You will find that your readers will write to you with questions, comments, and often complaints. Don't forget now these are same people that control fate of your newsletter. Treat them as you would any life giving force. Your subscribers are (99%) intelligent, well-mannered people seeking wisdom of your print. They will express their own ideas and desires. They will ask you for your input and thoughts. Often this may be impossible, but one of your top priorities should be to respond to your readers with honest, informative information with a touch of your thrown in. Keep in mind that for every 1 malcontented feedback message that you receive there are hundreds or thousands that are happy, but never write. Think about it. How many times do you write just to tell somebody they are doing a great job, as compared to how many times you have written to complain about a product or service? After your subscriber base becomes very large (that's assuming that it will), you will find that many of questions will be similar. For this you can use a "replicated" or "canned" response. You can save these responses in a special text file as you create them, and call up file when you need them.

In closing I would like to say that it's your job to get "their" newsletter out on schedule each and every time. Your subscribers will come to expect and yes, demand their newsletter on time and intact. Consider yourself a "Mailman". Neither rain nor shine, nor vacation or sickness shall deter you from your duty. If you are publishing a serious newsletter and are sole person doing this insurmountable job, do yourself a favor and get a laptop if you haven't already. I myself have published from bed with a fever and all over country, and you will too!

7. Have you reminded your readers right away that this is a *subscription* publication?

Don't let them forget that they *asked* to receive this! Something like this right under your masthead will do: "You've received this e-zine because you subscribed to it! If you wish to unsubscribe, please scroll to end for more information."

8. If you have a table of contents (TOC), do its listings match this issue's articles and features?

For example, if your TOC says your second feature in this issue is an article on Web site marketing, make sure it's right!

9. Have you included a copyright notice?

At end of your content, before your contact info, post "(c)" immediately followed by year and your name or your company's name. (For example, my copyright notice is (c) 2001 Alexandria K. Brown.) You should know that a copyright notice does not protect your ideas - instead, it protects way you express them.

10. Are correct advertisements in place?

Keep track of all your ad swaps and purchases in one main document to make this easy to look up each time. I use an Excel spreadsheet, which works great for me. Along top rule, I list each issue date. Down left side, I list my ad spots, which are sponsor ad, ad 1, ad 2, and ad 3.

11. Do you give clear subscribe and unsubscribe instructions at bottom?

The subscribe instructions are to help you virally grow your list. Your ezine will likely get passed on to others who'd like to receive it themselves. The unsubscribe instructions are just BECAUSE - it's plain courtesy, and law of land. : )

12. Does your subject line include both name of your e-zine and issue topic?

By seeing your e-zine title, your recipients will know e-mail is not spam. And by seeing issue topic, they will know what's in store for this issue.

Example: "Sara's Cash Flow Tips: Increase Your Income Today!"

13. Have you sent a test of issue to yourself or an associate?

Make sure it comes through reading well and looking great! (Check for any strange symbols that magically appear, odd breaks in copy, inactive links, etc.) And this is a GREAT time to give it a final proofread.