Ben Settle - Email Players 1 - 15 Online
Review: Ben Settle — Email Players Issues 1–15
Ben Settle’s Email Players is one of the internet’s longer-running newsletters focused on direct-response email marketing, copywriting psychology, and the mindset of a solo creator. Issues 1–15 offer an early, concentrated snapshot of the approach that later made the newsletter influential: short, provocative emails that teach selling through daily writing. This post summarizes the core lessons, highlights what works, and how modern marketers can apply Settle’s methods ethically and effectively.
Issue #3: The "No-Autoresponder" Autoresponder
In today’s world of 90-day drip campaigns, Issue #3 is heretical. Settle suggests that long, pre-written sequences smell like automation. Instead, he advocates for "live-ish" emails—batches written daily that reference current events. He reveals how he writes 30 emails in one sitting and then sprinkles "freshness" into each one (date stamps, news references) to fool the brain into thinking a human typed it just for you.
Issue #15: The "Exile" Strategy
The final issue in this collection is a blueprint for quitting social media forever.
The Lesson: Social media platforms are rented land. You are a serf. Issue #15 provides a 30-day plan to migrate your audience from Twitter (X), Facebook, and LinkedIn to your email list. Ben Settle - Email Players 1 - 15
He calls this "Exiling yourself to your own country." He argues that once you rely only on email, you never wake up to an algorithm change destroying your income again.
The Unfiltered Blueprint: Inside Ben Settle’s Email Players #1–15
In the noisy world of email marketing, few voices are as deliberately abrasive—or as consistently profitable—as Ben Settle. While gurus sell $2,000 courses on “funnels” and “automation hacks,” Settle has spent years championing a return to direct, conversational, and often confrontational email.
But his real goldmine isn’t his public newsletter. It’s Email Players—a monthly print newsletter (yes, physical paper) mailed to a tight-knit circle of subscribers. Issues #1 through 15 represent the foundational era of Settle’s philosophy, before the brand became synonymous with "enemy-fueled email." Here’s what makes this collection a cult classic among contrarian marketers. Review: Ben Settle — Email Players Issues 1–15
Issue #4: Why "Value" is a Lie
The marketing world screams "Give value! Give free content!" Settle calls bullshit on this in Issue #4.
The Lesson: Unpaid "value" is just noise. If you give everything away for free, your paid offer is worthless.
He explains the "Candy Shop Model." You let people smell the candy (free emails). You let them see the candy. But you do not let them taste the candy unless they pay. This builds desire. He argues that over-delivering free value is the fastest way to go bankrupt. No Video: Settle believes video is passive consumption
2. “Be a Pest, Not a Pal”
Most marketing gurus tell you to be friendly, humble, and helpful. Settle tells you to be a respectful pest. In Issues 1-15, he deconstructs the "attraction marketing" myth. He argues that polite, persistent follow-up (what he calls "the squeaky wheel") is the difference between a launch that flops and a launch that funds your retirement.
Issue #2: The Psychology of "Villain Marketing"
This is where Settle gets controversial. He introduces the concept that you need enemies.
The Lesson: You cannot serve everyone. In fact, you should actively try to repel the wrong people. Issue #2 details how to find your customer’s "enemy" (a bad habit, a rival guru, a government regulation, a limiting belief) and frame your product as the sword they use to kill it.
He dissects hate mail. He loves hate mail. He explains how every unsubscribe is worth $1,000 because it cleanses his list of tire-kickers.
Why These 15 Issues Are Different From Modern Courses
If you are used to $997 courses with beautiful slide decks, private Slack channels, and workbooks, Email Players 1-15 will feel like a slap in the face. And that is the point.
- No Video: Settle believes video is passive consumption. Text forces the reader to think.
- No "Funnel Hacks": There are zero tips on increasing Facebook click-through rates. Because Settle doesn't care about Facebook.
- Focus on "The Grind": Issue #2 is literally called "The Boring Secret." It talks about showing up every day to write an email, even when you have writer's block, even when you have the flu. No magic bullet. Just discipline.
