3 Quick lessons from one (great) newsletter
Copy these tweaks and upgrade your publication
Hello dear reader,
I’ve got something from the archives for you today: a post I wrote in 2022. The advice I shared back then is still relevant today.
Enjoy!
3 Things to Learn From One Newsletter
Every publication needs these three things
Karen Cherry | Aug 17, 2022
Today’s issue of The Rubesletter by Matt Ruby (Vooza) is fabulous.
It contains three elements that every publication needs to be successful: great content, a compelling email header and effective CTAs (calls to action). Let’s jump into each in turn.
1. Great content
Matt’s publication has great content. Today’s email is one long original piece that is entertaining, thoughtful and flows beautifully. Matt breaks up the long text with gifs, Tweet previews, and colorful listicles.
And it’s funny
“....lately I feel the same way about Jesus as I do about Beyonce: Love the artist, scared to death of the superfans.” Matt Ruby
After the long original piece, there are 3 more skimmable sections, “Quickies”, “Comedy” and “5-Spotted”.
2026 Takeaway: Some readers love skimming, some love to get into the flow of an essay. You can appeal to both (if you wish), by publishing beautifully written original essays and skimmable sections in one post.
2. Compelling email header
Matt’s banner and header for free subscribers are a masterclass. They promote his name and brand and they let you know…
what the email is (a newsletter)
who the writer is and what he does
What to expect from your subscription
Which plan you are on, and an opportunity to sign up for a paid subscription.
2026 Takeaway: These days, with more people reading in the app, it’s unwise to rely too much on email headers - they’re not seen by people who read in the app. Instead, I now recommend including a 1-3 sentence introduction at or near the top of each post to provide context for new readers. More about this here.
3. Effective CTAs (calls to action)
Matt also has some great calls to action (CTAs) in the body of his email, like the one below.
This is the Rubesletter from Matt Ruby (comedian, writer, and the creator of Vooza). Sign up to get it in your inbox weekly. And check out my other newsletter too: Funny How: Letters to a Young Comedian.
2026 Takeaway: Effective CTAs are still a must-have.
Don’t be anxious about upsetting your current subscribers by adding multiple ‘Subscribe’ CTAs to posts; they are 100% necessary for converting new readers and without them, you won’t grow. Your current subscribers will forgive you.
Takeaways
Every successful publication needs great content, compelling email headers and effective calls to action. Take inspiration from the successful creators in your life to tweak and upgrade your Substack publication today.
That’s it from me for this week. See you next time,
P.S. If you found this post helpful, and if you love the fact that my weekly posts have no paywalls, please consider upgrading to say ‘thank you’. Substack is such a generous platform, allowing us all to use it for free for as long as we want before activating paid subscriptions, and I try to emulate their generosity by sharing all my knowledge for free. But I do sincerely appreciate financial support (thank you!)
Super useful... as usual.
Thank you for sending the helpful information