#51 Predictions again
2021 review, 2022 predictions, and future products
Prediction Issue
In this issue no newsletters are promoted. Instead predictions from last year are reviewed and new prediction put forth. The result will be more choices for you as a reader and easier ways to read your favorite newsletters. So in this issue:
Reviewing my 2021 predictions
My 2022 predictions
Where I'm putting my time and effort - coming products
Reviewing my 2021 predictions
A year ago I was asked to provide a list of Predictions for 2021. So how did l do? To brag, "eerily spot-on" said the editor of "Week in Newsletters" from Revue/Twitter. They published my 2021 predictions under the headline "Publishers will acquire newsletters." Here are the five predictions with my comments:.
i. Newsletters more like blogs. The rise of SEO. 100% Search Engine Optimization is a tough game but newsletters are in it and competing with big news organizations. For example, search for The Platformer's "Is the music industry's future on the blockchain?" SEO will continue to influence newsletter features.
ii. News orgs build out web sites with newsletters. 110% The Atlantic, Twitter buying Revue, etc.
iii. "listletters" not acceptable and readers demand content in newsletters. This was right. Look at the content heavy newsletters that the Atlantic is launching and Facebook is publishing as Bulletin. Not a listletter among them.
iv. expanding definition of newsletter 100% Many new flavors like fiction, comics, and games
v. Year of newsletter reader 50% This proves the dominance of Substack in the newsletter marketplace. Their newsletter reader is gets a top spot on their home page. So got that right. But because of the closed ecosystem of substack, no other newsletter reader gets much notice.
New Predictions for 2022
Cross promotion will be this year's newsletter buzzword. This is the primary way newsletters add subscribers and most newsletters are desperate for more subscribers. This will take many different shapes inside newsletters like recommended sections, further reading links about the topic, advertisements, or even "Newsletters I've read this week". Also see #3.
Substack spinoffs, APIs and media companies. Substack, the largest newsletter company, now has another year of newsletter content in their cloud which is a huge competitive advantage. This "long tail" gets longer and the data is ripe for new Substack products to help build out media companies. What we call newsletters will look more like what we use to call media companies.
Subscription newsletter readers apps. More companies will bring together stand alone paid newsletters into an editorial group with one fee like The Atlantic did this past year. These groups will offer specialized newsletter reader apps and a TOC (Table of Contents) style newsletter. This is the alternative business model to a paid newsletter that pleases both current and potential paid subscribers. Axios is almost there.
Substack remains the platform leader. Twitter will differentiate by merging tweet storms and newsletters. Facebook will fall further behind with their newsletter platform. Some platform will target local membership organizations like churches, PTAs, civic association and concede the national and global audiences to Substack. This push may incorporate non-profit, local news organizations. Opportunity for a OEM newsletter platform.
Newsletter editor features will expand beyond writing. Great opportunity to differentiate with more features built into their editor software. For example, newsletter editors could use an integrated editorial calendar. Or unique email address for collecting notes like Evernote provides. Or image libraries. Or polls. (Facebook just announced this before I could publish this prediction. )
Blockchain newsletters. Why not? Many will just use it as a buzz word. Instead of subscribing would you buy an NFT?
Year of TOC (Table of Contents) newsletter format. Typically these are free, daily newsletters that provide a summary of news stories behind a paywall. Paywall maybe a paid newsletter or traditional news organization. More in the next issue on TOC newsletters. See #3.
My Time and Effort
I am betting on these predictions and working on three related projects. Two will launch very soon, probably in January.
Innovation Forest newsletter. I’m starting another newsletter to write regularly about innovations, their patterns, and innovation creators. Readers of this newsletter are the first to have a chance to subscribe to Innovation Tree.
Deving.email is a newsletter reader featuring developer newsletters. As you know, it was delayed by my obsolete old computer. Deploying in January.
Press pledge newsletter reader is in the design phase. This will be a highly personalized product for organizing and reading content from all of the news organizations that you support with paid subscriptions.
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