I was recently asked for tips about writing a newsletter. I’ve been writing, editing, or publishing one for more than 20 years. So of course I have some tips!
The first time I acquired the task (I volunteered), I was new to the organization. I thought it would be a great way to meet people (It was!) After not too long, I could call anybody in the group and ask questions. People knew who I was and thought I could put THEM in the newsletter and more people would know them!
People liked to be asked to talk about something they think they are an expert at! So take advantage of that!
Just like content on your website:
- Make the writing personal.. like your talking to a friend.
- Use short sentences!
- Use subheadings to make it easier to follow the whole article.
People won’t read more than about 700 words in an article. - Use captions! People often read them instead of the whole article
- Be VERY CAREFUL about centered content. It looks nice from a distance. But it is much harder to read if your eye has to work a bit to find the beginning of the next line.
- Use some consistent mark to show the end of an article and something to show the beginning...besides the title.
- Be consistent about how you show the author of an article
- If it’s printed, make it be at least two columns wide content (NOT full width of 8 1/2 x 11.. Full width is very hard to read — especially on the screen)
- Get somebody else to proof read it before you send it out.
- Use only 2-3 fonts and be consistent where you use them.
- Article titles: one font
- Content: another
My biggest newsletter uses Rockwell Bold for titles and sub headings - Century Schoolbook for content
- Arial for captions and tables.
- And only sometimes do I add something weird!
- You want people to READ the content, not be confused about what is important
- If it’s only an on-line pdf, then the pictures don’t have to be more than 72 dpi (maybe 96 if you’re feeling generous. Big pictures make the file too big to send) Here’s a thing I wrote years about about making a pdf smaller
Getting content for your newsletter
Ask people to write something specific..
- Do not ask: Will you write something for the newsletter? (nobody will)
- Do ask: Can you write about the workshop on the bird pattern (PS: I really liked those)
- Or maybe do a recurring column on favorite tools
- New member profiles
- Cultivate the relationship with people who DO write. Then they’ll keep writing more. (S)
And here’s a secret bit of advice.
If you feel like you’ve got a bunch of sentences and they don’t quite fit the way you’d like, paste your content into an AI platform and ask it to put your content in order.
Or summarize it if it’s too long.
(I find Gemini, part of Chrome browser, does a good job of making the product sound like a person wrote it — not a machine. And if you don’t like the first version.. ask Gemini to take the result and make adjustment. ALWAYS read and evaluate AI results to make sure it didn’t invent stuff that isn’t right!)
Here are a few more tips about writing a good newsletter.
Good luck and have fun!
