👋 Hi Reader,

As you may be well aware with the movie references here, I am a movie nut first, and a newsletter person second. I just stumbled into the world of newsletters a few years ago.

But as a marketer, I have always been amused when people get antsy when they see someone else's content copied.

To me, the AI-generated content theft debate is a movie I have seen before. Several times.

But before we get there, let me take you back to the quote you see in the subject line:

Most people in tech have heard it from Steve Jobs. Jobs himself was probably borrowing it from Picasso or T.S. Eliot. Nobody really knows who said it first.

What matters though is why Jobs said it. He had always been a Picasso admirer. So much so, that he had Picasso included in the 'Think Different' Apple ads.

Jobs also visited Xerox PARC not long before the Mac OS took shape, and took copious notes for the Mac user interface. He never went on record connecting those dots publicly.

Neither had Christopher Nolan admitted that the visuals of Inception look uncannily similar to Satoshi Kon's Paprika. Watch both movies back-to-back this weekend and let me know what you think.

(Karma did come back full circle, when Nolan came to know that Ghajini had several elements inspired from Memento. He was amused when he learnt about it though.)

What does any of this have to do with newsletters?

I would say: nothing and everything.

Enter the Ship of Theseus

If you are not aware of the 'Ship of Theseus' thought experiment, in simple terms, it is as below:

Here is why I think it applies directly to the content you make.

When you create a piece of content inspired by something you read, watched, or consumed, your job is to keep the ship intact, while replacing every single plank of wood with your own lived experience and anecdotes.

When done right, it feels like a completely different ship. Because it is.

The mistake most new newsletter creators make is the opposite:

They borrow the planks. They copy the content, the takes, the specific examples, and end up with something that feels derivative.

This makes their audience break out into hives. They can smell it.

Intriguing. What's the alternative?

Here's my recommendation:

Let me explain.

Morning Brew is one of the best-known newsletters in this space. If you were so inspired by its content and thought:

I could build something like this for my region, my niche.

You are not wrong. But what you should be borrowing is the ship. Not the planks of wood.

The Peak in Canada did exactly this. Espresso Matutino in Mexico did that too. Both borrowed the Morning Brew's format. But both brought their own planks of wood: their regional context, cultural references, and local experiences.

Neither of them is an outright Morning Brew clone. They paid homage to the content format, but the notes are their own. Their audience recognized that and rewarded them with their loyal readership.

Note: I recorded a LetterStack episode with Espresso's Fernando Caralt to breakdown how he built it. Stay tuned!

The next time you find yourself thinking:

By all means, go ahead. Borrow the structure, but fill it with your own notes.

Want to understand how it is tactically done for your newsletter? I would love to be your sounding board. Hit 'Reply' on this email and or drop a note to marketing@letterstack.co.

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Cheers,

Renga from LetterStack

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