handpicked is going paid but staying free
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
