Andrea Hernandez

Today's interview is with Andrea Hernandez, the creator of snack-focused newsletter The Snaxshot.

With more than 3,000 subscribers including Pepsi executives, direct-to-consumer brand enthusiasts, and snacks lovers around the world, this unique, niche newsletter curates the new, interesting, and noteworthy when it comes to all things snacks.

Tell us about your writing background.

I have a degree in Business Marketing and Communications and I've always been fascinated by media. Over the last decade, I've worn different hats as a content manager, PR specialist, and copywriter working in advertising, eCommerce, and social media.

Tell us about Snaxshot. What made you decide to create this newsletter?

Snaxshot came via request on Twitter. I started tweeting about things I was looking into and trends I'd picked up on particularly focused on aesthetics. These threads became popular content for me over the summer, so I decided to dig deeper, looking at the economics behind the trends, who the main/incumbent players were, and any useful information I could provide to people in the food and beverage industry.

My intention was to create a space for brands and consumers alike that felt neutral and honest...not a bought media space or just another directory. Snaxshot was always created with a consumer-first mentality. As someone who knows how gimmicky marketing can be at times, I wanted to contribute more honest conversations around these trends that could help consumers navigate through the waves of brands coming out of this commodification of wellness.

What kind of writing education/training did you have? Is most of what you use day-to-day self-taught, or did you have a course/teacher/book that really impacted your writing practice?

I'm not a professional writer; in fact, English is my second language. I'm not entirely sure I write in proper English, and I thank Grammarly for mitigating the differences in terms of how I communicate in two languages.

I do enjoy reading A LOT. I've filled my head with magical realism books and short stories and I get a lot of my inspiration in terms of creating a narrative from the likes of Jorge Luis Borges and Luis Cortazar: two famous Latin American writers.

I also enjoy reading humor. I love the New Yorker's Daily Shouts section. That being said, I'm pretty sure I'd benefit greatly from an editor!

Your writing voice is so unique and personality-packed. How would you encourage other writers to find and harness their own?

I think it depends on why, what, and who you're writing for. Snaxshot is inherently me, which is something I learned from Marty Bell of Poolside.fm: Create something that's an extension of you.

In my opinion, that entails you having passion and emotions. I don't write because it's a gig or a job, but I genuinely enjoy what I write about so it's easy for me to voice it. I also write for myself, not for another publication, so that also helps.

If you're struggling, the best thing I can recommend is to look for your intention. What's the purpose of what you're writing? If you can answer that versus. just writing "to write", I'm sure you will see the difference in terms of harnessing your voice.

It has to be difficult to come up with consistently solid newsletter content. How much work goes into each edition, and what are the things happening behind the scenes people might not realize?

To me, it's less about time and more about utility. What I mean by that is that I just don't write to write; I do research and make sure I have enough to start filling the basics, intro, what's the market like, who are the OGs in the space, who are the incumbents, challenges, opportunities, etc.

Once I have that foundation, I start to create the narrative. It's usually a week-long process, but there have been issues that have taken longer to hash out (and I am also okay with that because I would rather publish something useful than just push something out because my newsletter goes out every X amount of days.)

I also give 150% of my effort. I want the content to be appealing and to resonate with my target audience. I've been able to maintain a 50% open rate for my emails, which is a good indicator that I'm making sure I always give people something to look forward to.

I know you're in a difficult spot when it comes to accepting subscription payments for Snaxshot based on geographic location. Seeing as that's not ideal, what would you say to readers who don't realize how much creators and writers depend on this financial support?

There's always a workaround, and I think it's good to compensate people for their time and work. I don't have the ability to paywall, but in that limitation I was able to establish a Patreon and list out three different pricing tiers to allow people to opt-in and pay if they deem the content worthy of it.

This has proven to be the most wonderful of experiments because I have learned that people appreciate my content so much and it's extremely validating to see readers opt for the highest monthly tier. It's great testament to building with utility-first in mind.

For people who feel intimidated about sharing their writing with the general public, what advice do you have to help them get past that fear?

Tweet it, experiment with threads, DO NOT TAKE YOURSELF SERIOUSLY. You have to start somewhere.

I was extremely intimidated to push out my first issue thinking it'd bomb and I'd make a fool out of myself. It turns out I was very wrong. Overall, know that fear is us creating limitations for ourselves.

Try to get yourself out of that framework: listen to your favorite song, take yourself for a drink, go for a run...anything to put you in a higher state of mind that removes that fear constriction so that you can just hit PUBLISH and be done with it.