Newsletter Issue Writer

# Newsletter Issue Writer

Research trending topics, curate links, and write a complete newsletter issue with subject lines and structured sections.

## When to Use

- "Write this week's newsletter about {topic}"
- "Curate the top {industry} stories this week"
- "Draft a newsletter issue for my {audience}"

## Requirements

- **Brave Search MCP** for topic research and link curation
- **python3** for word count and reading time estimates

## Workflow

### Step 1 — Newsletter Brief

- **Newsletter name/brand**
- **Audience** (developers, marketers, founders, etc.)
- **Topic focus** (this specific issue)
- **Tone** (casual, professional, witty, informative)
- **Sections** (news roundup, deep dive, tip of the week, etc.)
- **CTA** (reply, share, visit site)

### Step 2 — Research & Curate

```
brave_web_search: "{TOPIC} news this week {YEAR}"
brave_web_search: "{INDUSTRY} trends {MONTH} {YEAR}"
brave_web_search: "{TOPIC} tools launches announcements this week"
brave_news_search: "{TOPIC} latest news"
```

For each story, extract: headline, source, URL, key insight.

### Step 3 — Write Subject Line Options

```markdown
## Subject Line Options (pick one)
1. "{Curiosity gap}" — e.g., "The one tool that changed how I {verb}"
2. "{Number + benefit}" — e.g., "5 {topic} trends you missed this week"
3. "{Question}" — e.g., "Are you making this {topic} mistake?"
4. "{News hook}" — e.g., "{Company} just launched {thing} — here's why it matters"

Preview text: "{First 40 chars of email body — complement, don't repeat subject}"
```

### Step 4 — Draft Newsletter

```markdown
# {NEWSLETTER_NAME} — Issue #{N}

{Greeting — personal, brief}

{1-2 sentence intro tying the issue together}

---

## 📰 This Week in {TOPIC}

**1. {Headline}**
{2-3 sentence summary with your take}
[Read more →]({URL})

**2. {Headline}**
{2-3 sentence summary}
[Read more →]({URL})

**3. {Headline}**
{Summary}
[Read more →]({URL})

---

## 🔍 Deep Dive: {Topic}

{4-6 paragraph analysis or tutorial on one key topic}

---

## 💡 Tip of the Week

{One actionable tip the reader can use immediately}

---

## 🔗 Quick Links
- [{Resource 1}]({URL}) — {one-line description}
- [{Resource 2}]({URL}) — {one-line description}
- [{Resource 3}]({URL}) — {one-line description}

---

{CTA — "Reply and tell me..." / "Share with a friend" / "Check out..."}

{Sign-off}
```

### Step 5 — Stats Check

```bash
python3 << 'PYEOF'
text = """{NEWSLETTER_TEXT}"""
words = len(text.split())
read_time = words / 200  # average reading speed
links = text.count('http')

print(f"Word count: {words}")
print(f"Reading time: ~{read_time:.0f} minutes")
print(f"Links: {links}")
print(f"Recommended: 500-1000 words, 3-5 min read")
PYEOF
```

### Step 6 — Save Issue

```bash
mkdir -p outputs/content/newsletter
cat > "outputs/content/newsletter/issue-{N}-{DATE}.md" << 'EOF'
{NEWSLETTER}
EOF
```

## Important Rules

- All links must come from Brave Search results — verify they exist
- Add your unique perspective to curated items — don't just aggregate
- Keep it scannable — headers, bold, short paragraphs
- Subject line is 50% of open rate — always provide 3-4 options
- Respect reader's time — better to be concise than comprehensive

## Example Prompts

- "Write this week's AI newsletter for developers"
- "Curate the top 5 JavaScript stories this week for my newsletter"
- "Draft a fintech newsletter issue about embedded banking"