@rcrackley @amit That’s one thing Micro.blog does show you in terms of “followers”. Wish it could also be obscured. HEY’s solution sounds good.
@amit I very much sympathize with the problem of feeling the need to publish regularly. I'm still doing a newsletter with a tiny number of subscribers, and I feel the pressure to get the monthly edition out. But I wonder, if you and I wanted just to send out a newsletter when we felt like it, would there be a problem with that? It's something I'm considering.
@JMaxB @amit My newsletter is just a weekly digest of my post which I keep going solely for people who don't want to use RSS. Definitely on board with posting whenever about whatever.
@JMaxB My "publshing house" (Buttondown) sometimes sends me an annoying reminder if they think I haven't published recently enough, but I doubt they'll cancel me for that reason.
@rcrackley Thanks!
@garciabuxton I think this is the subscription link. Let me know if it doesn't work. Thanks.
@zioibi Ditto here, though this month I forgot it and am writing it 12 hours before I leave on a vacation for the rest of the month. Feels like I'm pumping it out for my vast number of readers.
@camacho No newsletter emoji, although it makes me think we could link to newsletters from someone’s profile page to help discovery.
@amit whilst I agree with your sentiment I do have a newsletter … but the micro blog approach is not ready for prime time.
Venkatesh Rao writing about newsletter versus blog just yesterday … will dig out the link.
@rcrackley Yeah, I tried my best to find comfort in the medium. But the can-be-a-post thought always bugged me. The subscribers count is not a big deal for me, but a change in line with what HEY has would be welcome. All said though, I am not really inclined to pick this up again. // @pratik
@amit You can think of your newsletter as a long blog post then. micro.blog offers an option to send only long blog posts as a newsletter. I think of newsletters not as a product but a delivery medium. Outside our little techie and enthusiastic circles, practically nobody uses RSS and email is by far the most common. And for many good reasons—it's certainly more intuitive than RSS for one. I use Substack and it has a nice feature that has enabled them to fuse blogs and newsletters. For every blog post I publish on any of my blogs, I check/uncheck the box that decides if the post will also be sent as an email to such subscribers. This made me free to write what I want while also allowing people to sign up in a medium they want and prefer.
@JMaxB We can do it, sure. But I believe the medium wants some schedule to grow. To prosper. If my mind is not in it, the schedule will continue to act as pressure than a relief.
@zioibi That's good, wish I could continue the belief for longer. I posted around 50 odd issues, and then couldn't keep up the spirit.
@uncertainquark The workflow of deciding whether to deliver a long form post as an email is a welcome addition to a blog. It's perfect for your style and nature of writing (and I admire your focus). But for the writing I do, I prefer not to think about this.
@manton @amit @camacho @rcrackley Paradoxically, I think I’d pay more attention to subscriber numbers if the details were in a csv file. At the moment, I know that the list is there and I can look or not look as I feel like it. If I had to download a file, I’d probably be tempted to download it every time I posted something new.
@JohnPhilpin I guess I'd flip it around and ask why have it? Honestly curious if people would like to discover newsletters vs. just discovering people's blogs. We could certainly have a section to highlight newsletters, though.
@manton @JohnPhilpin I'm working on a newsletter directory for TIL. Perhaps it could be a test balloon for this idea? I don't use analytics but I'd be happy to ask people whether they find it useful.
FWIW I like the idea of optionally including it on a profile.
@SimonWoods @JohnPhilpin Cool, I think this could be a nice thing to be maintained outside of Micro.blog.
@rcrackley I've been thinking about this and think I've settled on a good compromise UI: we'll hide the subscribers list by default. It can be exported, or you can use the search box with a blank search to show everyone. That way it's not in your face but still accessible if needed. (One thing we have that Hey doesn't is being able to search and delete subscribers.)
@manton @JohnPhilpin I'd like to have a Newsletters section in Discover too. At least for me it's because it will be a much better way to find more longform content. In fact, I'd like a Discover section that shows only long posts and newsletter issues.
@amit I felt similarly with a newsletter I managed on Substack. It felt like it shifted to be writing for an audience rather than writing because something interested me.
@SimonWoods nice idea.
Do you have the directory in any form available yet?
Do you intend to show non mb newsletters ?
@manton so … edge case here … I like looking at peoples newsletters just to see how people are using them … so to me it isn’t the author or topic particularly … more the how.
@ezellwrites if it gets like that you should definitely stop. I have a substack but write around a topic that definitely attracts and then texts subscribers … and that is ok.
The blogs and newsletter are different … though the ideas are consistent.
@amit Similar thoughts.
Instead of doing the (email) newsletter, went back to the “old“ type of blog format emphasizing sharing what’s on the mind. But then also keeping that part about newsletters which makes sense (link sharing).
And now into a flow where there’s probably something a little bit more freeform shared once a week over parentheses usually today); and then something a little more structured (also weekly). That seems to have hit a sweet spot… With the addition of not needing to worry about managing an email list, etc.
@JohnPhilpin (.... yes, I will eventually reply to every single conversation ever 🙃)
I don't have any directory published at the moment but it is part of my current project: Orchid. I'm undecided on non-mb newsletters, though I'm pretty sure it will be just mb-hosted newsletters to begin with.