Reference
https://craigmod.com/essays/on_writing_good_newsletters/
Notes:
1. Who are you?
There’s hundreds of newsletters on the internet and between every edition you will have new people, never forget to introduce yourself. (Alex Hormozi also recommends does this in videos)
For now even 1 sentence and a link to my About page will do. For extra measure, put a mini bio in the footer as well.
Substack offers no Bio section so counteract it.
2. Liberal unsubscribability
Under no cicumstances should you have to login to unsubscribe from something. (I’m still getting the stupid f*ck tiktok business emails because I don’t know the login and it makes me hate them.)
Add in an extra link if you need, always have a way to unsub or else people will report as spam and hurt your deliverability in other inboxes.
3. No image based text
Rip to the physical journal substackers but it’s true, needing to load images enables more tracking and headache for readers.
4. Consider using only system fonts
Craig says this is 70% of the way to a good looking letter if it’s apple system fonts. Still want to try the custom font for a header maybe?
5. Killer voice
How to have great voice? Confidence. How to develop confidence? “Read oodles and write oodles more.” You better have a good point of view because, “Generally, like with much good writing, the magic for readers is in feeling like they’re traveling along with someone who truly cares and is exceedingly curious about their chosen topic. Be that person / guide / spirit animal!”
Examples of intros
Hi, I’m Craig Mod and you’ve signed up for Humidity Monthly, a monthly newsletter on all things humid. Just kidding. (Although I could very easily write such a thing.) You’ve signed up for the Roden newsletter, which has no explicit theme and threatens only to inspire you to one-click unsubscribe
I’m Craig Mod and you (in theory) signed up for this weekly letter on walking — yes, walking (you know: the literature of walking, walking experiments, publishing and walking, talking-and-walking; the permutations of walking abound, and we are here to drill down into them all).
I’m Craig Mod and this is the Ridgeline newsletter about walking, mostly walking in Japan. You signed up on my website. If you’d like to unsubscribe, just click that link or the one at the bottom. One click, all done, good bye.
Before I get into why I’m — as they say this time of the year — THANKFUL, for trains, let me remind you what this is: I’m Craig Mod, and this is my monthly so-called *Roden * newsletter. You can find old ones here. Last month I wrote about the iPhone 11 Pro’s cameras. This month: planes, trains, perfect workspaces, walking experiments, and more.
If you’re new here — HELLO. I’m Craig Mod, and you signed up for this monthly newsletter on my website, craigmod.com. If you were forced to input your email address by a kidnapper or had recently attended an Ambien and vodka party, if you subscribed amidst a fog of war, or if you’re just tired, so tired, and the thought of deleting another one of these next month is too much, then unsubscribe in one click. Otherwise, welcome to the ever-growing crew.