Rural Route 2 News Celebrates First Year of Publication

The newsletter, which officially began as a monthly publication in January 2004, is written and published by LeAnn R. Ralph, author of the books, "Christmas in Dairyland (True Stories from a Wisconsin Farm)" (trade paperback; August 2003) -- "Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam" (trade paperback; October 2004) -- "Preserve Your Family History (A Step-by-Step Guide for Interviewing Family Members and Writing Oral Histories)" (e-book; April 2004).Each newsletter contains a story related to some aspect of the author's childhood growing up on a small family farm or the author's experience of living in a rural area today. The newsletter also includes several recipes each month, as well as notes about the author's experiences over the past month, suggestions to check out certain blog entries for other good stories, opportunities for "sneak previews" of Ralph's next book project, and occasionally, opportunities to sign up to win free copies of Ralph's books."It's tremendous fun to write the newsletter," Ralph said. "Before I started sending out a monthly publication in January of 2004, I sent out stories from time to time for at least a year before that."According to conventional Internet marketing wisdom, newsletters should be published daily or weekly. Ralph decided to publish her newsletter monthly."I get so much junk e-mail myself that it's difficult to find the things I want to read among the trash that comes in," she said. "I'm thinking other people probably have enough clutter in their in-boxes too."Another consideration also contributed to her decision to publish monthly."If it comes down to putting out inferior writing just to send the newsletter weekly as opposed to putting out a monthly newsletter with a better quality of writing and better content, I would rather put out a monthly newsletter," Ralph said. "After all, it does have my name on it."What do subscribers think of the newsletter and the monthly publication schedule?"I know you send this out to a lot of people every month, but when I get it, I feel like it's written just for me," one subscriber wrote in an e-mail."I wish there were more things like this on the Internet. More things with good, down-to-earth stories and recipes," said another subscriber when Ralph talked to her on the telephone about a book order."I look forward to your newsletter each month," another subscriber wrote in an e-mail."I didn't grow up on a farm, but I would love to live in the country some day, and your newsletter helps me feel closer to my dream," another subscriber wrote."I love your stories. Keep up the good work," wrote still another subscriber.To read sample chapters and blog entries, and to see back issues of Rural Route 2 News and/or to sign up for the newsletter, visit -- ttp://ruralroute2.com