I ended up deciding on yearly pricing to keep processing costs down. Each charge is .30 + 2.9%, so it's cheaper for me if I only charge once a year. Monthly pricing is something I'm going to have to really consider. Or maybe a free month to get started. Thanks for the perspective.
My email provider (Mandrill) allows you to choose whether you want to track opens on each email you send. I'm guessing they use some sort of tracking pixel. So you still get the poems in your inbox, but they watch their servers for if that pixel was requested.
After I started building Poetry Every Day, I ran across that very site. I continued building because I think they attract a different type of reader than I am envisioning would be interested in Poetry Every Day. The focus of Poetry Every Day is providing poetry that has stood the test of time. The focus of the American Academy of Poets is to showcase its (living) members' work, interspersed with some classic poetry. That's not at all a bad thing, but I think there are people who are interested in classic poetry that are not interested in contemporary poetry. Those are the people I created Poetry Every Day for.
It may look better if some sentences didn't break to a second line.
I wish I could pay per month. For me it's the principle, I want to try before I commit.
> "Poetry Every Day has the ability to keep track of which poem emails are opened."
Since you can't control how I read email, how does this work? Do I visit a web page to read the poem, or do I read it from my inbox?