There is a definite trend of email newsletters becoming the primary medium for writers who “go indie” recently. In years past, these folks would be starting blogs, but you don’t see nearly as many new blogs these days, and things like Substack and Mailchimp have made it so that anyone can get up and running with a newsletter, and if they’re big enough, get paid to do so.

Instead of ranting about why I think blogs are a better medium for writing in basically every way, I instead wanted to try to understand why so many people are opting for emails over the web. Here are my questions:

1. What about writing in a newsletter is more enjoyable than writing for a blog?
2. Are newsletter audiences more engaged than blog subscribers?
3. As a reader, do you prefer reading in your email app to an RSS app (or just the web in general)?
4. Do you not miss things like link posts and “going viral” which are much harder, if impossible to do with emails?
5. Is it easier to get people to sign up for a paid subscription compared to the web?

I probably have more questions, but I thought this was a good place to start. I’d love to hear what people think, and maybe, what I’m missing out on.