What’s in a copywriter’s inbox?

(If you’re expecting details of my work emails, leave now – that sh*t is confidential).

I subscribe to a few different email lists and newsletters that I wanted to share with you.

They aren’t all directly related to copywriting but I’ve found each useful in their own unique way.

By useful, they have to fall into three broad criteria:

They teach me to write better copy.
They teach me about marketing or SEO.
They teach me about personal development.

I full admit that I have other subscriptions that I haven’t mentioned in this list, either because they are too weird, too specific or I’ve only just subscribed to them and haven’t had time to properly test them out.

Examples might include:

Ryan Holiday’s newsletter on stoicism (the name escapes me).
Wills & Probate, HMRC’s newsletter, etc.
Numerous newswires/bulletins distributed by our clients.

Before you ask, I won’t mention Absurd Insights here – I’ve always found that sort of thing to be too cheesy in these lists – though it is indeed found in my inbox every Monday morning.

Also, all of the below are free!

1. Chris Williamson’s “3 Minute Monday”

Chris is the host of “Modern Wisdom,” which I avidly consume on my way to and from work most days.

His newsletter acts almost like a debrief of the podcast, where he quickly summarises what he’s learned that week.

You can expect to learn some seriously interesting stuff because the guy is talking to some of the greatest minds on the planet on a weekly basis.

From this week’s edition:

“You can cope with whatever life throws at you.

“And if you can’t, just tear your own fingers off and keep going.”

2. Jesse Itzler’s “Free Swim”

Jesse is an author, rapper, businessman, ultra-runner and arguably the guy who propelled David Goggins into the spotlight with his book “Living with a SEAL.”

His YouTube videos are often the thing that get me motivated for my half-marathon training and he has some incredible insights into personal development and an entrepreneur’s journey.

His Free Swim newsletter is a light-hearted look at whatever takes his fancy that week – well worth a subscribe.

From this week’s edition:

“I wet my pants and forgot my own lyrics in front of 685,000 people.

“And guess what happened?

“NOTHING. Nobody cared. Nobody knew.”

3. Search Engine Journal

I initially subscribed to this one when I began my journey with SEO and though I often don’t read the articles in full, it gives me a great idea of what’s going on in the field.

If you’re a copywriter, you’ll likely find the content about on-page SEO helps the way you write your online content.

From this week’s edition:

4. Forbes

This is a random one – let me explain.

The Forbes content itself is sometimes useful but as a Brit it tends to be too US-centric for my liking.

However, the Forbes writers are really great at capturing attention, condensing stories and keeping you entertained.

Are they completely unbiased?

No.

Do they write great articles in terms of style, headings, tone, etc?

Yes.

I also subscribe to numerous other news sites to get a broad scope of information trickling into my inbox but the point with Forbes is that it is also teaching me what good writing looks like.

This week’s articles:

My final thoughts

It’s an eclectic list I’ll admit.

I think my point here is to point out that you can get value from any content.

Why?

Because all the above give me quick snippets, insights, snapshots, into what’s going on in my world.

Chris and Jesse’s work reminds me to stay on the right personal development path, the Search Engine Journal helps educate me on a subject I’m still very new to, and newspapers like Forbes give me the chance to learn from other great content creators.

My advice, for copywriters just starting out, is to subscribe to some newsletters.

Even if it’s bad or irrelevant or random content, it can teach you things.

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