“Don’t compete with yourself.”

There’s been a lot of great analysis this week of my favorite topic: the fuzzy line between personal and business newsletters.

Josh Spector gave some good advice about why creating multiple brands is a trap that only multiplies your work and your readers’ confusion. 

“If you insist on building simultaneous brands, think about it like this: ‘I want to be known for THIS thing. And once people discover THIS thing, I’ll introduce them to THAT thing.’”

Austin Kleon wrote about why he thinks the most important about newsletters is the letter:

“What I love most about newsletters is the letter part — the epistle, the missive, the bulletin, the dispatch! What’s going on — in the studio, in my life, in my mind — that’s worth sending out? Worth opening? Worth reading?”

I agree. Short-term newsletter successes abound, but the real successes (20+ years of engaged readers and customers) come from leaning into the personal. This is why you shouldn’t buy courses from people who went from “0 to 150K subscribers in 6 months.” 

I’d rather buy a course on “how I kept my subscribers engaged for over 20 years.” Most of those creators don’t need to sell courses, though.