Whitechapel - TinyLetter

TinyLetter

oddbill — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 03:45:17 -0800

Because I READ HIS BLOG I've been toying with TinyLetter.

I made a Newsletter called The Occasional Bitslice.

A sample of the content from the first newsletter is in this blog post.

It may largely be of interest to my friends at this point, though people here might find it interesting.

In fact, I think I would personally find newsletters from many of the people here interesting.

In fact again, it would be interesting to have several newsletters from interesting people hitting my inbox and giving me an actual reason to go looking in there other than to clear out spam and dig for that one email with the flight itinerary or the UPS tracking code.

So, anyone else playing with TinyLetter?

TinyLetter

Fan — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 04:58:15 -0800

I can't read your newsletter without subscribing. Is your newsletter stored on their website? Can Google find it? As an altenative: your own blog, with RSS subscribers?

TinyLetter

stevencudahy — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 05:12:06 -0800

I am interested in your ideas and have subscribed to your newsletter.

I miss Bad Signal. I miss having interesting thoughts dropping into my inbox at random intervals, so yeah, I think I may do this as part of my soon-to-begin push to be more active on the web. And I will also subscribe to anything Whitechapel's denizens put out there, because there are interesting people here with fascinating brains, consuming the web-excretia of which would probably do my own brain some good.

S.

TinyLetter

warrenellis — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 06:25:19 -0800

I can't read your newsletter without subscribing. Is your newsletter stored on their website? Can Google find it? As an altenative: your own blog, with RSS subscribers?

You may be missing the point of an email newsletter.

TinyLetter

Fan — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 06:31:37 -0800

You may be missing the point of an email newsletter.

Yes, I surely am: what *is* the point of it?

I'm a bit averse to storing my data in someone else's silo; but I admit that many users wouldn't be up to configuring RSS on their own machines as an alternative.

TinyLetter

Ariana — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 08:38:00 -0800

I'm a bit averse to storing my data in someone else's silo;

There's your breakdown in communication, right there. You're not *storing* data. You're *sending* it. Hence "email" not "blog". Email. Mail. No postage necessary. Hit send and let the electricarrier pigeons fight rain and sleet and dark of night to inject it directly to the inbox brains of your loyal subjects...

...I might have gotten a bit carried away there. What was I saying? Oh yes -- if you want a copy for posterity, subscribe yourself to your own newsletter. Otherwise, the point's not archival (although, with gmail et. al., I'm sure some folks will amass archives of their own -- plenty of folks have shoeboxes of letters, too). When you send an email (you do use email, yes? good) what's the point? Different things for different occasions, I'm sure-- but I doubt it's often to have a public google find it, is it? Right. Now just bcc more people, who've specifically asked to be bcc'd. Result.

TinyLetter

Yskaya — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 09:11:39 -0800

Cerebralwyrm's a-z
-fringe science, collected and distilled. silly and strange stories sent a little bit faster than a whisper- I'll use it for what ever interests me at the moment.
Also looking for people to subscribe to. or to me; whoever runs away first.
Thanks for opening a thread on this Oddbill.

TinyLetter

Will Ellwood — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 09:38:39 -0800

Things Never Said - Sparks from the Van de Graff generator in my head.

I have been thinking of using this since Warren pointed out. Will probably end up using this as a testing space for pieces intended for Ectoplasmosis and other places.

TinyLetter

Fan — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 10:07:49 -0800

When you send an email (you do use email, yes? good) what's the point? Different things for different occasions, I'm sure-- but I doubt it's often to have a public google find it, is it?

When I send an email, it's generally a) personal (person-to-person), and b) transient/temporary.

I'll sometimes, also, send to a listserv; that's equivalent to posting on a public or private forum.

I imagined that an "email newsletter" was, like a blog, for publicity: and that that's better if it's readable/findable by other people in the future, who weren't subscribed at the moment when the letter was first created.

TinyLetter

stevencudahy — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 10:24:22 -0800

I am now broadcasting at Bastard Words. And also subscribing to everyone else's feed.

S.

TinyLetter

oddbill — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 12:07:45 -0800

This plan is working out better than I anticipated. (Subscribed to you all!) I'm looking forward to all the new email, and I can't say I've thought that in a while.

@Fan - the questions you are bringing up were actually things I wondered about when I read Warren's post about a new email newsletter service... who does email newsletters? Why do it? Why not just put it on the blog?

What I'm thinking is:

1) Nobody reads my blog (an exaggeration, but not much of one. Nobody reads most peoples' blogs)
2) People who go to the trouble of subscribing to a newsletter will most likely read it.
3) People who receive the newsletter can reply to it and I'll get those replies. It's like a comment filter that makes it like 99% more likely the commenter is an intelligent human being.
4) It isn't public, it's exclusive.

The last one is kind of the winner. It's almost invite only. I don't know exactly what that means as far as my thing goes yet, but it seems like when privacy is evaporating and all things everywhere freeze out in public forever, that having some channel of information that is temporary, restricted and not easy to google is maybe valuable.

It's also a channel to an audience inclined in your direction, so, like Ginja, I'll probably use it to test out written ideas for other venues. I can throw things in there and get them in front of peoples eyes without having to worry if they are polished up for ever-after posterity.

With a bunch of us here cross subscribing, and probably bringing in friends we all have who are interesting but not typing in this particular forum, we'll be making a semi-exclusive back channel for culture. Things will cross pollinate in a protected ecological niche. Maybe down the line, monsters will crawl out of it and afflict the wider web.

I'm very interested to see what other people here do with this.

TinyLetter

warrenellis — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 12:30:10 -0800

4) It isn't public, it's exclusive.

Yes.

And also, more intimate. Right in your inbox. Which means, for many people, it's right into their hand, and for some people, right on to their pad...

TinyLetter

tim12s — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 22:41:38 -0800

I'm going to be starting an intermittent brainfeed called The FacePunch. Subscribe by clicking on some link or something...

Put in your email and click the link to let me inside you.

TinyLetter

D.J. — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 22:53:50 -0800

This is really very neat and clever and I enjoy such things and will update this post later with a clicky bit for the one of you who is interested.

TinyLetter

Will Ellwood — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 02:35:35 -0800

3) People who receive the newsletter can reply to it and I'll get those replies. It's like a comment filter that makes it like 99% more likely the commenter is an intelligent human being.

This! I sent a message out early this morning and received two replies which reminded me of facts I knew but should keep in mind. Comments with meaning.

TinyLetter

steevo — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 06:58:03 -0800

I think I'm going to start one of these....though for what exact purpose, I'm not sure yet...

Well, I did, that took two seconds:

http://tinyletter.com/steevo

I think I'm going to intermittently write about writing, or the problems/solutions I'm encountering while doing so. At least that was my first instinct, so we'll see where that goes. Anyone interested feel free to sign up.

TinyLetter

Azabith — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 10:48:34 -0800

This is a great idea, could be a way to overcome the censorship in some countries. A more intimate way of reaching out as Warren mentioned.

I'll be subscribing to the newsletters mentioned here.

Also i do miss Bad Signal.

TinyLetter

Redwynd — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:05:18 -0800

This sounds like a good idea. I was actually lamenting, just the other day, that I would use twitter to push out random bits of nonsense, but disliked being limited to 144 characters. The internets, they provide....

Calling it Notes Toward Madness for now.

TinyLetter

Cameron C. — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:41:17 -0800

I hope to send out some childishly doodled comics every once in a while, before they go wherever they will be going. I have a few finished ones that will be on peoples websites or in minicomic anthologies or wherever, that I'll send through there first. or something. http://tinyletter.com/ACDPcomics

TinyLetter

conjured — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:30:18 -0800

TinyLetter

clouds of glory — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:04:24 -0800

This looks great, is there a way to add images into the body of the actual newsletter though? I can see how to add youtube but not image files.

I have subscribed to all the newsletters on here, so I hope they're not too frequent!

TinyLetter

oddbill — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:07:50 -0800

to add images, you need to just use html image tags. you know:

img src='thisisyourimageurl.jpg'

You need to store the images somewhere online and just refer to them.

TinyLetter

clouds of glory — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:25:23 -0800

Nice one thanks, I was sure it would be something simple like that...

TinyLetter

jamaicad — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:07:18 -0800

This is the problem whenever I stumble into this forum, some little part of my mind that's been itching an idea always gets scratched. I've been wanting to start a new email list for awhile, it feels very old-school and, after extensive research of the market, I've discovered that not everyone follows my scattered twitter/blog/facebook/tumblr posts that contain important information. This is a good solution.

my tinyletter

TinyLetter

texture — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 02:12:54 -0800

Signed up - mine will be a gossip-heavy summary of all the action on Weaponizer, in one handy email. Been meaning to do something like this for a while, and have set up a mailing list using mailchimp, but this looks even more handy in terms of functionality. Signed up for all your letters too, look forward to reading them! I always loved Bad Signal, the idea that it may spawn a handful of innovative babies is enormously exciting.

Friendly Fire - the Weaponizer Newsletter

*edited to add - I'm actually giving Weaponizer a break over December to plan some shenanigans, so probably you won't get much from me until January. Come jan, I should have some exciting news.

TinyLetter

mybrainhurts — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:01:19 -0800

I started one and followed a bunch.

Some Days You Get The Thunder, Some Days The Thunder Gets You

Ramblings about the sort of books that want to make you sing punk rock songs and the sort of punk rock songs that spring therefrom.

TinyLetter

oldhat — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 23:22:22 -0800

Well, now I have one.

I'm thinking I might experiment with this. See what I can do.

The Sweat

TinyLetter

Puck — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 07:55:03 -0800

ohh go on then

Brain Juice

I was trying to knock something like this together a while back. Thinking that because most internets people handle there data using an RSS reader and rarely visit the site itself, that a blog doesn't actually have to exist in a fixed address.

Also because my smartphone isn't Jobsian browsing is shonky at best, it's nice to have solid bits of text to read in email form, the one function my phone does well.

Turning email into RSS hmmmm

(Edited for sense and lazyness)

TinyLetter

warrenellis — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:37:35 -0800

Reading back on this, I have to say I'm touched by the few people who said they missed Bad Signal. Thanks for that. Been a year since I shut that down, now...

TinyLetter

Mark R — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:07:32 -0800

It'll sound all 'kiss ass' now that you've said so, but the Signal emails were always a nice bit of "hi from Warren" in my inbox. I enjoyed them.

TinyLetter

Argos — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:31:37 -0800

will start my own as soon as I think of a decent title. I've already subscribed to a few :)

TinyLetter

Will Ellwood — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:03:24 -0800

I have subscribed to several of the lists mentioned here and have received very little in the way of material. Only Oddbill, I think, has sent anything with any consistency. Am I still the only person using this?

TinyLetter

Jay Kay — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:10:05 -0800

This is interesting--half tempted to try this myself, but...don't know if I have anything to say.

TinyLetter

steevo — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:43:49 -0800

I've been using it, have posted 10 times, I think. New one should be coming up soon if you're interested.

TinyLetter

texture — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 02:15:35 -0800

Really enjoying everyone's TinyLetters, particularly Ginja's. Some great links, and really insightful thoughts on writing from him. Great stuff. I also really loved BadSignal, it was an island of sanity and inspiration which broke up my day as a call centre wage-slave back in 03-06... Having some old-fashioned newsletters to read again is a nice blast from the past.

TinyLetter

Corey Waits — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 06:18:12 -0800

Reading back on this, I have to say I'm touched by the few people who said they missed Bad Signal. Thanks for that. Been a year since I shut that down, now...

It was pretty much the reason why I bothered to check my emails regularly. It was sort of a cross between the interesting and sometimes thought-provoking content that gets posted to the blog and the deranged ramblings of your twitter feed.

Dammit, just as soon as I get my head into 2011 I'll have to start using this. (Am quitting Tumblr for the sheer amount of time it helps me waste - then funneling that time into some serialised fiction I hope.)

Ok, just realised that I missed this the first time around because I was on holidays. Still going to subscribe to everyone's lists and see who's still using it.

TinyLetter

fat face rick — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 07:27:34 -0800

I'm amazed to see that tinyletter is still running. I signed up a few months ago, sent my newsletter, nothing turned up. My friend signed up, also nothing. I emailed them, no response. Just tried again and couldn't get by the registration page. I'm doomed to never newsletter. It's the world's loss/gain

TinyLetter

Cameron C. — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 21:13:09 -0800

I'm still using it, to send out silly comics every so often.

And Oddbill's newsletter is super awesome <3

TinyLetter

oddbill — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 21:28:35 -0800

@Cameron C. - Hey, thanks!

Volume 2 of the Occasional Bitslice will begin transmission in February.

TinyLetter

kevinmellon — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 23:54:46 -0800

I'm really intrigued by all of this. I've signed up, but have yet to do anything. Very curious as to how it's different from starting a google group.

TinyLetter

Dr.Mike — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 01:00:19 -0800

I like the simplicity. I signed up, too. Hmm. Now I have to write something.

TinyLetter

MaC — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 04:11:09 -0800

I think when it's not hellishly early and I'm not on my phone in bed I will subscribe to this and perhaps do one myself. I gotta agree with oddbill, my email is basically spam and an archive of my Internet shopping history. Before my iPhone when just having email on a cell phone was exciting I loved getting Bad Signal mail. It was a reason to check my email other then habit. In fact I still have saved a few of Warren's cooking emails for reference :x

I'd love to have more interesting thoughts from people in my life on a more personal(and less involved) level then checking a blog.

TinyLetter

oddbill — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:44:28 -0700

I restarted the Occasional Bitslice.

If you were a subscriber, Volume 2 Number 1 is probably in your spamcatcher.

If you want to subscribe, click. That is all.

TinyLetter

sneak046 — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:28:37 -0700

@Oddbill - I also follow corridor digital, thanks for the heads up about freddiew. I'll cast a gaze over their stuff as well.