Crafting editorial product that sells (and renews). (Editing).

Is there an editorial strategy or style that will increase the marketability (and the renewability) of your newsletter?

Historically, many of the most successful titles contained heavy measures of breaking news, industry price reports, etc. And a weekly newsletter, or even a twice-monthly in a narrow niche market the general media don't cover, could be well ahead of other sources for that, type of information.

Not any more. Face it, in what is Year 8 (more or less) of the internet era, no print publication can be first with anything. "Anything that happens in my industry," a publisher told me, "is on the 'net in 20 minutes."

Go back to our roots. Perhaps newsletters should return to being more personal vehicles. For 2002 the six key words might be, "Interpret, Interpret, Interpret, Analyze, Analyze, Analyze." Austin Kiplinger always said that the Kiplinger Washington Letter wasn't a "newsletter" because it didn't contain "news, but rather analysis and opinion."

One industry veteran told me his readers know he had the stuff first "because I work hard to tell them that over and over."

* "Word just came in from Detroit."

* "It happened last week."

* "We expect the announcement no later than this Thursday."

* "As we predicted last issue."

When you have to run industry press releases, and you will, put your own voice into them. For example, "This is the key, if they can produce what they promise."

"Maybe" can be a magic word. You don't have to be omniscient. "More on this later" and "Stay tuned," for example.

Jerry Whosinanny wrote Beer Marketer's Insight for many years in his own very personal style--"Give me a minute to explain" and "Let me digress for a second"--as well as unique spelling conventions--"Tuff" and "Nuff said." It is a title that can be called the bible of its industry.

Unfortunately, you probably need to be the editor-publisher to do this. The large multi-title publishers who turn over 20somethings as editors every 18 months do not let them run free editorially. But I've sure seen the style work very successfully for many years for many different titles.

Cater to reader preferences. The copywriter Steve Sahlein says editors are fascinated by what's new and especially what's international. Subscribers, though, prefer nuts and bolts. The restaurant industry reader is more interested in ideas to build his breakfast business rather than a report on restaurants in Iceland.

Charts and illustrations. Editors tend to think they are simplistic. Readers love them.

Salary and compensation surveys. If you can possibly do one, these are solid gold for renewability.

Sahlein calls publication annivesaries and awards "things publishers like more than readers," but I think winning an editorial award is worth a box noting it, as well as noting your l000th issue or a regular feature along the lines of "20 Years Ago in Widget Fortnightly" helps establish your bona fides as an industry authority.

The last word. I agree with Pat Williams, once editorial director at Lawrence Ragan Communications, who says, "There is only one editorial principle that is absolute, and it is that people will read only what they are interested in."