What Can I Do About Those Exclusive Mailings?

September 8, 2009

One of the complaints ezine publishers hear regularly concerns “exclusive mailings” – or “solo ads“. These are emails sent to the ezine subscribers which usually contain an ad or other information. Frankly, I’m tired of hearing about it.

Let’s think about this logically. I subscribe to TIME MAGAZINE – and I pay for it. Yet, TIME makes their money mainly from advertising. They routinely send me extra mailings with special offers – in addition to the regular ads in each issue.

If I don’t like it – they are not going to give me my money back. In fact, I would be lucky if I could make them stop sending the magazine before the subscription ran out.

Online ezines are published to build a mailing list. This is no secret. Most publishers don’t do all that work out of the goodness of their hearts. They are in business! The subscriber base is a controlled list of possible buyers for whatever product/service the publisher is marketing.

For the most part, publishers try to give good – and valuable – content. Very few charge for their ezines so this information is FREE to the subscriber. Can you imagine what you would have to pay for the information you receive in a free ezine if you purchased it in training courses?

As a publisher, I have repeatedly refused to accept “Solo ads” to send to my readers. I only send out extra mailings if I believe it’s something my readers really need to know about. However, I have no problem at all with publishers who DO accept solo ads. Advertisers want these ads because they are more likely to be read than a small 5 line ad in the middle of an ezine.

A couple of minutes of my time to read an extra ad sent by a publisher who is providing me with valuable information and/or entertainment every week is a small price to pay for what I’m getting without charge.

Putting out a good ezine every week is a LOT of HARD work! Expecting an ezine publisher to teach us and/or entertain us – then complaining about the occasional extra ad (or even “too many” ads in an issue) is like the people who go to a free Happy Hour buffet – eat $20 worth of free food – then complain because they have to serve themselves.

Ezines were not designed for the sole delight of the subscribers who receive this information for free – then complain about it. They were not designed by publishers to have something to fill up their time – make them crazy – and give them a lot of guff.

An electronic magazine – as with any print magazine – is a vehicle for profit. The trade off with a free ezine is MORE than fair to the subscriber! You get the free information – the publisher gets the exposure for advertising. Extra ads are part of the deal unless otherwise stated.

Is there anything you can do about it? Yes – there is. Learn to live with it or stop taking the gift of the free information the ezine offers you.

About the Author: Dr. jl scott is the Founder of the International Council of Online Professionals (iCop™) – and also the publisher of the Online Business Trade Journal™ – the ezine that keeps you up to date with online business coming of age. For your FREE subscription:
http://www.i-cop.org/trade-journal.htm

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