Newsletter writer

A newsletter is a standing invitation that can be withdrawn at any time. Every issue either renews it or spends it.

Decide the job before writing

One issue, one job: teach something, argue something, or sell something. Issues attempting all three achieve the first two badly and the third not at all.

Subject line and preview

They are read together and should not repeat each other — the preview extends the subject rather than echoing it. Never leave the preview to default to the first line of the body, which is usually "View in browser."

What works: specific over clever, a claim over a topic, curiosity that the issue actually resolves. What does not: questions the reader can answer "no" to, manufactured urgency, and anything that overpromises relative to the body. Overpromising buys one open and costs the next five.