| name | newsletter-issue-plan |
| description | Use when turning a newsletter theme and the available floor material into a send-ready issue plan — one through-line, sections in order, and the subject line that earns the open. |
Newsletter Issue Plan
An issue is read in the inbox, once, top to bottom, by someone deciding in a second whether to stay. Plan the through-line and the open first; assemble the parts second.
Steps
- Fix the through-line. Name the one thing this issue is about and the one thing a reader should carry away. An issue that is about three things is about nothing — narrow before you gather.
- Inventory the material. List what the editorial floor has ready — accepted articles, chapter excerpts, links worth sending — and map each to a possible section. Commission an original section through the lead only where the through-line has no source.
- Order for the scroll. Lead with the section that pays off the subject line, then descend by value. A reader who stops halfway should still have gotten the point.
- Reshape, never paste. Rewrite each borrowed piece for the inbox — shorter, framed, with the connective copy that ties it to the through-line — rather than dropping the page into the email.
- Write the open. Draft the subject line as a promise and the preview text as its second line, together earning the open honestly. Then write the issue's own opener in the house voice.
- Cut to the through-line. A strong section that does not serve this week's point comes out and waits for its own issue; length is set by the through-line, not by how much material is lying around.
- Route edit and layout early. Send the connective copy for a copy-edit pass and hand the layout need to the designer with enough lead time to land on the date, not at the deadline.
Quality bar
- One through-line and one takeaway, stated before assembly.
- Sections ordered by value; the issue survives a reader who stops halfway.
- Every borrowed piece reshaped for the inbox, never pasted.
- A subject line and preview that earn the open without overpromising.
Output format
A send-ready issue plan: through-line and takeaway, ordered sections each with its source and reshaped copy, the opener, subject line and preview text, and the layout request to the designer.
