newsletters
Newsletters are getting personal
A lot of my advice, especially to small businesses, involves getting more personal in their email newsletters. It remains a struggle to convince some businesses to include real names (not just the brand name), be a little less perfectionist in their designs, and write like a real human. The more
Brands became bands.
Rick Beato just posted a video about why bands have disappeared from the charts, replaced by solo artists and collabs between solo artists. Before recorded music gained mass popularity in the 1950s, music branding was all about individuals. As the industry became a well-oiled machine with global distribution, bands became
When text wins over video
I know the future, and present, of online consumption is video. Audio falls in and out of favor. Text seems like a dinosaur. When does text still win over video? John Gruber thinks he knows and I find it encouraging – especially for email newsletter publishers. He recently released a podcast
“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
AI Burnout
One of the most beloved Italian restaurants in the Chicago area has a different take on menu technology. No QR codes. No over-the-top printing costs. The menu is written on the wall. If you want it on your phone, you take a photo. Humanity is underrated. Does AI decrease productivity?
New: Principles for Newsletters Paperback
There’s finally a physical version of the book at Amazon. You can find it here. There’s a Kindle version up on Amazon as well, if that’s more your thing. That’s over here. I’m still offering the book indie-style as a package in multiple ebook formats
What’s with the hostility towards personal publishing?
It's about money, of course. Google may have a problem with us. A few weeks ago, Google had a big leak. While details are still lacking, it seems like there’s a bias against personal sites when it comes to search results. From Mike King: “Google may be
Embrace the carnage.
The web is back. Or, is it on its back? Google and OpenAI have been racing to see who can replace the web for you. Google isn’t even hiding it anymore. From Platformer via Daring Fireball: “This new approach is captured elegantly in a slogan that appeared several times
Notes on The Newsletter Conference 2024
I went to The Newsletter Conference last week in New York City. Some have posted notes from the event and Dan Oshinsky has even posted the text of his keynote. The first thing I learned was that Dan has been crowned “The Oprah of Newsletters.” I endorse. As one of
This will sound obvious in 3 years
From Digiday: “Newsletters are the darling of the digital media industry again. Publishers like Axios, Eater, The Guardian, theSkimm and Snopes are either growing or revamping their newsletter offerings, tailoring new emails to specific audiences with more personality-driven content…” This was the one of the most important predictions from my