Newsletters: the good, the bad and the ugly

We all sign up for newsletters. Sometimes it's because we just signed up for a product, sometimes it's for a friend's newsletter, and you want to support them, and sometimes, it's like I really need to be subscribed to this newsletter because it actually provides me value.

I think it's really difficult to have a great newsletter. And let's be honest, we've probably all signed up to at least one friend's newsletter to support them, and maybe it goes to some special folder that is never read in your email.

I've had a newsletter for a bit now, and I know, because I've spoken to friends, that some just sign up to support me, and that's OK, and appreciated. 💜

I've been reflecting on my own newsletter, and I've thought to myself, do I find this valuable? For context, my newsletter, Yet Another Newsletter LOL (also on DEV as a series), has three sections. The first part is links I find interesting (web dev related almost always), a fun section, and then my shameless plugs which are things I've been up to like live-streaming, or if I was a guest on a podcast.

There are so many newsletters out there, that I feel like plenty of times, my links section is just a carbon copy of other people's newsletters even if I might have some different links. Sometimes it's a struggle to find stuff for my fun section. The only section that I consistently have something for is my shameless plugs because I'm usually live-streaming or attending some event.

So this brings me back to the value of the content. I think the main thing that might bring value is my shameless plugs because that seems to be the most interesting thing, even though my good friend @bekahhw does read my newsletter and does tell me that she finds the links I share useful, I still feel like it's nothing really exceptional in terms of content.

One that stands out for me that I've really been enjoying is @saronyitbarek's notadesigner.io. It's one of the few newsletters that I actually read because it brings me value. Some others that I read pretty consistently are bytes.dev and This week in React, Web Weekly and rendezvous with cassidoo.

This brings me to the point after a lot of rambling, lol. I'm curious what you all consider good newsletters that you literally read and get value from. Please don't hesitate to share them in the comments.

One last thing I'll mention, which inspired this discussion post, is that I'm going to start a new newsletter that is simple and straight to the point.

It's called OneTipAWeek.com. I intend to launch it over the next couple of months, and I guarantee it will bring value to you. It will be focused on one thing and one thing only every week. It may also include a video component to it. I'm still thinking about that. It will typically be developer oriented, but who knows? I may throw in a tip here and there that are more, go outside and touch grass.

If that sounds like something of interest to you, head on over to it and subscribe.