Category: NewslettersCategory: Newsletters

GO BEYOND “SIGN UP FOR UPDATES”
Published On: August 22, 2026Categories: Email Marketing, Newsletters

“Don’t just tell people to subscribe to your newsletter,” is something I said on a recent Substack Live.

This sign up box in the footer of the Autonomous website caught my eye:

Workshop Notes
Drops, build logs, and what broke this week. From the workshop floor.

Getting people into your world is the first part of the journey. Them signing up for your email list? Well, that’s on them. But offering something besides “updates” goes a long way.

Words matter. Language has power. Hype your newsletters beyond “updates,” or “the latest news.”
TALK ABOUT COOL THINGS IN YOUR EMAILS
Published On: August 7, 2026Categories: Email Marketing, Newsletters

Liz Derstine recently had a pretty exciting week, crossing Switzerland on the 242 mile Swiss via Alpina trail and nabbing a FKT (fastest known time).

My total time was 5 days, 17 hours, 40 minutes–1 day 2 hours faster than the current women’s record, and 1 day 5 hours faster than my previous time from 2023! I averaged over 43 miles (70 kilometers) per day and 12,650 feet (3,850 meters) of elevation gain per day.

Now, I had read her piece on crewing Tara Dower at this year’s Hardrock 100, where Tara finished 3rd woman, and 14th overall. She also “ran a large portion of the course over several days (aka “Softrock”)” and mentioned a particular bag she used, the Lickety Split 20L Backpack from Mountain Hardware.

Well, I go on plenty of adventures (though not as hardcore), and rarely need an excuse to buy a new bag, so I ordered one, and love it!
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THE SUBSTACK NETWORK AND INACTIVE SUBSCRIBERS
Published On: July 16, 2026Categories: Newsletters, Technology

Our friend Amelia Hruby, PhD is moving their Substack operation over to Ghost. They go on to explain that inactive subscribers won’t be automatically ported over, leading to this curious point from Amelia:

“you know where most of those inactive subscribers come from? 👉👉👉 The “Substack Network.” Which means that a lot of the amazing growth Substack is promising me (and bragging about in my stats dashboards)… is mostly resulting in inactive subscribers.”

I wrote about this experience (Substack Follows The Enshittification Playbook), and it aligns with what I’ve seen: the majority of the subscribers I’ve gained from Substack are inactive. And while newsletter open and engagement stats are not 100% accurate, there are patterns (and gut feelings).

Substack is definitely social media – the allure of growth, of audience – it’s there, and I’ve benefited from it. But that’s how enshittification works – it’s smooth and easy and amazing at the start for the user, and then it’s not.
MAYBE “SHOULD I START A NEWSLETTER?” IS THE WRONG QUESTION
Published On: July 12, 2026Categories: Newsletters, Work

Saturday I reflected on our WHY HAVEN’T YOU STARTED THE THING YET? call (see upcoming calls here), and thought “we need to ask better questions.”

I kept thinking about this during a hike later in the day, then today (Sunday) I typed out a Substack Note from a parking lot:

“Maybe “should I start a newsletter” is the wrong question.

Maybe it’s “should I send a newsletter to the people who like me about the cool stuff I’m doing in hopes that maybe their day will be brighter and maybe they might (GASP) support me with their gracious attention and / or financial means?”

Starting a newsletter, setting up a website, making a YouTube channel – those are just to-do items, grand dreams. But who’s it for? What’s it about? Who does it serve? What’s the intended outcome?

Basic question leads to a vague and cloudy answers, so we must ask better questions to get a better sense of what’s worth starting.

Join our next “WHY HAVEN’T YOU STARTED THE THING YET?” call, on Monday, July 13 from 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM EDT. Register here, pay what you want starting at $3.
GIVE FANS A REASON TO VISIT YOUR WEBSITE
Published On: June 24, 2026Categories: Newsletters, Websites

PJ Harvey’s latest newsletter links to her website, where you can “see draft lyrics and listen to Polly’s voice note.” Oh, and her latest music video for Voyager is there, too. On her website. Without linking off to YouTube.

Your newsletter is a delivery truck. Put cool things on your website, and then tell the people on your email list. Give fans a reason to visit your website.

The voice note is wonderful, too. It’s just under two minutes long, with Polly talking about the new single. No bright lights, no 4K cameras, no fancy editing, just a short audio message embedded on her website.
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