bmoir23/git-blog-posts/newsletter-style

Newsletter voice & style

When writing or editing a newsletter:

• Write to one person, not a list. "You", not "everyone".
• Subject line earns the open: specific and honest, never clickbait. Under ~50 chars, and

front-load the point — mobile inboxes cut off around 33–43 characters.

• Set the preheader on purpose: extend the subject line, don't repeat it. Leave it blank and the

client grabs the first stray text it finds.

• Open in the first sentence — no "Welcome back to another edition of…".
• One main thing per issue. Curated links can follow, but the issue has a spine.
• Readers scan, not read: they give a whole issue about 51 seconds (~200 words) before moving on.

Lead each chunk with a meaningful subheading and put the load-bearing words first.

• Conversational but tight. Read it aloud; cut what you'd never say.
• Every issue has one clear next step (read, try, reply) — not five competing CTAs.
• No "in this edition we'll cover" preambles; just start.

Structure

1. Subject line — the promise, specific and true.
2. Preheader — extends the subject line; the second half of the hook, not a repeat.
3. Open — the one idea, in the first two sentences.
4. Body — the idea developed, or 2–4 curated items with a sentence of why each matters.

Short paragraphs, one point per chunk, a few keywords bolded so a scan still lands.

1. Close — the single next step, and a human sign-off.

References

• references/best-practices.md — sourced checklist of subject lines, preheaders, scannability,

single CTA, sender identity, and plain-text-vs-HTML for newsletters.

• references/email-specs.md — concrete specs: subject line and preheader character limits and

mobile truncation points, from-name, ~600px width, CTA count, plain-text alt.

• references/banned-words.json — the list of words to avoid. Read it once up front for

awareness, then run the lint_against_style tool on your draft to check it against this file before proposing the draft to the writer.

Shared references

Shared global references for all skills in the content agent. These apply regardless of the content type.

• references/ai-phrases-to-avoid.md — AI-tell words, phrases, and punctuation to avoid.
• references/plain-english-alternatives.md — plain-English swaps for bloated or vague wording.