Category: NewslettersCategory: Newsletters

One way to get people to subscribe to your email newsletter is to get current subscribers to share it. This is what I told Greg Nichols of Onward Industries during one of my free “BREAK UP 💔 WITH SOCIAL MEDIA” 15 minute Zoom calls.

I suggested he could interview cool people he already knows that subscribed to his newsletter. Then, when their interviews lands in their inbox, they’re probably going to FWD it to some people. It’s not guaranteed you’ll get 100 new subscribers, but hey, we’re not playing the inflated social media vanity metrics game anymore, are we?

You don’t need 100 new subscribers every month, you need 10 who give a damn.

So upon talking about this with Greg, he asked if he could interview me, and I said heck yes!

“Throughout our conversation, I asked Seth to join me in a small exercise: making tiny handmade zines as we spoke. It was a quirky way to slow down, to craft meaning, and to pull our work out of the abstraction of ideas and back into our hands. That little parallel exercise ended up being deeply rewarding—less “arts & crafts” and more re-orienting to what matters.”

Watch the full interview (along with lots of quotes and commentary from Greg) here.

Just like making music, writing an essay, or taking a photo, your newsletter can be a masterpiece.

The facts of your work are important, sure. But facts aren’t art, you’re the art. You’re the painting, you’re the photograph, you’re the seven minute ballad with a curse word in the chorus.

Put some of that into your newsletter.

If you leave social media, how will you keep up with your favorite artists and musicians? From “10 Ways To Support Independent Music And Culture in 2026,” written by Stephan Kunze.

“Write down your top 20 bands and musicians (no need to overthink this), search for their homepages and add your email address to their newsletter mailing lists. That way you’ll be hearing directly from them about ways and opportunities to support them.”

I’d say less than half of you favorite artists actually have an email list (sigh), so search out their record label and join their email list.

You could even search for your favorite artist and sort by news, and then by most recent.

I got a newsletter awhile back from a talented musician, and they casually mentioned they’ve got new music available, but if you want to hear it you need to reply to the email.

In one our Escape Pod Zoom calls someone mentioned how they leave “easter eggs” in their newsletters, usually a phrase that someone needs to include when they reply.

Parker Gates sent me this link (it’s an Instagram link, sorry!) about artist Jon Bellion and how he sent his fans to websites without linking to them (they had to type them into a browser from a screen shot), used message boards, and sent out music via WeTransfer.

Don’t just wonder who your biggest fans are – send them on adventures and see who makes it back alive.

A client who has worked with some big names wanted to build their email list, and I gave them this idea:

Think of the amazing people you worked with throughout the years, and think of all those stories you shared, and the memories you’ve made. They’ve got to have dozens of those stories to write, right?

So write that post, with that one person in mind. Then email that person a link to the piece.

This gets you around sending a boring email to “all your contacts” saying, “hey, I have a newsletter now, you should subscribe.”

Write a post that will resonate with the person you’re emailing. Yes, even if it’s just that one person. Email the person the link. Maybe they subscribe, or at least reply and you two catch up, and who knows where that leads?

It’s not always about striking it rich and getting 100 new sign ups. Sometimes the right message to the right person at the right time is all you need.

Originally posted on Nov 24, 2024 here.