Brad Wolverton

Congrats on being named @chronicle editor and welcome to the club, @bradwolverton chronicle.com/article/the-ch…

Congrats @bradwolverton on being named the @chronicle's new editor. He authored, among many other things, one of my favorite pieces of sports journalism (link in next post). Best of luck!

The newsletter app that lets you read newsletters outside of your boring inbox. @MorningBrew @denk_tweets @starter_story & me

Frameworks for writing a newsletter via ⁦@businessbarista⁩

I've worked on 100s of content strategies as the Talent Lead at @beehiiv . Here’s the 5-step process to build a fast-growing, successful newsletter—starting from just an idea: 🧵👇

I hate this take. There was more newsletter hype in 2023. Most people have moved beyond the hype and are building real businesses with a focus on customer acquisition from email. There's no boom going on. This is still a small space. People in the media, tech, and business world see way more newsletters than the average American. More people are simply discovering email and owned audiences are important. At any event there are going to be some beginners who have no idea what they're doing. That's okay. They're there to learn. Our speakers did an incredible job focusing on the right strategies that are worth spending time on. There was no BS, lack of substance, or unsustainable "growth hacks" on stage. (Not that Scott was saying that. Just wanted to clarify). I like most things about Brian and Adam's post - and I love their work. I'll write a response-ish style post Sat. But what business doesn't arbitrage? Nearly every successful business started with some type of arbitrage that only worked for a limited time. Then they built more sustainable practices from that initial success. Most fortune 500 companies could be described as "arbitrage" in some way. Arbitrage isn't bad. What matters is doing the hard things correctly (like we talked about this in nearly every session at the event): - understanding your audience - creating content no one else can - solving a problem and delivering value through the products you sell and/or sponsorships / partnerships - focusing on owned and direct audience relationship channels like email, podcast, community, and SMS @TheNMSummit was never intended to be "a newsletter conference". Most of our sessions didn't cover newsletters at all. That was intentional. Newsletters are just the best starting point for most people. But they're not the end-all be all. It's always been about building a sustainable, profitable, and independent business utilizing owned audiences. That's the first thing I mentioned in my opening remarks. Many people who wrote about the event were not there to see my opening remarks - or the content on day one (or any of the content at all) That's okay. Our attendees have a lot of people to prove wrong. That will put a chip on their shoulder and make them more successful. I'd bet on them winning over anybody else in the media and creator economy. I said this at the event and I'll be saying it 10 years from now: Email is still not dead. PS - Scott, Adam, Brian I like all of you. I don't mean this in a rude way. I'm sharing my take as well :) The newsletter movement and @TheNMSummit is misunderstood. Good thing is there will be many future events (and newsletters) we can discuss this in.