043 - Nursing A Damaged Ego

I killed over 60% of my email list. Here’s where I go from here…

Image by Edu Lauton

I killed over 60% of my email list. Here’s where I go from here…

Welcome to the Editor’s Journal; A daily thought on writing, the creative process, art, work, the world and how it all goes together. Every morning I rise early, I sit here in the quiet of my kitchen and I write whatever’s prominent. There’s no clever headlines and no script, just open and honest thoughts. I hope you enjoy the read. If you like this article please offer some love by hitting the 💚 on the left

A few days ago I dumped roughly 60% of my subscribers to Sunday Letters. My list wasn’t enormous so this action hurt.

I teed up an autoresponder sequence to go out over the course of 4 days to re-engage with subscribers who hadn’t opened the last five campaigns I sent. Open rates on campaigns have been low; (16 to 20%), and I wanted to improve on that and get the conversation going again.

To me there’s no point having 100 people on my email list if only 16 of them open my stuff.

Now, granted there could be other reasons my emails are not opened, such as uncompelling headlines and shity content. However, prior to recently increasing my writing I had been very quiet. There was momentum in the wrong direction.

So on Sunday I had my finger on the trigger…

But I bottled it.

I started to doubt the rationale of my decision.

I saw the number of subscribers in the queue for removal and I paused the final “goodbye” email before it started sending.

What if I was making the wrong decision? Some of these dormant subscribers will surely open my future emails, right?

“Don’t be silly”, my ego said. “The bigger the list the better, open rates don’t matter that much!”

So I stewed for a few days…

Then I pulled the trigger and lost about 60% of my list in one foul swoop.

I felt deflated :-(

Like A Slap In The Face

Some people I knew personally jumped from my list on the back of those emails. That felt like a slap in the face.

So I’ve been nursing my ego somewhat. Not to worry though, it gives me a chance to create content that my readers really want, and maintain good conversation this time around.

In spite of the negatives, reaction to the prompt to my readers to get back into Sunday Letters has been encouraging.

From this point on my focus needs to be on delivering the best content I can.

Refining The Content

While all this has been occupying my mind, I have also been considering the structure of my content while not writing as much as I had committed to previously.

I’ve been trying to find a way to include business and marketing stuff with what I write about creativity and it seemed like I was forcing it.

I’ve been trying to rationalise covering many topics and the truth of it is that doing so splits my focus of energy.

Therefore the answer is simple…

SIMPLIFY.

From here on my focus will remain on the subject of creativity and related subtopics as far as they concern the artist and creative person. Others will no doubt get value from the material but this will be who I have in mind when I write.

Rather than try to hit a homerun every day I will write three times per week on Tuesday, Thursday and of course on Sunday with Sunday Letters.

This way I can put the time in required to create a meaningful article that you can get good value from. Otherwise I’m writing without putting the time in that’s required to give you something better than ordinary.

Want to join me? Jump on board here;

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Hi I'm Larry, writer and artist. I write and publish a new article every day about creativity, art, work and how it all…larrygmaguire.com

Right now I’m doing a little housekeeping around larrygmaguire.com and also building out ideas for future books and other products.

I will continue to write daily on Storymaker, filling you in on my process, things I think deeply on, opinion and altogether a more personal account of things.

Anyway, that’s it for now. If you liked this article please offer some love by hitting the 💚 on the left.

See you in the morrow.

The Artist’s Manifesto is a short book about staying true to our art. It is a call to Artists and Creatives like you to create from the heart with passion and integrity, disregarding the need for applause and recognition. It’s available from 13th May 2017. Grab your FREE copy here.

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Howdy, I’m Larry, Writer & Artist. Thanks for taking the time to read my stuff. I write about art, creativity, business & marketing. When I’m not doing that I write short stories about the ordinary lives of people and the challenges they face. My stuff can be edgy, hard hitting, and sometimes controversial, but never contrived. If that’s your bag you can Sign-up To Sunday Letters Here.