Do you need a third party mailing list if you use wordpress?

[msdobing]

Hey

I posted this on kdp support but it's got lost in moderation hell.

Basically, I use wordpress.com for my blog (www.msdobing.com) and as no doubt most of you know there is the facility there for readers to subscribe via email to the blog from there, even if they don't have a wordpress account.

Now, most authors recommend having a mailing list set up as part of their "platform". Something like mailchimp or similar.

My question is, if I have this functionality with wordpress (a subscriber list), why would I need a separate third party mailing list? Do I actually need it? I do have a mailchimp account but I'm not using it yet as I'm not sure if it's required?

Any thoughts from you good people? I'm sure I'm being dim but welcome any input.

Thanks

Mike

[KBoards.com]

[Marina Finlayson]

People who subscribe to your blog will get notified when you have a new post there. As an author, that's not what you want. You want them to subscribe to a specific newsletter, which you can use to send them news of new releases and/or book news or whatever you deem appropriate. (Some authors send regular, chatty newsletters about all aspects of their writing, with cover reveals, book reviews, notice of sales by them or other authors in the genre, etc, while some authors only want to send email to their subscribers when they have a new release. There are pros and cons to both approaches.)

If they subscribe to your blog and get notified every time you post they may quickly get tired of you (depending on how often you post and what you post about) and/or ignore your posts. For instance, I don't just post about my books on my blog. There are funny stories about little things, thoughts about writing, photos from holidays, etc. Someone who only wants to know when I have a new book available isn't going to want to get constant notifications about stuff like that.

Also, I'm not sure--but someone else will probably come along who knows--whether a blog subscription would satisfy the CAN-SPAM laws, or how well Wordpress would handle the traffic if you ended up with thousands of subscribers (as we all hope we will!).

[Kate.]

Another reason to have an independant mailing list is for portability. AFAIK, Wordpress doesn't let you export the email addresses. All good commercial mailers do, though, which means it's easy to change your platform - just download the addresses, re-upload to the new system, and you're set. Right now, if you ever had to change to a new blog or website (or wanted to stop blogging) you'd lose all of your contacts.

[msdobing]

Thanks Darcy & Marina.

Ah - didn't think about the portability aspect of things - good point!

One thing I didn't like about the mailchimp service was the need to disclose my home address for this - is this visible to subscribers? I'm assuming it is and I will check it out but it's a bit disconcerting to know I can be tracked down to home!

Thanks

Mike

[Abderian]

Thanks Darcy & Marina.

Ah - didn't think about the portability aspect of things - good point!

One thing I didn't like about the mailchimp service was the need to disclose my home address for this - is this visible to subscribers? I'm assuming it is and I will check it out but it's a bit disconcerting to know I can be tracked down to home!

Thanks

Mike

Many rent a P.O. box to use as their mailing list address.

[TommyHill]

Thanks Darcy & Marina.

Ah - didn't think about the portability aspect of things - good point!

One thing I didn't like about the mailchimp service was the need to disclose my home address for this - is this visible to subscribers? I'm assuming it is and I will check it out but it's a bit disconcerting to know I can be tracked down to home!

Thanks

Mike

I had the same issue with Mailchimp displaying my home address. I went back into the system and changed my street to 11111 Anystreet while leaving my city the same (I live in a large metropolitan area). So far, I've had no issues with Mailchimp over it, but I agree it is disconcerting they broadcast your freaking address to anyone

[AnmaNatsu]

One thing I didn't like about the mailchimp service was the need to disclose my home address for this - is this visible to subscribers? I'm assuming it is and I will check it out but it's a bit disconcerting to know I can be tracked down to home!

Yes, because it is part of the anti-spam law.  The address is put at the bottom of every newsletter you send.  Get a PO or PMB to use as your business address.  That's perfectly fine.  Using a fake address is not something I'd encourage - yes, some people have gotten away with it for awhile, but if you are caught MailChimp has ever right to kill your account without warning and you could be risking hefty federal fines. 

Any valid mailing list service will have the same requirements. 

[Alan Petersen]

Yes, because it is part of the anti-spam law.  The address is put at the bottom of every newsletter you send.  Get a PO or PMB to use as your business address.  That's perfectly fine.  Using a fake address is not something I'd encourage - yes, some people have gotten away with it for awhile, but if you are caught MailChimp has ever right to kill your account without warning and you could be risking hefty federal fines. 

Any valid mailing list service will have the same requirements. 

Very true. And yes, MailChimp will boot you if they bust you, but you're in violation of federal law (CAN-SPAM Act) by using a fake address. Will the Feds come kicking in your door, not likely, but you open up yourself for legal issues if you have any problems down the line. In the U.S. PO boxes are cheap. I pay $82 per year for the smallest USPS PO Box. And they even offer a free month when you first sign up and it's all tax deductible. The easiest way to stay on the right side of the law (the CAN-SPAM Act allows PO boxes). You can even display it as a street address if you want. All you need is the street address of the postal office with your PO box number, example: 1234 Main Street, City, State, #123456.

[fireflywriter]

People who subscribe to your blog will get notified when you have a new post there. As an author, that's not what you want.

I never considered this, but you're right.  We want their emails so we can let them know when we have something new out.

[Steve Boseley]

Some really helpful comments here. I'm in the same position and posed this question somewhere else.
My author website is with Wix but I left my blog with Wordpress and mailchimp gives me a way to add to the same list from 2 different sites.

Thanks for this!

[Nicole Simon]

You don't need to but you will want to go with a full fledged mail service provider since the wordpress integration is bare bone.

With Mailchimp (or other services) you get a lot of features and benefits which you just will never get with your wordpress integration. And as mentioned those are mostly for "i have a new blogpost, send it to everyone". From a user perspective, a normal mail newsletter is also easier to deal with.

On your address: yes you can change it to a fantasy address. however this is not something mailchimp demands but the law - and you can get in trouble for it. I am not a lawyer and not familar with the proceedings in the US, but I heard it is similar to Germany - competitors can hire a lawyer and send you a kind of cease and desist.

Wordpress does not force you to add it, however if you meet one of those people who will make trouble for you, they will be able to do so since again it is a law thing and not the providers issue.

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