🧠Inside my brain

Prologue

“What is it like inside your brain?”

Kate Harding posed this question in her essay about how people have forgotten how to read critically that sent me down a sort of thinking-about-thinking rabbit hole last weekend.

And while I could make a day of analyzing her entertaining attack on modern readers who take everything a skilled writer publishes hyper literally instead of understanding and appreciating the intended joke—ok, you need more context:

Heather Havrilesky, humor writer and advice columnist at The Cut published an essay, “Marriage Requires Amnesia”—an excerpt from her forthcoming book, “Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage—” in the New York Times.

The subhead: “Do I hate my husband? Oh for sure, yes, definitely.”

Twitter went crazy with accusations that the relationship should be over and that Havrilesky’s husband should be outraged, because, as Harding (whose essay I read) suggests, people don’t read carefully anymore.

“Reading can make you feel close to someone without actually knowing them, a precious gift in a lonely world. But if the pleasure of reading is feeling connected to a distant stranger, then the pain of watching people read badly is its opposite: a severing of shared humanity.”

Harding laments that the Internet has hastened the speed at which readers who “don’t get it” attack the people and ideas they’re misinterpreting.—Ok, I think you’re up to speed. Thanks for indulging me.

The thought this sparked for me is how important it is for creators to focus on their best-fit readers and try not to worry about the rest.

What do I mean by that?

And how does it apply to your newsletter and/or other creations?

Understand the people you want to attract and serve.

Write for them.

There will be people who don’t make it past the subheading and go act like you’re an idiot on Twitter, but they aren’t your people.

The ones who get it and defend you are.

And you want them out there, writing essays about essays defending you.

And subscribing.

And sharing your work.

And amplifying what they appreciate about what you create.

They are the ones who want to know what it’s like inside your brain.

Keep letting them in.

Now, onto the newsletter news. There’s some interesting stuff this week.

Newsletter Tips

Ready To Grow? Try These 15 Tips

Two years ago, Aleyda Solis had 1.7k subscribers to her SEO Newsletter. After a stroke of inspiration and a rebrand to become #SEOFOMO, she now has 17,001 subscribers, a 38.5% open rate, and an 11.4% click rate.

She’s also sharing 15 growth tips that worked for her including:

Create a newsletter that solves a problem you have and you would love (and pay) to receive and make its name descriptive
Cross-promote and refer from other similar or complementary publications or platforms
Engage with your audience and ask them for feedback, input, or participation

Check out the full list here.

Discovered via Marketer Crew.

What You Should Know About Unsubscribes

Unsubscribes happen, but Chad White answers 7 legitimate questions about what you can do to make them less painful in this CMS Wire article designed to help you put wise practices into place.

Marketing

Permissionless Co-Marketing: A Strategy You Should Consider

Amanda Natividad defines Permissionless Co-Marketing like this: “the deliberate effort of aligning yourself with other brands by promoting them in your work.” Learn why this marketing tactic is so effective here.

4 Strategies For Effective Segmentation

Are you segmenting your contact list? In this 37-minute episode of Email Einstein, the hosts discuss a segmentation strategy designed to help you send “relevant, engaging, and profitable” emails. The short version: don’t send messages to everyone if only a segment of them will find it interesting.

Can we agree that Email Einstein is a great podcast name?

Discovered via Really Good Emails.

A Framework For Creating Successful Content

Ever wonder why certain pieces of content succeed while other similar pieces fail? Rand Fishkin created a framework called “hook, line, and sinker” detailed here.

Discovered via Ghost Newsletter.

Writing

Worried About Word Count?

Just how important is word count when it comes to SEO? According to Ann Smarty, not as important as content quality. Here are 5 ways you can improve.

Discovered via theCLIKK.

Publishing

Publishing’s Unwritten Future

Many of today’s publishing insights seek to answer these questions: Is it time for publishing as a whole to make a change? What’s worth holding onto and what needs to to evolve? Take a look.

New vs. Old. Gannett (the nation’s largest newspaper chain) is discontinuing Saturday print editions at more than half of its newspapers. Don Seiffert reports on their reasoning here.
Can news outlets be better at long-term planning? In this article for The Fix, David Tvrdon looks at what a sustainable news business model might look like.
Is it time for change? Sara Fischer reveals how 2 of journalism’s top disrupters are throwing around the idea for a richly-funded global news platform here.
In this Indie Hackers article, Darko comes to this conclusion: people trust people over corporations. Take a look to find out why and why it matters for publishers.
“Influencer Journalism” has emerged, meaning there’s a current obsession with treating journalists like influencers. Jessica Lessin, author of The Information, breaks down why she thinks it’s unhealthy and unsustainable here.
What will 2022 bring for journalism and technology? Nic Newman compiles trends and predictions in this Reuters Institute article.
Are you on Pinterest? According to Shalet Serrao, if you want to build a loyal audience and explore untapped revenue streams, you should be.
According to the 2021 Media Moments report from Media Voices, video isn’t going anywhere, but Chris Sutcliffe reports that substance should be prioritized over style.

Money Matters

Is Data Privacy A Perk Of Running A Sponsored Newsletter?

This Marketing Dive article (sponsored by Paved, which matches newsletter creators with advertisers) makes a case for newsletter sponsorships as the way to go if you’re hoping to both tailor your message and uphold data privacy.

Discovered via Marketing Dive.

Pricing Your Newsletter Or A Product? Consider This Advice

This First Round Review article explains why pricing is key and monetization often fails.

“‘But the root of all innovation evil is the failure to put the customer’s willingness to pay [WTP] for a new product at the very core of product design. Most companies postpone pricing decisions until after the product is developed. They embark on a long, costly journey of hoping they’ll make money rather than knowing they will,’ Ramanujam says. ‘You can ensure your product not only stays alive, but thrives, by talking with customers early in the product development process. If you don’t, you won’t be able to prioritize the product features you develop, or know whether you’re building something customers will pay for until it’s in the marketplace.’”

Discovered via For the Interested.

Curated News

How To Create Different Newsletter Models In Curated

Hey everyone, Seth with Curated Success here.

Last year, we launched paid newsletters (no commission charge!). Since then, paid newsletters have only become more popular.

With Curated, you have the ability to run a completely free newsletter, a free and paid newsletter, or just a paid newsletter. I’ve outlined how you can set up these different models in Curated and their benefits below:

Free

A free newsletter is a great way to connect with your audience and provide value at no cost. You can use a free newsletter to

Show your expertise in a specific area
Build a relationship with your audience
Promote your brand

To create a free newsletter in Curated, all you have to do is sign up at Curated.co. By default, your newsletter will be free to all.

Free + Paid

In Curated, you can have a single publication that has a free subscription option and a paid subscription option. This is a great way to prove the value of your newsletter in the free version, then encourage free subscribers to upgrade to the paid version to access even more valuable content.

To set up a free + paid newsletter in Curated, go to your settings, scroll down to the Hosting, Subscriptions and Publishing section, and click Paid Subscription Options. Configure your paid newsletter on this page and make sure the box beside Allow people to subscribe for free is checked. Now, when someone subscribes to your newsletter on your publication page, they’ll automatically be added to your free list and given the option to subscribe to your paid newsletter.

When you’re ready to send out an issue of your newsletter, you’ll be able to choose which list you want to send it to: free, paid, or both.

To see this in action, check out this quick tutorial video we have on how to set up a paid newsletter.

Paid Only

If you already have a strong following or you’re confident that your paid content can stand on its own, you can send out a paid subscription only newsletter through Curated.

This is a great option because you’re getting paid directly from your readers (and Curated takes a 0% cut of your profits).

To do this in Curated, follow the same steps from the Free + Paid section, except uncheck the box beside Allow people to subscribe for free. This way, when someone subscribes to your newsletter on your publication site, they’ll be taken to a page that reads “Enter your payment information to complete your subscription.”

If you have any questions about paid newsletters in Curated, send them to me at support [at] curated.co or come to Curated Crash Course where we can talk about them and more.

Curated Crash Course Is Today At 4 PM Central

Curated Crash Course is today at 4 PM CT!

As usual, the first 30 minutes include a tutorial on getting started with Curated followed by a Q&A session that begins at 4:30.

This is built to be a come-and-go Zoom call, so feel free to hop in whenever you can and leave when you have to.

If you have any questions about Curated or newsletters, we created a Google Form where you can submit them.

Seth will answer them live at Curated Crash Course during the Q&A segment of the session, but if you can't make it, he’ll send you a recording so you can see your questions answered.

ICYMI: You can always check our Curated Public Product Roadmap to catch up on recent releases and find out what’s up next.

Don’t want to click through? Our recent bigger releases include Paid Subscriptions (0% commission!) and a Free Tier.

Opt In Challenge

Become An Entrepreneurial Journalism Creator

This week, your Opt In Challenge is simple: check out this online program from Newmark’s journalism school. It could be a springboard for new ideas (newsletter and otherwise).

Like this newsletter?

Let me know. Reply, email me at Ashley[at]optinweekly.com, or find me on LinkedIn to hit me with some feedback. I’d love to know what you think.

Happy newslettering,