⧉ Something that doesn’t scale
Welcome to the thirty-fourth issue of OVERLAP ⧉
Something that doesn’t scale
Last week, I attended a panel discussion featuring women who write email newsletters. Together, they represented five personal or side-project newsletters and two media outlets (The New Yorker and Vox). The moderator and audience focused on a predictable set of questions: What platform do you use? How do you get new subscribers? Do you plan to monetize it?
Of course, if you’ve ever listened to a discussion like this, you know the most interesting thing is often what goes unsaid. Every aspect of the discussion assumed that growth was the goal and that each newsletter was striving for a bigger audience. This makes sense for a business or publication, but not necessarily for a side project. Then again, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe, in 2020, the pursuit of scale is a given, even for the most personal missives.
Inboxes are an intimate space, and the panelists said they’ve had thoughtful conversations with readers who are more comfortable sending a private reply than posting a public response. The only “problem” with these one-on-one interactions? “They don’t scale.” I realize now that I may be in the minority — but when it comes to personal conversations and correspondence, I view the lack of ability to scale as a feature, not a bug.
A year in, this newsletter is still very small, and I hope it stays that way. Don’t get me wrong — I love it when you forward these emails to friends or tell colleagues to sign up! It’s like a fresh layer of compost in the garden, an all-natural boost. Whatever sprouts from it is organic and homegrown, not a factory-farmed megafruit. It’s so much sweeter and more satisfying that way.
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In my creative endeavors outside of work, I’m increasingly interested in things that don’t scale. I’m hatching plans for my next project: a printed zine to commemorate the first year of OVERLAP. Stay tuned.
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Auntie Jess recommends:
Samin Nosrat. New podcast and magazine interviews with the author of “Salt Fat Acid Heat” have crossed my radar in recent days. What a delight.
Rethinking childhood classics. Apparently “Choose Your Own Adventure” books are unique products of the social, economic, and cultural context of the 1980s. I feel grateful to have been in the right place at the right time.
Bird By Bird. I revisited this decades-old book recently, and its “instructions on writing and life” somehow seem even more relevant now.
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Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear from you — hit reply or send a message through my website to tell me about your favorite email newsletters, cookbook authors, well-worn paperbacks, or anything else that’s on your mind. You can also forward this to a friend or two and invite them to subscribe. If you missed a previous issue, all the archives are online.
Until next time,
Jessica
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