Newsletter Therapy
Helping you send emails that delight, entertain, inform and sell.
What fresh hell is this?
Hey Reader! We appear to be living in, if not the worst of times, certainly not the best either. So is this something you should talk about in your business newsletter? Short answer - if you want to. With this caveat: please do not preach. What I mean by that is don’t make your readers feel like they’re somehow wrong for not jumping on your high horse with you. A while back I was inundated with social media posts by a woman I know. They all revolved around some version of “I won’t look away”...
No pressure, but…
Hey Reader! If you’d joined us this week at Consistency Club, you’d have spent an hour writing, asking Very Important Questions, and feeling seen and heard by your fellow writers. What is Consistency Club? It’s an hour every week devoted to getting the writing done, whether that’s your newsletter, web copy, Threads post, letter to your grandmother… In short, whatever type of writing you need or want to accomplish. We get together via Zoom every Wednesday at 10am Pacific time. You can come...
You should see the other one 😵
Hey Reader! I’m an Aries with a spontaneous nature and a short attention span, so I’m kind of terrible at planning. This has led to some terrific outcomes, like a spur of the moment 2 month road trip to Guatemala. I’ve also suffered the slings and arrows, i.e., taking my asthmatic lungs on a 3 day hike above 11,000 feet without an inhaler. 😬 It’s a mixed bag, just like anyone's stash of traits and habits. But as a person without a lot of built-in organization, I’m good at coming up with...
the words you take in
Hey Reader! Americans don’t read books anymore. That’s more or less the conclusion of a YouGov poll, and honestly, are we surprised? To recap, 40% of Americans did not read a single book last year. Maybe you’re one of them - no shade, reading books isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But if you’re doing any writing at all, it might be making that task harder. Me? I’m in the weirdo 4% who reads 50 or more books per year, which is really all you need to know about my reclusive (not to say obsessive)...
No egrets. I mean regrets.
Hey Reader! I had a friend in college named Sally. Her rallying cry? “Dump the bum!” A guy isn’t treating you like the queen you are? Don’t think twice. 🙅🏻 It’s kind of like that with your email subscribers. If they're not giving you anything, i.e., opening your mail. they're merely clutter. If you've got a bunch of these deadbeats on your list, it's time to do some clean up. 🧹🧽 Lest you think I'm being harsh, there are practical reasons for list cleaning. For one thing, it improves...
Deliverability, not to be confused with Deliverance
Hey Reader! I’m going to flip the script today. As an email marketer, you know how disheartening it is to spend a lot of time crafting an excellent message only to find that 75% of your audience hasn’t read it. (And let me just pause for a moment to say that if, in fact, your open rate isn’t what you’d like, I invite you to pick up Big Click Energy, a thorough guide to writing subject lines. You can write headlines that get your email opened! I can help. Normally $17, but because I love you...
shh! still sleeping
Hey Reader! I might in fact be a bear in winter. I certainly feel like one; grouchy and sluggish, stumbling around looking for a quick snack of raw salmon before heading back to the cave to sleeeeeeeep. Which makes writing email hella challenging. But of course I’m all about getting them out there, so here’s a quick tip: Your email can be super short. Observe: Hey! Hi! Do you need help with _______? I’ve got openings on Friday at 1:00, Monday at 11:00 and Tuesday at 3:00. Sign up here. [link]...
Getting by with a little help from my friends
Hey Reader! List-building! I'm guessing that's exactly what you want to be thinking about on the last day of the year. 😁 I keep meaning to write about building your mailing list because it’s a crucial part of publishing a successful newsletter. It’s also a challenging part of the process. There’s a whole bunch of things you can do to get people on your list, and in the next few weeks I’ll talk about a few of them. It’s one of those consistency things - you’ve just got to keep at it and it...
The opposite of procrastination
Hey Reader! It's dark. I mean, the sun is up, allegedly, but the sky is a deep dull gray and turning on every light in the house is hardly enough to engender the idea of "daytime". And yet - it is a weekday and one on which I am supposed to be getting sh*t done. 🤗 My family is off celebrating our very non-religiously-affilliated Christmas 🎄without me. At home, all alone, I had such high hopes of getting the house clean! And getting up early! And generally being super productive. While also...
you don't have to walk on water
Hey Reader! Do you ever see those posts that start: Vulnerable share… ?? Sometimes those words make me roll my eyes like I’m a thirteen year old at a family dinner, but I like that people feel free to be vulnerable in public spaces. I’m all for consensual exposure. I value privacy - and I’m open to giving it the heave-ho pretty often. Openness and authenticity are things you hear a lot about when it comes to ‘putting yourself out there’ in business. Am I pro-vulnerability? I am. Do I think...
Helping you send emails that delight, entertain, inform and sell.