Note: This is a slightly edited (for the web) issue of a previous email newsletter. (If you’re not subscribed, join here, it’s free.)
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“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” — Marie Curie.
I’d like to share a small milestone with you related to the above comment…
When you consider I send a new newsletter issue every two weeks, roughly twice a month, to a few thousand subscribers, and we’ve reached (at the time of publishing this essay) Issue 26…
… which is over a year’s worth of newsletters (a little more, actually, because I “pause” all newsletters over August each year).
Tracking is wonky at the best of times, so giving credence to email stats is mostly a futile endeavor. However, when looked at in context, we can get a glimpse of the signal.
Across the 26 newsletters, spanning a full year’s cycle, open rates have never dropped below 60%…
Newsletter 1’s open rate was 76.8%, 65.4% three months in, 64.7% six months in, with Issue 25: Maker’s Knowledge, roughly a year in, at 62.4%.
There’s another interesting perspective, drawing attention to the beauty of compounding effort…
Unlike 99.9% of newsletter publishers, who push out “broadcasts” (meaning they write an email, select the segment to target — typically everyone — and click send), I have an evergreen newsletter.
In simple terms, this means I don’t send broadcast emails; instead, I have a long follow-up sequence that keeps growing, and everyone receives it in sequence.
From my perspective, “evergreen” means that the spine or narrative arc of the World takes everyone on the same † scripted journey.
(† There’s nuance here, but that’s for another time.)
In Newsletter (Issue #5), I wrote this:
In open-world marketing, our World becomes a landscape ripe for exploration, offering various entry points tailored to individual interests — a real-life choose-your-own-adventure.
(…)
While conventional marketers might scratch their heads at our methods, failing to see an obvious linear path to conversion, there’s more nuance beneath the surface.
(…)
The marketing funnel hasn’t disappeared; it’s just evolved.
(…)
Now, it’s a dynamic blend of non-linear and linear paths, all functioning within the context of an ever-evolving world-building ecosystem.
Take a few seconds to consider the nuance of the bolded sentences above.
To help you appreciate the implications of this, I’ll “open the kimono” and show you how I have structured an “invisible” (in plain sight) part of my World.
My “Rome” (currently) is my free newsletter join page. That’s the seven-email welcome series in yellow.
When someone joins, they’re subscribed to two sequences: the Welcome Series and an Evergreen Newsletter.
The red dot below the yellow series represents a “pause” of ten days before the first newsletter issue is sent.
The cadence I’ve settled on, which will be different for everyone, is a newsletter every other Saturday (roughly, as I’ve said, two newsletters per month).
I want to allow cognitive space for new inhabitants to assimilate this information, without overwhelming them with too many emails and ideas they haven’t yet made sense of.
26 newsletters in the evergreen sequence (so far), representing thirteen months of content (opportunities to connect, create, and join idea “dots,” sense-make, and introduce an ever-expanding World that affords transformative experiences).
The two email series are the “linear” part of my (email) World that I want every citizen to go through, where I introduce them to ideas and themes in a sequence of progression.
In core principles one to six, in The Principles, the training for my paid tier, the World remains a nonlinear experience, where “invisible conversations” can blossom like new buds in spring.
Everyone entering and engaging with my World still has an individualized journey and experiences that feel unique and (continuously) engaging.
Think about it this way…
While I’m constantly building my World (in real-time), the experience of new inhabitants and established citizens is intentionally out of sync (yet in pseudo-“real-time” for each person).
As I write this, Graeme (England), Jess (Seattle, Washington), Clarissa (São Paulo), and Piet (Gauteng, South Africa) entered the “email part” of my World this morning.
I know they have at least a thirteen-month journey that will unfold before them (if I wrote nothing more ever).
While that journey is linear in terms of the narrative arc they’ll receive (the welcome series and evergreen newsletter series), their individual experience will be very different (and unique to each of them).
What’s more, from Fall (September/October sometime, I’ve not decided on a date), when I officially open the doors to my paid membership tier, there’ll be (many) opportunities for them to become a Tiny Digital World Builder when it feels right for them.
The “Engine” of a Tiny Digital World is evergreen by design, powered by email.
Consider the freedom this affords you as the creator of your World…
Let that sink in.
I have more to say, but I’ll save that for another time.
If you have remarks about this, let me know. I read every email.
André “engine of freedom” Chaperon
P.S.
“What we make is testament to who we are.” — Jony Ive (A conversation with Jony Ive, San Francisco, 2025)
I love this expression by Ive.
It points to what we should be doing in business and life.
It also reminds me of something Alan Watts said (the philosopher known for interpreting and popularizing Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophy for a Western audience):
“… we make an extremely rigid division between work and play. You’re supposed to work in order to earn enough money, to give you sufficient leisure time for something entirely different called “having fun,” or “play.” And this is the most ridiculous division of things, because everything that we do — however tough it is, however strenuous — can be turned into the same kind of play as I was showing you when I was completely fascinated with spinning that orange around my head.
“So the point is, therefore, that you can do everything you have to do in this spirit. Don’t make a distinction between work and play. Regard everything that you are doing as play, and don’t imagine for one minute that you’ve got to be serious about it.” — Alan Watts (on the Division of Work and Play)