A one-link, once-a-weekday email for writers who want to newsletter better.
Each issue of Read This links to an article, blog, video, or other resource that provides helpful insights into building a better readership using an email newsletter.
The rules for newsletter growth have changed
Here’s what works right now.
A spoonful of poison metrics
Medicine for creatives who’ve been crushed by the algorithm.
Let people find your website
On posting into the void.
Beware the Substack gloom loop
Reminder: When creating, please create consciously.
Attention retention
... not attention attraction.
Interest is everything
Stuck? Trust your own interest.
The decline of deviance
Where has all the weirdness gone?
The silent slump
What do you do when your email list stops growing?
What if it works out?
The science of strategic success.
How “Know, Like, and Trust” became ensh*tified
On day trading attention.
What's the difference between an artist and a creator?
On Artist Corporations.
The art of the newsletter
How to write something you’d want to read.
The audience effect
Why we change when others are watching.
To be creative, practice
Turns out athletes and artists have a lot in common.
41 tools that might make your newsletter better
... and what each is good for.
The compound interest of small ideas
Many small ideas are worth more than one big one.
The kind of content marketing that actually works in 2025
Marketing isn't simple. But understanding it can be.
A video for every creative person ever
Or: How to draw a cat in 17 steps.
Value creation
... and scarcity.
What if you gave up social media?
On ignoring the online drama, algorithms, and AI to find an authentic path forward.
There is only one hack
Do it for a decade.
Start right now
A reminder to do that thing you've been wanting/meaning/needing to do.
A cartoonist's review of AI art
Feed yourself, not platforms.
A pretty good maxim for all artists
From the visionary composer Terry Riley.
The #1 newsletter metric to focus on
The art (and science) of getting more replies to your newsletter.
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