occasional competition plus the opportunity to join the Roma Nova Reviewers club
5. Early news about new releases and sneak peeks
6. Guests who have something interesting to say, not just spammy PR posts
7. It’s once a month, so regular but it doesn’t flood your inbox.
8. Fully compliant with GDPR, so your personal data is safe.
9. And as a thank you for signing up, you can download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s World of Thrillers’, a FREE ebook containing two short stories, one the prequel to new thriller Double Identity, and the other an adventure in modern Rome for Carina and Conrad two prominent characters in the Roma Nova story.
I don’t spam you, nor guilt you out, nor over-promise. WYSIWYG* is probably a bit old fashioned and geeky now, but this is exactly what you get in my thriller world. See you soon!
*What You See Is What You Get.
** Just to reassure you, EU GDPR applies within the European Union and to me and my sites as I’m resident in France. A new UK law very similar now applies. More info here: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/dp-at-the-end-of-the-transition-period/transition-period-faqs/#brexit
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series.
Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste the latest contemporary thriller… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email newsletter. You’ll also be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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