Adjustment in direction - implementation

As I said last Sunday, I’m going to switch to issuing my tips primarily via email, from the beginning on February (ie. tomorrow evening – assuming there are any tips for Wednesday !).

The proposal to move to email, received a really good response, with just under 50 of you expressing a desire to receive notifications via the new method.

I have now set up 2 distribution groups: one for people who I ‘know’ (or at least feel like I know !) and another for people who I don’t yet know (but may get to know over time).

My intention will be to send the tips to the first group about 5 mins before I send them to the second group.

With so many people interested, there is a definite danger that prices will shorten between the 2 emails being issued – but there is not a lot I can do about that.

The reality is that the bookmakers will only expose themselves to a certain level of liability on any horse, at the time of evening when I issue.

50 people following, averaging around £20 a bet, means that just my followers will be attempting to put £1K on a horse. Simply, the bookmakers won’t accept this without cutting the odds.

I don’t think this will be an issue with all tips: the markets are generally stronger on a Friday evening – and the later I can leave it before I issue, the better. But it will certainly be an issue on midweek days, when I issue early and the markets are weak.

I do still intend to Tweet the tips (for a little while at least). I doubt very much that prices will still be available by the time I put them on Twitter – but I have 140 followers, so quite a few haven’t registered for the email notifications.

Twitter will also provide a useful back up, in case I have any issues with my email (which does happen from time to time !).

I will issue test messages later today using the new distribution groups. If you haven’t received a message by this evening, please email me and I will investigate why.

Just one final thing:

As I mentioned last week, it was really good to ‘talk’ to a few of you and get a better feel for my audience.

A few of you asked if I had intentions to charge for the ‘service’ that I provide – and 2 or 3 of you even offered to pay regardless (very generous indeed !).

To clarify: I have no intention of making any charge for tips or information issued this season. It was my decision to create this blog and I was committed from the onset, to run it until the end of Cheltenham, with no plans to make any money from it (apart from hopefully increasing the returns on my betting !).

If I decide to do the same thing next winter, then there is a possibility that I will make a nominal charge. I’m not absolutely sure this would be the case – but I can certainly see an argument for doing so.

The blog takes me a long time to produce (a fair bit longer than I expected) – and whilst, to an extent that is my choice, the reality is that I wouldn’t be happy putting my ‘name’ to anything of lesser quality – and producing the quality I do, takes time.

As I’ve mentioned before, whilst I have some free time, I don’t have a lot, so there is always a danger that I’ll end up spending time on the blog, which I should really be spending elsewhere. If that becomes the case, then that time has a value – and it seems reasonable to try and recoup something for it.

Like I say, if I do go down that route (and the other option would simply be to blog less - or not at all !) then the charge would only be nominal. I’m not interested in setting up a proper tipping service because I don’t want the pressures it would bring – and I couldn’t afford the time commitment that it should entail (plus, issuing in the evening wouldn’t really work on a larger scale, so I would need to adjust the working schedule which would cause a significant impact on my days; a route I really don’t want to pursue… ).

Anyway, I’ve got all summer to mull over my options. Like I say, I’m not committed to any particular path just yet – and things could easily change over the next 9 months regardless… 

So, there you have it.

All tips will be issued via email from Tuesday evening onwards – so if you want any chance of getting the best prices and haven’t contacted me yet, you need to do so very quickly !!

TVB