Publishing

A newsletter format you can still be sending in eighteen months

Most newsletters do not fail on the writing. They fail because the format takes four hours, so the third issue is late, the fifth is skipped, and by the tenth there isn't one. This is a structure built to be repeatable on a bad week.

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In short

A newsletter issue works best with a fixed structure — a one-line reason to read, one main piece, two or three short links, and a single closing action — sent on the same day each week. The format matters more than any individual issue because it is what makes the twentieth send as easy as the first. Below are three full issues: the standard weekly, a short version for weeks with nothing to say, and the return issue for when you have been quiet for a month or more.

Same dayEvery week. Predictability does more for open rates than subject-line tricks
1 main ideaPer issue. Three good things in one email means two get skipped
300–600Words is a comfortable weekly. Longer needs to earn it every single time
1 CTAAt the end. A newsletter with five links has no call to action at all

The sequence

1The standard issue — same day, every week
Subject{{issue_topic}} — and why the usual advice is wrongPlus two links worth your time and one thing we changed our mind about.

Hi {{first_name}},

Short version: {{one_line_summary}}. If that's all you have time for, you're done.

The longer version. {{main_point_setup}} — which is the part most write-ups skip, because it's the part that takes work to check.

{{main_point_evidence}}. What that means in practice is {{main_point_implication}}, and it changes what you'd actually do on Monday morning: {{practical_takeaway}}.

Two other things worth your time this week:

→ {{link_1_title}} — {{link_1_reason}}

→ {{link_2_title}} — {{link_2_reason}}

That's it. Reply if you disagree — I read all of them, and the good arguments end up in a future issue.

Read the full write-up

Why it is shaped this way: The summary line at the top is the whole trick. It respects the reader who has thirty seconds, and it makes the email useful even when it is not read properly — which is most of the time. Ending with an invitation to reply is not a nicety: replies are among the strongest positive signals a mailbox provider can see from a recipient, and a newsletter that regularly gets them lands in the inbox for everyone else on the list.

2The short issue — for the week you have nothing
SubjectOne thing this weekShort one. Back to normal next week.

Hi {{first_name}},

Quiet week here, so this is a short one — one thing, and I'll leave you alone.

{{single_observation}}.

{{why_it_matters_in_two_sentences}}

Back to normal next week.

Why it is shaped this way: Have this version ready before you need it. The failure mode for newsletters is not a bad issue, it is a missing one: you skip a week because there is nothing substantial, then the next skip is easier, and the schedule is gone. A short, honest issue keeps the habit on both sides. Note there is no call to action — an issue with nothing to say should not manufacture something to click.

3The return issue — after a month or more of silence
SubjectIt's been a whileHere's where I went, and what's changing.

Hi {{first_name}},

You signed up for {{list_description}} and then I went quiet for {{gap_length}}. No excuse worth reading — {{brief_honest_reason}}.

Two things. First, what you missed is nothing: I didn't send it elsewhere, there was no secret list.

Second, the plan from here is {{new_cadence}}, which I've picked because it's one I can actually keep rather than one that sounds impressive.

If that still sounds useful, do nothing and the next issue arrives {{next_issue_date}}. If you'd rather not, the unsubscribe link below works instantly and there are genuinely no hard feelings — you signed up for something that stopped arriving.

Why it is shaped this way: Send this before you resume, never instead of resuming. A long silence followed by a normal issue produces spam complaints from people who no longer recognise the sender, and complaints are far more expensive than unsubscribes. Naming the gap defuses that. If the silence has run past six months, treat the list as cold and run the re-engagement sequence instead of this — the calculation is different once the addresses themselves may have gone stale.

What goes wrong with this sequence

Redesigning the template every issueTime spent on layout is time not spent on the thing people subscribed for. Pick a plain, text-forward format, save it, and change nothing for a year. Text-forward is also better on deliverability: an issue that is one large image and a button looks structurally identical to bulk promotional mail, and gets filtered accordingly.
Sending only when you have something bigIrregular sending is the single most reliable way to kill a newsletter, because it breaks the reader's expectation and the mailbox provider's sender pattern at the same time. A predictable Tuesday of moderate quality beats an unpredictable brilliance nobody is expecting.
Five links and no pointA roundup of everything you read is easy to write and almost worthless to read — the reader has to do the filtering you were supposed to do. One main idea you have an actual position on, then two or three links, in that order.
Writing to the whole list when the list has segmentsOnce a list spans genuinely different audiences, the average issue is aimed at nobody. Segment on the topic they signed up for or the link they clicked, and send a shorter, sharper issue to each. Two three-hundred-word emails to two segments beat one six-hundred-word email to everyone.
No plain-text alternativeSome readers, some clients and most privacy-focused setups render the plain-text part. If it is auto-generated from a heavy HTML template it arrives as an unreadable pile of link URLs. Write or check the plain-text version — for a text-forward newsletter it is nearly free.

Questions

How often should I send?

Weekly if you can sustain it, fortnightly if you cannot, monthly as a floor. Sustainability is the deciding factor rather than any benchmark: the best cadence is the fastest one you will still be keeping in a year. Below monthly, readers stop recognising you and complaints rise, which is when a newsletter starts costing more than it returns.

Should the newsletter be plain text or designed?

Text-forward with light structure — a heading, links, maybe one image. It reads as a message from a person rather than a brand, it renders identically everywhere, and it does not carry the image-heavy signature that filtering associates with bulk promotion. Save the designed template for launches and campaigns.

How long should an issue be?

Three to six hundred words for a weekly. Long-form works, but it has to earn attention every single issue, and it makes the format hard to sustain — which is the thing that actually kills newsletters. If the piece wants to be two thousand words, publish it and let the newsletter be the two hundred words explaining why to read it.

What do I do about a subject line every week?

Describe the contents plainly rather than teasing them. Curiosity-gap subject lines earn a spike of opens and a slow bleed of trust, and they perform worse over the months that matter. 'The three numbers on a deliverability report' beats 'You won't believe what we found.'

Should I put the whole post in the email or link to it?

Put the substance in the email. Sending a paragraph and a link to your site optimises for a pageview at the cost of the thing that grows a newsletter — people forwarding it. If you need the traffic, put the full argument in the email and link the supporting detail.

Keep exploring

Welcome email seriesWhat new subscribers get before their first issue arrives.Re-engagement seriesFor when the gap has run past six months and the list is cold.Email marketing for creatorsSending on send-based pricing rather than per stored subscriber.ComposerWhere the issue gets written, with the plain-text part kept honest.Subject line testerHow the subject renders on iPhone, Gmail and Outlook. Free.All templatesWelcome, cart recovery, launch sequences and more.
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