I’ve been reading for years about author newsletters, how they are the best way to get information out to readers in a timely fashion. I’ve resisted the notion for a long time, figuring I blogged and I’m easy to find on the web, for anyone who might need to know what I’m up to. But Facebook algorithms being what they are and spam filters working the way they do, I finally decided to join the bandwagon. I have a new monthly newsletter — and the first issue is coming in the next couple of days.
This is the email I sent out last week. You may have already gotten a copy. If so, you’ve probably already made your choice about joining the newsletter. Let me stress that whatever choice you made, it’s fine.
If you joined the mailing list, welcome. If you figure you hear plenty about my work elsewhere, lovely. Either way, I will not email you again unless you clicked the link and joined the newsletter list.
For those of you who didn’t get the email (either your spam filter caught it or you weren’t on my invitation list), this is what I sent out. People who sign up for the newsletter are welcome to download a token of my appreciation:
Just click the link in the letter below and it will walk you through the onboarding system.
Thanks for thinking about joining my newsletter!
Dear friend,
You’re receiving this note because we’ve been in contact in the last several years, whether because of my space opera trilogy, the Alondra stories, 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die, my travel essays, or through one of my blogs.
I’m finally launching a monthly email newsletter for people who don’t want the commitment of following a blog. Look for quick updates on my speaking & reading schedule, morbid travel destinations (probably a cemetery or two), and book giveaways.
If you’d be interested in receiving the newsletter no more than once a month, please sign up here.
If you’re not interested, you don’t need to do anything. I know you’re busy and I don’t want to clutter up your inbox. This is the one and only time I’ll send you an email about my newsletter.
Thanks for reading!
Loren Rhoads
Author & Editor
PS. Last year, Northern California was struck by the worst wildfire in the area’s history. Paradise, California was scoured from the map. Nearly 100 people died and thousands were left homeless. In order to raise money for the survivors, I’ve edited Tales for the Camp Fire: A Charity Anthology Benefiting Wildfire Relief, a collection of short stories by Northern Californian horror writers. The book came out last month. There will be more details in my newsletter — or you can order it directly from Amazon.
When I put together my first book of cemetery essays, I had so many essays written that I had to leave some of them out. I tried to be conscious of how many California cemeteries I included, how many times I rambled around graveyards with my mom, how many times I raved about how beautiful any particular burial ground was. I wanted to include as many historically significant sites as possible, which meant leaving out some of my more personal stories. I wanted Wish You Were Here: Adventures in Cemetery Travel to be complete, but not an omnibus.
That first book was All You Need is Morbid. It’s a collection of essays about traveling with my husband. Of course, it includes some cemetery essays, including a trip high into the mountains of the California Gold Country to find the tiny village graveyard of Iowa Hill, visiting the Bone Chapel of Kutna Hora on my birthday, searching out the Capuchin Catacombs on our first day in Rome, and stumbling across casts of people buried in the ruins of Pompeii.
This time I concentrated on stories about sharing my love of cemeteries with other people:
This Sunday, September 16, I will show some of my favorite photographs from 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die at one of my favorite cemeteries in the book, Colma’s 