newsletters
Best Practices for Newsletters
I've had a personal newsletter [https://www.cjchilvers.com/subscribe] since around 1999. I've found it to be the most effective means of communication the internet has yet to produce. It's portable, open, universal, and personal. I was asked recently to compile a list
My Favorite Newsletter
As an evangelist for email newsletters, I'm often asked for examples of the best. The problem is, the best are often niche newsletters that only a few hundred or a few thousand specific readers care about...but they REALLY care about them. That's exactly where you
Book Review: Do Open
I believe the email newsletter is the most effective form of communication available online. As popular as they are, I believe they are still incredibly under-used. Nothing brings a return, whether in terms of money or relationships, like the email newsletter. My focus has been solely on relationship building, but
The Importance of Curators
I posted about the The Gruber Model [https://www.cjchilvers.com/the-gruber-model/] last week as a theory for how news could be made more profitable and ethical through the filter of a good “curator.” I theorized the current ad model is just a race to the bottom. I didn’t
Trust Is Scarce
How is it that a lowly email newsletter has become one of the most trusted news outlets in America? Ask Dave Pell, the creator of NextDraft, one of the most successful newsletters on the internet [https://medium.com/thoughts-on-journalism/how-dave-pell-created-one-of-the-most-successful-newsletters-of-the-internet-2dfff4725ba7] : > "It is no surprise as to why Dave
The Importance of Being Small
I've received hundreds of suggestions about how to grow my list [https://www.cjchilvers.com/subscribe] (my primary publishing outlet). Dozens of people approach me about doing podcasts on everything from music to photography to self-help, so I can boost my "visibility" to the creative community.
You Shouldn't Need to Be Forced to Respect Your Reader
This past week Google decided pop-up ads and newsletter sign-up forms are such a bad experience, they will penalize sites still using them starting in 2017 [https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html] . I've been running newsletters since the 90s. I know they're bad for
Don't Worry About Your "Platform"
You need to have a podcast! You need to be on Snapchat! You need a Youtube channel! You need a newsletter! Why? Fame? Money? I know plenty of famous people (even rock stars) who have less in the bank, fewer prospects and less time for family and friends than people
My Rules of Publishing (for 2015)
1. The blog is the most perfect publishing format ever made for reaching the greatest number of people. 2. It’s never too late to start a high quality blog. There’s very few of them. 3. Email is even better than blogging for attracting high quality readers and keeping
My Experiment with Tinyletter
A few months ago I switched my A Lesser Photographer newsletter [http://alesserphotographer.com/subscribe] over to Tinyletter [http://www.tinyletter.com]. I did it because a smaller experiment I did with it months earlier showed a significant increase in reader response. Plus, it was easier, faster and more fun