6 lessons learned from 2 months writing a newsletter about Data & Analytics
6 lessons learned from 2 months writing a newsletter about Data & Analytics
TL;DR - If you build it, they will come.
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Lesson 1: If you put yourself out there, unpredictable and amazing things happen
I have had so many great conversations with people as a result of writing this newsletter.
Thank you to all of you who have:
Contacted me after reading this newsletter and suggested we speak;
Introduced me to yet more fascinating people;
Given me your time and the benefit of your knowledge.
Whenever I write about a topic I end up knowing more about it when I press publish than I did when I started. And even more a week or so later once you have reached out to me to discuss it further.
Thank you! I can’t wait to find out where it takes me next. Get in touch!
Lesson 2: The formula “Everything you wanted to know about X (but were afraid to ask)” still works
When I look at my most popular posts (by total number of views), it appears the above statement (hat tip to Mr W. Allen, Esq.) is true.
That’s to say, people are more likely to read about something that they have heard about already than something they have not. But they also want to read about a topic where they are somewhat in the dark and feel the need to become more educated.
My article on Entity Resolution therefore did not hit the mark because neither did readers know about the topic nor did they want to know anything about it!
FWIW - Entity Resolution is a super useful (if, admittedly, somewhat dry) topic. Give it another chance!
Lesson 3: The day of the week a post is published seems to make little difference to total view numbers
(Caveat: I had not previously tried publishing at the weekend - so let’s see what I learn from this post!)
Ultimately, over time, a post seems to get the views it deserves.
Lesson 4: The length of a post makes no difference to the number of views of the post
However, due to the poor analytics within Substack I have no idea whether or not a long post has an impact on:
Your reading enjoyment;
The likelihood that you get to the end (given that I get very few clicks through the links I put at the end of my emails, I would guess that it does);
Whether or not it puts you off reading future posts.
Please let me know your thoughts in the survey.
Lesson 5: LinkedIn is a great source of subscribers but Substack also generates value
LinkedIn has generated over a quarter of my subscribers. They’ve come in the main from me announcing each new post there.
I am still experimenting with what wording on LinkedIn has the most impact on views and subscriptions - no clear pattern has yet emerged.
Referrals from you, dear reader, by clicking the embedded share button in each post, has resulted in a further 20% of subscriptions. Thank you and please carry on sharing!
With regards to the Substack ecosystem, it looks like roughly 10% of my new subscriptions have come through referrals from the system itself. It’s quite opaque though, because Substack’s data is pretty hard to interpret. Substack could definitely be doing a better job with their analytics. I have been told that the analytics on Beehiiv are better...
Lesson 6: None of my readers want to join a book club with me
:-(
Come on - you know you want to. Info at the end of this post.
Links to other interesting content I’ve read in the last few days:
Data & Analytics
Thought-provoking analysis from Andreessen Horowitz partner, Joe Schmidt, on opportunities for startups to dethrone Bloomberg, Morningstar and Verisk using LLMs. Link.
Miscellaneous
Long article (you have been warned!) in the New Yorker on What Have Fourteen Years of Conservative Rule Done to Britain?. “Living standards have fallen. The country is exhausted by constant drama. But the U.K. can’t move on from the Tories without facing up to the damage that has occurred.”
Interesting article by
on Japanese town planning and the positive impact it has on commercial diversity:
Books and book clubs
This article in the LARB on Toni Morrison’s rejection letters is a fascinating insight into literary publishing and the great woman herself;
The wonderful writer
’s StoryWorld Substack is well worth reading if you enjoy fiction. Amongst other things, he recommends great media once a month, and has some brilliant recommendations in March’s edition. I would like to read Bora Chung’s Utopia short stories soon - perhaps in the SF book club;George Saunders has been discussing ‘Guy de Maupassant’ by Isaac Babel in his
Substack. He shared the story a couple of weeks ago and then did a close analysis this week as a way to think about how detail brings a story to life. Highly recommended if you are interested in the craft of writing;I’m running a few book clubs this year as a way to push me to read and finish more books. I’ve started two more clubs in the past month - one for Mindfulness and one for Japanese Literature in Translation. See the list of clubs and books below. If you would like to join me in reading any of these, please drop me a line. The rules for all the clubs are the same:
One book every two months;
Choice rotates between book club members.
