What's unique about A Manager's Guide to Newsletters?

An interview with Robert F. Abbott, the author of A Manager's Guide to Newsletters: Communicating for Results.

Question: What makes this book different from all the other books about newsletters?

Answer: This is the first and only book, as far as I know, to look at newsletters from a managerial perspective, and not an editorial or design perspective. Where other books might sum up objectives for a newsletter in a page or two, this book dedicates seven chapters to newsletter strategy and tactics, all focused on helping organizations and readers achieve their goals.

In this context, I also find it helpful to explain what this book is not -- it is not a book about writing, design, printing, and so forth. Quite frankly, though, I started out writing one. But, along the way, a year or two into the project, I got stuck on a question, one that I couldn't answer or get out of my mind.

Question: What question was that?

Answer: What does it mean when we say, "Write for your readers"? That phrase, by the way, is the conventional wisdom about newsletters, and means we should provide information that readers found helpful or of value in some way.

Question: What's wrong with that?

Answer: Nothing - if you publish subscription newsletters, and people pay you for them. But, if you invest time and money in a free, non-subscription newsletter, it doesn't make sense. There has to be something in it for the organization doing the publishing, or it wouldn't do it, at least not for long.

Question: So, where did that question lead you?

Answer: To be brief, it led to new thinking about my experience with newsletters, as well as that of my clients, and about what I've learned of management, including strategic planning, marketing, consumer behavior, and communication. In turn, that led me to develop a new framework to help make sense of my experience.

Question: What is that framework?

Answer: In its simplest form, the free newsletter is a bargain between publisher and reader. The publisher provides information of value to readers, and in exchange readers open themselves to the publisher's messages, messages that aim to persuade or influence.

Question: It seems to me that's also the model used by commercial broadcasting.

Answer: It is and it isn't. While the model is generally the same, newsletters differ through their closer integration of editorial and advertising content. Other media, at least the mainstream media, make a very careful distinction between editorial and advertising.

When I worked as a radio news writer and announcer, for example, I rarely worried about advertising issues. The separation between editorial and advertising was clear. However, when I publish newsletters for my clients or myself, I blend the two, all the time. I am mixing good editorial material and advertising, or to be more accurate, advocacy. I blend the two, and that's a unique challenge.

Question: Did that answer the question, then?

When we turn to tactics, which means putting the strategy to work, we base our tactical decisions on those responses. More specifically we ask, are readers willing and able to read our newsletter? Are they willing and able to respond to the messages in it.

So, newsletter planning is all about identifying the desired reader responses, and anticipating the willingness and ability of readers to read and respond to the publisher's messages.

Question: The Strategy and Tactics sections make up only about half the book. What's the rest about?

Answer: Given this evolution to strategic and tactical issues, it seemed logical to start thinking of this as a book for managers and administrators. And that resonated with me because most of my clients don't do any hands-on newsletter work. They plan, supervise, evaluate, and they're held accountable for the results the newsletter gets, or doesn't get. So, I cover administrative issues in five chapters and evaluation of a newsletter's performance in the final three chapters.

Question: Any more questions on your mind?

Answer: Yes, and quite candidly it's one that bugs me quite a bit. Just about everyone in every organization agrees that communication is critically important. In fact, I doubt you can find a survey anywhere in which respondents don't say that communication could or should be improved.

Yet, I spend a lot of my time as a newsletter publisher trying to coax words and articles out of people who want to communicate but won't do it unless I chase them. Unfortunately, I'm guilty, too. I don't always communicate with my clients as well as I should.

About the author:

Robert F. Abbott, a writer and publisher, has published custom newsletters since founding The Newsletter Company in 1991. He has worked with clients in diverse industries, to help them plan, publish, and distribute employee newsletters, customer newsletters, and company newsletters.

With a Master of Business Administration degree and a background in radio news writing and announcing, he brings a new perspective to newsletters. This perspective emphasizes the importance of getting results, not the publishing process itself. That means less emphasis on writing and design, and more emphasis on strategy and tactics, the critical foundation stones of all successful newsletters.

Mr. Abbott also participates in many volunteer activities, in everything from political parties to community organizations, and frequently provides communication expertise in these roles.

Contact information

Please call or write:
Word Engines Press Inc.
2125 Summerfield Blvd.
Airdrie, Alberta T4B 1X2
Canada

Telephone: 403 630-6422
Email: wordengines@gmail.com
URL: http://www.managersguide.com/

Copyright 1997-2006 Robert F. Abbott

What you need to know before you start writing or designing your newsletter