Yesterday, for the first time in 16 months, I didn’t send my newsletter on Friday.
My children are visiting after two years of lockdowns and travel restrictions, and we have much-needed family time together.
The whole day the nagging feeling that I must write the newsletter sat heavily on my chest through cooking, eating, laughing, and watching TV with the family.
This morning I woke up and promised myself that I would write it today no matter what so that I could relax for the rest of the weekend I have with them.
Since when did writing a newsletter become more important than family time?
Would anyone even miss it if they didn’t receive it? I asked myself repeatedly even when I knew the answer.
That made me wonder whether I provided any value with my weekly ramblings. When I started writing this newsletter back in November 2020, it had four sections:
A lesson in Authorpreneurship
Writing Industry News
What I am up to.
What intrigued me this week.
It probably had all the three ingredients - education, inspiration, and entertainment - that a newsletter should provide.
Soon after, I realized many of my readers were not interested in authorpreneurship and writing industry news. Then in April 2021, I took the “news” out of my newsletter and changed it to just a “letter.”
I voiced that it would have less advice, tips, etc., and more of life, insights, learnings, experiences, the stuff the real writing is made of.
I don’t know how successful I have been in achieving that, but if the number of lost subscribers is any indication, then I have lost very few.
We need to find value in everything we do. For me, the value comes from constantly rediscovering myself through writing.
But am I providing value to my readers?
Some of the most subscribed newsletters do so as follows:
Tim Ferriss does it through 5-Bullet Friday, a short email of five bullet points that include five cool things he’d found or explored that week.
James Clear sends out 3–2–1 newsletter that includes 3 short ideas from me, 2 quotes from others, and 1 question for you to ponder.
Austin Kleon sends out 10-things-worth-sharing that contains a mix of his art, writing, books, music, movies, and other interesting links of things that inspired him.
I think the time has come to re-evaluate my newsletter content.
For my Friday newsletters I want to lean more towards storytelling—stories from everyday life and the insights they provide.
But I want to bring back the educational content. This time in the form of courses. I will do so in separate editions, on separate days, so that those who are interested can subscribe for those after paying a small fee.
The courses will be suitable for online writers. There will be a blend of short and long courses lasting from one month (short course) to 3 months (long course). Some of the courses are:
LinkedIn for Writers (one month)
Notes Taking for Writers using Roam Research ( one month)
Writing for Medium (three months)
Write Your Book (three months)
Each Monday and Wednesday I will send course modules and answer questions on comments section.
Friday letters will remain free.
Would you be interested in any of these courses?
Is there anything else you would want me to cover in these courses?
I will gladly cover them in future.
Drop me a line or tow to let me know what you think of the idea.
Great, Amie. Thanks for letting me know.
Maybe I will start with that notes/research course first. It will require videos to share my screen which I am not very familiar with. So bear with me as I figure out.
“Letter” v “newsletter” feels more real to me—love this! May be interested in the notes/research offering.