Newsletter editors: the new newsroom power players

The inexorable rise of newsletters – and the newsletter editor:

Publishers are rediscovering that email newsletters are a reliable way to reach readers — and serve a critically important direct connection to audiences that serves as a counterweight to the mercurial algorithms of Facebook. The popularity of email digests is giving rise to a new specialty at publishers: the newsletter editor.

This is smart. Quartz undoubtedly led the way here, but a well-written, editorially-driven newsletter (as opposed to those horrified automated newsletters people used to push out) is gold. For the reader, it’s a well-curated package of information that arrives at a time that suits them, and which can be finished, leaving them feeling informed. And for the publishers, it’s a direct relationship with the reader – and we need more of those.

Unlike articles that people encounter in their social feeds, publishers say newsletters have permission to be written in a more conversational and personal style because the reader has already opted in to them.

Exactly.