Hey there:

My name is Danny O’Neil, and if you’re here it means you want to create better sports content, and I built this newsletter to do exactly that by giving you

• simple things;

• you can do for free;

• to improve your articles, your interviews and your strategy.

In fact, a list of the five fastest ways to conduct better interviews is linked in the welcome email I just sent to your inbox. If it’s not in your main inbox, check the “Promotions” or “Updates” folder.

A bit about me … I have been creating content for so long that when I started, we didn’t even call it content. It was called being a “newspaper reporter” and “a radio host” or a “blogger.” I’ve done all of those jobs and a few others along the way.

Most of my background is in sports journalism. I’ve worked at ESPN.com, covered pro beats for two different newspapers and then hosted a daily three-hour radio show for eight years in Seattle. I left that radio station in September 2021 to become a freelance writer, but what I’ve discovered is that I was entering the creator economy.

This newlsetter is my attempt to pass along the things I’ve learned over the course of my career, and to show you how these techniques and tactics can be applied to improve your content.

Each Saturday, you’ll receive an email that is divided into three sections

1) Rulebook: One specific step that you can begin using immediately to improve your content.

2) Game plan: One piece of strategy for building your career as a content creator.

3) The big picture: One observation that relates to how sports media has changed or — more importantly — where it’s going.

What I won’t be doing in this newsletter is bemoaning the current state of media or complaining about the type of content that is successful. While I wish that many things were different than they actually are, I believe it is much more effective to engage with the world as it actually is.

The fact is that the industry that I worked in for 25 years has changed dramatically. There are dramatically fewer publications and stations, which in turn have dramatically fewer positions. This newsletter is not going to change that. Rather, it’s an attempt to adapt to it by providing a way to pass along the help and guidance that I received in my 20s and 30s to other content creators who don’t have the same opportunities to work in a newsroom and learn from veterans for reasons that are entirely outside their control.

I also believe that I can learn something, too. I’m trying to make better digital content, too. Hopefully we can all help each other.