# Newsletter publishing Human Guide

## What This Is For
Practical workflows for building and managing email newsletters for journalism and academia. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for email marketing: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Newsletter publishing agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for newsletter publishing.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Newsletter publishing guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Creating a new newsletter from scratch
- Designing email templates for journalism content
- Building and segmenting subscriber lists
- Analyzing newsletter performance metrics
- Planning editorial calendars for newsletters
- Migrating between newsletter platforms
- Improving deliverability and open rates
- **SPF and DKIM authentication on the sending domain.** Both must pass. SPF alone is no longer sufficient. DKIM keys must be at least 1024 bits.
- **DMARC policy at minimum `p=none`.** Production senders should move to `p=quarantine` or `p=reject` once aligned.
- **Domain alignment.** **One** of SPF or DKIM must align with the organizational domain in the visible `From:` header — not both. Relaxed alignment is acceptable.
- **Spam complaint rate below 0.3 percent**, measured in Google Postmaster Tools. Google's recommended target ceiling is 0.1 percent; sustained rates above 0.3 percent trigger rejection.
- **Valid PTR record (reverse DNS) on the sending IP.** Forward and reverse DNS must match.

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: When to activate, Newsletter architecture, Content strategy framework, Newsletter strategy document, Core identity, Target audience, Content pillars, Voice and tone, Success metrics (first 6 months), Issue structure template.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- .container { padding: 15px !important; }
- h1 { font-size: 24px !important; }
- **SPF and DKIM authentication on the sending domain.** Both must pass. SPF alone is no longer sufficient. DKIM keys must be at least 1024 bits.
- **Domain alignment.** **One** of SPF or DKIM must align with the organizational domain in the visible `From:` header — not both. Relaxed alignment is acceptable.
- **Valid PTR record (reverse DNS) on the sending IP.** Forward and reverse DNS must match.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Newsletter publishing human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the jamditis/claude-skills-journalism skill entry for `newsletter-publishing`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Newsletter publishing

Practical workflows for building and managing email newsletters for journalism and academia.

## When to activate

- Creating a new newsletter from scratch
- Designing email templates for journalism content
- Building and segmenting subscriber lists
- Analyzing newsletter performance metrics
- Planning editorial calendars for newsletters
- Migrating between newsletter platforms
- Improving deliverability and open rates

## Newsletter architecture

### Content strategy framework

```markdown
## Newsletter strategy document

### Core identity
- **Name**:
- **Tagline** (one line):
- **What readers get**: [specific value proposition]
- **Frequency**: [ ] Daily [ ] Weekly [ ] Bi-weekly [ ] Monthly

### Target audience
- Primary reader:
- What they care about:
- Why they'll subscribe:
- What they'll do with this info:

### Content pillars
1. [Core topic 1] - [how often]
2. [Core topic 2] - [how often]
3. [Recurring feature] - [how often]

### Voice and tone
- Formal ↔ Conversational: [1-5]
- Serious ↔ Light: [1-5]
- Reported ↔ Personal: [1-5]

### Success metrics (first 6 months)
- Subscriber goal:
- Target open rate:
- Target click rate:
```

### Issue structure template

```markdown
## [Newsletter Name] - Issue #[XX]
**Date**: [Date]
**Subject line**: [Subject]
**Preview text**: [First 50-90 characters readers see]

---

### Opening hook
[2-3 sentences that make readers want to keep reading]

### Main story
[Your primary content - 300-600 words for most newsletters]

### Secondary items (if applicable)
- **Quick hit 1**: [Brief item with link]
- **Quick hit 2**: [Brief item with link]

### Recurring section
[Weekly column, data point, recommendation, etc.]

### Sign-off
[Personal note, call to action, or preview of next issue]

---

**Unsubscribe** | **Preferences** | **Forward to a friend**
```