Support for Indie Authors discussion

Hi all,

I'm a newbie in the group. (I've had my Goodreads account for a while, but am finally investing some time in learning how to use it and getting involved with other authors here). I'm also finally getting around to generating a newsletter for my readers, and had questions for those of you that write newsletters:
Do you feel they are beneficial?
Do you write them weekly? Monthly? Only during a release?
If you write them, do you email them, or do you link readers via email to your website?
And importantly, what successful ways have you found to increase your subscriber list?
Also importantly, has anyone lost readers and do you know what might have contributed to that?
And even more importantly, do you pay for a service to store and send group emails, or use your gmail, etc.

Interested in seeing what works for others, and how I might incorporate some ideas into my newsletter. I was thinking, based on suggestions from a Yahoo loop I am part of, sending a brief email that links to the newsletter on my website, and having a recurring couple items, like a historical detail/recipe from the time period I write in (historical/medieval), and an author spotlight where I feature other authors in my genre. I have my first title coming out with Entangled Select Historical this summer, and would like to grow my readership, because, right now, I only have about 20 people or so signed up for a newsletter (that I haven't even written yet!)

Much thanks.

Try Chimpmail. It is a free group email service. From what I am seeing, a group email is best when you are the author of multiple books and can offer freebies or discounts from Tim to time. So... Keep writing.

Thanks, I'll look up chimpmail. I've promised readers when they sign up that I don't give out their emails to anyone, so if I use a service, I want to make sure I am remaining within that trust. I have three indie titles out already in addition to my contract with Entangled, which is for two completed manuscripts and an option for a 3rd. I HAVE to have a newsletter going... Just wondering how other authors structure theirs. This discussion topic surfaced in a Yahoo romance author loop I am part of, but because my readership also draws from historical fiction and fantasy, I thought I'd ask authors of other genres what they do. Thanks again!

Chimpmail has a lot of tutorials. Basic service is free, but there are some options that you can buy. I understand your lists are confidential and not sold to anyone.