A letter from…
Here’s a thought for freelance foreign correspondents…
Recently I read about the tiku tiku typewriter services in central Kigali - where old people bash out letters and documents on old typewriters - which got me thinking…
Would you pay for a postal letter service from a foreign correspondent you like in a place you’re interested in? An old-fashioned, well crafted, actual physical letter, typed up by local typists on local paper on the streets of, say Kigali, with stories and anecdotes not available online?
The Guardian Weekly still runs a “letter from” column as does the New Yorker. The BBC has From our own correspondent. The idea taps into the origins of what foreign correspondents did - send letters from foreign places
Think about it… A physical letter, with stamps, a smeared inky date mark, a handwritten address, a hand written return address on the back. Maybe with an accompanying photograph printed by a local photolab with a handwritten inscription, dated and signed by the correspondent. Posted by hand, by the correspondent, from the country that interests you.
Would you pay for something like that? Once per month? Six times a year?
I think I would if…
a) I liked or knew the correspondent, probably already a reader of their blog or reports.
b) They’re based in a place I am very interested in. Maybe somewhere I have lived and worked from previously. I suspect nostalgia could be a big driver for potential subscribers.
c) The correspondent included a nice wee something with the letter. Something unique, unusual or rare. Like I say, maybe a photograph would work well, but any number of other items might too.
I doubt such a “letter from…” would be a significant earner for the correspondent - unless they are very well-known - but to put a crude business/marketing brain on - could it be a loss leader/brand builder/nice wee add on to digital output?
I believe the digital world has increased our desire for more individualised, physical products and services.
I suspect the trend, if it is a trend, for music and podcasts delivered on old style, individually designed cassettes is part of the same thinking. I think newspaperclub taps the same vein. As does the (excellent) Frontline Broadsheet.
Why not the foreign correspondent too?
