As someone who runs a news letter take my opinion with a grain of salt. The reality is that the marketing tricks work. The stupid thumbnails, the pop up windows

As someone who runs a news letter take my opinion with a grain of salt. The reality is that the marketing tricks work. The stupid thumbnails, the pop up windows, and the call to actions. They have been demonstrated over and over again to increase growth. It sucks that it's the case, but the internet is not the same internet of 15-20 years ago. We are in the attention economy now, and since most users expect things to be free, we have to worry about things like tops of funnels, SEO, evergreen content, and virality. The things that people have to say and do to stand above the crowd are ridiculous. And it's not just newsletters, look at the guy who made the AI Drake/Weeknd song, look at Andy Kelly's post^1 Why I'm donating $150/month (10% of my income) to the musl libc project, look at all the current advice for how to become a new published author. How you market plays a huge role in your success, and merit alone won't cut it unless your program or content is just that good. I write my newsletter because I'm excited to contribute to a space that has provided so much for me, both financially and intellectually. I'm eternally grateful for the opportunities tech has given me and every post I make is sharing that gratitude. But I also want my posts to be heard by more than just myself, so I've got to market it, even if I'm getting no financial gain from the newsletter. The tools and techniques people will choose to employ to get seen and heard vary, and each content creator must decided where they draw the line. Maybe it's my ego that demands I have more than a dozen eyeballs viewing my posts every week, or a corruption in my soul from decades of internet consumption. But I genuinely believe in the content I post, and I want to find the largest community of people who will enjoy it too. 1. https://andrewkelley.me/post/why-donating-to-musl-libc-project.html https://andrewkelley.me/post/why-donating-to-musl-libc-proje...