Colin Walker

I've long toyed with the idea of writing a newsletter, I even announced that one was "coming soon" back in 2011 but it fell through.

The idea still appeals to me but I have the same problem now that I did then: what to make it about?

As so much of what I write appears on the blog I find it hard to come up with compelling content that goes beyond the norm, that people would be willing to sign up for and have me invade their inboxes.

It's the whole small ideas vs big ideas problem.

I've signed up to a few newsletters from other folks recently and I think this, combined with the void left by not being able to record the microcast, has piqued my interest once again.

Maybe I could expand on a blog post and spin it off in new directions. Perhaps I could highlight the connections between certain posts, especially some older ones which with readers are not familiar. Or maybe I could revisit ideas and give them a new airing to see how my perspective has changed.

It could, of course, be something completely different and not connected to the blog at all.

I'm not after just pushing out a "me too" email, people get enough of those, so would want it to have some real value, purpose and sustainability.

I'm open to thoughts and ideas.

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  1. elliot says: #
    I have subscribed to, and subsequently unsubscribed from, a lot of newsletters over the years. I find that the one's I'm left with (probably about 5) are the one's that serve a clear purpose, provide clear value, and that I can be in-and-out of very quickly. For what it's worth, I don't think the inbox is where interesting and thoughtful content belongs. That sort of writing belongs on the open web, where it can be indexed and enjoyed by anyone who stumbles upon it at any time, not just those who were in the right place at the right time. I'll now contradict myself to some extent by saying that I've developed a similar unscratched itch try podcasting over recent years.
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  2. Colin Walker says: #
    It's a hard one to gauge. While I’m normally in favour of having everything on the open web I think there are times when truly owning, and maybe gating, your work has its place. Saying that, if I do start one the archive will be publicly available.
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  3. johnjohnston says: #
    I read a few newsletters. When I see a new interesting one, my first though is where is the feed. If I find a feed I prefer to sub to that. Not so much cause of the openness but I am not sure I like news in my mail?
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  6. elliot says: #
    Not much to tell really. I enjoyed the few screencasts I did earlier this year but haven't recorded one in months. Haven't done anything at all with podcasting yet, it's just something I've had an itch to try for a while ¯(ツ)/¯
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  8. elliot says: #
    Cheers! I don't expect I'll be scratching that particular itch any time soon though. When it comes to podcasting I face the same question as @colinwalker does with his newsletter: "what to make it about?"
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  9. elliot says: #
    I public archive is definitely a step in the right direction. It's something of a rarity in my experience though.
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  10. tibz says: #
    I’ve been intrigued about the friendly-discussion format between 2 hosts — I find that these are the ones I enjoy a lot due to the different personalities you listen to :)
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