Retrobrilliance: Rumpus Fires Up “Letters In The Mail” Subscription Service

Genius from the Rumpus (a writer’s site):

It’s called Letters in the Mail. Almost every week, three to four times a month, you’ll receive a letter, in the mail. In the first three months letters went out from Stephen Elliott, Margaret Cho, Marie Calloway, Dean Haspeil, Lorelei Lee, Matthew Specktor, Rick Moody, Aimee Bender, Padma Viswanathan, Sari Botton, and Matthew Zapruder. Some of the letters were typed, others handwritten. Some included illustrations, one was a comic, all were signed. We then photo-copy the letter and send it to you.

I’ve said it before; as the volume of direct mail decreases and the clutter abates, its value to the recipient will actually increase.

I like it. Retro and subversive in the same package...

And while the Rumpus letter subscription service is aimed primarily at writers, I can’t help but see a few bazillion other applications in the marketing and publishing worlds.

After all, it’s everything online marketing pretends to be, but usually isn’t. Authentic. Engaging. And to a writer, more meaningful than an email.

Simply put, it’s retrobrilliance.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
 
 
p.s. — I haven’t trotted out my annual “Try the Lumpy Mailer, stupid” post for a couple years, but this certainly lights up that part of the brain. Now go forth and be creative.