Lessons on writing an email newsletter

Hello my friend! Thanks in large part to readers like YOU, Independent Creative just reached an exciting milestone: 30,000 subscribers!

First and foremost, thank you for reading along. And I'd love for you to comment below with the types of things you like reading about in Independent Creative so that I can continue to share ideas you enjoy!

This week I'm going to reflect on some of the lessons learned from writing this newsletter (as well as my personal newsletter, Work In Progress) so that you can carry them forward into your own writing.

Who is it for?

Your writing won't be for everyone. It just won't.

So who will it be for?

Get really clear (and honest!) about that. My writing is for aspiring creators. A lot of those aspiring creators are also currently freelancing, so I flex into that realm with Freelancing School.

But, first and foremost, I know that I'm writing for creatives who want to earn a living from the things that they make. They want to be financially rewarded for their work.

Try not to think demographically, think about the way people identify psychologically and the transformation they aspire to.

Why do they need it?

Now that you've identified who you are writing for...why do they need you to write to them?

For me, it's about transformation from aspiring creator to sustainable creator. To go from the starting line to earning a reliable, sustainable income.

If you can't hypothesize why someone would subscribe, then they probably won't.

Why are you different?

OK, cool – you know who you're helping and what you're helping them with...but what if that's already covered?

Said another way, if you help business owners improve their marketing...take a number! There are a lot of people who probably offer similar content.

And that's OK! As long as you know why YOU are different.

I try to approach things in a very transparent, human, community-driven way.

And to get even more specific...let's look at Creative Elements. That's an interview podcast talking with well-known creators who do a LOT of interviews already.

I am different by:

• Putting work into making the production higher quality than the competition.
• Turning the interviews into a narrative story
• Asking these creators about their business model instead of their thing. e.g., I talked to James Clear about how he made a living as a writer – not habits.

Find your voice

Once you know who you serve, how you serve them, and how you're different...you start settling in to what makes you and you work...well...YOU and YOUR work.

I don't think it's realistic to expect to build an audience (or community) without a consistent, honest voice that shines through your work.

I intentionally avoided the words "authentic" and "transparent" because 1.) transparency goes against some peoples' boundaries and 2.) "authentic" is a loaded word.

But you need to consistent in the way you speak to people and you need to be honest. People don't take kindly to being misled or lied to.

But the other great thing about finding your voice...it unlocks your creativity. When you don't need to think about how you're writing, you can just focus on WHAT you're writing. It may sound small, but it really isn't.

The more comfortable you are in your voice, the easier it becomes to become prolific and let your work flow from you.

Respect (and appreciate!) your readers

Remember when I said people don't take kindly to being misled or lied to? That's because it's an abuse of trust. When people are reading your writing, they are trusting you with their attention.

That's a HUGE compliment! You need to honor that.

You honor that with good, rewarding content. You honor that with ensuring that things you create serve the reader first and foremost.

And if someone interacts with your writing through comments, replies, or shares...be sure to appreciate them!

Every issue needs a purpose

The question of, "Why does the audience need this?" applies to every individual piece of content as much as it applies to the medium, generally.

So not only do you need to know why someone would subscribe to your writing at all...but there should be a clear purpose to EACH piece of content you create too!

If not, they'll subconsciously register that interaction as not rewarding their trust. Too many of those experiences and they're gone.

An engaged audience is more valuable than anything

For a very long time, the model of commerce on this planet was:

1. Create a product
2. Distribute your product through wholesale retailers

Example: You create a fidget spinner, but you let Wal-Mart handle selling the fidget spinner.

That made sense because distribution was difficult to build. The fidget spinner factory wasn't about to get into the business of opening up shops all over the country!

With the internet comes infinite and free distribution. You don't need (or want, in most cases) an intermediary.

Building your own line of distribution (like an email newsletter, community, social media following, etc.) is more valuable than developing products now.

Both are necessary, ultimately, but if you have an engaged audience who knows, likes, and trusts you...you'll start to get a sense for what they need. And by developing a solution to their problems, you'll have customers from Day 1.

How to build an engaged audience? By providing them value (for free!) over time.

Plan for the long term

And I mean a long, long time.

Not only is building an engaged audience a slow build...but once you've built it, you still need to keep building it!

No one says, "OK, you won my trust forever now...do whatever you want!" No, it's a relationship that's always strengthening (or decaying).

Even once you've built the relationship to an audience, you need to keep serving, or it will decay and go to zero.

So when you're starting to create content...choose a medium that feels natural. Maybe that isn't writing. Maybe it's audio, or video!

Choose what feels most sustainable for you to create over the long term because...it will be a long term.

Want to go deeper?

These are the basics of building an audience via email, but there's a lot more to share. And if that's interesting to you, I encourage you to watch my 60-minute Email Newsletter Workshop!

I cover the tools I recommend (hint: ConvertKit), growing your newsletter, planning your content, and earning an income from your writing.

With nearly 50 students to date, the feedback is super positive.

Click here to access the workshop

On Creative Elements ??

Sarah McAllister is the Founder, Director and CEO of GoCleanCo, a widely sought after cleaning company in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The GoCleanCo Instagram account serves more than 1.8M followers today with cleaning hacks and tips.

In this episode we talk about Sarah’s scrappy beginnings, how hard it was to even pay herself in the early days, accidentally selling out products on Amazon, and Sarah’s best advice for growing a following on Instagram.

Click here to listen

Thanks for reading! Means a lot that you support my writing here each week.

I write a newsletter called Work In Progress that you can sign up for here. It comes directly from my email address, and if you like this newsletter, you'll certainly like that one!

One last note – my current promotion for 25% off my Freelancing School bundle ends this week. Take advantage of it here.

Talk to you next week!

Cheers,

Jay

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Hey, I'm Jay! Thanks for reading. I'm the creator of Freelancing School, which provides the training and community to help people make a living freelancing.

I also host Creative Elements, which interviews high-profile creators who have made their own independent living.

You can connect with me on Twitter @jayclouse or sign up for my Sunday newsletter for creatives here.

And if you REALLY want to say 'thank you,' you can buy me a coffee.