Is this email passable?

Something John Wood from BerserkerMail said in his latest email got me thinking.

He said:

“You can't call yourself a real email marketer until you can sit down and bang out a passable email in 10 minutes or less.”

“Right”, I thought, “I call myself an email marketer… let’s see how I do.”

So I started writing what you’re reading right now. (Yes, this is a rather ‘meta’ email.)

Then I started worrying… because most of the time I spend a minimum of one hour. Sometimes two.

That’s because of having a sweet spot of 500 words. (Which I tend to hover either side of most of the time… give or take).

But it’s mostly because I go over my email multiple times to edit. And to make dialog, in particular, clear.

So, I’m not about make this new ‘10-minute rule’ the thing I judge each of my emails by. And I wouldn’t suggest anyone following a personality-style of sales email writing does either.

Although… being able to write fast is a strength.

And the key word from John’s original email is… “passable”.

So today’s email I think will scrape in as “passable.”

But no frills.

And that’s OK.

Most of the time, though, I want my emails to go beyond just selling something… seeing that not everyone is ready to buy right now.

So for keeping subscriber interest, having some form of entertainment is the way to go (in my humble, but accurate, opinion 😉).

Entertainment is often best delivered as a story.

It’s the means us humans love and have been using for thousands of years.

And as an email writer who wants to stand out in the inbox… and keep your subscribers coming back… it’s a critical skill to master.

Which is why I’ve included the rules I follow for email story writing inside my Sales Email Playbook.

It’ll help you master those skills. But doesn’t try to get you cranking out 10-minute emails (which are certainly NOT in my wheelhouse… seeing that my timer just hit zero with this sentence. And I refuse to send this email out before editing it through at least twice).

So if 2026 is the year for you to master writing simple stories to engage with your subscribers…

The Playbook is waiting for you here:

https://milham.me/playbook

Chris Milham

P.S. If you’re wondering… after a couple more minutes finishing the email writing, editing then nudged the time up to a bit under 30-minutes. And might have been less, except for a couple of tangled paragraphs I churned out during my 10-minute rush, that didn’t quite make sense. 🥴

Let this be a small lesson that there is much value in editing. And in fact the maxim I often hear rings true here: “Write fast. Edit slow.”

Now… go grab the Playbook and get writing awesome email stories (but you may want to take just a little more than 10-minutes with those 😊).