research5–7 hours over 3 weeksIntermediate

Launch a 3-Issue Newsletter

Maps to: Content Creator · Author · Curator · Critic · Editor

You're going to launch a newsletter on a niche you care about, ship issue one fast, then keep shipping until you've got three real issues out to real subscribers. The skill is editorial identity and cadence: building a point of view recognizable enough that people open it, and shipping on schedule even before there's any applause. That's the discipline at the heart of being a creator, the thing that compounds where one-off posts don't, and doing one tells you fast whether shipping on a schedule is your kind of work.

How this shows up on a resume or college app

I launched and ran a niche newsletter for 3 issues with [N] subscribers, shipping on schedule and deciding, after issue 1, what it was really about. I learned the discipline of shipping on a schedule, which is the entire job of being a writer.

When you finish, BuildMe drafts your Common App activity description from what you actually built.

Start this project

The plan

1
Week 1 (~2 hrs)
Pick the niche + ship issue 1
Pick a niche you actually know or care about, get 5 friends to subscribe, and publish issue 1. Issue 1 rides launch energy, so use it. The hardest part starts after.
2
Week 2 (~2 hrs)
Ship issue 2, and decide what this is really about
Publish issue 2; this is the wall, shipping with no applause yet. And after issue 1's reception, make the editorial call: what is this newsletter REALLY about, and what do you cut to focus it? Issue 1 is a hypothesis; issue 2 is where you decide.
3
Week 3 (~2 hrs)
Ship issue 3 + recruit 10 more
Publish issue 3 and recruit 10 more subscribers through organic posts. Three issues shipped on schedule, with a growing list, is the proof, since most newsletters never make it to issue 3.