Matt Yglesias and the secret of blogging - by Max Read Matt Yglesias and the secret of blogging

If you are looking for an optimistic way to look at it, consider it “freeing”: Stop worrying about whether something is “good enough” and just keep on posting !

Some people have told me I’m not doing enough—that I should publish more, react to breaking news, tweet every day, start a podcast. But to what end? More subscribers but less pride in my work? Host a podcast but constantly cringe because it’s not really me?

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but there seems to be an assumption now that if you don’... See more

Here's what most people get wrong: they think building a successful newsletter is about finding the perfect topic or writing brilliant content every day.

That's not it.

Building a sustainable newsletter is about creating systems that work even when you're not actively working on them.

If you go too far off the beaten path of algorithmic consistency, you risk never being heard. You may never get enough cultural momentum to exist in any meaningful way. That is a real problem. But if you're too good at algorithmic optimization, you risk building a large audience without saying anything particularly original or important. Not to men... See more