Newsletter Issue Grader: Free Claude Skill

How it works

Set the frameClaude notes the send date, news cutoff, events window, covered towns and the sections you run.
Scan for blockersCrime items, wrong-town items, unverifiable claims and past events are flagged first.
Sweep and mapDashes, stock phrases and ratings are counted, and every item is mapped to its town.
Score ten checksNews, events, restaurant and business, and the whole issue are scored with a quote for every deduction.
Apply the editor testA plain yes or no on whether an editor would send it without touching it.
Rank the fixesBlockers first, then fixes by points recovered, each with a rewritten line and the projected score.

Have this ready

The full issue text
Send date
Covered towns
Sections you run
News source links (optional)
This week's event calendar (optional)

What you get back

Verdict and score out of 10
A ten-line scorecard with quotes
Named weaknesses
A ranked fix list with rewrites
Projected score after fixes

A taste of the output

From the worked exampleMade-up town, for illustration

VERDICT: Do not send
SCORE: 3/10  (News 1/3, Events 1/3, Restaurant and business 1/2, Whole issue 0/2)
EDITOR TEST: No. The editor would rewrite the intro, the lead, the restaurant and three event blurbs, and would ask where Harvest Fest went.

BLOCKERS
- "voted the best pizza in the county": no source supplied. Source it or cut it.

WEAKNESSES
- Missed the biggest event: Harvest Fest is absent; Wine & Paint Night is featured instead.
- One-neighborhood issue: Kettle Creek readers get nothing this week.
- Vague lead: "funding for parks and roads".

FIX LIST
1. Rewrite Restaurant Radar (blocker, +1)
2. Add and feature Harvest Fest (+1.5)
3. Rewrite both Why It Matters lines (+1)

PROJECTED SCORE: about 9/10. Crosses 8 after fix #5.

(Towns and businesses are made up for illustration.)

What's in the download

newsletter-issue-grader/SKILL.mdThe playbook Claude reads

newsletter-issue-grader/examples/worked-example.mdA full sample run

newsletter-issue-grader/references/quality-checks.mdPass or fail checks

newsletter-issue-grader/templates/operator-worksheet.mdFill-in worksheet

New to skills? Here is how to add one to Claude in about three minutes.

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Questions

Why is 8 the minimum to ship?

Because an issue that follows every rule but has a vague lead and generic event blurbs lands around 6, and nobody forwards a 6. Eight means the lead is concrete, the events are right and the features are specific.

Can it check whether my facts are true?

It checks facts against the sources you supply and flags anything it cannot confirm. Ordinary unsourced details go on a 'not verified' list; specific claims that look invented become blockers for you to source or cut.

My newsletter doesn't run every section. Will that hurt the score?

No. Tell Claude which sections you run. It only grades those, moves points within an area when a section is skipped, and keeps the score out of 10.