#i have digital copies of most of these things so dm me if you’re interested! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jovialyouthmusic · 5 years ago

Text

Silver Service

A Royal Romance AU fanfic sequel to Protect and Serve

Bastien and his men try to get to the bottom of the mystery of who leaked the incriminating photographs of the suitors and have a narrow escape

Word Count 3618

A/N Warnings - possible injury and/or character death. If you have any issues or worries about the ending of this chapter, please DM me.

3 An Unpleasant Surprise

While Sophia and Bastien broke their drought, the press was busy. She had assured Liam that the best thing to do was to let them have their day to react, and issue another statement when she had analysed the output and worked out what the best strategy was. It was pointless making knee jerk reactions to potentially wild and sensational headlines. It would look better staying calm and objective.

The whole Palace went on communication lockdown – although it was impossible to stop anything leaking in through social media and TV broadcasts, nothing unauthorised was allowed out and only essential staff were allowed to enter or leave, to minimise any drama at the Palace gates. All outgoing calls were restricted and monitored, and Bastien was to be notified of anything out of the ordinary. A team had been sent out to Lady Adelaide’s manor and she and Lady Madeleine had been told in no uncertain terms not to make any statements. Bastien already had means to monitor any goings on there, and a kitchen porter regularly reported to him on anything unusual. Staff domiciled outside the Palace had already signed non disclosure agreements anyway. That left assorted nobles and their staff, none of whom had any concrete information to give.

It had been self indulgent of him to spend the day with Sophia, but he was certain that Lewis would let him know if anything of note happened. All the same, in the middle of the night he woke and went down to the security suite to check in.

Lewis had left a report on his desk, and he had a coded communication from Fydelia. He read the latter first, and raised his eyebrows at the content. The kitchen porter was an undercover member of the Guard and had logged some suspicious calls, notably one shortly after Madeleine had returned home. He put that aside and read Lewis’s report on the Press reaction, and made notes before making his own assessment of the day’s media reaction. He needed to know what Sophia thought, and made his way back to their suite. They could work just as well from his private study as from the suite.

He went into the kitchenette and prepared some hot chocolate before going into the bedroom to carefully wake Sophia. She sat up sleepily

‘Do I smell hot chocolate? What time is it?’

‘It’s not dawn yet, theá mou. We need to work on our reaction to the press – come, I hope you’re well rested’ Sophia laughed

‘Bas, your ‘slow’ is a normal day for most men. How can you be so ready for work after the day we just had – not to mention you’re still recovering from surgery.’ Bastien gave her a slow smile.

‘This just needs mental energy – I may not be ready to run a marathon or go another round with you, but my mind is as sharp as it normally is. You may remember I took a full report from Lewis only a day or so after the operation.’ Sophia rose and gave him a peck on the cheek

‘You are phenomenal’ she murmured, and got out of bed, putting on the nightdress and some soft thick socks. ‘Am I dressed modestly enough not to distract you?’ she asked impishly

‘Never’ he said ‘But I am focused on the job in hand, and you will be shortly’ Picking up the mugs of hot chocolate, he lead the way to the study. For the next half hour they pored over news reports and headlines. The press had reacted well to the rebuttals over the reputation of the various suitors and issued an apology, and despite Madeleine's effort to make herself out to be blameless, the field had been levelled. The papers and TV were chastened by the King’s protestation as to the innocence of all the suitors and were cautious not to print or broadcast anything unsubstantiated.

What followed was speculation over the provision of an heir – and the retractions had set the tone for how the media treated the story. Only the most reactionary anti monarchy outlets – of which mercifully were few – had been anything less than respectful.

‘Okay’ said Sophia ‘Now what we need to do is make out another statement for the King saying that the issue of the provision of an heir has to remain confidential in order to protect all those involved. We need to find a reason to have all the suitors in one place but under protection so that the Press won’t hound them or work out that Olivia is spending extra time with him. We need to keep that going until she falls pregnant, and give her some time for the pregnancy to be viable – an early announcement would not be a good idea.’

‘That sounds good – we can work out with his Majesty how to keep everyone together. Have you any ideas so far?’

‘Some sort of tour similar to the social season, but concentrating on listening to the views of the common people in each duchy – a series of charity events for a deserving cause in each location would improve public relations, and I’m sure it’s the sort of thing Liam would be happy to support’

‘Sophia, that is an excellent idea, and I propose that we visit some of the minor duchies that didn’t field a suitor – such as Duke Rashad’s Domvallier and Lord Neville’s Commery Isles. I’ve had some interesting information as to the source of the leaking of the photographs but it needs more investigation.’ Sophia yawned

‘I have the feeling our sleep schedule is going to be rather unconventional for the next few days’ she said. ‘I’ll write Liam’s speech and you can check it over and show it to him at breakfast. If he releases it this morning it will be in the afternoon papers – and on TV and the internet immediately. After that we need to brainstorm about the charity tour’

‘It will have to be put to the Council of Nobles, but who can turn down the chance to be seen as a benevolent leader by encouraging local charities?’

Sophia got to work drafting out a speech, and Bastien went back to his office to leave a note for Lewis when he got back to work. The Council of Nobles were sent for to discuss the charity tour, and Bastien mulled over the information he had gleaned from Fydelia.

By the time Liam woke and had breakfast in his suite, Sophia had the speech ready, and he approved it. He didn’t need the Council’s approval to propose the charity tour, but organising it would need a lot of work liaising with the various duchies. Bastien moved on to the matter of the leaked photographs.

‘Some of my men are questioning the reporters who released the photos and tracking them back, but it may take time to get to the source.’ Liam nodded ‘Sir, it seems that Lady Adelaide had something to do with the leaking of the photographs. I presume she was angered by your rejection of her daughter. You of course had a full set of and you still have them, so there must have been at least one more set, or they were copied before you received them. I’m currently trying to discover who had access to the photographs apart from Constantine. I’m afraid Regina is our most likely suspect – the fact that she is related to Adelaide and Madeleine makes that even more likely that she was complicit, so I need your permission to question her.’ Liam frowned.

‘I’d like to question her myself’ he said ‘Informally of course’

‘With respect Sir, I feel that although you may be sensitive and sympathetic toward the Queen Mother, you may not be objective. You are welcome to be present when she’s questioned, of course. Sophia suggested you make your statement as soon as you can get members of the press assembled, then we can turn our attentions to Regina’ The King agreed and his aide Geoffrey made a call to admit a selection of reporters in to the Palace.

Bastien went back to the security suite to talk to Lewis, who was drinking black coffee.

‘So, let’s go over what we know already.’ Lewis said as Bastien took his place at the desk ‘Initially it’s thought that Constantine had only one set of photographs, which were kept in his safe. Only Constantine had the code to the safe, but he may have secreted some sort of reminder or clue to that code somewhere. We believe they were the only set because they were put in an envelope for Liam to open on his death. Regina knew about those photographs and may well have known or guessed the code to the safe without Constantine’s knowledge. We don’t know if they were digital or on film with negatives. We’re still looking into who took the photographs and whether they kept copies even though Constantine stipulated he was to have sole ownership of the images.’ Lewis sighed and sat back and Bastien spoke next.

‘So we need to know who had copies of them, how they got them and who released them to the press. I know for certain that Lady Adelaide had a part in it – she made a phone call to an unknown person who had access to them and gave them over to the press. That may have been Regina, or it may have been someone else.’ Lewis raised his eyebrows at Bastien’s revelation.

‘So it could be Regina and Adelaide aiding Madeleine’s bid to be Queen, or they may just be helping someone with other motives. I’ve sent for Lady Adelaide, and we’ll be questioning both her and Regina. I have a team investigating the press – there must be some sort of trail that will help us discover how the sole set of photographs was copied.’ There was a knock on the door and James entered

‘Sir, Regina is refusing to come to the interrogation suite. She insists that she wants to be interviewed in her quarters’ Bastien frowned.

‘I’m not allowing that – we have total control in our room. James, go to Liam and get him to order Regina to do as we request. Remind him that if she complied in getting the photographs copied or released she could be guilty of treason against him.’ James nodded and left. Bastien sighed. If Regina was going to be difficult, it would be a long day.

------

After Liam’s statement about the Charity tour and Regina’s interrogation Bastien returned to his suite. He had been awake for a long time and had had a snatched sandwich for lunch, and needed to rest. His thigh ached and he found it painful making his way back. Regina had denied tampering with the photographs – she said she hadn’t reproduced them or handled them at all and didn’t have access to the safe. One of the guards had been tasked with sifting through security footage in Constantine’s suite covering the safe where the photographs had been kept. Adelaide would be arriving later, and he needed to regroup before he talked to her.

Sophia was there to greet him. Immediately she saw he was hurting, and offered to draw a bath for him to ease his thigh. He sat in an easy chair and she massaged it for him, trying to hide her concern. He looked tired and she thought he was being thrown back into the thick of Palace intrigue before he was strong enough for it. The massage and bath worked well, and he sat in his reclining chair again, this time to take a power nap. He knew from past experience if he lay flat in bed he would sleep too soundly and be groggy when he woke up. He only needed a half hour nap and he’d be re-energised.

------

Later on, he waited in the interrogation room for Adelaide. She looked a little pale, but tossed her head flirtatiously when she saw him.

‘Why Mr Lykel, if I’d known it was you wanting to talk to me we could have gone somewhere more – private’ she said, reaching across the table toward him. He sat back, showing her that flirting was not going to work.

‘I would rather have done this privately, but for the serious nature of the matter in hand, Lady Adelaide’ he said gravely ‘I have reason to believe that you set in motion a process that was intended to make Lady Madeleine the only credible choice of suitor for King Liam.’ Adelaide pouted

‘What’s wrong with a mother trying to make the most of her daughter’s assets? She’s plainly the best choice for Queen and I’m certain Maddy would allow Liam to have a Cordonian marriage and have his choice of lovers’ she retorted

‘It is most definitely wrong when false accusations are made against other women – accusations that harm their reputation and cause them distress’ Adelaide shrugged and didn’t say anything. ‘You don’t deny making a call that resulted in the release of scurrilous photographs to the Press?’ She sighed

‘It would have blown over once Maddy was Queen. We’re not living in Victorian times, a few saucy headlines won’t permanently ruin their marriage prospects’

‘Nonetheless, the photographs involved were known to be in the possession of the former King, and anyone gaining access to them is a security risk and possibly liaising with those who wish to do harm to the monarchy. We’re looking at possible charges of treason’ Adelaide grew pale.

‘I – I didn’t think it was that serious’ she stuttered.

‘In that case you won’t mind telling me who you contacted so we can find out who got hold of the photographs’ Adelaide wrung her hands together

‘Well the problem is – I’m not really sure’ she pleaded. Bastien clenched his jaw and waited for her to explain. ‘It’s – delicate’ she said, leaning closer and lowering her voice.

‘This interview is being recorded, Lady Adelaide’ he replied ‘Please speak clearly’ She shook her head.

‘No, I’m not having this recorded’ she said ‘I’ll tell you in confidence, Mr Lykel, but I won’t have my private life exposed. Please’ She gazed at him pleadingly. He sighed heavily

‘Will you at least tell me in front of my second in command?’ he asked. She nodded, her face pale. He made a gesture and Lewis turned off the recorder.

‘Very well Adelaide, and this had better be the truth, or you will be charged with treason’ he warned her. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

‘Well, I have a lover – he’s – well he’s dominant. I – I’ve never seen his face, he always wears a mask, and I don’t know his name.’ Bastien remained stony faced, inwardly rolling his eyes. Her sexual escapades were her weakness and had gotten her in to trouble on more than one occasion. She went on, biting her lip ‘He’s said things to me before – about what a good Queen Maddy would make, and that he could make sure that it happened. Maddy came home the other night and told me Liam had called everything off. I was so upset – I called him and told him all about it’ Her eyes reddened and she dabbed at them with a tissue. ‘I didn’t know about the photographs, I had no idea how he was going to make things happen. I’m sorry the others were hurt, truly I am’ Bastien nodded

‘I believe you, but you must give us details of how you contacted your ah, lover.’ he said sternly ‘Do you think you could identify him if you heard his voice – is he Cordonian, do you think, or does he have an accent?’

‘Oh he’s Cordonian, and yes, I think I could identify him by his voice. But please, I do need to be discreet. Gordon may overlook my indiscretions – after all lord knows he has his own – but I don’t want it splashed all over the…’ her voice trailed off as she realised what she had set in motion for the other suitors.

Bastien nodded to Lewis to turn the recording equipment on again

‘Thankyou Lady Adelaide, for the record you’re going to supply us with the contact details we’ve asked for. Your cooperation is appreciated.’

------

Later, after Adelaide had left to go and settle into the suite she would be sharing with Madeleine, Bastien spoke to Lewis. In truth, the phone number she had given them wouldn’t tell them much. They had secured a promise from her that she would notify them the next time she was due to call him – she called at regular intervals – and they would monitor and try to trace the call’s location. They checked in with James, who was checking security footage for anyone who might have tampered with the safe. He looked weary and his eyes were red from sleeplessness, but he had stuck to his task with stoicism.

‘I think I have something’ he said ‘One of the maids made a habit of moving a large vase in front of one of the security cameras when she cleaned Constantine’s study, but she fell foul of one of the other hidden cameras. I can’t directly see exactly what she was doing, but she was in the vicinity of the safe for a suspiciously long period of time on more than one occasion. I just need to double check the time stamps and the duty rosters for the cleaning teams – but I think we have our culprit’

‘Good man’ Bastien said, leaning on the desk to watch the footage James had picked out ‘Who is it?’

‘I’m not entirely sure, but I think it’s a young maid called Lisa’ he said ‘Shall I call her in for questioning? I don’t know if she’s on site but it won’t take long to find out.’

‘We need to verify her identity first’ Bastien chided ‘Cross check with the work schedules. I have an idea Drake is friendly with her, and Sophia also, I’ll call them to ID her.’

It was discovered that indeed it was Lisa who had been seen on the security cameras. Checking other footage, she was seen to take an envelope identical to the one left for Liam out of her bag to check it when leaving the Palace. The next day she had spent another suspicious length of time in Constantine’s study while cleaning it. It was not quite enough to be certain proof, but Bastien had a strong case against her. She wasn’t in the Palace so he asked housekeeping to call her in for an extra shift, saying there were unexpected visitors and she was needed to clean some of the empty suites – which was true, as that afternoon it was expected that the Council of nobles would approve Liam’s plan for the Charity tour and all the suitors would be called on to gather to plan the itinerary and travel together.

------

Sure enough, the young woman turned up on time, and she was watched every step of the way. As she approached the store cupboard to pick up fresh linen, Bastien strolled along the corridor as if by accident.

‘Good afternoon – Lisa, isn’t it?’ he asked her pleasantly as she clutched the list of supplies she needed. ‘Could you step into my office please?’ She looked puzzled.

‘I’m very busy Mr Lykel – can it wait until the end of my shift?’ she asked. He shook his head and stepped forward to take her elbow

‘I’m afraid not, I need to ask you some questions’ A look of panic crossed her face and she tried to pull away from him. He gripped her firmly, and one of his men, Parker, appeared from round the corner to block her should she try to run away.

In the interrogation suite, Lisa dissolved into tears. She had been coerced into breaking into the safe after stumbling across the code in a piece of paper that fell out of a book when she was cleaning. Bastien pressed her as to who had asked her to get the photos, but she clamped her mouth shut and said she was afraid that she’d be killed for telling.

‘Lisa, we will protect you if you tell us who it is’ Bastien assured her ‘This is a serious matter – you could be prosecuted for treason and either serve time in prison, or be exiled permanently. We can be lenient if you help us’ Lisa looked terrified.

‘I – I can’t tell you who it was’ she sniffled ‘I never saw him. He’s a member of the Sons of the Earth. I have a phone number, that’s all’

‘But Lisa, why did you do it?’ he asked ‘When you were interviewed you swore you’d serve the Crown – and you also signed a non disclosure agreement. You’re in a lot of trouble, my dear’

‘I – I’m sorry, here have my phone, the number’s there, under ‘Boris’ She held it out, but Bastien sat with his arms crossed.

‘Write it down for me’ he said

‘But – if you call him from another number he’ll know it’s not me’ she protested

‘I wouldn’t worry about that, Lisa’ he said flatly ‘We have our ways’ She took her phone back and Bastien started to reach for paper and pen, but as he did, Bastien spotted something that made his blood run cold – a button inset in the side, something that didn’t belong on that model of phone. He shouted out a warning to Parker to get down as he threw himself onto the floor under the metal table. Lisa pressed the button and a loud explosion rocked the tiny room…

Next chapter 4 Two’s Company, Three’s more fun

#protect and serve #silver service #bastien lykel #trr bastien #sophia x bastien #OC x Bastien #the royal romance au #royal romance fanfic

57 notes · View notes

foxglove-and-fern · 5 years ago

Text

Commissions Are Open!

Alternative title: My whole body hurts and my entire income is dependent on physical labor— uh oh.

Hey pals. I am having a hard time keeping up with my job because it’s labor intensive and has inflamed pre-existing pain I have long been dealing with. As such, I am looking for other work and losing money in the process. To try and make up anything for these lost hours, I am opening commissions and readings!

☆ Tarot Readings

Readings will be based on a question, as that is the format I am most comfortable with. It can be however vague or specific as you please. I will include a photo of the layout, photos of each card pulled, and detailed analysis of each card, its placement, and finally an analysis of the spread in its totality. All of this can be sent as a PDF, Word doc, email, google doc, whatever works best for you.

$4 Three Card Layout

Three card layouts can either be a past/present/future or present circumstance/obstacle/outcome. For an additional dollar we can make a custom three card spread.

$7 Custom Layout (5-7 cards)

Custom layouts will be designed with your specific wants and needs in mind. They are

☆ Custom Sigils

All sigils are hand drawn on paper and will be scanned and sent as high quality PDFs. If you would like me to mail you a physical copy, pricing will increase slightly so as to account for things like stamps and nicer paper. If you would like to see examples of my work I would be happy to post or share my work. Currently I only have photos, rather than scans, so know that whatever I share is of a lower quality than what you’re purchasing.

$3 Simple

$5 Complex

Complex sigils will include a simplified variation that can be used as you please.

☆ Custom Spells

Tell me the purpose and format and I will design a spell to meet your needs! They will be formatted as recipe cards of sorts, including the materials and how to cast it. That said, if you would like it to be a spell jar, a sachet, something that is exclusively verbal, something that can be incorporated into cooking, sewing, etc, whatever. I’m flexible and looking to accommodate your wants. Additionally! Please, please, please let me know of any accommodations you need related to disability, allergies, etc. If you purchase a spell and are incapable of performing it for medical reason, let me know and I will make whatever adjustments are needed (to no additional cost). Finally, if you have any deities, spirits, etc. you would like involved, please let me know so I can involve them and their attributes.

$2 digital copy

The spell will be typed out in a clear, organized manner and sent in a similar manner as the tarot readings

$3 digital copy, but cuter

Rather than being typed out in a word document, I will hand write it (legibly) and decorate it so that it’s more visually pleasing. Will be scanned and sent as a high quality PDF.

$6 I’ll send it to you!

Instead of sending you a fancy PDF, I’ll mail it to you! Then you can hold it you your actual hands.

I accept both paypal (paypal.me/mrprekop) and venmo (@Ray-Prekop). Please ignore my deadname in my paypal; I’m not sure how to change it! Also, if you’re filled with pity for someone like me and wanna drop me 50¢ or something, I will draw you a very cute thank you note.

Thank you all so much for reading through this silly, long post. I’m so grateful to be a part of this wonderful online community and I hope that, through this, I get to meet and speak with even more of you. Blessed be and I hope to hear from you soon. DM me if you are interested!

10 notes · View notes

elenajohansenauthor · 6 years ago

Photo

WHO WANTS A FREE BOOK?

There’s a catch, of course. It’s time for another round of digital for-review copies to go out!

If you’re new to me and my work, the What We Need series is a trilogy following one pair of lovebirds from first meeting through falling in love, seeing some of the worst the world has to offer, injury, danger, and separation, until they get their happy ending. (Yeah, it’s a romance, so the happy ending is a requirement.)

Oh, and it’s all set in the US Midwest six months after a plague devastated most of the population. Post-apocalyptic romance!

If that sounds interesting to you, and you’re willing to read What We Need to Survive in exchange for providing an honest review, DM me for more information.

And if I’m catching any of my previous reviewers with this, and you need a later book in the series instead, it’s all good--I need plenty of reviews for those, too, and it’s tougher to get them when they do have to be read in order.

Finally, if this isn’t your thing, a signal boost would still be appreciated--support your friendly neighborhood Indie Authors!

#writeblr #booklr #elenajohansenauthor #what we need to survive #free books #review copy

21 notes · View notes

pixelgrotto · 6 years ago

Photo

D&D With My Bro: The Case of the Almost Assassination

For the last four months, my brother and I have been playing a Dungeons & Dragons campaign that I whipped up called The Case of the Almost Assassination, and we came to a triumphant finale the other night. My bro’s called it a “steampunk mystery set in a fantasy world,” which is a good description, but on a more detailed level, the campaign was also heavily influenced by the Ace Attorney and Professor Layton games and exists in the universe of The Thirteenth Hour, a series of fantasy stories self-published by my brother that are inspired by 80s movies and cartoons. So the whole thing is one huge ball of fun nerdiness, and figuring that it might be cool to chronicle the campaign as we played, I captured each of our sessions on video. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube here in convenient playlist format (listening to it in the background like a podcast is also pretty nice, I gotta say), and there’s over 20 hours there, which is longer than some of the video games I’ve blogged about!

This wasn’t the first time that my brother and I had played D&D, since I’d previously introduced the game to him via a small four hour mini-campaign last time I visited his house. (He’s written some great thoughts on that adventure, as well as the experience of missing out on D&D in his childhood but getting the chance to discover it as an adult here.) But this was certainly the first time we’d played something long that continued from week to week, and it was also the first time we’d used virtual tabletop software - in this case the very useful Roll 20 - to play online. Minus a few minor internet hiccups, it ran smoothly, and I think both of us had a great time. The experience also made me ruminate on three interesting facts about D&D that I think not enough people write about, and I’m going to jot off a few thoughts on them here. Without further ado...

1) It is perfectly possible, and sometimes even more fun, to play D&D with just one other person.

Normally, Dungeons & Dragons conjures up images of a bunch of people - usually three or four at minimum - sitting at a table listening to instructions given to them by the Dungeon/Game Master, or DM. But the hardest part of D&D isn’t juggling rules or even fighting Challenge Rating 30 monsters - it’s getting a group of three or four people to meet up together on a consistent basis! This is why you can tell that anyone who still thinks of D&D as an activity for anti-social basement dwellers hasn’t actually played it, because in truth, the game is a demanding social commitment, especially for adults.

Thankfully, while it might be a less common way to play, you can totally enjoy D&D with just two people. Usually this means that someone more familiar with the rules has to be the DM while the other person acts as the player, which is what my brother and I did. Sometimes, the DM will also have to create a player character for themselves, and I did that in order to assist my bro with various battles and tricky scenes. This is more work for the DM, since they’ll have to juggle both their own character as well as the various non-playable characters (NPCs) encountered in the story, but if you’re up for it, it’s a rewarding exercise.

The best thing about playing D&D with just one DM and one player is how efficient it is. Three or four player D&D (to say nothing of five, six, or even more players) can get slowed down by arguments about how to progress or share loot, not to mention downtime in battles when a player who has a bazillion spells at his disposal deliberates on the one he wants to use that will both do the most damage and look the coolest. Don’t get me wrong, I actually love these sorts of interactions, but it’s also nice to strip all that fat away.

When it’s just one player and the DM, the DM also has the chance to make that player feel pivotally important by basing the story around them. Usually, the “unit” of D&D is the adventuring party, but in a one person + one DM game, the player gets to shine as the main character. Thus, it’s a good idea to choose the sort of story that can emphasize the important actions of an individual, and in my opinion the best ones for this are heavy on role-playing and character interaction rather than dungeon crawling and monster slaying. For example, a rogue adventure in an urban environment might fit the bill...or maybe even a mystery. Which leads me to my second point...

2) If you’re a DM making a homebrew campaign, try utilizing a setting that your players are already familiar with.

When my brother initially agreed to play a long campaign with me, I first thought that we might attempt one of the many published Forgotten Realms adventures that have been released for 5th Edition D&D. But then I realized that while my brother is mildly familiar with the Forgotten Realms, thanks to old comics and fantasy art from the 80s and 90s, he’s much more familiar with the setting that he created for his own fantasy novel, The Thirteenth Hour. My bro originally wrote this book when he was a high school kid and finally published it a few years ago, and in the time since, he’s written some short spin-offs and outlined ideas for a sequel. In the mini-campaign we’d played in October, his character was actually a half-elf ranger named the Wayfarer who’ll play a pivotal role in book two, and I initially pitched the whole idea of D&D to him as “Hey, this can help you brainstorm your sequel concepts before you put them down to paper.”

Once I began toying with the idea of making a homebrew campaign set in The Thirteenth Hour world, I started worrying that my brother’s universe was limited when compared to the “fantasy kitchen sink” setting of the Forgotten Realms. I mean, my bro’s book didn’t even have orcs! Or dwarves! What was I gonna do! But then I stopped being reliant on fantasy tropes and actually re-read The Thirteenth Hour, quickly finding that there was plenty I could work with.The universe that my brother created doesn’t have all of the races that Tolkien coined, but it’s still full of magic and wonder - a place where crafty old wizards inspired by The Last Starfighter’s Centauri run amok, strange technological anomalies like hover boards occasionally pop up and an otherworldly gatekeeper known as the Dreamweaver lets the spirits of the deceased visit their loved ones in dreams. And there’s also a large kingdom called Tartec ruled over by a vaguely Trump-esque king named Darian, who thinks he’s found the elixir of immortality when actually all he’s discovered is coffee. (If you think this sounds amusing, you can pick up a digital copy of my bro’s book on Amazon for less than a cup of Starbucks!)

Darian’s a funny character, and in one of the spin-off short stories that my brother wrote, an older and slightly wiser version of him reflects on how an assassin nearly took his head off with a dagger. This one sentence got me thinking who that assassin might be, and before I knew it I’d come up with the basic hook of a campaign. At the time, I was also reading Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, a D&D book that introduces 5th Edition’s Inquisitive subclass, which is basically a fantasy Sherlock Holmes. Suddenly, the ideas began bubbling in my head - the campaign would be a detective story set in Tartec with two leads trying to determine the identity of King Darian’s would-be assassins. Once I had this hook, I decided to draw further inspiration from the two video game series I think of when I hear the word “detective” - the Professor Layton games (which I like the style of but am rubbish at, since puzzles confound me) and the Ace Attorney series, which I’ve written about before. My brother would be the main character Lester LeFoe (patterned slightly after Phoenix Wright, the star of Ace Attorney), and I’d be the spunky female assistant Claudia Copperhoof (a little similar to Phoenix’s assistant Maya Fey).

I hoped that situating these characters in my brother’s world would breed a quicker sense of familiarity than he’d get from playing a generic warrior in the Forgotten Realms, and I think it’s safe to say that the experiment succeeded. Thus, even though 5th Edition D&D products all use the Realms as their default setting, it’s worth remembering that you don’t have to follow this lead, and can always tailor your campaign to a world that your players are already familiar with. In my brother’s case, he’s a writer who made his own world, but for someone else this can easily be Middle-Earth or the Hyborian Age of Robert E. Howard’s Conan books. The D&D Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide actively encourage modifying published adventures to appeal to your players’ favorite settings, in fact, and not only will this potentially help to decrease the amount of lore you need to explain as a Dungeon Master, but it’ll also help keep the attention of everybody listening to you. Because who wouldn’t want to insert themselves into their favorite bit of genre fiction as a legendary figure? In many ways, the whole point of D&D is to give people a framework to do that!

3) If you’re DMing for someone who doesn’t have much time to play, remember that a linear campaign is not necessarily a bad thing, and simplify the more complicated rules - making stuff up whenever necessary!

On page six of the 5th Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide, there’s a whole section entitled “Know Your Players,” which is all about altering your game to appeal to the personalities at your table. If you’re DMing for people who like acting and appreciate in-depth stories, give them plenty of role-playing opportunities and narrative twists, for instance, and if you’re dealing with folks who’d rather just make their characters look cool, try having them fight lots of monsters who reward snazzy armor and weapons.

There should really be a sub-section there entitled “How to run a game for players who are low on time.” Because that’s my brother in a nutshell. He’s a late 30s dude who works a demanding job and has two small children to take care of, one of whom is barely half a year old. (You can hear my nephew gurgling in the background in a few of our videos, and sometimes we’d even have to stop playing when the baby woke up from a snooze, which is a situation that I’m sure all new parents can relate to.) I know for a fact that my brother is also the type of guy whose eyes will glaze over when presented with a lot of complicated rules - as is probably the case for anyone who only has at most an hour or two, often in the late evening, to sit down to play a game when the rest of the family is in bed.

In my opinion, the way to tailor your game to such a player is to make a brisk, well-paced story that they can actually see to a satisfying conclusion. This means that the campaign might be fairly linear - a word which seems to have bizarre negative connotations to some D&D players out there, who are always ranting about “railroading,” which is when a DM puts players down a predetermined path without any wiggle room. I think it’s important to note that “linear” does NOT necessarily equate to “railroading,” however, and that a sprawling campaign with a trillion different outcomes and choices to make at every interval isn’t necessarily the best approach for someone who can only play a little bit each week and might get bored if they feel like they aren’t making tangible progress.

Let me put it this way - the campaign that I made for my brother was tightly designed. Instead of giving Lester and Claudia a vast landscape to explore, everything was confined to the city of Tartec, and I made an effort to nudge the characters towards certain objectives that they had to complete in order to solve the mystery, such infiltrating a manor house in the upper class section of town. But I also made sure to flesh out these few areas (quality over quantity) and allowed a certain degree of freedom in how the objectives could be cleared. For instance, I initially thought that Lester and Claudia might sneak into the manor house through the sewers. But as I was brainstorming strategies with my bro, the topic of disguises came up, because Claudia owned a disguise kit. And eventually we decided to infiltrate the party with Lester masquerading as a nutty old lady and Claudia as his keeper, which was a fun improvisation that I never would’ve anticipated - but still a viable way to complete the main objective that didn’t negatively impact the story’s pacing.

On the topic of keeping the pace of the story brisk for a player low on time, I feel like it’s also important to minimize the number crunching and reduce D&D’s more complicated rules whenever possible. In practice, this meant that I took care of as much behind-the-scenes stats management as possible so my bro wouldn’t have to, though I did always try to explain to him what was going on (and what all of those funky dice rolls meant) so he’d have some understanding of the game’s mechanics. Also, whenever we were in a situation where I wasn’t sure of a rule, instead of wasting time looking at the Player’s Handbook, nine times out of ten I’d just make something up on the fly. For example, our adventure had a friendly NPC orangutan in it (specifically chosen because I know my brother likes backflipping primates) and she was supposed to be a super strong, unpredictable force of nature in the final battle. I’d lost the stats that I’d used for her when she first appeared, and instead of looking for them, I decided to just roll a d20 for her damage, figuring that the end result would be close enough. In that same vein, there were a few instances where I made mistakes, since I’m still a relatively new DM. Once I totally miscalculated a character’s special attack, leading to a funny NPC death (which I’d expected but not exactly in that way) and on multiple occasions I flat out forgot to apply modifiers to attack rolls. But instead of going back to redo everything I’d either just laugh it off or forge ahead, hoping that my bro didn’t notice, which he never did.

Ultimately, my philosophy for DMing is to not sweat the small stuff TOO much if it probably doesn’t matter in the long run, especially if you’re running a game for just one person whose free hours are precious. I believe this sort of approach might be sacrilegious to some of the more rules-oriented DMs out there, like the ones who spend hundreds of words arguing over damage variables on the D&D Subreddit. But I’m not one of those folks, and I’d prefer to follow the advice of Sly Flourish, a DM who has a great website where he advocates a “lazy” style of Dungeon Mastering which de-emphasizes nitpicking over rules in favor of just having fun.

At the end of the day, having fun is what D&D is all about. It’s a game of make believe that can really bring out your inner storytelling-loving child, and in an era where very few adults are encouraged to even consider the concept of “make believe,” it can be a truly wonderful breath of fresh air. And if you don’t believe me...I encourage you to watch The Case of the Almost Assassination and try not to crack up at some of the situations that Lester LeFoe and Claudia Copperhoof found themselves in. :)

The pics above are either art that I assembled for our adventure or screenshots that I took while we were playing! The little figurines I designed via HeroForge.

9 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 4 years ago

Text

Magic: The Gathering – The Legend of the Black Lotus Continues

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Every trading card game has those rare cards that are so few and far between, getting a glimpse at one in real life feels special. In Pokémon Trading Card Game, you’ve the likes of the pre-release Jungle Raichu, or the Pikachu Illustrator, and in Yu-Gi-Oh there’s the original print of Dark Magician Girl, or the Chinese Blue Eyes White Dragon. For Magic: The Gathering, there’s the Power Nine, the most valuable of which is Black Lotus, and one’s about to become available – if you’ve got the money for it.

The Power Nine are a set of cards that stretch right back to the roots of Magic: The Gathering. They were all part of Alpha, Magic’s first set, reprinted soon after as Beta, and then reprinted again as Unlimited to round out the initial printings in 1993. The differences between the three are cosmetic – Beta has slightly sharper corners than Alpha, and Unlimited introduced the white-borders, now synonymous with core set reprints. You can find versions of the Power Nine from all three, but Alpha’s what you’re looking for if you want those sweet, sweet originals.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

One of these coveted treasures is now up for auction on eBay, from a seller that’s used to handling such prizes.

“The first bonus check I ever received turned me into a Magic investor when I could finally buy back my childhood memories and the cards I’d never played with,” David Edwards, the owner of DM’s Alpha Set on the PSA Registry and an avid collector of PSA 10 graded Alpha magic cards for the past 13 years tells us. “I had, long ago, owned a Time Twister, Mox Ruby and Time Walk, but was able to purchase the entire Power Nine with that check.”

Back then, Magic was broken, to say the least. These nine cards were huge contributors to this, since you’d have spells like Ancestral Recall, letting you draw three cards for one Blue, or Time Walk, that gave you an extra turn. The Mox gems, one of each color, granted one mana when tapped, and cost nothing to play, meaning you could have double mana for nothing turn one, and because the original rules didn’t prohibit the amount of any one card you have in your deck, early strategies were kind of ridiculous and spam-heavy. They all pale in comparison, however, to the Black Lotus.

A beautiful, shadowy flower that costs nothing and generates three mana of any color when sacrificed. If you get it first turn, that combined four mana can kickstart all manner of strategies that will likely put your opponent on the defensive in a way they’ll never recover from. It’s lethal, and that versatility means that it swiftly became coveted among collectors of Magic as more cards were released and the community grew. Sure enough, today the Black Lotus is worth a small fortune, fetching around six figures in public auctions. Last year on eBay, an Alpha printing fetched $250,000, and before that, another went for $166,100 in 2019, jumping up from the peak of just over $89,000 of 2018. The value is rising, as Magic: The Gathering stares down its 30th anniversary.

You can’t really play it any more – it’s banned in everything except vintage, where it’s limited, and even then, you’ll probably get some odd stares if you just happen to throw out one of the rarest cards in the whole game.

You’re better off playing Blacker Lotus from Unglued, a satirical Magic set that features ludicrous descriptions and effects. Blacker Lotus requires you to literally tear it up for four mana. It costs around $20 for one, but worth it for the reaction on an unsuspecting opponent. The closest thing to a Black Lotus reprint was when it and the rest of the Power Nine were brought into Magic Online, via the Vintage Masters set, where it was designated a Mythic Rare. If you’d like one without having to remortgage your house, you’ll need to go digital.

That said, you can find copies of it from Beta or Unlimited going for slightly smaller amounts. Sub-$10,000, if you catch the seller and the market on a good day. But an Alpha printing, that’s the real prize.

To speak candidly, when I got into Magic: The Gathering as a teenager in the noughties, the Black Lotus had a real meta-mysticism to it. This card game that had years of lore behind it, had a real life holy grail in it, something that an increasingly small number ever got to see in-person. Occasionally a friend would go to a tournament or event and say they got to see one in some collection. Doesn’t matter if it was true, to us it was like this person had been on an expedition and caught a glimpse of the vaults of God. It made playing and collecting feel bold and exciting to our young, fantasy-obsessed minds.

The current seller had a similar experience, recounting the first time they saw a Black Lotus in person.

“It was a Beta one in the summer of 1995. At my local card store Chadwick’s Friday night Magic tournament, there was an entrant who was a local college student that had used his student loans to buy one, and he was shuffling without sleeves,” the seller says. “I remember calculating how many months of allowance it would take for me to afford one and it was a long time!”

This new auction is for a Black Lotus signed by Christopher Rush, who was one of two-dozen artists commissioned by Wizards of the Coast to draw that first wave of cards. Here’s an old Tumblr post from Christopher, authenticating the signing. He’s one of the great TCG creatives, having worked on Pokémon and Netrunner in addition to Magic. He designed that lovely backing art on Magic: The Gathering, and the five colored mana symbols. An architect for the whole mythos, he sadly passed away in 2016, making this Black Lotus representative of the fading memory of this wonderful game.

Regardless of who wins it, it’ll be interesting to watch history change hands in real-time, and to see what it costs the winner.

The post Magic: The Gathering – The Legend of the Black Lotus Continues appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/39zeX65

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

0 notes

jaymysteri0 · 5 years ago

Link

Television designer and winner of the Aspen Comics Talent Hunt Chris Callahan had a comic book debut with The Misplaced, about love, death, and the limitations of Paradise published last week. He writes,

Before we get to the step-by-step, full-proof, never-fail, extensively researched formula for how to break into comics, I’d like to tell you a quick story (names redacted to protect the innocent) about how it’s impossible to break into comics…

I have two friends relevant to this article. Person A has been grinding on the con circuit he sells a fair amount of books at each show he does, he’s run several successful Kickstarters, and he has a small but loyal fanbase that buys everything he self-publishes. Far as I know he’s never had a “paid gig” in comics. Person B has had a couple series put out by a major publisher, and he recently wrote something for one of the big two.

Of the two people in question, it’s Person B who feels like he’s still trying to break into comics. After all, his paid work is sporadic, and he’s not really making a living at comics yet.

In truth, “breaking in” first boils down to you and how you define “in”. After all, who’s to say a creator with his own self-published book slinging floppies at the local con isn’t “in” comics?

If you read no further in this article, read this: Do not make your definition of breaking in something out of your control. If you won’t feel like you’ve made it until you’ve been discovered by Marvel, you’re setting yourself up for a lot of frustration that won’t be productive. Marvel does the hiring, not you. Don’t give someone else control of your goals.

No two people I know, or have observed during my time as a con rat, became a comic pro in the same way. The twists and turns and possibilities are too varied. But all of them that went from “I wanna make a comic” to (in one case) working on a TV show based on their comic checked these boxes…

Step 1: Produce Content

Obviously, right? Nope. I went to a “breaking in” panel at a con a few years ago. The moderator started by asking, “How many of you have a comic or portfolio with you?” Only about half raised their hand. “To everyone not raising their hand, you should leave and spend the next 45 minutes making something,” the moderator said. Fun fact: I was one of the people that didn’t raise his hand.

The point was taken, though. No one will hire you to write a comic, draw a comic, or letter a comic until you’ve already demonstrated the ability to do so. Incidentally, no one can impulse-buy a comic from your table at a show if you don’t have any books on said table. Even in the world of crowdfunding, you have to at the very least produce SOMETHING that convinces people to back it.

If you’re a writer, write. If you’re an artist, draw. Don’t wait for permission. Trust me, never once has a Marvel talent scout walked up to a random person at a con and said the following: “I don’t know you, but you seem pretty cool, I bet you can spin a good yarn, wanna write Spider- Man?”

Step 2: Put that content where people can find it

For me, it was posting Misplaced artwork on Twitter that finally got me some attention. Ironically I was posting art before there was a story. They were just random pieces of art with a rough thematic link. But friends kept commenting with things like, “I can’t wait for this book!” So I immediately started writing the book.

Twitter was my ticket, but like I said above, no two people follow the same path to a creative career. The main point here is to “put it out there” via a means you control. There are various web comic outlets. Or if you have a full digital comic, comiXology could be the way to go. Even your own site. You’ve just got to make that content you created available.

Other means of putting it out there:

– If you have a self-published floppy, get a table at your local con. Shelf space at a shop or distribution through Diamond both have barriers to entry. All a table requires is a fee.

– If you’re going after work-for-hire, get your way into a bigger con, print up some copies of your sample work, and politely go table to table and ask the various publishers if you can leave something behind. Check the company’s site or Twitter; most will let you know their process. I have a near yearly tradition of leaving something behind at the BOOM booth at SDCC. Alas, still waiting for a call. I’ve never had any success with this angle, but I know some who have and it’s always worth a shot.

– Finally, enter talent hunt competitions. I won the Aspen Comics Talent Hunt a couple years ago. Top Cow runs one regularly. Any opportunity to put your work in front of people is one you should take. There’s a direct link from me deciding to enter the Aspen Comics contest to being a contributing artist in The Stranger Things Artbook this year. Put your stuff out there any way you can.

Step 3: Tell people about that content you produced.

This step could be its own book, but it’s also arguably the easiest. If you’ve made the comic (Step 1) and gotten yourself a table at your local con (Step 2), then someone at some point during that show will walk by and ask, “What’s this about?” Answer that question, and you’ve completed Step 3.

It gets trickier from there, though. For the most part, people don’t want to be sold to. Starting a conversation about things relating to your book is much more effective. Find your fans where they already live. Seek out means to discuss your inspirations and interests, in person at conventions, online in forums… Introduce your content in context, and it’s much more likely you’ll be introducing it to a future fan.

And of course, who could forget social media? Friends, it is dark and full of terrors. But on some level you’ve got to do it. Twitter and Instagram are still the best places to connect with other like-minded folks and interject yourself and your work into the conversation. Get on Twitter/Instagram, follow everyone relevant to your book, and engage with editors/comic journalists/other creators. Reply to their comments, and share the tweets you think are worthwhile. (Just play it cool. Nobody likes a cyber stalker that likes every post they make.) And just like above, don’t pitch, converse. The soft sell sells harder.

BONUS Step 4: Sticking Around

Be chill. Be easy to work with. It pays off.

In my other life, I’m a TV graphic artist. I basically come up with the logo and general “look” of a show. I’ve done work for all the major networks, most recently redesigning the logo and

associated graphics of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade broadcast for NBC. Trust me when I tell you, I am not the best logo designer in the world. Honestly, I’d say I’m average. But the producer loves working with me because I meet deadlines, I solve problems instead of creating them, and I don’t let my creative ego get in the way of the final product. Sometimes that tips the balance in the hiring process.

Aside: How did I get into TV design and land such a high profile gig, you ask? Once upon a time I created a bunch of fake logos and animation samples, I put those on my site, and I emailed a few production companies. Sound familiar? Create a reel (step 1), post it online (step 2), email to inquire about openings (step 3)—and fifteen years later I’m still “in” (step 4).

The Results and Final Thoughts

Don’t aim to write the next Walking Dead; franchises like that are lightning in a bottle. Don’t aim to write superheroes just to get Marvel’s attention if you’re not a fan of superhero comics. Write a cool book or create artwork that you love, and you’ll probably find a couple other people that love it too.

I don’t know how far you’ll get, and I don’t know how fast it will happen. An editor might hit up your DMs. A comic friend might get a paid gig and bring you on board. You might post ten pages on Webtoons and a development exec from Warner Brothers wants to option it. Who knows?

Just repeat the phrase: “Make it, share it.” If you put enough content out there, good things will happen.

If you want to be a creator, always be creating.

#comic creation #breaking in #do it

0 notes

booklust · 7 years ago

Text

futurelit vol 3: starlit void

I knew for a fact that for volume 3, I had to cover a twitter bot. Come hang with me and starlit void for a while and see why---

The boom of Creative Writing Twitter is a natural extension of how we communicate today: quickly, constantly, concisely, urgently. But short doesn’t mean simple: following the ethos of writing (or subverting) formal verse poetry, the restraints of Twitter often produce the most creative content. Among them are many creative writing-oriented twitterbots. These clusters of code generate tweets following a certain linguistic--and sometimes also visual--structure a set amount of times per day. Some results are "better” (more beautiful, or more hilarious, or more surprising, or more mundane, or more....) than others, but it’s always enchanting to watch unfold. The dependable, structured presence of twitterbots--however unexpected the results---on our feeds makes them eventually feel like a friend---oddly human. One creative writing bot that stands out to me is starlit void’s quietscape--the bot pairs a colorful, randomly generated, geometric digital landscape picture with a short, fantastical suggestion/description. Each tweet creates an environment for thoughts to exist in, like a creative writing prompt. At least for me, it serves an essential meditative function within hectic internet space. I knew that my conversation with starlit void would be a rad discussion about writing and tech, but it bloomed into so much more: an oral history of bot world, seriously cool meditations on mental health, Soundcloud playlist suggestions, + more! Keeping with the futurelit tradition (and my own personal tradition), we avoided a phone call and did our chat over Twitter DMs this time:

what is your favorite environment to create in? (whether it's a certain physical space, listening to a certain kind of music/silence, etc.)

i typically like to be well-caffeinated, alone or in a cafe, & excited about getting something working.... there's a thin line between excited & stressed about how something is going to turn out. i used to go to "game jams" until i discovered it was actually really stressful for me. i'm trying to be more relaxed about my creative output (this is easier said than done) & trying to avoid equating prolificness w/ human value. i think i do my best work when the intended audience is very selective, even 1 or 2 people, or just for myself. i also listen to what i call "robot music" a lot, for example this sort of mix.

----continue below----

tell me a little bit about how you came up with your bot 'quietscape' -- what were your inspirations for it? as i believe you had already guessed, @quietscape was first intended as a prompt bot, for getting some creative thoughts limbered up. at first the output was text only, which was easy to do using tracery (TRACERY PLUG: tracery by @galaxykate along w/ http://cheapbotsdonequick.com by @v21 are hands down the greatest twitterbot making tools around, lowering bar to entry for many many people into the complex world of botmakery). i think at first i did use a few of them as prompts, but quietscape was ultimately too bland & not interesting enough. i added the raytraced images as a proof-of-concept & it's remained almost unchanged ever since. quietscape is still a work in progress!!!!! of course after adding images i came up w/ a huge complex system of how this takes place on a mysterious earth-sized artifact orbiting a binary star system blah blah blah but i felt it was more important to synchronize tweets to my own daytime schedule. i found some code to roughly calculate sunlight intensity & sunrise/sunset times at roughly my latitude for a planet that's roughly earthlike & that was "good enough"! the schedule is also in line w/ some of my thoughts on bot tweeting volumes. i like that quietscape only tweets 5 times a day (dawn, afternoon, dusk, midnight, & a daily "shrine" tweet), which i think helps keep xem from getting too familiar or overstaying xyr welcome. i love procedural generation but our minds can feel out the recurring pattern of a bot very quickly, even if there are 50 bazillion possible combinations, which sounds good on paper but doesn't actually provide human quality variety in the output. my partial answer was to make a terse bot. as far as actual inspirations go: quietscape owes quite a lot to tsutomu nihei's architectural renderings, @katierosepipkin & @lorenschmidt's collaborative work, and @edclef & @davidkanaga's game _proteus_. the daily "shrine" tweets are thanks to @trapitolina's @obelisk_bot, which got me thinking about adding more of a physical location feel to quietscape.

what do you love most about coding as an art/writing form, and how did you get into it? i see generative & algorithm-assisted creativity as a vast & mostly untapped field, where the product isn't really the product, but a wild & nearly organic factory that can make lots of weird & surprising things. i think @katierosepipkin said it best in their interview: "Here, the cartographer draws the cliffs that contain a sea of one hundred thousand artworks. And then one searches for the most beautiful piece of coral inside of their waters." this resonates w/ me, especially this feedback loop of curated generation (generate a huge number of results & then pick out the best ones). of course that's hard to do when making a bot that supposedly exists independent of human interference. there are a lot of successful procedurally generated experiences out there & yet i think there is much to be learned about how we can work hand-in-hand w/ computers to make more human accessible works. @emshort explores this a whole bunch in her notes following the text of "the annals of the parrigues" (see page 81), "the state of the roads", & it's really eye-opening & exciting. on the other end of the spectrum, it's exciting to me that there are several wonderful tools available for picking up rule-based creativity & just making it. i would love to make tools that help people get started down the road of algorithmic creativity. i would love to see more voices using these techniques.

I can't help but notice that your 'quietscape' website is hosted on neocities---were you into geocities when you were younger? and if so, do you have any cool memories about it? (or about any other piece of the internet that's not around anymore that you're nostalgic for?) sure!!! i had a geocities site & i'm still known to gawk in awe at mid-90s web aesthetics. but even more important than that, i think it's crucial we move away from centralized conglomerate based media platforms for our creative output. html remains a viable technology for sharing ideas & presenting them online, & to get started you just need to copy paste some nearly-human-readible code. returning to lists of url links & webrings & simple web crawlers as the means to discover other sites.... it's not democratic or equal in any sense, but in hindsight it seems better than entrusting your content to an algorithm w/ an intrinsic corporate bias. geocities was the era during which we were sure that the internet had come to free us all from ignorance & relying on centralized systems. 20 years later, 3 or 4 companies control almost everything you do online. the bleak cyberpunk corporate surveillance police state of the 80s is happening instead. i'd love to go back to those innocent days & work for a better distribution of technology. or breaking systems down, i don't know. relying on systems is killing us.

which projects are you currently working on, or would like to in the near future? the big theme of what it would be like to live in a weird endless megastructure has haunted me for about 15 years so i'll probably still find ways to explore that in future work. the two other forces that draw me kind of go hand in hand but they're also kind of opposite. i'd like to put more of myself in my work, & focus on some of the changes & revelations i've had over the past few years (gender, sexuality, identity in general). but also i'd like to address bigger issues, like stepping down & propping up marginalized voices.

post an image/images that feels like 'the future' to you (x) love mushbush's work & it feels out of time & futuristic in a playful way!

#starlit void #futurelit #booklust #twitter #twitter bots #botally #lit #interview #writing #literature #spilled ink #writers #media #coding

2 notes · View notes

theadddm · 6 years ago

Text

Go DDDigital, part 2

Now, where were we? Oh yeah, in part 1, the ADD DM discusses running your game, using digital resources. In part 2, we won’t be using any apps!

Yeah, that’s right, no apps!

When I first had the thought, that I needed to not use so much paper, and take my game digital, I immediately thought of finding the right app to do the job for me. ...and while I did find a very good app, it still left some very big gaps to cross. “It’s a shame that the app can’t use non-SRD* content,” I found my self thinking, “because my paper templates didn’t have those problems. Since I own the Player’s Handbook, the Monsters Manual, and any adventure texts which I run, I do have access to any content that I need, and I can just use pictures of the stat blocks, and paste them into my favorite word processing software.” I said it exactly like that, too.

“But wait!”, I now say to myself, “Who says that I need to print paper copies of those pages from my favorite word processing software? What if I have that same word processing software on a mobile device, and I have access to my word processing files from a cloud storage service???”, I said to myself, exactly like that.

*note: the SRD is Wizards’ open-gaming content, which is free to use, but it doesn’t contain everything from the Player’s Handbook or Monster’s Manual. It’s wonderful that it exists, and anyone can play the game without actually buying a single book, but you can’t run most hardcover adventure books with it because most of the most interesting content costs money. Stand-alone adventures seem to do a good job of including monster stat blocks which appear in the adventure, but you still might be out of luck when your wizard polymorphs into a dire bunny, or your druid summons 16 ostriches.

As a refresher, I wanted to create my own reference documents for convenience -- so that I wouldn’t have to constantly flip between the 2 different pages in the adventure text and however many different pages in the Monster’s Manual. In my paper templates, I preferred to group all of the things which I need to access during a particular encounter: creature stat blocks; area notes for developments, traps, treasure, or whatever else. ...I’ve kept the combat table in a gaming-specific app, because setting and managing initiative order in the same reference as the HP tracking is most easily done in digital format.

Just grouping an encounter’s worth of creature stat blocks is such an easy way to make such a huge improvement, that it’s silly to not do this. i.e., if I’m running an encounter with hill giants, ice spire orcs, and a remohaz, I might use stat blocks from 3 different references -- the Monsters Manual, the adventure text, and a second adventure text. Once again, that’s 3 separate reference texts for 3 creatures (not even including the area description from the adventure), which would be ridiculous to rotate, in the middle of combat. This particular encounter did happen, in DDAL_05-11: Forgotten Traditions, which contains a modification to orcs; hill giants, which have a modification in Storm King’s Thunder; and remorhazes, which appear in the Monster’s Manual. ...even if they were all in the Monster’s Manual, i’d be flipping between different pages, which is still not good.

To be clear, I’m assuming that you’ll want to create your reference documents on a desktop computer, for ease of work. I am also assuming that you want to display your reference docs in a mobile device, and not on a computer, for the sake of portability. This blog is most applicable to Adventurers League (or Pathfinders Society, or whatever) DMs, after all.

So, in this setup, we will need only 2 things: • Software to create your reference docs, and software to read them. Ideally, they will be the same software, just on different devices. • A cloud storage service, to store your adventure reference pages

For the documents, themselves...

Since I have PDF copies of my texts, I can simply copy-paste all of my stat blocks into a single document. ...even if I had only paper copies, I could just take pictures of my stat blocks, and use those. Let’s say that that’s all that I need from my reference, and I can save it, now. I do that. I save it.

Specifically, I save it to my cloud storage service.

Then, I simply open that same document, on my tablet device, in the mobile version of the software which created it. ...or as a PDF, if I saved it as such; as long as it goes like this:

Honestly, there are a ton of setups (sets-up?) which will work. As long as it can make a file which you can display on your mobile device. My endless quest for the perfect workflow is only reason for me to want the exact same software on both devices. PDFs are great, of course, because so many different software and OS platforms can display them; and, had I my druthers, I would probably choose to create and edit PDFs in Acrobat Pro, just so that I’m working working in PDF format, natively. However, the ADD DM is a cheap-ass, so he don’t.

Instead, what I use is Apple’s Pages. Editorially, I adore Pages, for many different reasons. What’s important here, though, is that is has a great mobile version, which is super easy to navigate, for reading documents. The only complaint, which I have, is that there isn’t any Read/Edit mode switching, and that would be great because it’s too easy to accidentally select and move images in the mobile version. Not a big deal, and not a deal at all, if you’re willing to export PDFs, instead of reading the .pages documents.

For cloud services, nearly anything will do, as long as you know how to navigate your computer’s file system, in order to save to your cloud service, and how to read from it. I actually use whichever of [Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud] best suits my collaborative needs, but I prefer Google Drive for my own doc storage.

...and, honestly, it’s super easy: Create, Save, Read. ...or, because I’m an ice hockey fan: Pass, Shoot, Score. OK, maybe you’re not a hockey fan. Whatever. Just do this setup thing.

0 notes

marrincostello · 5 years ago

Text

Becoming Well-Known: Your Plan to Becoming a Recognized Expert : Social Media Examiner

What could you achieve for your business and yourself if you were more well-known? Could you reach and help more people with your message?

To explore how to become a recognized expert in any industry, I recorded a special episode of the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

I share a method that works for becoming well-known—regardless of what industry you’re in. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a plumber, an ADHD expert, or a B2B or B2C.

What I’m about to share with you will greatly increase the likelihood that you’ll succeed, reduce your risk of failure, and accelerate your success. Are you ready to hear what I have to say?

Listen to the Podcast Now

This article is sourced from the Social Media Marketing Podcast, a top marketing podcast. Listen or subscribe below.

Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.

Why Me?

Why is Michael Stelzner talking to you right now about becoming well-known?

In the mid-1990s, I started my own creative agency. We did everything from copywriting to market research to corporate identity, which included logo designs, website design, product marketing, and market research. We served mostly high-tech companies by assisting with all of the creative aspects of getting their message out there. We were just like every other agency on the planet in the 1990s.

In the early 2000s, I pivoted to focus on a specific kind of writing. I started a blog called Michael Stelzner’s Writing White Papers and I experimented with ways to get my message out. I started writing for other people’s blogs that were much bigger than mine, like Copyblogger and MarketingProfs. My message started resonating with a lot of people—and most of those people were writers and marketers.

Learn how to become the top expert in any industry with this new online course.

Now Open! DOORS CLOSE MAY 1ST

I started a website called whitepapersource.com. No, it wasn’t a source for getting white paper. Instead, it was kind of a precursor to Social Media Examiner. It was a place where you could learn how to craft and market with white papers. Before Facebook groups, there were forums. We had a forum where hundreds of people would come to discuss various topics around the idea of white papers.

In 2006, I wrote and self-published a book called Writing White Papers, which sold 10,000 copies. Many people referred to me as the world’s leading expert on this topic. I had a lot of big businesses as my customers: Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, FedEx, SAP, Qualcomm, VeriSign, Dow Jones, and Monster. They were all lining up to work with me and I was able to raise my rates. I was set. If I had wanted to do this for the rest of my life, I could have.

Then, in 2009, I pivoted again. I decided to go behind the scenes this time and create a movement that wasn’t about me. Instead it was about helping others. Social Media Examiner basically started as a website with how-to articles.

Part of what I did in 2009, and have done over the last decade since I founded Social Media Examiner, was to really pour myself into helping other people become well-known in the industry that we’re in. I privately advised, coached, and mentored a lot of people you probably know, including Amy Porterfield, Mari Smith, Sue B. Zimmerman, Molly Pittman, Natasha Takahashi, Pat Flynn, Marcus Sheridan, Joe Pulizzi, Roberto Blake, Ray Edwards, Owen Video, Carlos Gil, John Lee Dumas, and Leslie Samuel.

I worked with a lot of these people when they were just starting out in their careers, and with my experience, I helped them become very well-known in their various niches.

A little more than 7 years ago, I launched the Social Media Marketing Podcast. All of a sudden, I became well-known again. To this day, the Social Media Marketing Podcast is probably one of the things I’m most known for.

So why am I qualified to teach how to become well-known? I have become well-known in two different industries: writing and social media. Also, I’ve helped a lot of other people become really well-known. I feel like I’ve got some wisdom to share so I’m going to do that now.

But before I do, I want to give you a little warning. If you want to become well-known, this isn’t a “fame and fortune overnight” kind of method. You’re going to have to do the work. That might be a little scary but I’ve met enough of you—in person at Social Media Marketing World and over the years—to know that work doesn’t scare you. I also know that you know that all valuable pursuits require work.

So if you’re willing to put in the work that I’m about to share with you, it’s going to make your path to becoming well-known so much easier it’s not even funny.

Why It’s Important

The decline in organic reach that we’ve seen on the social platforms over the last couple of years has made it increasingly harder for us to get our content and message out there because the algorithms’ job is to suppress that content. This method allows you to rise above those algorithms by leading more people to talk about you one-on-one and share the amazing content that you’re creating privately over DMs.

We operate in a world of digital distraction. There’s a lot of research that shows that we’ve never been more distracted. We have all these different devices with lots of different opportunities to distract our brains. When you’re well-known, you don’t have to compete with all of that because people seek you out. They want to listen to what you have to say. That allows you to get above the fray and distraction.

The truth of the matter is, because of the internet and social media, we have a lot more competitors than we’ve ever had before. But here’s the good news. What I’m going to share with you will allow you to rise above your competition because they won’t be doing it.

The DREAMS Method

If you follow my DREAMS method, it will help your dreams of becoming well-known convert to reality.

It’s a step-by-step process. You’ve got to go through each piece of this process one after the other, just like walking up a set of stairs. If you follow it, it’s going to radically reduce the risk of failure and accelerate your growth. It really does work.

This is where you’re going to create a super-clear vision of who you want to become and why—and what could be holding you back.

Think about depicting as creating a drawing or visual storyboard of your future. What do you want to achieve? Do you want more revenue? Do you want to help more people? Do you want to achieve personal goals like recognition, acknowledgment, or acceptance?

Do you want to speak on more stages or make more podcast appearances, or maybe get a book deal? What is it that you want that you wouldn’t even dare tell your closest friends or even your family because you know they would pooh-pooh your ideas?

Think about it for a second. What do you really want?

Once you figure out what you want, the next step is to imagine what kind of roadblocks you might face. This is especially important because if you anticipate what kinds of challenges you might run into and prepare for those challenges, you can route around them.

Michael Hyatt refers to these roadblocks as “limiting beliefs”: beliefs that limit our abilities. Michael says you need to take these limiting beliefs and reframe them, restating them as “liberating truths.”

For instance, one of the challenges you might be thinking about is, “I don’t have time for the work that would be necessary for me to become well-known.” You can reframe that as, “I make time for everything that’s truly important to me.”

And you know that’s true. If your family is important to you, you make time for them. If your business is important to you, you make time for it. If listening to this podcast is important for you, you choose to make time to listen to it when you know you could be listening to something else. Reframe that time challenge as, “I make time for everything that’s truly important to me.”

Another thing that a lot of people struggle with is the idea that there are too many competitors. I want to give you a podcasting example. If you pull up the Apple podcast directory and type in the phrase “real estate,” you’re going to see tons of real estate podcasts from people you’ve probably never heard of before. You could look at that and say, “Wow, there are dozens of them. Too much competition. No room for me.”

Or you could reframe it as this liberating truth, “There’s a lot of people interested in this topic and thankfully people have gone before me and proven this.” Said another way, “Others have already justified that a market exists; therefore, full speed ahead!”

My good friend Cliff Ravenscraft says another really great thing about reframing competition: “No matter who’s out there, there are some people who will never respond to anyone’s voice but mine.” Make that statement personal. There are some people out there who will never respond to anyone’s voice but yours. That’s a great way of reframing that roadblock.

How about fear? Fear is a biggie. I think we all face it. I like to think of fear as my green light. I reframe it to say: “When I’m scared, that means I need to move forward.”

Joseph Campbell, the author of The Hero’s Journey, has an amazing quote. He says, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” If you were standing in front of that cave and you knew for a fact that everything you wanted was inside, would you go in? Some people wouldn’t but some would. If you knew with absolute certainty that it was in there, why wouldn’t you do it? Of course you would. That’s how we’ve got to rethink fear.

How about, “I don’t have a plan. I don’t know how”? Here’s a great way to reframe that: “It’s not essential to know how. I believe it’s possible and that I will find a way.” I often refer to “how” as “the how weeds.” We get stuck in the how weeds and we never get out. Don’t worry about the how. Move into it and just know you’ll figure it out.

Here’s the other good news. I’m giving you a plan, a framework that you can follow. By the time you’re done listening to this, you’ll have a little bit more understanding of how you can do this.

Another important question to ask in the Depict phase is: What makes you special? Some of you may have no idea what makes you special—so ask other people. What are you known for? What are you an expert in? What makes you special?

I also want you to ask yourself: If you could overcome your limiting beliefs—the roadblocks that we just talked about—what could you achieve? What could you achieve if you just stepped into it? How could this achievement transform your business and your life?

I’m going to give you a quick example. I dream of teaching more people how to become well-known. My own roadblock is that while I’ve done it behind the scenes for a select few, I’ve never done it in public. I’m not known for this thing that I’m talking about with you. I reframed this in my mind to say that I have all the knowledge I need to teach this. I know that I can teach this because I’ve done it. And it doesn’t matter whether I do it one-on-one or one-to-many; I know I have everything I need.

What could I accomplish? The ripple effect of helping other people like you achieve your desires of becoming well-known could be absolutely enormous. I could change the world through people like you.

In the Research phase, you want to discover exactly what the struggle of your target audience is. Which of their challenges can you solve? And what about your competitors? What makes them amazing and what are their unique specialties and strengths?

Research is super-important but everybody seems to skip it. Then they wonder why things don’t work. Research is critical.

There are two sides to research. The first is researching your audience. Who exactly do you want to reach?

You might be thinking, “I want to reach people like me.” While that may be true, don’t assume that they’re just like you. Chances are pretty good they’re actually quite different from you because there’s no one else just like you.

If you know who you want to reach, try to figure out what their struggles are. What are their frustrations, and which of those can you help with? No matter what topic you want to be well-known for, you can’t possibly help everyone with every little piece of that big topic but you can help with certain aspects of it. That’s where you want to be intellectually honest with yourself and say, “Okay, these are the struggles they face. These are the ones that I’m uniquely equipped to help with.”

How do you know what their struggles are? Ask them. Talk to people. I did a little research project in a Facebook group for the Social Media Marketing Society. I asked people, “Do you want to be well-known in your industry? (And it doesn’t need to be related to the social marketing space.) If so, I’d like to talk to you.”

I had 77 comments. I selected about 10 people, did interviews with each of them, and had the interviews transcribed. After I transcribed them, I started tracking certain phrases they said, certain words that kept coming up over and over again.

In the process of interviewing these people, I realized that only a few were actually the target market that I wanted to reach. So I knew I needed to do more. I went out and surveyed people. In our case, because we have a lot of customers, I targeted about 270 of them. I sent them a really detailed survey mostly consisting of open-ended questions like, “Why are you interested in becoming well-known?” “Has becoming well-known been a struggle? Why?”

This is where the solid gold came out because I started noticing certain kinds of struggles that they were facing and the kinds of words they were using. I started making a lot of notes and documenting everything I discovered.

Another part of the research phase is to understand your competitors. Who are your competitors? Who are they targeting? What are their strengths; what makes them awesome?

For instance, some people have compared me to Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary’s amazing strength is that he’s always out there engaging with thousands of people every single day. Because he’s on the front lines talking to so many people, he has insight that most marketers don’t have. He’s creating content at a level that no one can possibly keep up with.

His strengths are that he’s a content machine and he’s always aware of new things, experimenting a lot with new tech and new social platforms. Who is Gary targeting? I think Gary’s targeting a very aspirational audience. I think a lot of people he speaks to are younger individuals who desire to make a name for themselves. That’s what makes Gary special.

Now if you were competing with Gary—which I don’t think I am—how could you be different? That’s an important question to ask yourself. In this phase of the process, you really want to document who your competitors are, what their amazing superpowers are, and who they’re targeting.

Then maybe you could say to yourself, “All right, I’m targeting someone slightly different,” or “I have different superpowers and I’m talking about slightly different things.” Maybe you’ll begin to wrap your mind around the fact that you can coexist in the same marketplace.

This is where you take all of the messaging that came out of your research phase and put it to the test. You want to make sure that you’re in front of the right audience and your messaging is correct. You want to keep running experiments until those certain right signals happen and you start hearing people say, “Oh my gosh, I love this. This is absolutely amazing.”

Becoming Well-Known (May 4 - June 12, Online Event)

What could you achieve if more people heard your message? Imagine building a name for yourself and becoming more well-known. It's times like this that present an opportunity for you to make a bigger impact on the world. If you want to be more known but don't know how, check out the new course from SME founder Michael Stelzner: Becoming Well-Known. He's mentored and advised dozens of industry pros, including Amy Porterfield, Mari Smith, and Pat Flynn. Let Mike guide you through his proven process to Becoming Well-Known.

In this part of the process, it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to fail. The goal here is to take the research you discovered about your audience and what their struggles are. Then begin using that language and experimenting with messages targeted at your ideal audience. You want to run what I call “low-friction experiments.” To visualize this, you might do a poll on an Instagram story or you might start a discussion in a Facebook group.

Like a good researcher, you’re looking for certain kinds of signals. Are you hearing the word “love”? Are people saying, “Oh, my gosh, I love this! This is amazing,” or is it ‘crickets’, with no one saying anything? This is really important because if no one is saying anything, then either your message is off or your audience is off, and you’ve got to try to retarget to a different group. Just keep running experiments until you find what works.

This is where you begin to think about your own talking points. You now come up with your own methodology, like my DREAMS method. You identify the stories that you’re going to tell, whether they’re your own or other peoples’, and then you begin to work out your content strategy. You decide which medium is best for you: spoken word, live performance, edited videos, or the written word.

To augment means to make better or improve. This step of the process involves taking those messages that made it through your Research phase and developing them into something greater. You can develop core talking points in this phase of the process, like: “Who exactly am I for?”, “The unique problem I help them solve is (blank),” and “What is my solution, simply stated?”

In the Augment phase, you really want to focus on a phrase that I like to call “desired outcomes.” What’s the desired outcome for your audience? What do they want most?

I’ll give you a quick example. Social Media Examiner helps millions of businesses (that’s who we’re for: businesses) discover how to best use social media (that’s what we help them solve: how to best use social media) to connect with customers, drive traffic, generate awareness, and increase sales (these are the desired outcomes).

I’ll say it again. Social Media Examiner helps millions of businesses discover how to best use social media to connect with customers, drive traffic, generate awareness, and increase sales.

Develop your own core talking points. That way, everybody knows exactly if you’re for them and what they might achieve or gain if they were to participate in whatever it is that you’re doing.

The Augment phase is also a great opportunity to do something exciting. Have you ever noticed that some of the most well-known people in any industry have come up with their own methods? To illustrate, Gary Vaynerchuk has “jab, jab, jab, right hook.” Those of you who are Gary Vee fans know what that means. It’s give, give, give, and then ask.

A lot of other people have published books or talked about their processes and methodologies. They’ve figured out a plan to describe it in a way that’s super-easy, kind of like what I’m doing right now with this DREAMS method.

In the Augment phase, you want to come up with your own method or process that is unique, easy to remember, and makes a lot of sense.

Using the Augment phase, you also want to come up with some stories that you can tell. For example, in 2009, I went to a trade show and interviewed (on video) a guy named Scott Monty, who worked for Ford Motor Company. I asked him, and lots of other people like him, questions about social media because I knew nothing about it. They helped me understand a lot more. I produced those videos and my audience watched them and loved them. I’ve been telling variations of this story over and over again for the past 10 years. What stories could you tell?

The benefit of stories is that they help people quickly understand a concept. Stories provoke an actual physical response. Our brains absolutely love stories. A good story releases the hormone cortisol, which helps us make memories. And what do we want as marketers? We want to be remembered. Dopamine is also released. That allows us to lean in and be engaged.

What do we talk about all the time in marketing? We want to create engaging content. And oxytocin is released and that helps us with empathy and connection. We always talk about wanting to make great connections.

I love this quote from Ira Glass: “Great stories happen to those who can tell them.” So figure out a way to tell amazing stories. They don’t have to be your stories; they can be other people’s stories. But you’ve got to figure out how to tell them.

In the Augment phase, you’re also going to begin working on your content and your social strategy. You’re going to have to create content. This is where you’re going to have to think about which medium makes the most sense: the written word, spoken word, video, or live video. That’s the Augment phase.

This is when you begin to make content—and you now know that it’s going to be awesome because you’ve put in all the work. This is when you can do it without having to start from scratch by leveraging the platforms of others.

This is the exciting part of the process that everybody seems to jump right into. They go straight from a depiction to making, and everything falls apart because they haven’t done all of the crucial steps in between.

This is where you begin to make a name for yourself by making sure you show up on a regular basis with great content. I’ve been doing this with this podcast. I’ve been playing clips from videos that I’ve been creating. This is my way of making sure I show up. It’s my signal to you that this is something I’m familiar with and I know something about. Of course, I’ve been publishing these videos all over the place. They’re out there on YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

This is so important. This is why all of this stuff begins to come together. This is why you’ll greatly increase your likelihood of success if you follow this method. When you get to this point in the process and you’ve worked through all of those other steps, you’re going to know exactly who you want to reach and what their struggles are. There’s not going to be any guessing.

You’ll have done your research. You’ll have experimented with your message. You’ll know which messages are going to resonate. You’ll have developed your talking points and your process. All of this is going to make it so much easier when you get around to leaning in and actually making the content that you know is ultimately going to connect with people.

Now, in this phase of the process, you also have to decide where you’re going to publish your content. Here’s the good news: you don’t have to go out and create something from scratch. You can leverage other people’s platforms, which is amazing. We’re going to get to more of that in just a second.

Remember the competitive research that I talked about earlier? I want you to go back to your competitors at this stage of the process and see where they’re publishing content.

For instance, Gary Vaynerchuk is releasing a new podcast called the WeeklyVee. He also was recently on the CMO Podcast. He tweeted about it and he said it was a great experience. So if I wanted to be in front of his audience, I could experiment with audio content—or maybe I’d let Gary have the audio content. Maybe I’d figure out a way to leverage my skills—maybe the written word—and I’d go out there and write content for that audience.

In this phase of the process, when you’re making content, it’s really good to go back to those competitors and figure out where they’re showing up. That can really streamline things.

You might have the gift of gab so podcasting might be a place you want to lean in on. What’s great about podcasting is there are lots of interview-based podcasts that you can show up on.

As an example, Rich Brooks has a great podcast called the Agents of Change. He interviews a lot of experts on that podcast. You can study the Apple podcast directory, see which podcasts in your industry do interviews, and try to get yourself on those podcasts. That gets you in front of the right audience and can give you a huge accelerant.

Maybe you love showing up on video. You could partner with some of your peers and do story takeovers. Lots of people do live video shows on LinkedIn and Facebook and you could be a guest on those shows.

Maybe the written word is your specialty. You can go write for other blogs. Social Media Examiner is just one of many multi-author blogs where we’re always accepting guest writers. If you check out Medium, they’ve got huge publications like Mission.org, where you can try to publish your content in front of their gargantuan audience.

What about speaking? Many people aspire to be like our solo speakers on stage at Social Media Marketing World or other large events but how about just starting with webinars? How about partnering with other people and doing joint webinars? I’ve been on webinars where I’ve just been interviewed.

If you do an event, how about being on a panel? Being on panels is great because there’s much less friction. You’re not the one doing all of the talking. You have an opportunity to listen and add more value instead of having to come up with original content. What about moderating panels? These are incredible opportunities that can get your feet wet.

Now, in the Make phase, as I mentioned, you can do audio, video, written word, and live performance-based content. I really want to encourage you to just do whatever type of content that’s best for you because the truth of the matter is that it’s very rare to have the ability to do all types well. You probably want to start with just one area and lean in on that.

Next, start tracking your performance. If you’re at a live event, watch to see whether people come up to you afterward to ask questions. Watch to see if people leave the room. If you’re on a webinar, see whether people leave comments. If you’re on someone’s podcast, give a call to action at the end. Then see if anybody reaches out to you or encourage people to connect with you on the social channels with their questions.

Track what works and what doesn’t because if you get no response, maybe you were in front of the wrong audience or maybe your message was off.

Okay, so far we’ve talked about Depict, Research, Experiment, Augment, and Make. Now the last letter in DREAMS is S, for Sync. This is when you build out those strategic relationships and you begin to take things to the next level.

This is where you begin to work with other people. You may even begin to work with your competition. At this point in the process, if you’ve been making content for a little while, you’ll have gained some traction and start to be recognized by your peers. You’ll have opportunities to naturally work with them and partner with them.

To illustrate, Derral Eves has an event called VidSummit that’s a competitor to Social Media Marketing World. I’ve been a speaker there multiple times. Derral and I don’t see each other as competition. Instead, we see each other as friends, even though we both have events with some of the very same speakers targeting very similar audiences. We’ve figured out how to add value to each other’s lives and audiences for a triple win: it’s a win for him, it’s a win for me, and it’s a win for the audiences.

This Sync phase is an advanced part of the process. Identify people you would love to collaborate with. This is where going back to look at those competitors is so valuable. Don’t think of them as competitors—think of them as potential future collaborators.

I recommend going to events held by competitors and collaborators. For example, I’m friends with Jim Louderback, who’s the CEO of VidCon, a gargantuan 70,000-person conference in Anaheim. We figure out ways to support each other.

Reach out on social media and make a video or provide some value to these peers of yours or get them involved with your content creation. Figure out a way to add value at this stage of the process.

In my second book, Launch, I introduced a concept called the elevation principle. It’s a simple formula: great content plus other people minus marketing messages equal growth. You all know what great content is. The “plus other people” part is where you can begin to collaborate and partner with other people. The “minus marketing messages” means don’t promote anything.

I think of marketing messages like flaps on an airplane. When you’re coming in for a landing, those flaps come up, and it slows the airplane. If you want to be more well-known, you need to try to strike out those marketing messages because your goal is to just get out there and be more well-known. That’s how you can achieve growth.

Becoming Well-Known

Do you want to go deeper with me into this process?

For the first time ever, I’m teaching a comprehensive course on this method. I’ve taken all of my knowledge and wisdom, and I’ve created an amazing course that I believe is the best thing that I’ve ever created.

Every single phase of this process is a module in the course, and each module has many sections in it. There are videos, worksheets that you can do, and you’ll be live with me at the end of every single week.

This is a 6-week course and it’s going to be absolutely amazing. You’ll have all of the audio and the transcripts. We’re going to have an exclusive Facebook group and I’m going to give you lifetime access. When we launch this course, if you get in now, you’re going to be in forever. As the course continues to improve over time, you’re in and you’re in for good.

I want you to think about what you could achieve if you didn’t have to hustle and grind. What if you didn’t have to work so hard to be in front of an audience just for minutes on social platforms? Instead, you’d have people out there constantly evangelizing for you.

If you think this is super-exciting and super-interesting, I want you to go to becomingwellknown.com. That’s where you can see more details about this course, and I’ve got everything mapped out there for you. I hope you decide to join me.

Key Takeaways from This Episode:

Help Us Spread the Word! Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review, and subscribe. And if you listen on Stitcher, please click here to rate and review this show.

What do you think? What are your thoughts on how to become a recognized expert in your industry? Please share your comments below.

Learn how to become the top expert in any industry with this new online course taught by Social Media Examiner's founder.

NOW OPEN! DOORS CLOSE MAY 1ST

This content was originally published here.

0 notes

ncmagroup · 5 years ago

Text

By Matt Shelar

Welcome to the 7th annual installment of DigitalMarketer’s 101 Best Email Subject Lines!

Within this post, I’ve got 101 PROVEN, swipeable email subject lines that are yours for the taking. And if you’re one of our email subscribers, there’s at least a 20% chance that you played a role in determining what made the list. If that applies to you, please prepare for a little déjà vu. 🙂

Though you’re currently reading one of the most aptly titled blog posts of all time, you’ll find more here than just subject lines. I’m going to break down the 8 components of every good subject line AND you’ll get an analysis of our top 10 performing subject lines of 2019. That way, when you’re finished with this post, you can:

1. Start deconstructing and reproducing the elements of YOUR best-performing subject lines…

…or…2. Completely steal ours, if you haven’t already.

If you’re new to the post (or email marketing in general), take a minute to familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of email subject lines.

These are 8 different components I found again and again in our top-performing email subject lines…

1. Self-Interest

These are your bread and butter subject lines—you should be using them most frequently.

They are usually direct and speak to a specific benefit your audience will gain by opening the email.

Self-interest subject lines also help pre-qualify openers by giving them a clue about your email’s body content.

2. Curiosity

If self-interest subject lines work because they communicate a direct benefit, curiosity-based ones succeed for the exact opposite reason.

They pique the interest of subscribers without giving away too much information, leading to higher opens.

Be careful though, because curiosity-based subject lines can get old fast and are the most likely to miss their mark.

3. Offer

Do you like free stuff? Do you like to buy things when they’re on sale?

So does your email list.

When you are giving something away or selling something your subscribers would be interested in, directly stating that in your subject line is a great way to convince them to open the email and learn more.

4. Urgency/Scarcity

This is the most powerful type of subject line you have at your disposal.

Subject lines that communicate urgency and scarcity tell readers they must act now.

But too many of these can lead to list exhaustion, so use sparingly and, of course, only when there is truly a deadline, limited quantity, or limited availability.

5. Humanity

Don’t forget to remind your list about the person or people behind your products.

Sometimes you need to thank your subscribers, tell them a story about yourself, or make a human appeal for their attention.

6. News

Keeping your audience informed about new developments in your field builds authority and keeps your open rates high.

These subject lines often work well when combined with a curiosity element.

7. Social Proof

A fundamental characteristic of humans is that we look to the behavior of others when making decisions.

You can leverage this in your email subject lines by mentioning an individual’s success stories, familiar names, or highlighting how many people are already using a product or service.

8. Story

Telling a story, or at least teasing the beginning of one in your subject line is a unique way to highlight the benefit and get the open rate you’re looking for.

As for our best subject lines of the year… here they are.

The 10 Best Email Subject Lines of 2019

10. bad news, NAME 😔 CONTENT: Facebook Messenger Execution Plan Flash Sale OPEN RATE: 19.21% ANALYSIS: William Shakespeare said brevity is the soul of wit. While this subject line might not have been exactly what the playwright had in mind, it tightly combines curiosity (a vague, negative declaration in the form of “bad news”) and humanity (the use of the first name field, a pensive emoji, and lower-case letters that soften the edge of said “bad news”). So anyone who saw this in their inbox knew that something was wrong enough for us to bring it up in the subject line, but not SO wrong that I needed to break out Title Case.

9. Content is King (and Queen) CONTENT: How to Craft a Pillar Blog Post Workshop Sale OPEN RATE: 19.29% ANALYSIS: While maintaining flavors of curiosity, I got declarative with this one. Seeing as how the bulk of our email list identifies as a “marketer” in one form or another, and Content is something that virtually all marketers need nowadays… I knew that if I took one of THE keystone levers of the industry and used the well-known Bill Gates idiom, “Content is King,” as a departure statement that would separate us as an authority on the subject, I’d both deliver valuable information to our subscribers and get a few opens.

8. 11 Copywriting books you should (probably) read… CONTENT: Blog Post OPEN RATE: 19.64% ANALYSIS: Benefit, benefit, benefit. If you read this subject line, you knew exactly what you were in for. The only curiosity that came into play was “WHAT ARE THE BOOKS??” And that simplicity made it one of the easier-to-craft subject lines of the year. The logic was simple: People love odd numbers, copywriting, books, books on copywriting, and a friend’s passive encouragement to read more often.

REMEMBER: When you’ve got all the ingredients for a hit, there’s no need to be clever.

7. The Ultimate List of Blog Post Ideas CONTENT: Blog Post OPEN RATE: 19.86% ANALYSIS: Remember what I said about our audience’s relationship with “Content” in number 9? The same thing applies to Blog Posts 🙂 Thus, if there was an “Ultimate List of Blog Post Ideas,” I had a hunch it wouldn’t make our subscribers like us any less. Again—no need to be clever when you’re transparently delivering EXACTLY what your audience is looking for.

6. video ads CONTENT: Billy Gene Shaw Video Ads Workshop Sale OPEN RATE: 19.9% ANALYSIS: “BUT WHAT ABOUT VIDEO ADS????” ← In our minds, that was the ideal question on our subscribers’ minds when the subject line “video ads” arrived in their inbox. I took a gamble on the clumsy, vague audacity of combining an “it” marketing topic with an all-lowercase subject line. There was no thesis. There was no hint of where I was going with it. There was NOTHING fancy-schmancy. And it felt great.

REMEMBER: Pattern interrupts WORK.

5. [ANNOUNCING] Messenger Marketing with Molly Pittman CONTENT: Molly Pittman Facebook Messenger Bot Workshop Sale OPEN RATE: 20.38% ANALYSIS: 2019 was a loud year in an already loud world. And while pattern interrupts are a great means to an attention-grabbing end, sometimes you’ve got to scream along with the crowd. And in the subject line world, [CAPS COMBINED WITH BRACKETS] has no substitute in the way of attention-getting. You put that together with another “it marketing topic” a la video ads AND an industry authority… and you’re going to get opens. This one played with elements of curiosity, offer, and self-interest.

4. Email Marketing Announcement: Enrollment is back open 🙂 CONTENT: Ryan Deiss/Richard Lindner Email Marketing Machine Workshop Sale OPEN RATE: 21.56% ANALYSIS: This one is a classic case of self-interest, offer, curiosity, and humanity, all wrapped into one simple, cohesive 7-word subject line. How’d I do it? I took our another one of the most POPULAR digital marketing topics (a.k.a. something our audience is greatly interested in), hinted at an offer by saying enrollment is open, NOT explicitly stating what the offer was, and adding a personal touch of humanity with a classic smiley face emoticon.

3. Netflix’s huge homepage fails CONTENT: DM Insider Newsletter OPEN RATE: 21.64% ANALYSIS: In the past decade, the words “failure” and “Netflix” haven’t typically been used in the same sentence. So when the streaming service tested a lackluster homepage in 2019, I capitalized on it for our weekly email newsletter and in turn, a winning email subject line. As you can see, this one’s not fancy or clever. It’s neither loud nor punctuative. It’s us getting out of our own way to present the information as concisely as possible and it’s exactly what it needs to be—because when you name-drop one of the most successful companies, hint at a misstep, and AVOID clickbaity bells and whistles, you’re going to garner genuine curiosity.

2. Ryan Deiss is FAKE CONTENT: Aprils Fools Day Campaign OPEN RATE: 23.64% ANALYSIS: In case you’re unaware, Ryan Deiss is DigitalMarketer’s Co-Founder & CEO (and also the “from name” for about 98% of the company’s emails). So when our team came to the conclusion that the best April Fool’s prank we could pull was a campaign centered around Deiss existing as an entity somewhere between the Illuminati and the Tooth Fairy…

… I knew that one of the toughest challenges we’d face was how to hint at the humor in as believable a way as possible. And in this case, our subscribers decided for me. That’s to say, “Ryan Deiss is FAKE” earned the number 2 spot on this list because it won a 3-way split-test, determined by our email subscribers.

REMEMBER: If you get meta, do it self-deprecatingly.

1. CANCELLED CONTENT: Black Friday Sale Close OPEN RATE: 27.28% ANALYSIS: Sometimes all you need is CAPS LOCK and a single word that screams URGENCY about as loudly as it can be screamed in text form. Strangely, the word that screams URGENCY more effectively than the word “urgency” is not “urgency.”

Turns out, it’s “CANCELLED.”

“BUT WHAT’S BEING CANCELLED?????”

Apparently, that ^ question burnt through people’s curiosity enough to earn this subject line the top spot in a year where DigitalMarketer sent more emails than it ever has.

Now that you know what made the top 10 the most opened, here are the other 91 top-of-the-line email subject lines that round us out to an even 101.

91 More Email Subject Lines to Swipe

• ⏰ my copy & paste email templates gone in 3…2…1… • $200 DISCOUNT is gone in 3…2…1… • NAME, are you part of the 41%? • [UPDATED MASTERY COURSE] I’m sorry, NAME • [WEEKEND UPDATE] NAME’s traffic strategies for 2019 • Your ads (probably) suck • TOP T&C 2019 Takeaways • Your step-by-step gameplan for marketing’s next frontier • 2.3 Billion leads for $7 • [SWIPE] My Updated FB Ad Templates • Your free FB Ad Templates are waiting for NAME • Your free download is waiting, NAME • [OPEN] NAME’s invitation to Office Hours w/ Ryan Deiss • How to Create a Video Studio on a Shoestring Budget • a video studio on a shoestring budget? • [SWIPE] 15 viral-video templates • I don’t see your name on my list, NAME • The answer: Strong __ Marketing • this email is about email 😱 • [EMAIL MARKETERS] Get Certified. Beat Amazon, Uber & Old Navy. • Get EMAIL Certified for 80% Off • The ONLY Email Metrics That Matter? • ⏰ Hours left to get [EMAIL] certified at 80% off… • [SWIPE FILE] Learn to Write Headlines That Get More Clicks • [READ & SWIPE] Learn to Write Headlines That Get More Clicks • [LAUNCH 🚀] How to Write a Pillar Blog Post that SELLS • [NEW RELEASE] STOP publishing new content every day • [VID] Write a “Pillar” Post That Flat Outsells • [CONTENT MARKETERS] The Importance of a Unique Angle • ICYMI: How to write a PILLAR Blog Post that Sells • READ: Boost Conversions by Providing a Consistent Ad Experience • Ad Scene: Boost Conversions by Providing a Consistent Ad Experience • NAME’s second (and last) chance • NAME – your 21-step Paid Traffic Plan is waiting • 1 Day left to get a proven [TRAFFIC] rollout plan? • [EARLY ACCESS] 4th of July Sale • NAME’s special early access to our “4th of July Flash Sale” • ANNOUNCING: Up to 90% OFF our best-selling products 🙂 • don’t say I didn’t warn you 😬 • the skill every copywriter should know (but most don’t) • Want to perfect your LinkedIn profile? Check this out. • Re: Want to perfect your LinkedIn profile? Check this out. • [REMINDER] 2_ days left to save $400! • [QUIZ] The SECOND Most Visited Website • This email is not about Facebook. • This is my (next to) last email about YouTube. • This is awkward, but… • this is it 🙂 • Ditch your “brand.” Create a “place” instead • This email is about Retargeting Ads. • “Your baby is ugly…” • you’ve got 5(ish) hours —> • This is an email about Paid Ads. • This email is NOT about Halloween. • Issue #7: Google rankings down? Blame BERT • ⏰ LAST CHANCE: DigitalMarketer Lab goes off the Market in 3…2…1… • say bye • Your Black Friday Order • NAME, got a few minutes for some 1-on-1 time with me? • the “Blitz Launch”… defined • It happens tomorrow… • [URGENT] the 2020 marketing plan you’ve been waiting for • CUT OFF • the “nice” list • NAME’s 4,400% ROI • day 5: the most important skill in marketing • Me holding an eagle = 4th of July savings for NAME • snag Billy Gene’s step-by-step video ad formula? • [ICYMI] Create a Video Ad that SELLS w/ Billy Gene Shaw • [SWIPE] 15 fill-in-the-blank video ad templates + FREE Notes • what is digital marketing? • “The A-Team of Paid Traffic” • [ANNOUNCING] Completely Re-Done Paid Traffic Mastery Course • Paid Traffic: 2019 EDITION • _ INVITATION: To the world’s best marketing Community • [Last Reminder] Up to 85% off our best-selling products gone in 3…2…1… • ⏰ 30 Minutes left to save Thousands? • 🚀 a BRAND NEW launch model • are “traditional” launches dead? • Save $200 on Your BEST 2020 Marketing Strategy? • NAME’s VIP Access to 12 Days of Deals! • the HUSTLE & bustle • this is not a “SALE!” email • ✉️ Up to 80% OFF Our Best Email Trainings? • grow your revenue 49% faster than the competition? • [VIDEO MARKETERS] Save hundreds and stock up for 2020 NOW… • 👉 Up to 85% OFF our best [COPYWRITING] strategies • NEW DEAL: $944 OFF Our Best Traffic Strategies • [TODAY] Save 83% on our Best Customer Acquisition Tactics • Prep for 2020 w/ 85% OFF Our “Essential” Trainings • �� [ANNOUNCEMENT] Every DigitalMarketer Product Now up to 85% OFF?

Aaaand…

THAT. IS. IT.

If you’re tired of reading “NAME” and seeing “[BRACKETS WITH WORDS IN ALL CAPS],” it’s for a good reason:

Last year, those were [REALLY POPULAR FOR US, NAME].

In fact, out of our 101 best email subject lines of 2019, 23 used the [CAPS BRACKET] and 15 used the first name field.

Another cool find?

While our average subject line was 6 words, our TOP 3 of 2019 were all less than 5 words.

REMEMBER: AGAIN: Brevity is the soul of wit and pattern interrupts WORK.

My thoughts?

There will never be a “golden subject line formula.”

And that’s GOOD news because formulas lead to stagnation. And stagnation leads to your subject lines (and as a result, your emails) being white noise.

For all I know, last year’s [CAPS BRACKETS] and sub-5-word email subject lines could be this year’s “all emoji” or “5 en-dashes and an ampersand” subject lines (whatever that is).

That being said, I won’t chalk it up to “who knows,” because there are CERTAINLY guidelines and best practices to follow.

And if you can combine said best practices, a little creativity, the power of split-testing, and the application of the scientific method…

…you’ve got yourself a pretty solid formula for consistently pumping out winning subject lines.

Huh. Maybe some formulas do work.

Food for thought.

Now get to work.

Go to our website: www.ncmalliance.com

101 Best Email Subject Lines of 2019 By Matt Shelar Welcome to the 7th annual installment of DigitalMarketer’s 101 Best Email Subject Lines!

0 notes

topicprinter · 6 years ago

Link

Hey guys,I have posted, a, lot, about my company and decided to start this year with a post on growth.This post is useful for any online entrepreneurs (or possibly offline entrepreneurs that want to acquire customers online)This is going to be a long, non BS post hopefully will help entrepreneurs nail their growth strategy in 2019. This is just evergreen advice on growth + a few tactics that I am running that work well in 2019. There are obviously more tactics available.I have also open-sourced my marketing plan for Reddit with each steps I am planning to take. Let me know if you have any ideas!BackgroundI run an on-demand, unlimited graphic design service. I've acquired 1000+ customers along the way since we started a year ago. Previously, I started and scaled an online letting agency for international students. My current business is on track do well over 1m$ in revenue this year (with about $250k in profits, since profits are important too!) with the strategies I have documented below.Before Growth: Value proposition + Well defined nicheA lot of entrepreneurs do not spend enough time focusing on their value proposition and even when it is a good value, they go after a too broad set of customers. My rule is the following:Provide extraordinary value...... for a very well defined niche (if possible a niche of a niche) The first one is that you really have to provide extraordinary value. Growth is MUCH, much easier after you get this right. The best way to provide value is actually not to focus on the solution you're delivering, but focusing on really understanding the problem you're solving really well and for whom.You do this by focusing on:Working on a problem you care aboutTalking to customersExperimenting (by setting up MVPs or landing pages and showing these to them them) The second one I saw is that a lot of entrepreneurs have a great value proposition but they do not know which customers they go after. As a result they:1/ Do not understand the specic problem that the customer is facing and want solved2/ Cannot communicate properly how they will solve those problems and convince the customer. Here is an example:Let's say you decide to start a Facebook Ads management service. There are TONS of them now and most are very generic. However, if you niche down things become easier. Say: Facebook Ads Management for Shopify stores, this is already something that will put you closer to the end customer. This is however still too large in my opinion. Try to go for a niche of a niche, which for example could be: Shopify stores selling cosmetic products. You could even go after well more detailed niches and expand later. Before the Growth: Communicating your value and capturing leadsThe next step is to make sure your website is ready to capture the traffic and convert it into newsletter subscribers or visitors.Here is a checklist I have:Clear value propositionClear call to actionTestimonials / Your work (or how your product makes the life better)Lead capture: It can be the following: a strategy session call, a demo, a chat. Basically the goal here is to get customer to leave their info to you.I then monitor 3 metrics on our websiteTraffic (Number of visitors)Email subscribersConversion rate (if it drops, I know I have to optimise my page speed, or my copy, etc etc)Getting started with growth: Set up a Growth planHere is what my growth plan looks like for 2019 (I will constantly update this!)For accountability, I love to break down growth in small, actionable tasks so that it builds momentum and I can see myself progressing.I also make it a point to measure results every week to see if I am still on track. It is important not to drop the ball.Here is the complete list of tactics we've used to grow and market our product. There are WAY more tactics than this and there are no silver bullet tactics. As the same for our product, I always do one thing in mind: Create value for the audience I am talking to. I try to understand what they care about, what are their pain points when crafting my messaging and tactics.a. Cold-emailing and cold outreachCold-emailing and cold outreach is one of my favourite tactic to run especially in the early days since it enables you to talk to your customers 1-on-1.Here is my plan with cold outreach:Prospection -- Put up an excel list with first name, last name, company name, and something special about that company.Research -- Show you researched about the person and most importantly about the problem they're solving. If I receive an email like : "Hey, I saw you are trying to fix the design industry which is a problem I encountered, and I also find it very cool you are fully remote", this is much better.Create your email -- Name-drop the email of someone your target customer KNOWS. People care about their industry. It could be something along the lines of : "I worked with Cosmetic company #1 and #2 and got them a lot of leads over Facebook and wanted to see if you would be interested to hear about it?" -- Do not sell in the first email. My first email goes along the ways of : "Hey "...", I saw you seem to be doing well with your cosmetic shop. I've worked with Cosmetic Shop #A and Cosmetic shop #B and I have a couple of things to share to build their ads to improve their ROI. I would love to talk!". People do not care if you worked for Google, but they care if you worked and added value to someone in the same industry.Follow up email (one or two follow up emails)Start small and scale up. At the beginning I sent about 10-20 very targeted emails. Now I use a tool to automate the outreach. There are several emailing tools out there.Bonus -- Add that person in Linkedin or follow up on their Facebook page or pick up the phone and start dialling!b. Build an email listYour email list is like your own little castle and monopoly. It is like owning a piece of internet real estate with your subscribers being your tenant. It is really valuable because you own it unlike depending on other platforms (Linkedin/Facebook/Google) which can change their algorithms at any time.My tactic is to get as many quality email subscribers as I can. I then engage via email to them (non-commercially), build the relation with them and eventually hope they will buy.Here are a few ideas to build your email list:Guides. I create design inspiration guides (examples: 50 Examples of Shopify Ads Design), and ask for the email address to download it. Please note you have to be GDPR compliant. Here is an example of such guide.Free consultation. This is a hook on your website where you ask the person to leave their email address or phone number or website in an exchange of a free 15 or 30min consultation to help them.Free reports. People in certain industries love to be informed about the "state of things"Strategy call or emails. The idea here is to get the customer to leave you his / her email address and then plan a session.Tools strategy. The idea here is either to create an adjacent website, free tools, extensions, or a totally different content website related to your website. Here is an example of what we did.Valuable blog posts. This is more long term but it helps for SEO. Long, detailed blog posts with natural language and a clear way to read it will rank you still well over search engine.c. Become an authority in niches you are targeting.This is less scalable and it takes time but relationships are so valuable that I decided to post it here.I decided for my company to be genuinely helpful in several niches: Provide content, answer questions, etc. I started with one channel and one niche: Facebook groups targeted at digital agencies and marketers. I am trying to build connections, one by one, and eventually convert them to my service. I usually comment, try to get to know them and then reach out via Facebook messenger and engage with them.Here are a few ideas to become an authority in the niche you are targeting:Create a private Facebook group sharing advices on the niche you are helping.Answer Quora questions, comment on Reddit / Hacker News and other communities you are targeting.Actively reach out for people via DM (do not wait for them to notice you, tell them you found them on a community and if you could be working together)Final thoughtsIf I had to summarise growth in a few keywords those would be : Value + Experimentation. Always try to provide value, and experiment best by checking the following: 1) What you deliver (what is your value proposition, should you refine it?) 2) How you deliver (which channels you go after / how you communicate the problem you are solving) 3) To whom you deliver (which customers).Do not rush growth. We did that in the early days and we regret it. The problem with rushed growth: You get customers that aren't ready to buy your product, you spend money for it and they end up costing you more time and a lack of focus for customers that took time to acquire and are ready to pay.Growth always evolves. Your niche/customers, your channels, and your product need to be in sync. Your success in growing is ultimately just a byproduct of how well your product reasonates with your audience. You will sometimes have a disconnect and that's important to keep being flexible and keep innovating on growth to focus on new customers segments or new uses of your service / product.

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

0 notes

t-baba · 8 years ago

Photo

Transcript: Ask the UXperts: The UX of Onboarding — with Dr Paul Sherman

Our Ask the UXperts series got off to a cracking start for the new year, with a fantastic session with Dr Paul Sherman. The topic was The UX of Onboarding and it was an highly entertaining and informative session.

Everyone was in fine form and the jokes flowed freely.

We examined some of the key principles of the onboarding process and broke down the common patterns to identify the bits that work, and the bits that aren’t so great.

If you work on products or services of any kind, I’d recommend having a read through this transcript.

If you didn’t make the session because you didn’t know about it, make sure you join our community to get updates of upcoming sessions.

If you’re interested in seeing what we discussed, or you want to revisit your own questions, here is a full transcript of the chat.

Transcript

hawk

2017-02-16 01:02

The serious stuff first: Dr. Paul Sherman has worked in user experience since the days of dial-up.

He conducts user research and user experience design for mobile, web and desktop in many domains, including accounting; banking; e-commerce; financial planning and portfolio management; healthcare; mobile gaming; mobile device hardware and software; network, server and cloud application security; tax preparation; and travel, among others.

He also creates and teaches graduate courses in user experience research and design at Kent State University, where is he is an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator for the User Experience Design Master’s program.

hawk

2017-02-16 01:03

@pjsherman Do you want to give us a bit of an intro to the topic?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:03

Sure thing. Basically,

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:04

I would define onboarding as “The process of getting people to adopt your application or service.”

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:04

It might be fully on-screen, but more likely it’s a blend of channels and modalities.

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:04

How is onboarding process different from marketing and sales?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:05

Onboarding is post-conversion. Post-sale. It’s the stuff that happens after the customer/user has committed.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:05

*Or, committed an initial effort at least. Onboarding UX is the process of getting them from initial commitment to adoption.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:06

(I am thanking my 9th grade typing teacher right now for teaching me home row)

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:07

:+1:

hawk

2017-02-16 01:07

And questions are go…

holliedoar

2017-02-16 01:07

I’m currently designing a basic onboarding process – and I’m wondering how to know what is best to include and not include. Obviously you don’t want to have to tell them every feature of the app – but how do you decide?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:07

woo!

zheng

2017-02-16 01:08

Paul, when does onboarding start and end (does it still apply to customers who have been with you for awhile but aren’t necessarily utilising your product well?)

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:08

@holliedoar TESTING! And also focusing on the critical few things that solve a user’s problem.

ryanhoffman

2017-02-16 01:08

What have you found users respond to the most? re: copy, images, animations

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:09

@zheng Actually I think it can continue almost indefinitely, and it definitely applies to new releases and features. If any of you use Trello…have

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:09

you seen Taco pop his cute little head up to announce new features?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:09

That’s continuing onboarding.

holliedoar

2017-02-16 01:09

love taco

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:09

By the way that’s a good pattern. Giant release notes belong in the dustbin of UX history.

davidbaird

2017-02-16 01:09

are we talking onboarding features or process?

hawk

2017-02-16 01:10

Taco is just like a modern day paperclip guy

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:10

OK I think I have the rhythm down… go to @hawk DM with me, copy the entire q, then answer.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:11

@ryanhoffman : What have you found users respond to the most? I can tell you what they DON’T respond to.. something like this:

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:11

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2ljKq59

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:12

That’s “modal stepped tutorial”

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:12

Not many advantages.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:12

People won’t remember.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:12

And they just want to try the thing.

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:12

Asking people to remember things in advance :-1:

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:12

More on @ryanhoffman q: they respond to interaction, and learning while doing.

jakkii

2017-02-16 01:12

Ugh, as a user I hate those things

jorge

2017-02-16 01:13

What do you think about the one that “locks out” everything but the feature that the onboarding step is explaining? Do you think of those as some sort of modal as well?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:13

There are other patterns, like first-run callouts.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:14

But the problem with those is, how do you review them?

hawk

2017-02-16 01:14

If you’ve recently joined us, jump in with questions at any point – I’ll queue them for Paul

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:14

If you want to see them again?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:14

Some products have solved that. Here’s a pic of http://proto.io’s main screen after first run….

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:15

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2l9XJCs

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:15

They’ve included nav to get back to the first-run content! Good pattern.

srvcook

2017-02-16 01:16

How do we create onboarding for a wider range of users— including those that want handholding and upfront instructions, without irritating the less patient digital natives?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:16

@jorge : What do you think about the one that “locks out” everything but the feature that the onboarding step is explaining? Do you think of those as some sort of modal as well?

They’re good b/c from a perception pov, they focus your attention. For a while at least.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:16

But if you’re going to do that, best keep it to the top 2-3 things.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:16

And like http://proto.io, let people take the lesson again.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:17

Here’s an onboarding blast from the past, for you old UX’ers like me…

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:17

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2la10Ss

hawk

2017-02-16 01:17

That’s the paperclip guy I was talking about. I forgot his real name.

hawk

2017-02-16 01:17

Clippy?

srvcook

2017-02-16 01:18

Yes!

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:18

Yes clippy

davidbaird

2017-02-16 01:18

Jeez clippy was annoying…lol

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:18

I think there was a UX method/term for that… like discretionary information or something where you limit info so more advanced users can cruise through apps

hawk

2017-02-16 01:18

I’d like a “Write the whole letter for me” option

cystinosis

2017-02-16 01:18

Most did hate him.

srvcook

2017-02-16 01:18

such a debonair office product.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:18

@srvcook : How do we create onboarding for a wider range of users— including those that want handholding and upfront instructions, without irritating the less patient digital natives?

From the testing I’ve done, almost all people benefit from the learn while doing approach. DN’s will do one short one. Others will do more if you let them. So give them a choice.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:19

Like from Starship Troopers: “Would you like to learn more?”

jorge

2017-02-16 01:19

Clippy and his friends (like the Wizard or the red bouncing ball) were good for a bit, but mostly were irritating to -always- pop up in the middle of something.

davidbaird

2017-02-16 01:19

Slippy’s interpretation intelligence wasnt good…context intelligence is everything

felesiauxd

2017-02-16 01:19

Hi Paul I’m not stalking you I promise

davidbaird

2017-02-16 01:19

*Clippys, soz

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:20

But for some reason chatbots are making a return… @pjsherman do you think chatbots can make a good case for improving UX in it’s current evolution?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:20

@felesiauxd Restraining order time! :stuck_out_tongue:

davidbaird

2017-02-16 01:21

can A chat bot record and learn cognitively..can a bot read what youve done so far an provide intelligent options for you..thats the question

davidbaird

2017-02-16 01:21

IMO

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:21

@alex.lee It depends on the amount of AI horsepower they could provide. But your idea has me thinking… what if you could just invoke a help mode, point to an element, and while in that mode you could see what you could do from that point?

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:21

AI and VR machines like Alexa and Watson are coming back with popularity

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:21

It wouldn’t work with all workflows and UI’s, but definitely some.

jakkii

2017-02-16 01:21

Yeah agreed re: popping up in the middle of things. It’s the interruption that is challenging, begging the question how do you balance making notifications and help visible and accessible, with potential notification blindness and interruptions… ?

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:22

@pjsherman: my thoughts exactly. I’m building an app right now with that in mind

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:22

I’m going to look up the clippy from hell..brb

davidbaird

2017-02-16 01:22

User needs the option to invoke chat help..if needed

hawk

2017-02-16 01:22

Let’s talk about him while he’s gone

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:22

Got it…

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:22

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2ljJmy6

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:22

What about Max Headroom from the 80s?

hawk

2017-02-16 01:23

Hahahaha. That’s unbelievable!

felesiauxd

2017-02-16 01:23

@hawk we can talk about him while he’s here :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:23

True that

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:24

Is anybody thinking of using gamification or social comparison cues to facilitate onboarding?

davidbaird

2017-02-16 01:24

Simple processes, that can turn difficult, like Booking a flight, then changing can benefit from chatbot

jorge

2017-02-16 01:24

“what if you could just invoke a help mode, point to an element, and while in that mode you could see what you could do from that point?” <- Like InVision and such “pulses” for links and such, but for info?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:24

@davidbaird Agree. No need to cut over to call center. The problem scope is known at that point.

holliedoar

2017-02-16 01:25

social comparison cues?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:25

@jorge Oooh I want to see those examples. I haven’t installed InVision. Too busy learning Flinto

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:25

@holliedoar Yes. Let me grab an example.

davidbaird

2017-02-16 01:25

@jorge a pulse link?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:26

OK so check out Stack UX’s screen when you join:

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:26

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2la8c0S

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:26

You do the things (the onboarding activities that are designed to get you engaged), and then you get a nice reward!

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:27

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2ljAV5K

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:27

And you are DA MAN (or DA WOMAN)

jorge

2017-02-16 01:27

@davidbaird @pjsherman most like a light flash to show points of interest. Trying to find a screenshot/video to demonstrate.

holliedoar

2017-02-16 01:27

love a good reward. i am a sucker for stars and rainbows.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:27

In psych we call them “pellets”.

zheng

2017-02-16 01:27

How can we cater to different user types ( when a single product might be used by a product manager, a developer, CTO or customer success etc) during onboarding? And they might all have a different use case.

amirasallam

2017-02-16 01:27

What are mobile apps that have the best on boarding experience in your opinion?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:27

As in the food reward you give the mouse in a lab experiment

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:28

It helps people feel less stupid for asking obvious questions

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:28

“There are no silly questions, except ones there are not asked”

davidbaird

2017-02-16 01:28

@ jorge thanks…Im wary of flashy thing in the UI..:)

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:28

@amirasallam There are way too many! All I have is a few examples based on research I’ve done, but not thesis-level comprehensive.

jorge

2017-02-16 01:29

@zheng once I set different landing pages/first-load-screens depending on the “user role” they had. Where they had access to their different features.

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:30

Which popular app has terrible on boarding experience?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:30

@zheng How can we cater to different user types ( when a single product might be used by a product manager, a developer, CTO or customer success etc) during onboarding?

– So, if you have personas, and you know what features these diff types are likely to use, you could ask them who they identify as.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:30

Then it’s a “choose your own adventure” type of onboarding.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:30

It’s more expensive in terms of design and dev time.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:30

But it’ll prob pay off in the long run.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:31

(I wish we had theme music for Slack. Somebody submit a feature request.)

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:31

8:30] @alex.lee Which popular app has terrible on boarding experience?

LINKEDIN – argggggghhhhhhh

holliedoar

2017-02-16 01:32

I reckon you could make a little ditty out of that sound it makes when you get a message

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:32

First it asks you to be a viral vector and spam your friends.

hawk

2017-02-16 01:32

Then when you don’t, it just does it for you. Over and over again.

jellybean

2017-02-16 01:32

And then it keeps on annoying you.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:32

Then it starts – yes!

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:32

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2la17NZ

jorge

2017-02-16 01:32

After you’re done with that, you set your mail and name… and then again spam your friends.

hawk

2017-02-16 01:33

hahahahaaha

holliedoar

2017-02-16 01:33

LinkedIn makes me so cross

hawk

2017-02-16 01:33

And then people that aren’t your friends but once emailed you.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:33

This is my continuing experience with LI. A bunch of badges and banners all fighting for attention.

hawk

2017-02-16 01:33

Same

jakkii

2017-02-16 01:33

Yes!

mel

2017-02-16 01:33

Q: How much do fun animations improve onboarding success? Does it keep peoples’ attention more?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:34

@mel Used with caution, I think it’s effective.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:34

Examples: Taco peeking his head up on Trello.

davidbaird

2017-02-16 01:34

@mel that idea has merit, done sparingly. A ‘wiggle’ on a icon

srvcook

2017-02-16 01:34

LI: And then you follow their prompts to update your profile, and it spams your friends for you (and tips off your colleagues of your attempts to look for a new gig)

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:34

And Slack actually has a non-animated little “present with a bow” icon that announces new features.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:35

Here’s a dump of my gamification def: Gamification and social comparison trigger people’s desire to complete a process and earn achievements.

Both can be effective, but also expensive to implement.

jellybean

2017-02-16 01:35

Badges can be annoying. I don’t care if you want to badge me, I want to do x,y,z.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:36

Here’s an example of social facilitation (diff than social comparison)

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:36

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2l9XCa1

srvcook

2017-02-16 01:36

What is the line between providing too much information upfront and losing user interest because they aren’t yet invested and are learning while doing? How frequent should that interaction be?

jorge

2017-02-16 01:37

The issue with gamification that I’ve found is that everyone “outside” the environment (like sales/CTOs/etc) want to have it, and they believe that with PBL (Points, Badges and Leaderboards) splattered all over it’s enough. So we end up with awful gamified experiences.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:37

In turbotax, they’ve looked at the data and surfaced top questions as a means of onboarding new users. (And they’ve provided easy access to live peer or expert help)

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:38

@jorge Agree. Done sparingly and well, it harnesses people’s desire to complete a process.

jorge

2017-02-16 01:38

Achievement Unlocked *Get a 3 replies from the UXpert*

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:39

Oh I just realized, one GREAT example of learn by doing is the InVision samples!

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:39

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2ljUGdL

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:39

Yep I agree

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:39

They’ve got sample projects for you to play with. I grabbed this about 6-8 months ago.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:39

You can’t break anything, and if I remember correctly there’s some contextual help along the way.

alex.lee

2017-02-16 01:40

What would you say are your top 3 tips to improve UX onboarding process for your typical inhouse UXer?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:41

New q: How important are micro-interactions to on-boarding? What are some good examples? I recently saw a demo for the FitBit app on-boarding, and liked it. It seemed engaging but not overdone. What are some bad examples?

– MI’s are very important.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:41

Here’s one from Gmail.

srvcook

2017-02-16 01:41

Is the concept of a “wizard” tool dead? (looking to get this on record)

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:41

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2la4SCZ

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:41

I started selecting multiple items. It recognized this and offered information.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:42

You can’t see the MI, but there was definitely a transition.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:42

@srvcook What is the line between providing too much information upfront and losing user interest because they aren’t yet invested and are learning while doing? How frequent should that interaction be?

This is a question for testing and iteration.

rgirando

2017-02-16 01:42

So this is about on-boarding of any type, shape or form?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:43

Here’s an example of a too-long process that I would run away from:

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:43

Medium on mobile..

hawk

2017-02-16 01:43

@rgirando Yup!

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:43

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2la84OT

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:43

OK, step one, not so bad…

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:44

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2ljRO0f

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:44

Uhhhh, okayyyy….

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:44

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2la4aWc

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:44

Fucking hell, Medium! Stop it!

davidbaird

2017-02-16 01:45

have to step out now…Ill check the transcript later. thx all.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:45

I need to refill this whisky glass… 30 secs

hawk

2017-02-16 01:45

@davidbaird Later. Thanks for joining us. :slightly_smiling_face:

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:46

OK back.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:46

I lied I went for the scotch.

hawk

2017-02-16 01:46

it would be funny if we had all gone. wish we thought of it.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:47

I can’t find a good enough drink emoji but yes

jorge

2017-02-16 01:47

@jorge uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2ljK8uV and commented: The “info mode” to tap and know what’s what. On some pattern libraries are called “Coach Marks”

cystinosis

2017-02-16 01:47

Good UX = Hard Liquor

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:49

@jorge yes. Implementation-wise, you would get different outcomes I’m guessing if you forced-marched people through a series in order – which is basically a wizard – vs. presenting it the way it is in the screenshot and let people explore.

jgalpin

2017-02-16 01:49

where’s the info mode button/icon?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:49

Would love to test the implementation differences.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:50

I y’all want, I can drop my onboarding listicle into here. And I’ll provide a link to the onboarding talk I did at UX Singapore. I’m pulling a lot of the examples from there.

davidbacon

2017-02-16 01:50

has joined #ask-the-uxperts

jorge

2017-02-16 01:50

Oh yeah! If you ever do those tests let me know. It would be awesome. I’ve always felt that if you force the tutorials some users would get annoyed.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:50

Here’s my “10 Onboarding Principles” listicle. In the preso I have examples for each.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:50

1. Present a clear value proposition. 2. Engage emotional and aspirational motivations. 3. Doing is better than showing or telling. 4. Minimize friction and barriers. 5. Stock the shelves. Avoid the empty store. 6. Don’t ask for a commitment before the user is ready. 7. Leverage social comparison and gamification. But don’t be cheesy. 8. Support learning and mastery at the point of need. 9. Share content via different channels to encourage engagement. 10. Measure and test!

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:51

Both positive and negative

razel

2017-02-16 01:51

#6 forever

srvcook

2017-02-16 01:52

@srvcook pinned a message to this channel.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:52

BTW I should mention the alternate channel methods. Your marketing teams know all about this stuff… – Welcome email – Getting started email – Here’s how others are successfully using it email – Join our community email – Etc etc.

felesiauxd

2017-02-16 01:53

What do you think of applications like “walk me?”

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:53

And of course you point them to the Youtube / Vimeo channels

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:53

@felesiauxd I actually haven’t played with it! You know what I’m doing tomorrow now.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:54

Hey here’s a great out-of-product example of lowering perceived cost of adoption…

felesiauxd

2017-02-16 01:54

@pjsherman: we lost that battle at work

hawk

2017-02-16 01:54

We have ~5 mins left in the session. Have we missed any questions?

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:54

@pjsherman uploaded a file: http://ift.tt/2ljHplq

hawk

2017-02-16 01:55

Ok, last call for questions before we cut Paul and his scotch loose

jakkii

2017-02-16 01:55

Hahaha. I have to head out – thanks @pjsherman & @hawk, and everyone for the interesting questions

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:56

All, here’s the onboarding preso. It’s Keynote, so the videos will play.

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:56

http://bit.ly/2l9HWnf

pjsherman

2017-02-16 01:56

If you want the pdf, ping me and I’ll send.

The post Transcript: Ask the UXperts: The UX of Onboarding — with Dr Paul Sherman appeared first on UX Mastery.

by Sarah Hawk via UX Mastery http://ift.tt/2ljIv0a

#UX Books #UX Conferences #UX Courses #UX Degrees #UX Games #UX Glossary #UX Podcast #UX Process #UX

0 notes

ncmagroup · 6 years ago

Text

By John Grimshaw

Speaking of the fundamental types of subject lines, before we dive into our 101 winners, let’s review these common elements. There are eight different components we found again and again in our top performing email subject lines…

1. Self-Interest

These are your bread and butter subject lines—you should be using them most frequently.

They are usually direct and speak to a specific benefit your audience will gain by opening the email.

Self-interest subject lines also help pre-qualify openers by giving them a clue about your email’s body content.

2. Curiosity

If self-interest subject lines work because they communicate a direct benefit of opening the email, curiosity-based ones succeed for the exact opposite reason.

They pique the interest of subscribers without giving away too much information, leading to higher opens.

Be careful though because curiosity-based subject lines can get old fast and are the most likely to miss their mark.

3. Offer

Do you like free stuff? Do you like to buy things?

So does your email list.

4. Urgency/Scarcity

This is the most powerful type of subject line you have at your disposal.

Subject lines that communicate urgency and scarcity tell readers they must act now.

Too many of these can lead to list exhaustion so use sparingly and, of course, only when there is truly a deadline, limited quantity, or limited availability.

5. Humanity

Don’t forget to remind your list about the person or people behind your products.

Sometimes you need to thank your subscribers, tell them a story about yourself, or make a human appeal for their attention.

6. News

Keeping your audience informed about new developments in your field builds authority and keeps your open rates high.

These subject lines often work well when combined with a curiosity element.

7. Social Proof

A fundamental characteristic of humans is that we look to the behavior of others when making decisions.

You can leverage this in your email subject lines by mentioning individual’s success stories, familiar names, or highlighting how many people are already using a product or service.

8. Story

Telling a story, or at least teasing the beginning of one, in your subject line is a unique way to highlight a benefit and get the open rate you’re looking for.

Ready for the subject lines? As is our tradition, we’ll start with our top 10 best!

I promise it’s worth it…

Content: Launch a Podcast Execution Plan Flash Sale

Open Rate: 15.41%

Analysis: This is a very blind subject line that basically says, “trust me—click this.” Its success relies completely on the existing relationship between subscriber and sender. Using a line like this only works if there is a certain level of trust, but it certainly paid off here.

4 Critical Questions Every Business Must Answer

Content: Free Video Training

Open Rate: 15.64%

Analysis: Specific, odd numbers in subject lines always stand out. And this one combines that eye-catching trick with a powerful piece of value—focusing questions for any and all business owners. This subject line also intentionally speaks to a broad audience, which helped buoy the open rate.

I have good news and bad news…

Content: Intensive Workshop

Open Rate: 15.73%

Analysis: Another great curiosity-based option, this one works so well because it feels honest and conversational. It plays on a familiar idiom and the willingness to admit the contents are not all sunshine (and curiosity about what earned the qualifier “bad”) is a compelling reason to click.

[VIDEO] Social Media + Ecommerce Tech Stack

Content: Blog Post

Open Rate: 16.25%

Analysis: Calling out unique forms of content is a great way to cut through the noise. There are many other examples including [Checklist] and [Poll] that cracked our top 101. This one is also helped by the fact that software and “tech stacks” are a hot-button topic for DM subscribers.

🔨 Let’s fix your offer together

Content: Intensive Workshop (Perfect Offer)

Open Rate: 16.66%

Analysis: Getting customized or hands-on assistance is powerful when you know the expert, so this kind of email works well when there’s a “voice” behind your emails. Additionally, the implication that your offer may need some work will resonate with the perfect audience for this offer—it’s a great example of qualifying a prospect with the subject line.

Hiring a content marketer? Use this guide…

Content: Blog Post

Open Rate: 17.09%

Analysis: This is another great qualifying subject line and makes a strong offer. It’s a great example of how effective copywriting is even with just the bare essentials—there’s a clear pain point (hiring) and the answer you need (the guide) squeezed in just seven words. Hemingway, eat your heart out.

⚠️ Your private invitation expires tomorrow night

Content: Intensive Workshop (PSS)

Open Rate: 17.31%

Analysis: This subject line uses second person language (“your”) to really build curiosity about the invitation. Coupling that with the urgency of an impending expiration, you’ve got a recipe for a click. The subject line feels personal, exclusive, and urgent all at once.

Sales ⬆, Refunds ⬇, Retention ⬆

Content: Blog Post

Open Rate: 17.47%

Analysis: Leveraging emojis and symbols in your subject line always gives you a bump in open rates and this one triples down on them. The pattern and repetition are very eye-catching in the inbox and clearly communicate value without needing to give a hint to the topic.

Google Display Network (Your one-page cheat sheet)

Content: Blog Post

Open Rate: 18.77%

Analysis: There’s a clear offer here – the one-page cheat sheet – and a more indirect one as well: the simplification of a very complex and powerful traffic platform. This subject line makes a daunting topic feel digestible, and the promise of finding more traffic is always a winning hook.

T&C 2017 in Bora Bora?

Content: T&C Livestream

Open Rate: 19.51%

Analysis: A classic DigitalMarketer headline if there ever was one. This combines elements of curiosity and self-interest with an attention-getting destination that’s sure to pique curiosity. The pattern interrupt of a relocated T&C always jumps out and the natural repetition in Bora Bora’s name does the open rate a favor as well.

Not enough subject lines for you?

Good news! We’ve also got the next 90 best performers and a breakdown of the elements that helped them win:

Convince your boss to send you to T&C! – Self-Interest

T&C Closing TOMORROW @ Midnight! – Scarcity

Copy our 7 best Facebook ads of 2016 – Self-Interest

Start using this new Facebook ad type – Self-Interest | Curiosity

[Flash Sale] 85% off our Podcast Launch Plan – Offer

What happens when you’re approved? – Curiosity

Your Content Campaign Planner (Google doc) – Offer

[EMAIL TEMPLATE] Fix your company’s biggest marketing issue – Offer | Self-Interest

#TCS2017: Day 1 Highlights – News

[In Case You Missed It] Hire The Right Content Marketer… – Self-Interest

[LAST CHANCE] 85% off sale ends today! – Scarcity

[CHECKLIST] Get up to 20% better email deliverability ✔ – Offer

🔥 New Facebook Group features – this is BIG – News | Curiosity

The Best of Traffic & Conversion Summit 2017 – Self-Interest

Livestream for T&C this year? – Curiosity

Tomorrow’s the day… – Curiosity

#TCS2017: Day 2 Highlights – News

Swipe these 5 killer traffic campaigns – Offer | Self-Interest

The 30-Second Sales Pitch – Curiosity

Massive changes coming to DM – Story | Curiosity

[Infographic] How to have the ultimate #TCS2017 experience – Self-Interest

Is this you? – Curiosity

Open up for our best content – Self-Interest

Facebook + Pinterest + Video = More Closed Sales – Self-Interest

You’re Invited – Curiosity | Self-Interest

Paid traffic not converting? Download this… – Curiosity | Offer

Here’s the REAL reason Amazon is buying Whole Foods – News | Story

I knew I was right… – Story | Curiosity

⏰ FINAL NOTICE: “Perfect Offer Mini-Class” – Scarcity

Russ surprised me with 18 more sessions – Humanity | Story

Digital Marketing Mastery is open! – Offer

Brand NEW (and free) Training: 3 Steps To a Perfect Offer – Offer

How we got 1,329,572 “earballs” in 20 months – Story | Curiosity

This friend is how you sell with email… – Story | Social Proof

Class closes down tonight… – Scarcity

Important message (about tomorrow’s big announcement) – Curiosity

$7 today, $47 tomorrow – Scarcity | Curiosity

The 30-Second Sales Pitch – Self-Interest | Curiosity

Blog posts that sell (a complete guide) – Self-Interest

The guy who made $1,015,209 in one day… on Amazon – Story | Curiosity

🔨 Let’s build the perfect FB ad campaign, together (for free)! – Self-Interest

🎁 Claim your free heat map! – Offer

The highest-level training we offer – Curiosity

T&C 2017 closing soon? – Scarcity | Curiosity

Re: Frequently Asked Question #1 – Curiosity

[Subscriber] Are you familiar with T&C? – Curiosity

🚀 Your perfect product launch for $7 – Offer

Landing Page Not Converting? Try This! – Self-Interest | Curiosity

Join me today at 3pm – Humanity

Ask me anything? – Humanity | Curiosity

LAST CALL FOR T&C TICKETS (hours left) – Scarcity

[85% Off] 3 Proven Facebook Campaigns to Run Today… – Offer

Join me in congratulating… – Humanity | Curiosity

For advanced marketers only! – Self-Interest | Curiosity

The BIG shift that’s happening right now (and what it means for you) – News | Self-Interest

T&C Tickets almost GONE! – Scarcity

[POLL] Can you answer this? – Curiosity

⚡️ [FLASH SALE] My 11-step business launch plan (and templates) – Offer

T&C 2017 Agenda – Self-Interest

Finally, monetize your email list… – Self-Interest

Earn your (super-rare) “CDMP Designation” – Self-Interest

Announcing the 2nd Annual Content & Commerce Summit – News

[Subscriber] Exclusive T&C offer ending TOMORROW – Scarcity | Offer

[Free PDF Download] Claim our Social Media Swipe File – Offer

T&C in the comfort of your home… – Curiosity

BONUS MODULE ADDED: How to scale with Google & YouTube – Self-Interest

Marketing professionals wanted! – Self-Interest

Does your landing page suck?… or is it ‘perfect’? 😊 – Curiosity

⏰ LAST CHANCE: T&C closes tonight – Scarcity

Your 2018 Business Growth Plan – Offer | Curiosity

Do NOT launch your product or service without this… – Curiosity

Who’s speaking at T&C? – News | Curiosity

[CASE STUDY] 30 minutes of work -> 82,613 pageviews – Self-Interest | Story

WIN a day with Ryan Deiss & Molly Pittman! – Humanity | Self-Interest

Meet me in LA, NAME? – Humanity | Curiosity

The little Facebook tweak that halved lead cost – Curiosity | Story

Does your ad type match your offer? – Self-Interest

❄ Turn ice cold prospects into buyers 🔥– Self-Interest

Exciting announcement (and special invitation)* – Curiosity | Self-Interest

How he built a $20M e-commerce brand – Story | Curiosity

🎯 Facebook Targeting Expansion: The Test (and the results…) – Self-Interest

At DigitalMarketer, we LOVE agencies… – Humanity | Curiosity

[ANNOUNCEMENT] C&C 2017 lineup revealed… – News

A new DigitalMarketer event… – Curiosity

Free Online Training: OMG’s 90-Day System – Offer

Surveys are not the answer… – Curiosity

Facebook’s newest feature: setup, strategy, examples – News | Self-Interest

NAME, meet Justin. – Humanity

[New Blog Post] Use FB Messenger to grow your business – Self-Interest

Email list building: Why you’re stuck – Self-Interest | Curiosity

Are you using Facebook’s powerful new advertising feature? – Curiosity | News

Check Out DigitalMarketer’s 101 Best Email Subject Lines of 2016 (…And 5 Free Tools You Can Use to Amplify Your Email Marketing!)

We’ll start with our ten best email subject lines of 2016…

How “Ryan Deiss” became “DigitalMarketer”

Content: Blog Post

Open Rate: 14.61%

Analysis: This subject line appeals to people’s human nature. It promises a compelling narrative, DigitalMarketer’s origin story, and reminds readers that a person started this company, emphasizing a human connection.

Don’t buy this from Amazon!

Content: Invisible Selling Machine

Open Rate: 14.64%

Analysis: This is an old standby, and has worked time and time again. It’s a perfect example of what a successful curiosity-based subject should do—generate an emotional reaction without giving away the email’s purpose.

[DOWNLOAD] 15-Point Landing Page Audit

Content: Blog Post

Open Rate: 14.97%

Analysis: This kind of subject line (and email) is the very definition of value-first content. A free download that is intended to give audiences the opportunity to self-identify as interested in this topic.

I called. You didn’t answer.

Content: Blog Post

Open Rate: 15.05%

Analysis: Just reading this subject line makes me feel a little guilty! While it doesn’t take something away, it creates a sense of urgency similar to an expiring offer. And of course, using “I” in a subject line is a great way to humanize email copy.

[DECLASSIFIED] DM’s 2016 Planning Meeting

Content: Blog Post

Open Rate: 15.44%

Analysis: What’s your reaction when someone lets you in on a secret? For most people, it’s to lean in a bit and give them your ear. This subject line takes a traditional (but great) blog post and gives it a bit of mystique.

Announcing: The 7th Annual Black Friday Bootcamp

Content: Black Friday Bootcamp

Open Rate: 15.71%

Analysis: This subject line needs no frills and no complex hooks; it relies on people’s familiarity with our annual Black Friday Bootcamp workshop. When leveraging the familiar, a direct, clear offer works wonders.

13 billion emails analyzed [Infographic]

Content: Blog Post

Open Rate: 15.79%

Analysis: This subject line uses a classic technique, featuring an odd number that stands out to readers in an inbox. And highlighting the content type, an infographic, assures readers that this massive amount of information will be easily digestible.

Steal these email templates…

Content: The Machine

Open Rate: 16.16%

Analysis: Making a direct offer, “download this,” “grab this,” is a strong hook for any email. And this subject line does a great job of amplifying what’s already working with more surprising language.

5-Point Paid Ad Audit

Content: Blog Post

Open Rate: 16.25%

Analysis: This is a great subject line to appeal to intermediate and advanced marketers, which comprises most of DigitalMarketer’s list. It’s a direct offer and one that speaks to people who are knee-deep and trying to make the most of their efforts.

Your new favorite marketing tool…

Content: Blog Post

Open Rate: 16.57%

Analysis: This subject line touches on a broad interest for the audience, marketing tools, and promises positive change. Finding new software or strategies means faster, better processes, which marketers are always looking for.

Those may be the cream of the crop, but with nearly 107,442,263 emails sent in 2016, we saw a few other good ones, too.

Here are the next 90 subject lines that had the highest open rates and a breakdown of the elements that compose them:

Facebook’s New Pixel: What You Need to Know – News | Self-Interest

G + L + F = 2X Your Sales – Curiosity | Self-Interest

I’m in this new book… – Humanity | Curiosity

Google Compliant Landing Page Checklist [Download] – Offer

28 ways to increase organic social traffic – Self-Interest

Yep, that just happened… – Curiosity

BRAND-NEW certification released today… – Curiosity

These 6 skills will pay the bills… – Self-Interest | Curiosity

[BLOG] How an unknown podcaster generated 100,525 organic downloads in 80 days – Story | Self-Interest

Did you get your book yet? – Curiosity

She sold 122 subscriptions for $97 each. Here’s how… – Story | Self-Interest

New for 2017: 2 ways to master marketing… – Self-Interest | Curiosity

15 killer content marketing tools – Offer | Self-Interest

[Download] Customer Avatar Worksheet – Offer

10-week live training and certification – Offer

What do Google, YouTube, Amazon, and Pinterest have in common? – Curiosity

All Execution Plans 75% off! – Offer | Self-Interest

Is “ISBO” the future of search marketing? – Curiosity

Ultimate Guide to Facebook Video Ads [2nd Edition] – Self-Interest

Facebook Ad Targeting (The Complete Guide, 2nd Edition) – Self-Interest

ANNOUNCING Recommended Agendas and “learning tracks” – News

The Complete Guide to Google Tag Manager [Part 2] – Self-Interest

Better than T&C? – Curiosity

Become a Certified Digital Marketing Professional – Self-Interest

Your Content Campaign Planner (Google doc) – Offer

Ryan Deiss #TCS2016 Keynote: What you need to know – News | Self-Interest

Happy Birthday to… …DigitalMarketer! – Humanity | Story

How to generate FREE, organic traffic! – Self-Interest | Curiosity

⏰ Are you In or Out? – Urgency/Scarcity | Curiosity

Great News — new T&C tickets released! – Self-Interest

Bad news…closing down – Urgency/Scarcity | Curiosity

[DOWNLOAD] 8-Point Lead Magnet Success Checklist – Offer

Why “Yes” Kills and “No” Can Make You Rich [part 3 of 3] – Story | Curiosity

⚡️ [FLASH SALE] Our Facebook ad plan (and best templates)… – Offer | Self-Interest

Huge Announcement: Brand new event… – News | Curiosity

3 proven Facebook campaigns to run today… – Self-Interest | Offer

T&C 2016 in Tahiti? – Curiosity

[RANT] Why I HATE Business Cards! – Story | Humanity

Lethal Combo: AdWords Remarketing + Google Analytics – Self-Interest

Reach your audience… without their contact information. – Curiosity | Self-Interest

Open up for our best content – Self-Interest | Curiosity

Secret FB campaign gets 23,247 leads in 30 days… – Self-Interest

Case Study: 7-figure eCommerce Funnel – Social Proof

49 Split Tests that (Almost) Always Win – Self-Interest

Our Paid Traffic Playlist – Curiosity | Offer

Meet me in San Diego? – Curiosity | Self-Interest

[Flash Sale] A 7-Step ”Paint By Numbers” Process for FB Campaigns – Offer

Forget GroupOn — this stuff works! [Case Study] – Curiosity

Swipe our eCommerce Email Marketing Roadmap – Offer

[Case Study] $25,865/mo in recurring revenue – Social Proof | Story

Are you a victim of manipulated data? – Curiosity | Self-Interest

The power of empty pockets – Story | Curiosity

New business model — this is the future of business… – Self-Interest | Curiosity

[Last Call] For the Ultimate Email Marketing Game-Plan (PDF) – Urgency/Scarcity | Offer

[Save $500] Become a Search Marketing Specialist – Self-Interest

Watch T&C in your underwear… – Curiosity

✈ Meet me in Orlando – Self-Interest | Curiosity

⚡️ [FLASH SALE] My 6-Step Market Research Plan (and workbook) – Offer | Self-Interest

[DOWNLOAD] 10-Point Blog Post Audit – Offer

Finally, track social media ROI – Self-Interest

Community Manager vs. Social Media Manager: Which is right for you? – Self-Interest

[SWIPE] This email got 6X open rate… – Offer | Curiosity

Stand out in your customer’s inbox – Self-Interest

Pokemon GO: 3 Marketing Mistakes, Millions of Users Lost! – News | Curiosity

[Free Gift] Our Facebook ad targeting checklist… – Offer

3 wicked AdWords tactics to increase your ROI – Self-Interest

This is what’s truly essential… [part 2 of 3] – Curiosity | Story

$4 Million in Ad Spend (Here’s what works) – Self-Interest

Measure ROI by traffic source – Self-Interest

📢 HUGE Announcement (another big change at DM) – News

Marketing Showdown: Hillary Clinton vs Bernie Sanders – News | Curiosity

[Case Study] Local Facebook Advertising – Self-Interest

Does anyone even WANT what you’re selling? – Curiosity | Self-Interest

[Last Chance] 75 percent off all our Execution Plans ends TOMORROW! – Urgency/Scarcity

Turn your assistant into a marketing rockstar – Self-Interest | Curiosity

The Ad Grid: 20X your success rate – Self-Interest

Aducational Video + Remarketing – Curiosity

Lowest price on T&C – Self-Interest

ANNOUNCING: Marketing Mastery Class – News

There is still time… – Urgency/Scarcity | Curiosity

T&C hotel almost SOLD OUT! – Urgency/Scarcity

A tested and proven framework… – Self-Interest | Curiosity

✔ [Checklist] Your Split Testing Guide – Offer

[TODAY] Our Facebook ad targeting plan (3 pm Eastern) – Urgency/Scarcity | Offer

CLOSING down soon! (Don’t get locked out) – Urgency/Scarcity | Curiosity

Why I (kinda) HATE surveys… – Humanity

$7 today, $47 tomorrow – Self-Interest | Urgency/Scarcity

How an electronic retailer surged their revenue by 60% – Story | Self-Interest

New DigitalMarketer event for Bloggers! – News

[ICYMI] Everything you need to know about Facebook’s new pixel – Self-Interest | News

5 Free Tools You Can Use to Amplify Your Email Marketing

And now that we’ve looked at our best email subject lines of 2016, I want to hand you several free resources you can use to improve email open rates, click-through rates, and even deliverability rates!

1. A/B Significance Tester

Split testing is one of the best ways to figure out not just what works in email marketing, but what works for your audience. You could read a dozen articles on email tips and tricks but at the end of the day, what you need to know is what the subscribers who have opted in for your materials are interested in.

Unfortunately, when dealing with split testing large audiences, it’s sometimes hard to get a sense of what actually worked. That’s why it’s so important to see if your results are statistically significant—basically, how likely is it that if you ran the test again, you’d get the same results.

I’ve used this free resource from Kissmetrics for more than two years because it’s simple, free, and easy to use to get a read of whether or not your split test results matter.

2. Bulletproof Email Buttons

Responsive buttons are a great way to make the CTAs in your email copy stand out.

In fact, in last year’s subject line roundup, I talked about how DigitalMarketer saw some amazing results from buttons in emails— 38% higher earnings per click for emails with buttons.

But if you aren’t a coder, you’ll need some other resource to help simplify creating these—otherwise, you run the risk of screwing up your email templates or breaking your links.

Luckily, Campaign Monitor has an awesome free solution for creating buttons of all shapes, sizes, and colors. With this tool, creating a button is easy and doesn’t require any special knowledge of CSS or HTML.

A pro tip for slightly more advanced users: you can easily increase the font size as well by changing the value for “font-size” from 13 pixels to whatever your heart (or email template) desires.

3. GifRocket

This one’s for Mac users only, but boy is it a doozy. If you’ve ever seen an email with a “video” in it, most likely it was actually an email leveraging GIFs. GIFs are graphics that store and show a series of images, creating an experience similar to a short video.

For most people, making GIFs requires finding a graphic artist or hiring out the task on Fiverr or TaskRabbit, a slow and often painful process.

But with GifRocket, anyone with a Mac and a video can create their very own GIFs. Here’s an example (which took under 2 minutes to film and gif-ify):

Combining this software with your smartphone camera can create some magical moments, no technical skill required. All you need is a dash of imagination!

4. Headline Analyzer

If you just can’t quite decide if a subject line you wrote is good enough, maybe you need to test it out “in the lab.”

CoSchedule created a free tool that helps you evaluate the efficacy of your headlines. All you need to do is post your headline in their analyzer and they will give you a score for how well you did, and how likely the headline is to get your audience clicking.

The program identifies what kinds of words are used and how effective they are at evoking an emotional response, or how eye-catching and “powerful” they are.

Feel free to take their advice with a grain of salt—I tend to find them overly critical of short subject lines which have been shown to work well. But it’s a great resource if you’re looking for a second opinion.

5. Sender Score

This one’s a bit technical but is a must-use resource for anyone wanting to make the most of their email marketing.

Do you feel like your emails don’t make it to the inbox as often as they should?

The IP you use to send emails may have a bad reputation, literally.

With Sender Score, you can see the sender reputation that your emails have, and figure out what mailbox providers like Google think of your mails. This free tool from ReturnPath is a great way to keep an eye on the more technical elements of your email marketing. After all, with

After all, with a poor delivery, even the best subject line isn’t going to get many opens. So go sign up for a free account and remember to keep an eye on your score.

Read on to Learn DigitalMarketer’s 101 Best Email Subject Lines of 2015 (…And Our 3 Best Email Split Tests!)

First, here are our ten best emails subject lines of 2015…

10. Seriously, get this book.

Content: The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth (James Altucher’s book)

Open Rate: 16.91%

Analysis: This subject line is pretty direct—seriously means no fooling around. But the blind reference to an as-yet unidentified book demands the recipient take a look inside and see if it’s a good fit for their library shelf.

9. I’m pulling the plug…

Content: Blog Post

Open: 17.13%

Analysis: This subject line uses negative language to great effect. What does “pulling the plug” mean for DigitalMarketer subscribers? Is this bad news (or as it turned out great news)? Only by clicking through can you find out.

8. 7 split testing mistakes

Content: Blog Post

Open: 17.34%

Analysis: Do you like making mistakes? Neither do we (though it happens). So when someone promises to show you pitfalls to avoid before it’s too late, no one wants to miss the opportunity to do so.

7. How HostGator does retargeting

Content: Blog Post

Open: 17.40%

Analysis: This subject is simple and to the point, with a clear value proposition (learn how to leverage their retargeting strategy). The social proof of leveraging a well-known brand helps validate the information contained within the email.

6. TRAFFIC (on a “shoestring” budget)

Content: Blog Post

Open: 17.79%

Analysis: All caps can be pretty polarizing—no one likes to be yelled at digitally. But when you pick a word business owners love, the results are more positive. And offering a cost-friendly solution to a problem never hurts.

5. 11 sneaky email tricks

Content: Blog Post

Open: 17.83%

Analysis: This subject line uses a number that stands out (11) and a compelling adjective (sneaky) to hook the audience. And everyone loves simple to implement strategies, as implied by words like “trick,” “hack,” or “shortcut.”

4. Facebook Ads (Your first 3 steps)

Content: Perpetual Traffic Episode

Open: 17.87%

Analysis: If you’ve wanted to try something new, like Facebook ads, one of the biggest barriers to entry is not knowing where to start. This subject is clear, direct, and helps people who aren’t sure if they’ll be able to use the information.

3. The YouTube Gold Mine

Content: Blog Post

Open: 17.90%

Analysis: Have you ever discovered a gold mine? Probably not, but it sure would be nice to do so. This subject line combines a high-value proposition with intriguing but vague details. Open up!

2. Thank You!

Content: $1 Trial Offer

Open: 17.99%

Analysis: This is a subject line that works so well we sneak it into our mails every year and it never fails to disappoint. People love recognition, and acknowledgment of what they’ve done (if you swipe just one subject line, make it this one).

1. 23 bizarre products selling online

Content: Blog Post

Open: 18.71%

Analysis: This was one of our experiments for 2015, seeing how some lighter, less actionable content would fare, and the fact that subject line took our top slot shows that this strategy works. This subject promises a fun twist on studying just how crazy e-commerce can be. And lists with odd numbers always catch the eye.

Those may be the cream of the crop, but with 134 million emails out the door, we saw a few other good ones, too.

Here are the next 90 subject lines that had the highest open rates and a breakdown of the elements that compose them:

Think like a Facebook ad pro… – Self-Interest | Curiosity

29 Landing Page Reviews (Plus…) – Self-Interest | Curiosity

Get your Facebook advertising plan – Offer

How to Build an Unstoppable Business (2nd Edition) – Story

The 3-step Content Marketing plan – Self-Interest

[SWIPE] 10 Best Customer Survey Questions – Offer

This is embarrassing but… – Curiosity

Facebook Ad Case Study [listen to Part 3] – Self-Interest

… this failed miserably – Humanity | Curiosity

How to get paid [Literally] – Self-Interest

Still doing it the old way? – Curiosity

Sales ⬆︎, Refunds ⬇︎, Retention ⬆︎ – Self-Interest | Curiosity

How Emily Faith got 76,974 YouTube views in 10 days… – Story

Facebook Video Ads | The Ultimate Guide – Offer | Self-Interest

Avoiding the “Facebook ban hammer” – News | Curiosity

How to sell tickets to live events – Self-Interest

Don’t buy this from Amazon! – Curiosity

Finally! Facebook releases… – Curiosity | News

Split Test This, Not That – Self-Interest

My Gift to you… – Curiosity | Offer

New tool changes webinars forever… – News

The PERFECT traffic platform? – Curiosity | Self-Interest

I’m closing it down! – Urgency/Scarcity

Join me in congratulating… – Story | Curiosity

Inverted Web Analytics? – Curiosity

The ideal length of everything online – Curiosity

The PERFECT Facebook Ad – Self-Interest | Curiosity

BIG news from YouTube – News | Curiosity

This critique gets uncomfortable at times – Curiosity

[Leads] Scaling from 50 to 5,000+ – Self-Interest

Rice, gasoline and website traffic? – Curiosity

The AdWords Remarketing “Easy Button” – Self-Interest | Curiosity

Private Invite – Self-Interest | Curiosity

Big Celebrity Announcement – News

[SWIPE] Our best email copy – Offer

Answers to the Facebook Pixel Madness – Self-Interest

2 killer blog post templates – Offer | Curiosity

WANTED: Professional Content Marketers – Curiosity

Read this before clicking “Send” – Self-Interest

Can’t Buy FB Traffic? – Curiosity

This has nothing to do with marketing… – Curiosity

Meet me at ICON (and save $300)… – Offer

[TEMPLATE] Cold email anyone and get a response – Offer

[Podcast] Frank Kern on Paid Traffic – Story

Traffic for the eCommerce biz – Self-Interest

“I just want the recordings…” – Curiosity

Twitter Traffic (In an hour a day) – Self-Interest

Paid traffic not converting? Download this… – Offer

MAJOR announcement! (big changes at DM) – News | Curiosity

Become a “Customer Acquisition Specialist” – Self-Interest

3 proven FB campaigns to run today… – Offer

2 BRAND-NEW certifications launched today – News | Curiosity

Start with this funnel – Self-Interest

I was wrong… – Humanity

Use THIS to become an Authority (in ANY market)… – Self-Interest | Offer

$100 or $100.00? (It makes a difference) – Curiosity

Blog posts that sell (A complete guide) – Offer

I LOVE this little tool! – Curiosity

T&C 2016 closing soon? – Urgency/Scarcity

Limited-time open enrollment… – Curiosity

①⓪① ways to boost email open rates – Self-Interest

New DigitalMarketer Training Center – News | Curiosity

Conversion vs. Content – Curiosity

21 landing page mistakes – Self-Interest | Curiosity

Facebook’s New Lead Ads (What you need to know) – News | Self-Interest

Copy and paste these 72 headlines [Last Chance] – Offer

How to hire a content marketer – Self-Interest

Get your first 1,000 blog subscribers – Self-Interest

Stop writing NEW blog posts. Here’s why… – Curiosity

[TEST RESULTS] 2,689 leads from “On-Site Retargeting” – Self-Interest | Curiosity

A visit to Facebook (Here’s what we learned) – Story | Curiosity

My 2016 business plan… – Offer | Curiosity

5,219% ROI from new traffic source – Self-Interest | Curiosity

The Remarketing Grid – Curiosity

[Case Study] Numbers don’t lie – Story | Curiosity

Score your landing page – Self-Interest

Create the perfect marketing calendar – Offer

Reach 6,372,857 people with zero ad spend – Self-Interest | Curiosity

A 15.2% lift (but we were shocked) – Curiosity

My favorite automation tools – Self-Interest

A very direct (and some might even say, “RUDE”) email – Curiosity

[CASE STUDY] AZ shoe store 20X’d sales by sending what? – Story | Social Proof

Download This Social Media Swipe File (PDF) – Offer

Turn ice cold prospects into buyers – Self-Interest | Curiosity

My favorite business model – Curiosity

The Ultimate Course on Paid Traffic – Self-Interest | Offer

My new book! (and a big mistake) – Story | Humanity

Double sales (Get the formula) – Self-Interest

Dirt cheap Facebook leads – Self-Interest

⬆︎ Social media traffic (Your 6-step plan) – Self-Interest

Should You Test That?

Now that you have our best subject lines of the year, you should be ready to up your own game and start sending some emails.

We’re going to give you just a little bit more information to help you get an extra bump…

Here are our three top performing email split tests of 2015.

1. Highlighting a Pain in the Subject Line

Open rate can lie about performance.

That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t look at the metric because you definitely should. It’s one of your top four email metrics to watch, along with click-through rate, unsubscribe rate, and earnings per click (EPC).

But here’s a great split test that shows why you can judge a campaign by a single metric.

We ran this subject line split test in March of this year. These were the two subject lines.

The “Little _______ = big sales [QUIZ]” beat out the other one, but the results weren’t significant. So at first glance, the test was a wash. However, on closer examination, the subject line “This is why your prospects aren’t buying” actually had more clicks.

A LOT more.

We saw a statistically significant lift of 18% in click-throughs for the second subject line. The reason? The other headline pre-qualified openers by highlighting a pain they were feeling in their business.

That’s one of the risks with curiosity headlines—they drive more opens but people don’t know what they are getting into when they open. So for more complex or expensive offers, direct and pain-based subject lines can produce better results. Don’t overdo it on the doom and gloom though; a little bit of negativity goes a long way and too much can turn subscribers off your emails.

2. Use CSS Buttons in Your Email

Setting yourself up for mobile wins has never been more important, as more and more people are using their mobile devices to read email, browse the web and make purchases.

Because of this trend, we decided to experiment with CSS buttons during our Black Friday promotion. We tested emails using buttons for the CTA against emails using just text hyperlinks, which had been our standard practice.

We figured the button would win, but we had no idea how incredible the results would be. The email with buttons had a 22% higher click-through rate, no small feat and definitely a sign that this test was a winner.

But that’s not the mind-blowing part of the results.

We also compared the performance and found that the earnings per click, the amount of money we made for every person who clicked through the email, was 38% higher for the email with CSS buttons.

3. Use Unicode Symbols to Highlight Emails

We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again–using Unicode symbols in your subject line is a great way to generate a bump in opens.

These symbols are the little pictures that show up in your inbox, including ☼, ★, ☂, and ①. Since Unicode symbols are coded in computer systems like alphabet characters and numbers, they can be displayed on multiple browsers and devices.

Across all kinds of topics and subject lines, we’ve found that Unicode symbols produce a consistent 8% bump in email opens. So these can be a great way to squeeze everything you can out of a big promotion or help push visitors to a particularly strong blog post

Check Out Our 101 Best Email Subject Lines of 2014 (…And Our 10 Worst!)

We start with our top ten email subject lines for 2014…

10. [WEEKEND ONLY] Get this NOW before it’s gone…

Product: AuthorityROI

Product Type: Course/Information Product

Open Rate: 9.49%

Analysis: This is a great example of a flash sale subject line. It combines the urgency of limited availability with an element of mystery. Keep in mind that these work best in very small doses.

9. The Facebook Slap is coming…

Product: Twitter Ads EP

Product Type: Execution Plan

Open Rate: 9.51%

Analysis: Personally, just rereading this subject line has me digging through my email archives. It combines the curiosity and news elements and speaks to a penalty the entire digital marketing industry will want to avoid.

8. Steal these email templates…

Product: Email Templates

Product Type: The Machine

Open Rate: 9.53%

Analysis: This one is simple and direct, and makes a clear offer. The phrase “templates” works particularly well with Digital Marketer’s email list.

7. Your 7-figure plan goes bye-bye at midnight…

Product: AuthorityROI

Product Type: Course/Information Product

Open Rate: 9.64%

Analysis: Are you willing to wave goodbye to 7 figures? Most people aren’t—this is another great example of curiosity and urgency working in tandem to raise that open rate!

6. Is this the hottest career in marketing?

Product: eCommerce EP

Product Type: Execution Plan

Open Rate: 9.77%

Analysis: This one is all about curiosity. Using questions in your subject line is a great way to open a loop that your audience will want to close by checking out the email’s contents.

5. A Native Ad in 60 Minutes or Less

Product: Blog Post

Product Type: Lead Magnet

Open Rate: 9.78%

Analysis: Quantifying how long it will take a subscriber to realize some benefit in the subject line is great—it feels manageable and promises results, making even inactive members of your list curious. This offer feels bite-sized and achievable.

4. 212 blog post ideas

Product: Blog Post

Product Type: Lead Magnet

Open Rate: 9.94%

Analysis: Another great offer example—it communicates the email’s value in just four words.

3. Check out my new “man cave” [PICS]

Product: eCommerce EP

Product Type: Execution Plan

Open Rate: 10.24%

Analysis: This is a fun blend of curiosity and humanity—it directly addresses some value Ryan got, a sweet new “man cave,” in the subject. Not only does this spark interest, but it reminds readers about the human connection that brought them to DM in the first place.

2. [URGENT] You’ve got ONE DAY to watch this…

Product: AuthorityROI

Product Type: Course/Information Product

Open Rate: 10.79%

Analysis: Once again, curiosity and urgency team up to create a compelling subject line. If you are careful about using these sparingly, you’ll find that they just work.

1. How (and why) to calculate Average Customer Value

Product: Blog

Product Type: Blog Post

Open Rate: 10.91%

Analysis: Our number one email subject line, this blends all of the good stuff. It gives you a metric that can improve you business, inspires curiosity about why this number matters, and offers to help you figure out how to calculate it.

Here are the next 90 emails with the highest engagement and what elements they used:

[FINAL CHANCE] 7-figure blueprint gone tonight… – Curiosity | Urgency

How to write a promotional email – Self-Interest

Steal our best subject lines – Offer | Self-Interest

Weird traffic test… – Curiosity

How to craft a guarantee that sells – Self-Interest | Story

[SECOND CHANCE] This weekend only… – Curiosity | Urgency

The Machine is coming… – Curiosity

It’s landing page magic… – Curiosity | Self-Interest

[NEW POST] How To Build an Email Marketing Machine – Self-Interest | Story

THIS disappears at midnight! – Curiosity | Urgency

A simple sales copy formula – Self-Interest

Gold In Your Mailbox – Curiosity

[RESULTS] My Facebook Case Study – Curiosity | Story

This is working on Facebook right now – Self-Interest | Story

Two Words: Cheap Traffic! – Curiosity | Self-Interest

[FLASH SALE] 51% off sale ends tonight… – Curiosity | Urgency

I made you a video… – Curiosity

How to write bullets that sell… – Self-Interest

Facebook is cracking down… HARD! – Curiosity | News

Thank You! – Humanity

[Case Study] Copy & paste this $10 million business… – Curiosity | Self-Interest

Swipe my Email Game-Plan (PDF) – Offer | Self-Interest

[FREE PDF] Ultimate Email Marketing Game-Plan – Offer | Self-Interest

The 10-Minute Bloggers Editorial Plan – Self-Interest

What are you doing this weekend? – Curiosity

212 Blog Post Ideas (PDF) – Offer | Self-Interest

Is email marketing dead? – Curiosity

C’mon – everybody’s waiting for you… – Curiosity | Urgency

I LOVE this amazing little tool! – Curiosity | Self-Interest

3-Part Followup Series [Download] – Curiosity | Offer

A quick YouTube hack – Self-Interest

Find writers for your blog – Self-Interest

Facebook Ad Targeting Options [A Complete Guide] – Offer | Self-Interest

[NEW FORMULA] Cheap, Targeted Facebook Traffic – Self-Interest

4 emails with stellar click-through rates – Curiosity | Self-Interest

Step up your video marketing game – Self-Interest

Want to look at our email stats? – Curiosity | Self-Interest

Native Ad Hacks? – Curiosity

198% ROI on Twitter Ads – Self-Interest | Story

[URGENT] About today’s traffic training… – Urgency

Do NOT sell on Amazon without this $10 tool… – Curiosity | Self-Interest

How to Stop Ho-Hum Marketing – Curiosity

Would You Do THIS For Money? – Curiosity

2 huge mobile marketing opportunities – Self-Interest | Curiosity

Twitter is the new… Facebook?! – Curiosity | News

[PART 2] See how I got $0.10 email optins… – Self-Interest | Story

My business model… on a napkin? – Curiosity | Story

We beat up this landing page – Curiosity

[Gone Sunday] Your traffic training replay is available… – Urgency

Don’t make these 7 AdWords mistakes – Self-Interest | Curiosity

My Gift to you… – Offer | Curiosity

Zero to 30K Page Views in 11 Weeks… – Story | Self-Interest

This sucks, you lose… – Curiosity

Should you follow your passion? – Curiosity | Story

Low Conversion Rate? Fix These 6 Elements. – Self-Interest | Story

Are you missing one of these FIVE steps? – Curiosity

Copy and paste these 72 headlines [Last Chance] – Offer | Self-Interest

How to craft a winning 3-part followup series – Self-Interest

32 split testing ideas – Self-Interest

Less _______ = More Sales [SURVEY] – Curiosity

[Template] Create engaging Facebook images – Offer | Self-Interest

No blog comments? – Curiosity

Download this Social Media Swipe File (PDF) – Offer | Self-Interest

Presenting: “Funnel 2.0” – Curiosity

321% higher conversions using THIS… – Curiosity | Story

This guy makes 6 figures per month? – Social Proof | Curiosity

Amazon app cherry-picks hottest products for you… – Self-Interest | Curiosity

Unlimited penny traffic… – Curiosity | Self-Interest

My Twitter Ads Cheat Sheet – Self-Interest

Still haven’t launched your funnel? – Curiosity

Our top Facebook ad campaigns – Curiosity

“Borrow” all my checklists… – Offer | Curiosity

SEO is dying (a slow and painful death)… – News | Curiosity

☠This is rated aaarrrgh! (details inside) – Curiosity

Does your marketing smell funny? – Curiosity

Do you HATE money? – Curiosity

(time sensitive) Last night’s Funnel training… – Urgency

[Case Study] $188,674 from a dead list – Social Proof | Self-Interest

[ONLY $7] My “cheap traffic” plan – Self-Interest

Get More Email Newsletter Clicks – Self-Interest

Reduce shopping cart abandonment – Self-Interest

Create opt-in pages that convert like crazy – Self-Interest

My Facebook retargeting plan – Self-Interest

This gets my highest recommendation – Curiosity

Better than Facebook? – Curiosity

28,507 leads in 45 days – Self-Interest | Social Proof

A slick mobile lead gen funnel – Self-Interest

The Machine is LIVE… here’s your link – Curiosity

Pounce on these shifts in digital marketing – Curiosity | Self-Interest

Uncomplicate your analytics – Self-Interest

I do THIS for traffic… – Curiosity

But Don’t Do This…

We’re also sharing our top 10 worst emails of 2014 and picking them apart to find why exactly they didn’t work.

Our Top 10 Worst Emails

For these, we looked at emails with the highest unsubscribe to open ratio. Not only did these miss the mark, they drove our audience away! We’re going to work backward, starting with the 10th most unpopular email.

10. [85% Discount GONE] Blog launch “checklist on steroids” price increasing…

Promotion: Blog Launch EP

Promotion Type: Execution Plan

Unsubscribes / Opens: 1.78%

Analysis: This subject line is trying to do too much at once. The framing of the price increase is presented as both a disappearing discount and a price increase. While these mean the same thing, it can be a little confusing and makes the subject line too long. Sticking with short, sweet, and clear is best.

9. Last chance to be a whale…

Promotion: The Whale Method