Why I Don’t Have A Mailing List

And why you shouldn’t either.

It’s globally fashionable right now so I will start off with a lie. OK, a half-lie: I don’t have a mailing list. It’s a half lie because for a while I did. It’s right here and you can still subscribe to it if you want. You can probably feel the cognitive dissonance emanating from the screen as you’re reading this so I will explain and hope you understand.

First, I know just how valuable a good mailing list is, I always advise brands to have one and startups to build one and writers to never even think starting that particular career without building one. But this is one thing I preach that I barely practice. You see, I think a mailing list is both a false premise and a false promise.

Let’s start with the false premise first: by capturing someone’s email address and obtaining their permission to send them a newsletter, special offers, marketing messages or whatever else you are thinking of sending them, you somehow have managed to grab a slice of their attention that will lead to the action you want them to take. If we critically examine this against a backdrop of digital information coming at the individual from literary everywhere this is sheer hubris. The Creator of everything we see, hear and feel could send us an email right now, inviting us to “directly experience the transcendental…