Pick two or three repeatable formats and rotate them. A newsletter with a predictable shape is easier to write, easier to read, and survives the weeks when you have nothing new to say. Most newsletters die because every issue starts from zero.
The formats below are chosen because they can be produced from work you are already doing.
Formats you can repeat forever
Each of these has a fixed shape, which is the point.
- One question, answered: take a real question from a customer and answer it properly
- What I changed my mind about: a position you held, what shifted it, what you think now
- Three things worth your time: two from elsewhere, one of yours, each with a line on why
- The teardown: something public, examined, with what you would do differently
- Behind the number: one metric from your own work and what it actually taught you
- The mistake: something that went wrong and what it cost, which is the most read format there is
Where the material actually comes from
You are not short of material, you are short of a place to collect it.
Every customer question, every thing that surprised you, every article you argued with, every decision you had to explain twice. Keep one note open and add to it the moment it happens, because none of these are memorable a week later.
A month of that habit produces more newsletter material than any brainstorming session.
The mistake format is worth its own note
Writing about what went wrong consistently outperforms writing about what went right, and it is consistently avoided.
It works because it is rare, because it is useful in a way success stories are not, and because it establishes that you are telling the truth about the rest.
The limit is that it must be your mistake and it must be real. A manufactured humble failure reads exactly as manufactured.
Keeping it going in a bad month
Every newsletter meets a week where there is genuinely nothing. Plan for it now rather than improvising then.
Keep two finished issues in reserve, written when you had surplus. Batch three or four in a good week. And accept that a short honest issue beats a skipped one, because the cost of skipping is that people forget you and the next send arrives as a surprise.
What to stop including
Company news that is not news to anyone outside the company. Roundups of links with no comment, which any feed does better. Long introductions before the substance. And anything included because the template has a slot for it.
The test for any recurring section is whether a reader would notice if it vanished. Several would not, and removing them makes the rest stronger.
Common questions
- What should I write about when I have no ideas?
- Pick two or three repeatable formats and rotate them. One question answered, what I changed my mind about, a teardown, behind one number, and the mistake. The mistake format consistently outperforms and is consistently avoided.
- Where do newsletter ideas come from?
- A single running note. Every customer question, everything that surprised you, every article you argued with, every decision you explained twice. A month of that habit produces more material than any brainstorming session.
- What should I stop including in my newsletter?
- Company news that is not news outside the company, link roundups with no comment, long introductions, and anything included because the template has a slot for it. If readers would not notice a section vanishing, remove it.
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