Hi everybody ! Long time no see, on the blog at least. We've been busy making updates and improvements to pckt since our last post in... (checks notes)... July...

A lot has changed since then, and we wanted to look back on what we've released in that time, and also announce a couple of brand new features that are releasing today.

Let's get into it. Yuh... 🐱

A better place to read.

There's a new Explore page to help you find your next read. Blog posts are organized into shelves curating new and popular posts from around pckt and the atmosphere. We've also added space for suggested blogs based on the blogs you already follow, a chart of the top 100 growing blogs, and a save for later button so you can pick up long reads where you left off.

Photo Galleries get some love. Just drag and drop.

We've revamped the experience working with photos and galleries in our editor. Now, you can lift and place images into galleries, beside text, or anywhere you'd like your photos to be. Here's a video we made showing off the feature.

Newsletters - get your blogs to inboxes!

Yep, we finally did it! You can now build a mailing list for your blog and send new posts right to your readers inboxes.

And it's available to everyone. Free blogs can have up to 25 email subscribers, plus as many non-email subscribers as you like. Paid blogs get room for plenty more email subscribers.

Readers can join with their email address from your blog, and you can send any published post to them from your own blog's name.

Your mailing list should belong to you, so we've made it so you can bring one with you from another platform, or take your pckt list with you if you ever leave.

Bring your writing.

We realize that some of you are already established bloggers on other platforms. Your blog should be portable, which is why we've added import tools that allow you to import your blog from: Substack, Ghost, Tumblr, Buttondown, Pika, WhiteWind, or from anywhere that exports as Markdown.

It wouldn't be fair if this is was a one-way deal. We've also added an export tool so you can export your entire blog as Markdown.

Let us know if there's more platforms we should support.

Notes on pckt.

Notes have gotten some attention since we first announced them. Threads are easier to follow, links get nice previews, and you can now quote a passage from any blog post right into a note.

We're starting to see pckt notes become a place for conversation around the things people are writing. A place to find community, share what caught your attention, and get a little deeper into the blogs you love.

We haven't forgotten about writing.

pckt is growing to be so much more than a space to write, but with each addition we want to make sure that we don't take away from the writing experience. Without a good place to write, pckt would not be the place we are trying to build.

We've tidied up the editor to be less cluttered and less distracting from your writing. Under the hood, we've made performance enhancements to make writing on pckt smoother and more safe.

Here's a few things we've added that may have been missed:

Making an editor that feels enjoyable and safe to use is quite a challenge! We are committed to building one of the best text editing experiences out there. Our editor has come a long way and we can't wait to make it even better.

Make your blog feel like you

We've added even more ways to make your blog your own, without making it any harder to just start writing. With new style options to play with, your blog can feel a little more like you. Take a look at the Customize page to see what's new.

Getting around and a new homepage

Our new homepage may be too much fun. On desktop, you can interact with a number of items from my workspace. Bump, squeeze, and drag, turn your speakers up for maximum delight, and don't forget to sign into pckt once you've had enough play.

We've also made pckt easier to navigate with simplified menus and a left navigation bar on desktop that follows you throughout the site. Hey, if you're logged in, you may be able to see it right now over there on your left. 👈☺️

As always, thank you so much for being here while we keep making pckt better. Whether you've been writing, reading, leaving notes, sending us feedback, or just poking around, we're really happy you're here.

OH! and one last thing, we are giving away all of our October earnings for LGBTQ History Month. If you'd like to participate, check out one of our paid blogging plans. If you're already a member, you're already helping. Thank you!

Happy blogging,

pckt.blog