I know there are lots of good newsletter programs out there.
I don't use any. I have a dinosaur mail system on my server
and I use that.
I figure this way, whatever I send out will get through anything
it meets at the other end.
(Of course, my idea of a good time is to hike the Appalachian trail,
so I can see my methods not attracting everybody
)
Here are some nifty tricks if your newsletter is plain text ( and you
should always make plain text versions available even if most
of your subscribers get html):
>>>>><>Title Here<><<<<<<<
...............month here..................
or:
~*~*~*~*Title Here*~*~*~*~*~
...............month here..................
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
CONTENTS
1. FIRST ARTICLE
2. SECOND ARTICLE
3. ETC
4. ETC
5. ETC
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
1. FIRST ARTICLE
use a "bar" made of symbols like the one below to
separate your articles and keep the number & title
of each article consistent so a person can "scan" quickly
down the text to find the one they want
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
2. SECOND ARTICLE
Play with whatever email program you use to find out
how to make sure a "plain text" article will come out
with a narrow (63-character) line so that people don't
have to scroll sideways when they read.
Once you know how your progam produces what you
want, you will be able to produce a good-looking
newsletter quickly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
3. THIRD ARTICLE
Mail the first copy to yourself before sending it out
so that you can be sure the receiver is getting what
you intended to send.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
4. FOURTH ARTICLE
Keep your articles short, 200 words tops, and don't
try to pack too many into one newsletter.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
5. FIFTH ARTICLE
Once you have got your newsletter looking good, you
can save it and simply paste over the titles and text
with new material each time you send out a new issue.