Sam Schulz Is Named Newsletter Strategy Editor
As part of the rebuilding of the Los Angeles Times, Executive Editor Norman Pearlstine and Deputy Managing Editor Sewell Chan made the following announcement.
We are pleased to announce that Sam Schulz will join The Times in the new role of newsletter strategy editor, reporting to Scott Sandell. She will help improve the reach, voice and impact of our existing newsletters, and help us launch new ones.
Schulz comes to us from Bloomberg, where she oversaw the creation of its first premium newsletters for digital subscribers. Previously, as a digital enterprise editor, Schulz oversaw reporters covering health care, education, finance and the workplace. Before joining Bloomberg in 2016, Schulz was a senior editor at Politico; a digital editor for NBC-owned local television stations; and a reporter for legal publications, focusing on litigation and regulation.
Schulz is a native New Yorker who owes her occasional “y’all” to her mom’s songwriting and the years in Nashville it afforded. She returned to New York to attend Columbia University, where she studied English and creative writing, before starting her career in 2007.
The Times began sending curated email newsletters in 2015. Today’s Headlines now reaches 322,000 readers each weekday; Essential California, 268,000. Other newsletters — on politics, food, sports, travel, business, real estate, opinion, health/science, movies, the arts and the Oscars — have important and growing audiences.
Newsletters are crucial to converting readers into digital subscribers and retaining their loyalty. They give us a direct relationship with consumers. And they bring in substantial ad revenue, with potential for sponsorships.
That’s why we have been investing in newsletters: In February, Kim Bode, an expert in community engagement and user-centered journalism, joined the business side as our product manager for newsletters and, in April, Julia Wick joined us as the lead writer for Essential California, taking the baton from Ben Oreskes. Improvements are coming soon in the design of newsletters, and the ease with which readers can sign up for them. We are delighted that Schulz is joining this important effort.
