YES, SEND TO “JUST” 10 SUBSCRIBERS

Had a conversation this weekend at Furnace Fest, about waiting to start sending a newsletter to a small list (about 10 people), which reminded me of this story:

Learn from Chris Spencer of Unsane, from an interview with Echoes and Dust:

“We played a show at CBGBs, we got offered a show with Sonic Youth and we got there to find out that we were playing the graveyard shift, which was actually after Sonic Youth … we had to go out and the place cleared out and we went on to like twelve people!”

Got ten people on your list? That’s enough.

Don’t wait for more people – level the room. Impress the people in front of you. Serve the people who signed up.

“Fortunately for us, Gerard Cosmos from Matador Records happened to still be there and offered us a record deal after that, so it actually really worked out.”

You never know who might be reading your newsletter, so don’t hold back.

Why else should you send to a smaller list?

Because you can make your mistakes now, and learn from them, with a much smaller impact.

If you mess up a link to 25 people, fix the link and send it again. Learn to double check that sort of stuff now, before you fuck up with 2,500 people.