I often use an article to make a point, and that's what I'm doing here. In this post, James Breiner reviews his metrics and draws some conclusions 'about his community'. He finds (as I have) that the newsletter drives the most traffic, that data matters, that headlines matter, and that people prefer the personal touch. A newsletter sent to subscribers is "not a message to the world but to them." I believe that. In my newsletter I'm writing to people, and not 'publishing', properly so-called. And I think (this is the point I want to make) that the focus on data, and especially readership and subscription numbers, contradicts this idea. If I'm focused on building a wide audience and hitting my numbers, then I'm publishing. And there's nothing wrong with publishing, but it's not what I do. I'm writing. To you. Not to the world.
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