Tomorrow I will conclude three months of writing my weekly newsletter Be Wellthy. I would like to share a few thoughts about this experience.
- The newsletter was a great idea to increase my output and "add more resistance" to my exercise of writing.
- Substack makes it very easy to maintain an email list and publish emails and webpages. This site is exactly what I needed to take all the friction out of the process and allow me to focus on the content.
- I still don't know what I'm doing. There is a running theme throughout each newsletter, but I don't focus on any one specific topic. I don't have a formula or some set rules that say when a newsletter is done. That said, I think I may standardize the format so that there is a ring of familiarity with each issue. Having a template for each issue will also allow me to plug-and-play stories and bits and pieces of content that may not be substantial enough on their own.
- Most people are readers only. As with most other content, there are only a few people who provide any type of feedback. Substack provides some data such as views and open rate. I'm writing for myself and hopefully will find people along the way to build an audience.
- I'm not planning to stop.
In general, I am a fan of the topics you write about. And I am impressed that you have such a high rate of execution for most things you decide to do.
My only suggestion would be the length of the write up. I am finding that I prefer shorter writings as well unless I am reading a book. I am not sure why my patience is so low when it is not a book but I am a fan of Seth Godin's style of short write up.
Also thank you for sharing the sub-stack site. I was looking at it after reading one of your articles and thinking about how convenient it seemed.
I think what would be useful is within your short emails, you link to longer pieces. Does Substack allow you to host longer piece articles that you don't send out as an email? If so then I'd write emails such as
Blah blah blah maybe blah blah blah for like 300 or so words.
Then at the bottom. If you liked this then you might like
X or
Y
or Z
Then my second feedback I think pairs well with the first. With the reduction in words I'd want it to be more Brandoney. Less routing of ideas and words of others but more your personal insights of them. I actually like a lot of the ideas and examples you draw upon, but I think what would make your newsletter stand out eventually is having content that would make others want to quote you in their newslettter.