Lessons in launching a newsletter
Local stories people (especially politicians) don't like, a new look Blog Preston and Reach redundancies
Good evening,
A bit later than usual and sorry for the brevity too - it’s been a full-on day as Blog Preston got a new look for the first time in a decade(!). More on that later in the newsletter.
We dive straight into this week’s recommendations for interesting things which crossed my feed when it comes to digital, journalism, publishing and more.
So you want to start a newsletter. How do you do it? - Sam Shedden - Sam’s worked a lot with newsletters of all types over the years and he shared some tips in a LinkedIn post from a talk he had given at a university in Australia on his experiences. Sam’s taken the popular ‘Minute’ format and exported it to Melbourne. One of the key things he mentions is consistency, and it’s easy to overlook. But if you say you’re going to deliver a newsletter every Wednesday, job number one is delivering a newsletter every Wednesday (or say if you can’t for whatever reason).
Opinion: You may not like every story we write, but that’s the point - Paul Hutchinson - this should be a must read for every local politician to remind them of the role local media plays, but Paul also touches on how it is crucial local media is able to confront difficult topics. And being accused of bias, by all sides, is usually a sign a local title is doing its job properly, so this line below resonated with me from Paul’s piece following some uproar in Bedford about stories which they had run. It reminded me I probably need to write more op-ed pieces on Blog Preston when something really kicks off, which explains our position.
The truth is simple: whichever party runs Bedford will feature heavily in our coverage. That is not favouritism, it’s reality.
Blog Preston has a new look - Blog Preston - if you’ll indulge me, we unveiled the new look for Blog Preston today after months of work. I’ll write more extensively on this in a future newsletter once it has chance to bed in. But in short, we’ve really lifted the design and feel of the site to reflect the quality and quantity of the output, introduced the option for readers to make a contribution to helping us sustain independent journalism in the city and introduced some new features. Plus a host of behind the scenes work which helps hammer down load times, better ad load positions and ensure social and video embeds work better in stories to maximise use of the social content we create.
And it would be remiss in this newsletter and this week not to mention the redundancies at my former employer, Reach, I know there’s a number of ex-colleagues who read this newsletter and I have seen lots of people I know posting about being affected. There will be swathes of talented people at risk, who have forged their careers, made their names and done great work. I will offer that I’ve seen people go on, outside of perhaps the only employer they have known in their working career to do fantastic things, and likewise when I was at Reach I saw people who had been put at risk then go on to do amazing things too. Whatever path happens, you’ll follow it for a reason.
When I left, which I appreciate is different as I made the choice to, I sat down and thought back through the experiences I had while there (there were many and I will always be thankful for that and the opportunities afforded to me). I jotted them down and I gave them a ranking as to what I enjoyed the most and when I felt I had the most purpose. I also made a list of people who I had worked with who had gone somewhere else and appeared to be doing good things, and made contact.
I also thought about what I already had, that was within my grasp to do something about and not as volatile to external forces - which led me to deciding to give it a go again with Blog Preston. For many people, that might not be publishing/journalism related (and the thought of leaving journalism entirely definitely crossed my mind a few times), I was fortunate (or unfortunate!) that it was something local and journalism related for me.
Vocalising what you’re thinking of doing is also good - be that to friends, family, colleagues, confidants, mentors, other people you trust.
All of the above is cold comfort if you’ve been told the news this week, but trust in a process being followed, use your network (my Dad always used to say that, but he was right!) and know you’ll find a path. For those who stay (and it’s worth remembering there’s a significant re-deployment to new roles likely), the strategic shift to diversify revenues, accelerate audio-visual content and drive subscriptions while maintaining scale will be a challenge but it was ever thus. It remains a powerhouse of brands and talent.
If you are affected and I can help, please do drop me a line ed@almaonline.co.uk - be that a chat, a recommendation, a point in the right direction.
Right, back to the start, and Sam’s point was consistency and on a Wednesday evening we always send the Blog Preston newsletter so I’d better go tell them we have a new-look website!
Keep going
Ed
p.s. With Alma we’re up for a Press Gazette award tomorrow night in their Future of Media Awards for the work we’ve been doing with The Lead with the Northern newsletters and in-depth journalism. Luke is heading down as I am on Dad duties, so if you’re at the awards do say hello!