After hearing about @JanelSGM from @csallen, I spent the past few hours digging into her Twitter feed to see how she has been building Newsletter OS in public, from ideation to launch.

Here are some highlights in chronological order and what you can learn from the process:

1/ August 5 2020: Janel digs into '50+ newsletters' (note the number to build credibility) and creates a thread to discuss the lessons learnt. She also mentions that this is for a side project, which raises awareness of something she may be working on.

https://t.co/v8KdezZEge
2/ August 5 2020 (cont): Each tweet in the thread is focused on a key message, with clear pointers for newsletter writers to consider.

https://t.co/K49DYbYNc8
3/ September 1 2020: Janel tweeted about #buildinginpublic (note the hashtag) with @pabloheredia24 for @makerpad's challenge. While the project is https://t.co/tMb1qCnxVY and not NewsletterOS, Janel is getting in the reps on how to build in public.

https://t.co/Ge9yQ6Su3E
4/ October 18 2020: Janel hints at building her new product using @NotionHQ and @gumroad. But instead of telling the audience directly what the product is, she invites her audience to take a guess.

https://t.co/n2Y9cU8UUR
5/ Note that @JanelSGM also entices her audience to make a guess via offering a free copy for the first person who guesses right. This adds in the 2 elements of scarcity- volume (only 1 copy!) and time (first person who guesses right).
6/ October 19 2020: Janel announces her purchase of a domain. Further preempts her audience by telling them that more details will be announced soon.

https://t.co/Q4vNMnYQte
7/ October 20 2020: Officially announces the pre-sales of Newsletter OS. Note the clear and concise structure of the tweet:

- Headline (what is being launched?)
- Who is this for?
- What is the problem?
- What is the solution?
https://t.co/uhJNKtmHK1
8/ In the same thread, she gives a quick peek into the product, such as objectives and key results page, email boilerplates. Note that these are just screenshots of Notion pages, which do not necessarily require much time!
9/ Introduces scarcity to pricing- $10 for the first 30 copies, then raised price to $15, then to $29 once $2k sales were crossed.
10/ Then shared what she has learnt launching Newsletter OS to @IndieHackers. Do you see the pattern? Launch -> learn -> share learnings -> launch.

https://t.co/kohw7rusFf
11/ Give your audience 'deadlines' to move them along the sales funnel! Mentions how price will be increasing from $15 to $29 at a specific timing, and how that price will likewise further increase to $49 at launch.

https://t.co/B7tuun8uV7
12/ Videos showing workflows of Newsletter OS! A short GIF is used to exhibit the idea. Most people also like the idea of learning from frameworks of others.

https://t.co/EhdbRTrUL0
13/ October 30 2020: @JanelSGM announces how she is almost done with Newsletter OS product. Note the quick turnaround of 12 days- while she had to do more of brushing up + improving her existing workflow, she was very conscious of building the product in a quick and effective way
14/ Another feature of Newsletter OS- assets for newsletter directories. Instead of trying to do this alone, she relied on @Mike_Andreuzza for the design.

https://t.co/MiXYi5SSM0
15/ Make the launch interactive! Info-products are not necessarily interactive by design. But Janel manages to add interaction to the launch by having her buyers look for Easter eggs and post them on Twitter. Reward? A 30-min newsletter consult with her!

https://t.co/CBoRVGAeR3

More from Twitter

So regarding to my "bombshell"...it's perhaps a bit less dramatic than many presumed, yet it still troubles me a lot, to the point that I wondered whether I should stop posting on certain things


You see, I realized in the last few months that, by translating information and news related to one of the fastest growing spaceflight powers of the world...I inadvertently became a spreader of PRC propaganda.

And with me exactly 180 degrees away from them, I feel scared.

It actually started a few years ago - it's not hard to meet Chinese Twitter users interested in spaceflight, either those living overseas or find a way to climb over the wall. Not surprisingly, many of these S/F enthusiasts are interested in their own military too.

This steadily grew with my followers' count until the flagship Chinese spaceflight missions of 2020 (Chang'e 5 especially but also many others) brought in dozens of them liking/re-tweeting my info tweets sometimes, and similar no. of such followers every month.

I do casually check these new followers/users sometimes. To my horror, far too many of them routinely insults, attacks, mocks others who they see as "anti-China" or spread potential mis-information, even blatant attacks, that started off w/ their state media/spokesperson.
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: Dependency Confusion; Adam Curtis on criti-hype; Catalytic converter theft; Apple puts North Dakota on blast; and more!

Archived at: https://t.co/Osts9lAjPo

#Pluralistic

1/


This weekend, I'll be participating in Boskone 58, Boston's annual sf convention, where I'm doing panels and a reading.

https://t.co/2LfFssVcZQ

2/


Dependency Confusion: A completely wild supply-chain hack.

https://t.co/TDRNHUX0Ug

3/


Adam Curtis on criti-hype: Big Tech as an epiphenomenon of sociopathic mediocrity, not supergenius.

https://t.co/MYmHOosTk3

4/


Catalytic converter theft: Rhodium at $21,900/oz.

https://t.co/SDMAXrQwdd

5/

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