In the forthcoming motion picture Real Steel, human prizefighters are replaced by boxing robots.

This fate may be reality, not science fiction, for writers.

A company called Narrative Science (www.narrativescience.com) claims their technology can “transform data into high-quality editorial content … without human authoring or editing.”

If it’s true, this is bad news for freelance writers who produce articles and other content. These writers could be replaced by a machine.

I say “if” it’s true because the Narrative Science web site offers not one iota of proof that they can do as they claim. There are no videos, demos, white papers, webinars, testimonials, case studies, or explanations of how their software allegedly writes content.

Without proof, I am highly skeptical. But if Narrative Science has actually done it, some content writers may be forced to find a new way to make a living.

The other day, one of my online subscribers, CR, complained about the e-mail marketing of a famous Internet marketer.

 “I unsubscribed from his list,” she told me haughtily. “As soon as I joined, I got e-mails from him once or twice every day – and there’s no one I or anyone else needs to hear from that much.”

 That begs the question: how frequently can you e-mail your online subscribers?

 Or: how much e-mail is too much?

 People have lots of opinions about this issue, which they support with arguments that are both passionate and logical.

 The problem is: their opinions are wholly subjective.

 The fact is: there’s an easy way to objectively and accurately determine the optimal e-mail frequency for your online subscribers.

 How does it work?

 Well, every time you send another e-mail blast to your list, a small portion of your subscribers will opt out of your list.

 Why?

 They decide that your content is no longer of value to them … or you are doing too much selling … or they don’t like your style … or you are e-mailing them too often.

 The “opt-out rate” is a Web metric that you can measure: the percentage of online subscribers who unsubscribe from your list per e-mail blast.

 A 0.1% opt-out rate means that if you have 10,000 online subscribers, 10 unsubscribed after getting your most recent e-mail.

 When your opt-out rate is around 0.1% or less, you can rest assured that you are not sending too many e-mails to your list too often.

 If you were, the opt-out rate would be higher.

 On the other hand, when your opt-out rate gets much above 0.2 to 0.4%, you are losing subscribers at too rapid a rate.

 For instance, if you have 10,000 subscribers and an opt-out rate of 1%, you lose 100 subscribers every time you send an e-mail to your list.

 You should measure and keep track of your opt-out rates with every e-mail you send.

 Adjust your e-mail frequency, ratio of sales pitches to content, message length, and topics until your opt-out rate hovers around 0.1% to 0.2% or less.

 Now, watch what happens if you increase the e-mail frequency – for instance, go from one e-mail per week to two e-mails per week.

 If you get a sharp upward spike in the opt-out rate – double or more – your subscribers are telling you they don’t want to hear from you that often.

 And you should probably eliminate the extra e-mail.

 On the other hand, if you add an extra e-mail per week and the opt-out rate does not rise significantly, you are safe in continuing at the higher frequency.

 But should you?

 Yes.

 We have lots of preconceived notions about what our market wants — and doesn’t want.

 And one of these preconceived notions is that people don’t want too much e-mail.

 But when the opt-out rate is low, your subscribers are telling you they DO want to hear from you often via e-mail.

 That’s important, because the more times you can reach out to your list with a valuable offer or content, the more money you make online.

 My colleague Amy Africa, a top consultant in B2B e-marketing, says that one of the most common online marketing mistakes is not e-mailing your list frequently enough.

 And by making that mistake, you are leaving money on the table.

You frequently hear digital and new media evangelists say that print in general and direct mail in particular are dead.

If that’t the case, how do you explain the Winterberry Group’s forecast that direct mail spending will grow 5.8% to $47.8 billion this year?

Why would marketers spend nearly $50 billion this year on direct mail if it doesn’t work?

Here’s my pet peeve: being sent books I didn’t ask for.

If you are an author, don?t send me a copy of your book unsolicited in the mail. Ask me for permission first.

My office is overflowing with business books authors have sent me ? books I will never have time to read but hate to throw out, thereby resulting in annoying clutter. (You should see the place!) One author sent me 2 copies of his book after I asked him not to.

If I agree to review your book and it is an e-book, don?t e-mail me a PDF; send me a hard copy print-out in the mail. I don?t want to consume my paper and ink printing out your book.

Fair enough?