Can We Call Email Newsletters A New Literary Genre?

Molly Fischer thinks so.

In this piece for New York Magazine’s The Cut, she explores the modern email newsletter and its merits as a genre.

It appears that in studying the form, she subscribed to a deluge of newsletters (I’ve experienced this first-hand in my own research), found great satisfaction in what they delivered, then concluded that they lost their allure and failed to provide the escape she’d hoped they might.

The piece (splendidly written), examines the nuances of what a newsletter can be:

“The newsletters of today can be professional editorial operations, like Politico’s Playbook (which casts its readers as fellow Beltway insiders) or The Skimm (which casts them as brunch-drunk sorority sisters). They can also be scrappier, more idiosyncratic missives akin to personal blogs. Newsletters can be like newspaper columns, cut loose from institutional authority. They can be like podcasts that you cannot absorb while running errands, like zines without the photocopy static, like Instagram with the lifestyle recommendations rendered as text instead of subtext. Many newsletters partake in the limitlessly available navel-gazing of online media commentary. Newsletter writers describe the process of writing a newsletter; creators who monetize their personalities through their newsletters report on the ways that other creators are monetizing theirs.”

She then proposes that, while different, what they share is “the direct personal appeal of special delivery.” In other words, they use a 1:1 approach but scale it to become 1:many.

And that at some point subscribing to a person can become tiresome if they are overly self-promotional.

“Understanding one’s self as a cause to be championed risks a certain unappetizing self-regard.”

Plus, she writes, they lack the filter of a collaborative editorial approach.

Molly’s words are poetic, and they summarize the current state of newsletters quite well.

Actually, they summarize almost any self-publishing, transactional venture: a strong relationship with readers is the crux of success. And we tend to only have a few friends we really stay in touch with as often as most newsletters hit our inboxes.

Some will become a part of our routines, others will pile up until we unsubscribe.

A Roundup of Related Articles:

• The Washington Post reported that newsletters may threaten the mainstream media, but they also build communities.
• Pajiba pondered how long the newsletter boom will last?
• Brian Morrissey’s newsletter broke down the problem with email.

thecut.com  

Newsletter Creators Struggle With Gmail’s Promotions Tab

You are not alone.

But I bet that’s not super comforting.

Brian Contreras wrote this interesting piece about the very real struggle unpredictable email deliverability can be for Los Angeles Times.

The best quote came from an anonymous newsletter sender (anonymously because he doesn’t want sponsors to understand how little he can guarantee the newsletter lands in the primary inbox):

“Like some ancient, unknowable deity, Gmail ‘has this influence over our lives, but we don’t know ... how they’re making decisions and how it will affect us from one day to another. We just know that it’s always changing, and sometimes it’s good news and sometimes it’s bad news.’”

Click through to read about just how arbitrary the Gmail inbox placement process can be and why it keeps newsletter writers up at night.

Discovered via American Press Institute.

Psst! Curated does everything we can to keep you primary, including instructions for new subscribers to take actions to show they want you there and curating stories on deliverability to keep you up to date.

latimes.com  

Is There An Art To Saying No To $250K?

Pulitzer prize-winning art critic Jerry Saltz did.

And we’ve somehow hit a theme this issue of what I’m thinking of as “reflecting on the editorial process.”

In this article for Artnet, Sarah Cascone reports on the reasons Saltz didn’t take Substack up on their $250K contract to jump ship from New York Magazine and publish a paid subscription newsletter.

His primary reasons?

The article indicates Saltz prefers to work with an editor and doesn’t want to spend excessive energy asking readers to pay.

Check it out here for a more thorough understanding, then indulge in the Twitter debate about the state and future of media that ensued.

artnet.com