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Why I Just Unsubscribed 400 of You

The goal of my newsletter is to connect with my readers. It’s a simple, clear goal, but it’s not easy to maintain. Higher open rates on fewer emails are worth vastly more to me than lower open rates on many emails. Because of this, I periodically unsubscribe large

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Keep Going

Austin Kleon and I tend to write about very similar subjects, but to completely different audiences. I follow his blog [https://austinkleon.com] and read his books [https://austinkleon.com/books/]. More than once I’ve deleted drafts of posts, because he just posted the same thing. So, I look

Keep Going
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New Newsletter: Why do some people hate positive news?

Positive news, “Now” pages, and Craig Mod on what makes a good newsletter: it’s all in the latest issue of the newsletter [https://mailchi.mp/cjchilvers/why-do-some-people-hate-positive-news].

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It's Getting Better All the Time

I receive the most criticism when I post about positive things happening in the world. I find that fascinating. It could be because a lot of people rely on negative outlooks to fuel their jobs, hobbies, or identities. Steven Pinker experienced this himself on a grand scale when he published

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Craig Mod on What Makes a Good Newsletter

Craig Mod, prognosticator of publishing, recently tweeted [https://twitter.com/craigmod/status/1062225639619551232] about newsletters: > “There's a tendency to over-design newsletters as of late. I think this misses the point, the *power* of a newsletter is from its intimacy. You can design intimacy out of an experience

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Get Published Podcast Episode 169: CJ Chilvers

Paul G. Brodie had me on his podcast [https://player.fm/series/get-published-podcast-2350290/cj-chilvers-engaging-your-email-list] to discuss A Lesser Photographer [https://www.cjchilvers.com/a-lesser-photographer] and how I chose quality of audience over quantity with my email newsletter. We had a great discussion after the show too about alternative business models

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Thanks, Hamish!

Hamish Gill wrote a wonderful review of A Lesser Photographer at 35mmc [https://www.35mmc.com/31/12/2018/the-lesser-photographer/]: > “I suppose you could call it tips, or maybe advice, but that feels like an injustice to it. It’s more sage than those words sum up – it feels

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I Finally Made a "Now" Page

I don’t know why I waited so long to make a “now” page (Derek Sivers). I read them all the time. If you’re new to the concept, here’s the inventor Derek Sivers [https://sivers.org/nowff]: > “It’s a nice reminder for myself, when I’m

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New Newsletter: Talent, Hard Work, or Luck?

The value of a newsletter, the mechanization of knowledge, and the ubiquity of smartphones. It’s all the latest issue of the newsletter [https://mailchi.mp/cjchilvers/talent-hard-work-or-luck].

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Consistency

This is one of the sentences I say regularly that drives people crazy: > “Consistency is great, but we don’t want to be consistently wrong.” Consistency really is great when it reinforces good habits in your readers (weekly newsletters, daily posts, etc.). It’s terrible when it’s used