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Originally Posted by bearstardiode
I figure if I do it on a pastor by pastor basis, don't break any laws (lol), I'll be okay. Really appreciate the input.
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I'm not sure that doing it "on a pastor by pastor basis" will stop you being labelled a spammer. In the UK, the Information Commissioner's website
says (my emphasis):
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The most important thing to remember is that you can only carry out unsolicited electronic marketing if the person you're targeting has given you their permission.
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If you collect emails for people and then send them marketing, you'll fall foul of that rule, whether you send out a mass email or write each one by hand. My understanding is that the relevant law is determined by the location of the recipient, so if you send to someone in the UK you'll need to abide by UK law. I get the impression that you're planning to send to pastors in the US, so UK law won't be relevant, but I'd imagine the provisions will be similar.
Also, the law isn't the only issue (and it's arguably not even the biggest issue). The black lists have their own criteria, which aren't necessarily based on the law. If you behaviour looks like that of a spammer, whether it's legally defined as spam or not, you'll get listed, and once you're listed you'll find that many people won't receive your emails. As gmw said, the same applies to blogs, if you're identified as a blog spammer you'll find it difficult to comment on many blogs.
I'd strongly recommend you ditch your plan to email pastors. I think you'll find it extremely difficult to get a reasonable response rate while not being labelled a spammer. According to
MailChimp, an average of 22-48% of emails sent through them are opened (it varies a lot by industry), and only about 1-5% of people click on links in those emails. These are emails sent to people who have specifically asked to receive those emails, so you can expect to get a much lower rate from emails sent "on spec".
This page says that direct email marketing gets a 0.12% response rate - that's roughly one response for every 833 emails.
My own suggestion would be to participate on blogs and forums that pastors frequent. Don't just post links to your book, participate in the discussions normally. Include a link to your website in your signature, possibly include a note stating that free review copies are available. Maybe use your book cover as your avatar.