Hi there,
Anna here, nice to meet you. I’m often to be found in Revue’s Support inbox — so if you’ve been in touch with us in the past few months, chances are we’ve chatted!
As well as answering messages, I also send welcome emails to people joining the Revue community to guide them through the early stages of writing a newsletter.
We’ve welcomed many new writers onto the Revue platform in recent weeks, and I wanted to take this opportunity to speak about the main questions and concerns new newsletter writers have, and hopefully help ease them.
Getting started
A question I’ve seen in our inbox a lot lately is: how do I get started, and what do I write about? It’s one thing to decide to write a newsletter and sign up to Revue, but quite another to actually put pen to (metaphorical) paper. The advice I’d give at this point is to think about your passions. What makes you tick? What could you talk about forever and never get bored?
If you care about it, your readers will feel it. And it will be easier to find a community in which to share your newsletter and bring in new signups (Facebook groups, Reddit threads… the opportunities are endless!).
Building a big subscriber list won’t happen overnight, but take it slow and you’ll gradually build up a community of readers who care about what you’re writing. After all, 100 engaged readers is better than 1,000 who never open your newsletter.
Here are some writers who have built committed followings on Revue. Check out their newsletters for inspiration:
- Author Caroline Criado Perez uses Revue to inform her readers about the gender data gap.
- Music writer David Turner uses Revue to send his weekly email newsletter on the music streaming business.
- YouTube creator Ali Abdaal uses Revue to connect directly to his fans and followers.
The jitters
I remember the first time I clicked “Send” on my first newsletter, several years ago. Nerve-wracking is an understatement. I remember worrying that readers would pick apart any typos or unfortunate turns of phrase.
I’ll let you in on a little secret: that feeling never quite goes away. The best remedy is to keep at it, and every time you click “Send” it will feel more natural.
A final piece of advice: Start writing.