Tips From 15 Newsletter Writers On How To Build Your Own

A group of newsletter authors with a combined audience of hundreds of thousands shares advice on writing, promoting, and community

Full post at the link; read on for

Credits to the team for putting this together:

@lennysan @nbashaw @nbt @JayCoDon @thatguyBG @ataussig @SarahNoeckel @sariazout @ljin18 @sidharthajha @DruRly @Kantrowitz @TurnerNovak @iankar_ @bradwolverton

2/18
Do awesome work:

“Above all else, it’s all about your content. If it’s valuable, people will read it and share it. Produce great content, consistently, and your audience will grow.” @lennysan

3/18
Do awesome work:

"When someone subscribes to your newsletter, you enter into a contractual obligation with your readers. Your #1 job is to honor your readers’ time and write like nobody wants to read your sh*t” @sariazout

4/18
Do awesome work:

"Write something that is 10x better than anything else out there on this topic. If it doesn’t meet this bar, don’t publish.” @ljin18

5/18
Have a differentiated opinion:

“Write about what no one else knows yet” @TurnerNovak

6/18
Push personality:

"Put that reference which only a few hardcore readers will get. Make that inside joke [...] At the end of the day, it’s no good if you’re not having fun with it and it’s very easy to tell who is not having fun with it.” @sidharthajha

7/18
Create consistent content:

“Create a format that works for you from a creative perspective and allows you to put out consistently good content. Consistency creates the expectation of goodness for a user, which can be a driving force to smash that subscribe” @ataussig

8/18
Reward the regular:

“I like leaving surprises for the diligent reader. This could be details in the footnotes that only a few will understand, an interesting link just slightly related to the main topic, or an inconspicuous reference to something else." @Leonlinsx

9/18
Take the time to think on titles:

“Title and subtitle and image and opening lines all have to deliver on a hook that will draw people in from twitter” @nbashaw

10/18
Take the time to think on titles:

“Aka ‘newsletter #257’ with nothing else doesn’t work unless you’re @benedictevans " @thatguyBG

11/18
Give away your most interesting stuff on Twitter:

"Number each tweet. Create a sense of progression. Or gap, if they drop in your thread towards the middle.” @DruRly

12/18
Start a community:

“Build and nurture a community around your work. And be intentional about it -- don’t just hope it will grow organically. People will come for the content, and stay for the community.” @bradwolverton

13/18
Involve your readers:

“Include reader/community generated content: incorporate comments and quotes from your community. It’s a great way to add a human touch to the newsletter, makes everyone feel involved and drives engagement.” @SarahNoeckel

14/18
Replies are a superpower to build community:

“I try to respond to every comment and email that I get in response to a post. I’ve even encouraged private email responders to post public comments so that the community can see our back-and-forth.” @nbt

15/18
Enable relationships:

"Community is a massive part of Fintech Today, but we focus on figuring out ways that we can connect other people in our ecosystem" @iankar_

16/18
Make the Welcome email special

"I ask every new subscriber to share what sparked their interest and what they’re hoping to learn. The responses help me know audience, and not write for some abstract ideal of who might be on the receiving end of my newsletter" @Kantrowitz

17/18
Full post is here, and feel free to add on to the thread with tips of your own:

https://t.co/VHy4GTf6yS

18/18

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He was a douchebag, but he was in on the joke. He was a dick, but he was also very entertaining.

In the mornings he would live stream himself analyzing stocks or walking through drug discovery pathways.

In the afternoon he’d let people call in and debate him live on air. A CNN reporter tried to get him to go on TV, he refused, and said debate me here on Blab, no edits, no tv time limits.

At night he’d host late night convos - and eventually fall asleep on cam

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We had big celebs like Tony Robbins, the Jonas brothers etc... he outperformed them all.

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H/T @Julian for this

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Got an Android user complaining how your website looks but you only have an iPhone? Use Blisk.

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