Part 1 : Lockergnome and e-mail publishing ventures

Why did you start Lockergnome?
Because I couldn't find anything else out there like it. I had no concept of how to pull in advertisers, or making a profit or anything. I'm editorial, I'm content and advertising is not my forte.

Why a newsletter instead of a just a website?
Here's a good story on that. Everybody and their grandmother has a website. Basically I've been doing Lockergnome for four years and I started noticing that I have all these book marks or favorites. The crazy thing is people book mark things but they never return. What's the first thing you do when you get online?

I check my e-mail.
Exactly, that's the first thing everybody does. And I thought I know I'm not the only one doing this. So why don't I just go to them? So I started building my newsletter because I realized the power in being able to send mail that was useful to subscribers with their permission. And it really took off from there.

Your book "E-mail publishing" is very popular as a sort of "guru" guide for publishing, can you talk about that?
Here's how I happened to be able to write my book, people ask how long did it take and I say it took a month or so. And people are shocked. But I really know my stuff - I didn't have to research it; I've been living it, breathing it and researching it. I know the book has done very well; I've actually gotten letters from people who've quit their jobs to try to do a newsletter.

Email has always been a passion for me. For every geek there's always that one thing and e-mail is it for me. It's the first thing that took hold for me way back in 1991.

Why is that?
Because it's a thrill to be able to communicate with anyone. When I first started using it I was thinking this is it, this is going to change the world.

It's thrilling to be able to feel as though you can affect change positively and communicate to anyone you want to.
Exactly, and consequently I'm not a millionaire. I didn't go into an IPO or dot com. Even with their failings, I know the one thing that is not going to change no matter what dot coms fail is e-mail. People are still going to get up tomorrow morning and check their e-mail. That's always going to be happening and that's why strong content e-mail publishing will always be a part of the Internet.

I think that we needed to go through these failings because we needed to understand there has to be a value to whatever you're providing, whether offline or online, and it's just a balancing out now of that. The future of the Internet is not necessarily dot coms or going to a portal of information, it's going to be more centered on services. Wireless is going to be even bigger than the Internet. Technology is going to continue to affect our lives in every aspect. I won't even go to a gas station, for instance, unless I can pay at the pump. I still believe in the power of communication online in terms of conveying information, however I was lucky at the time to be where I was with Lockergnome because there's just tons of stuff out there now.

When you started out how many subscribers did you get in the first six months?
Probably a few thousand and at around five thousand it started to get really unwieldy. Now there's been a big slow down because of the glut in the market and attrition.

And is it important to always have new stuff?
It's got to be genuine. It's not that it has to be new, it has to be genuine.

What is your relationship with your readership? And is it important to maintain a "real" conversation with your readership?
Yes, absolutely. You have to be devoted to them. My readership is amazing; they send stuff back to me all the time. They are part of my company in a way. My subscribers are everything to me. They don't always agree with me, but I always try to do my best for them.

What's the most important thing to consider when you're starting out on an e-mail venture?
Buy my book, no I'm kidding, no really buy it. Really, I think the key is to be original, to have trueness in your endeavor.

Continued...