Why I'm stopping my paid newsletter for developers...

NicolasBrondinBernard

A surprise awaits at the end of this article!

Article published on 15/07/2020, last updated on 10/08/2026

In 2020, I launched a paid newsletter called "JAW: from Junior to Warrior", meant to give one piece of advice per week to junior web developers so they could make the most of their potential.

And today, I'm announcing that this newsletter is closing.

Because yes, this newsletter isn't really disappearing, but being reborn in another, free form (see the end of the article)!

Why stop now?

There are several reasons that pushed me to make this decision, most of them directly related to the blog you're currently on, and I'll try to explain them in detail:

Bad timing

When I launched the "JAW" newsletter, my only goal was to provide quality, targeted content for junior developers, the kind of email I would have loved to receive back when I started out in development.

Sharing my experience to help others avoid repeating my mistakes and progress faster was my mission with this project, but only a few days after opening subscriptions, I decided to start writing one article a day on my blog.

You guessed it, I quickly found myself no longer knowing whether a topic was better suited to an email or an article, and the line was so blurry that it became a real headache!

To top it all off, I ended up writing the equivalent of two blog posts every Monday evening, both with original content and therefore several hours of writing, and the pace just wasn't sustainable.

Freedom of tone

I had chosen the newsletter format to make sure I could allow myself a certain freedom of tone, to speak directly with people so as not to be too polished and to convey my advice in a direct way.

But over time, I discovered that I was writing my articles in an unrestrained way, with a free tone, without even paying attention to it.

I even get more and more private messages on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter from people looking for advice, and I'm delighted to reply in a very personal way whenever I can!

Reaching as many people as possible

It's my desire to pass things on that drives me to create content, so it's when I share my knowledge with as many people as possible that I feel satisfied and that I have the sense of making a positive impact.

In recent weeks, I've reached 3000 monthly page views (thank you), while my emails were being opened by fewer than 10 readers.

Knowing that my newsletter subscribers also read my blog, the logical choice is to keep (and prioritize) the blog in order to help as many people as possible!

I don't want to charge for "short" content

If I create paid content, I want it to be very thorough content, one that will have taken a big investment to produce and that people will consume over several hours, not just a few minutes.

My daily content should remain free and benefit everyone, that's the best way for me to stay true to my vision of education and sharing.