On Forming a Newsletter Community
making my readers feel seen and heard
Hello readers! Happy Tuesday!
Just a reminder that my Saturday newsletters are always available to all readers for free in their entirety, but my Tuesday newsletters will have a paywall at some point within.
With my newsletter migration, I feel a bit like I just moved to a new town, and while I am still connected with my old friends, it has been a bit harder to get to know new people.
Want to help me MEET new people? Please do share my subscription link with your friends and online community!
When I left my bookstagram community in January 2023, a large portion of my close community there followed me to my Substack newsletter. That meant I was writing to a community who had been with me through years and years of (over)sharing, and who had already communicated with me often via Instagram, and then continued to do so via Substack comments or messages.
I will certainly not deny that the intense dedication I had to building my Instagram brand from 2017 - 2023 led me to a successful initial newsletter launch two years ago, but I also have zero regrets about abandoning my Instagram then, or migrating from Substack at the beginning of February.
I no longer want to be found on or be associated with a social media platform, or call my publication anything other than exactly what it is: an email newsletter with a static online archive.
With that, however, comes the admission of one thing those damned platforms do well by design: build community. They build community not as a way to help humanity, of course, but instead as a way to capitalize on our attention and eyeballs. Nevertheless, they make interacting with a lot of people frictionless.
This begets the question: do I / you WANT to interact with a lot of people?
As a writer, I WANT to interact with you! I want your questions, responses, feedback. I hope I have made it clear that you can very easily just respond to my newsletters by replying to the emails, and I promise that I reply to all of the responses! If you would rather comment publicly on the web, you can do that too ~ if there is a glitch, please let me know right away by just replying to my emails. I immediately report these issues to the Buttondown team and they have been wonderful about investigating and helping problem-solve.
It is also true that sometimes as a reader, I am perfectly happy just reading the newsletters I receive in my inbox without interacting. When I examine why I comment on or respond to some newsletters versus others, it usually comes down to feeling like I know the author and whether or not I feel like they will care if I respond to them.
How would I possibly know these writers I have never met f2f? Well, through consistent commenting, messaging, and how well they have conveyed their personalities and self via their writing. When I comment on or respond to a newsletter and never get a response or acknowledgement, that is a clear sign to me that interaction is not something that writer prioritizes. That is fine, but an indication that I shouldn’t put effort into interaction on my end. Please know that I WILL reply to you!
One thing that has vastly changed over my years of sharing online, however, has been my willingness to share EVERYTHING. I have almost no regrets in life, but I DO regret sharing about my kids by name and sharing their photos publicly for several years of their childhoods. You have noticed, I am sure, that I never refer to my family members by name, share their photos, or share any information that would identify them publicly in any way. I truly think this is one thing that my generation messed up majorly, and that is simply because we were the first generation to have the internet. I guess … you’re welcome for teaching the next generation what NOT to do?
Community is, of course, more than interaction between the author and individual members. An ideal community would build interactions between individual members as well, and that’s a phase that I am really pondering at this time. I would love to hear any of your suggestions!
Above all, I want you as my readers to feel seen and heard. Those are the things I value most in all areas of my life, and I view this newsletter as an extension of ME.
Get to Know ME Better!
As I mentioned, getting to know the author of a newsletter is a wonderful way to feel more connected! Here are a few pieces from the archives that will help you understand where I am coming from, what I value, and all of those little quirks that make me who I am.