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CJ Chilvers

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I’ve received and responded to dozens of great questions the past few weeks, but most of them have a common theme, like this one from Kevin: > ”This month’s theme about newsletters is a daily kick in the groin. I’ve wanted to start a newsletter for a

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Attracting Readers: Forwards

Email newsletters allow for a kind of discovery not possible with other mediums: the forward. If someone loves your newsletter enough to forward it to a friend or colleague, it becomes both a method of discovery and a testimonial in one. It's word of mouth that actually includes

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New Newsletter: Creating Your Newsletter Week 2

I go on a bit of a rant this morning in my personal newsletter about the controversial “spy pixel” manifesto and add a bunch of links that don’t show up on this blog. I just wanted to let you know that there’s more going on in my newsletter

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Go headless.

For years, I had a masthead my personal newsletter. That small step (which often took quite a while to decide on) was something I thought looked pretty good and made the newsletter more pleasant to read. I may have been wrong. I'm not a designer, but I do

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Put your best link forward.

Back in the days when bands sent demo tapes to record companies, they were told to forget about creating a "flow" between your songs. They were told to put their strongest song first, second-strongest second, and so on. If not, the listener would bail in the beginning of

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Add your newsletter link to all the things.

Add it to every social media profile you have. Add it to every email you write (maybe develop a good PS line or just link it to your name). Add it to every piece of content you create across any medium. Still use business cards? Sure, put it there too.

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Recommended: Newsletter Ninja

There are dozens of email marketing books, but they tend to either be too shallow (all feels, no tech) or too deep (all tech, no heart). But sometimes, there’s a book that bridges that gap, like Newsletter Ninja [https://amzn.to/3bAuoLu]. The book is meant for authors with

Recommended: Newsletter Ninja
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Be consistent.

I’ve been terrible in this department with my own newsletter, so I’ll let some others do the talking: > “Once people forget about you or forget to expect you, it can feel more like an intrusion when you reappear. Regularly delivering what people signed up for makes you

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Don't call it a newsletter. Don't ask readers to subscribe.

Over the years, unscrupulous businesses have given “subscriptions” and “newsletters” are bad name among many readers. A good way to combat newsletter fatigue and separate yourself from the crowd is to name your newsletter something more fun, honest, and relatable. You can own a day, like Sunday Dispatches [https://pjrvs.

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Attracting Subscribers to Your Newsletter: Lead Generators

How do you get more people to sign up for your newsletter? The best way is one of the oldest: offer the reader something useful, valuable, and closely related to the subject matter of newsletter for their subscription. Some call this a lead generator, although that term is only really