At first, I enthusiastically recommended AXP to Christine but then started having issues such as being reported as spam though it was my understanding the people on these lists had agreed to be added to authors’ mail lists. I did gain about 120 subscribers who signed up for my list before the giveaway was over, so that was good. However, the “thousands” of potential subscribers this company promoted didn’t turn out. So I’ve really backed away from promotions with AXP until I get more information, and have taken the stance “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

In the meantime, I learned about the GDPR–General Data Protection Regulation–going into effect in the European Union at the end of May. I’d really urge you to research this if you are building your email list. There are very strict requirements for how people get on your email lists and stiff penalties for not complying. I don’t want to run separate email systems for EU subscribers and others, so I’m checking this out thoroughly to make sure I comply with the regulations.

And I continue to look for other opportunities for giveaways/promotions to reach new readers while coming up with ways to reward current subscribers on my email list. I have a series of ten romantic suspense books I’m promoting this year, focusing on a different book in the series each month with some other promotions planned for the holidays. I feel like I’m making progress in promotion/marketing, but it seems slow! So I hope others will chime in with ideas.