Make your e-zine interesting, relevant, easy
What’s the secret to a successful e-zine? Make ’em laugh; make ’em think; make ’em Skimm.

In other words, make it interesting, relevant and easy.
That’s the formula e-zine the Skimm uses. You can steal a trick from the Skimm and produce an e-zine that’s:
Interesting
The Skimm makes the news fun to read, from the subject line to the final column:
- Subject line: “Seize the Hump” for a Wednesday release
- Quote of the day: “The only other time I spent seven years in one place was high school.” — Chelsea Handler saying goodbye to E! last night
- Headlines: “CR-ISIS,” “Repeat after me …,” “Things to know”
- Voice: It’s cheeky, inside-y, fun.
Relevant
The Skimm offers news you can use to live your life better. That is, it delivers as much news as you need — and no more! — to be able to keep up with the conversation over lunch or cocktails.
The Skimm best realizes this promise in “Repeat after me …,” a series of newsy talking points for different occasions, like:
- “What to say when you can’t decide on Labor Day plans …”
- “What to say when someone steals your cab …”
- “What to say when you want the flight to be over …”
“Thing to know” also gives that inside-y, news-you-can-use-to-look-and-feel-smart tone.
Easy
My favorite thing about the Skimm, though, is how easy it is to read. You see that ease in the newsletter’s:
1. Positioning statement. Check out the e-zine’s No. 1 selling point (the boldface is mine):
“theSkimm is the daily e-mail newsletter that gives you everything you need to start your day. We do the reading for you — across subject lines and party lines — and break it down with fresh editorial content.”
2. Readability. The Skimm is easy to read because of its:
- Length. You get a day’s news in about 900 words, or less than a 5-minute read.
- Sentence length. At 12.5 words per sentence, it’s easy to understand.
- Word length. The Skimm is also easy to process, with words averaging 4.6 characters.
- Reading ease. It’s easy to read, too, with a reading ease of 67.3 on a scale of 1 to 100.
- Reading grade level. Weighing in at less than the 7th grade level, this e-zine is accessible to most folks.
Hey, Skimm, hit Return more often, and I’ll love you even more!
3. Skim-ability. The Skimm is named for its skim-ability, after all! I especially like the way the e-zine breaks down the lead story.
How can you make your e-zine interesting, relevant and easy like the Skimm?
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