handpicked is going paid but staying free
If you read the title and wanted to call the Common Sense police, please don’t!
The Internet gave us a lot: mIRC, MSN, HTML “about me” websites, Wikipedia, a false promise of direct democracy, blogs, Flat Earthers, Youtube and so on. Today, newsletters are the new blogs, enabling creators/writers/journalists to build their own platform-independent audience.
It is easier to be a curator than a creator, but I will not lie; I have been intensively thinking about shocking you with my accent on TikTok or Instagram. But until then, we stay in the format you know: emails. In the coming months, I will also use handpickedberlin.com to publish additional “timeless” content, shifting more to the creator side.
So far, I have curated #38 editions and evolved handpicked to something fairly useful and interesting: new subscribers, feedback and open rates are telling. I have recently fine-tuned the “operations” as much as possible, but an issue still takes several hours to produce. To deliver the good stuff to your inboxes, I pour over several hundred headlines and tens of websites, not to mention all those boring (🫣) job descriptions. During the week, I also read with you in mind.
I enjoy the process; otherwise, I would have long stopped.
🧶 And now you can support my work. With issue #39, I am adding a supporter tier. The weekly email will remain free, but supporters will have additional benefits:
complete access to the entire archive of weekly posts,
early access to exclusive handpickedberlin.com content (with added supporter-only materials),
monthly “snippets” collection,
quarterly footer links archives summary,
additional goodies that will crystallise in the coming weeks.
If you do not have the means to become a supporter but feel that handpicked can help, drop me a message, and I will grant you full access.
Example supporters-only posts:
Your support will help me continue bringing the good stuff to your inboxes. And the good stuff is priceless! How much are life-changing ideas worth?
To me, a lot.
Thank you for your support,
Igor
