Email newsletters — the new blogs? Maybe. Maybe not. But they sure do comprise a vast frontier of content delivery experimentation that looks and feels a lot like the golden era of blogging.
I have examples of newsletters I’ve crafted in various formats. I’m still trying to figure out how to develop Nerdvana’s newsletter into more than an RSS-driven recap of content from my own website — but in the meantime, there’s plenty of illustrious inspiration invading my inbox (invited, of course).
Tedium
Ernie Smith bills his creation as “The Dull Side of the Internet” — however, Tedium is anything but boring.
Known for delivering a “twice-weekly deep dive towards the absolute end of the long tail,” this publication most recently explored the strange and wonderful world of homebrew games for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Like most Tedium pieces (this one contributed by friend David Buck), it’s a must-read.
TipOff Sports
What? Jayson likes sports?
Bite your tongue, dumb jock! No, he doesn’t — but his job frequently requires a rudimentary understanding of what’s going on in the sportsball arena, and he likes getting a paycheck. And that’s just what TipOff Sports delivers. (Understanding, not his paycheck.)
Why am I blogging in the third person?
Anyway, TipOff describes itself as “a newsletter for people who want a quick and easy way to know what’s going on in the world of sports.” Like Tedium, it’s delivered twice a week.
I haven’t been fired yet — and I’m the guy who once torpedoed the implementation of a universal copy desk by writing headlines about “wrestling games.” So TipOff definitely lives up to its mission. Score! … or something?
Pew Research Center’s Daily Briefing of Media News
As someone toiling in the innards of the news media industry, the Pew Research Center’s Daily Briefing of Media News keeps me informed about the famously non-communicative communication field.
Although it’s basically little more than a curated link roundup, I find myself clicking through to almost everything it offers; and when I already know about something, there’s usually a more in-depth explanation or analysis here that adds to the story anyway.
What more can you ask for?
Subscribe to Pew’s Daily Briefing here.
CNN’s Reliable Sources
OK, yeah, there’s this — Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources newsletter for CNN — a companion to the Sunday morning talk show — is a great daily roundup. It takes more of an insider tone and does a great job of reading between the headlines, connecting the dots and looking forward as it also reports the news.
As inspiration, Reliable Sources’ exhaustiveness (with the full resources of CNN) and healthy mix of aggregation with original inline content is also intimidating, but that’s a worthy example to which we can aspire.
Nerdvana Media Newsletter
While we’re on the subject, why not subscribe to my Nerdvana newsletter anyway? As I said, it’s a work in progress — but you won’t regret it. And I’d love to hear your suggestions for making it better.
