How to Build and Grow a Newsletter as a Business Model

[Andy Black]

I'm having a hard time imagining how to write what I'm learning about in an engaging way.

People love following journeys. Add personal touches to your stories. Photos and maybe even videos.

Let them know they’re following a fellow human being.

Think about the progress threads you enjoy following in the forum. Which stand out to you and why? The trials and tribulations draw us in and have us cheering them on from the sidelines. Those threads can be so much more engaging than a “Here’s how to do XYZ” post.

 

[p0stscript]

I have no problem admitting I'm a student and make mistakes and fail all the time. Way better to be a student than a fake expert.

Even into my seventh decade I still see myself as a student, life changes too much for you to ever stop learning.

And vulnerability makes you more relatable.

You're not that experienced guy who already knows everything about everything. You're someone similar to your audience. That makes you a "real" person and someone they can emulate easily.

I like this, I am a bit of a jack of all trades, this is giving me ideas to run with, thank you.

 

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[MTF]

The only drawback with this type of content is that it's more geared towards someone building a personal brand versus a business one.

One way to mitigate this, I suppose, is to make this one "arm" of your content. Perhaps have different "editors" or "contributors" for different content arms?

That might prove a workable solution for those who intend to exit their newsletters one day.

As long as you write it under a brand name I wouldn't worry too much about it. The first concern is to build your newsletter. Once you have loyal subscribers, you can take it in many directions. And if you ever want to sell it, then the new owner would want to roughly stick to your strategy anyway (else subscribers would unsubscribe) so I don't think it's that big of a deal.

I remember subscribing to a newsletter on alternative investments. At first it was more of a personal brand than a brand newsletter as the name of the guy was always included along with the name of the newsletter. Eventually the guy decided to partner up with someone else and they turned it into a regular brand start-up.

I'm talking about Alts | World's Largest Alternative Assets Site It all started with a newsletter, now it's a regular business with the newsletter still being their core offering.

 

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[MTF]

Usually people ask me to edit / proofread what they've written in English (here in Italy English is a low-priority subject for the majority of people). Online, I've had native English people ask me to edit their writing too.

In my world I'm famous for being knowledgeable about many different topics. I know the basics of a lot of subjects. I can have an intellectually stimulating discussion about a million different things. Such a breadth is cool in conversation, but it doesn't feel useful at all in business. Or maybe I know more than I think and I'm just limiting myself.

Also, I'm known for being a good listener, which comes naturally to me. I shut up and ask prodding questions to move the conversation forward or to let the other person dive deeper in what they're talking about.

I have a feeling you'd do very well with Farnam Street style of a newsletter:

Learn faster, Think better, and make Smart Decisions

Timeless lessons and insights that help you think better, learn faster, and make smart decisions.

fs.blog

Their description is exactly what you wrote in your post:

Brain Food. A weekly newsletter packed with timeless insights and actionable ideas from a wide range of disciplines.

Do it, @Madame Peccato. I'd be happy to provide any tips I can.

 

[MTF]

I have a question about monetising a newsletter if you start from scratch and don't have an audience yet.
Would you start monetising the newsletter from the get go or would you write for free for a set period of time? (But how can one then transition to a paid version, if you ever only wrote for free?)

I think it depends on the type of your newsletter and your chosen monetization method.

1. Paid subscriptions

The guy behind trends.vc does free reports on various business opportunities/trends and includes more examples/resources/thoughts in the pro version.

In this case, you could start with the first issue. By default, you'd write the paid version first and then cut stuff out of it to publish as a free version. These reports are still valuable a year from now so even if you get no paid subscribers in your first weeks/months, they'll still be useful for your archives.

He has over 1000 subscribers with current pricing tiers of $20/month (just the paid newsletter), $25/month (the paid newsletter and community) and $100/month (the paid newsletter + community + masterminds). Assuming that the middle tier is the average one he makes a nice $25k/month from this setup.

If your newsletter isn't like this and you'd publish more, different emails for paid subscribers, then in the beginning it makes little sense (particularly if your content isn't evergreen). I'd focus on building trust and authority first and then adding the paid tier later.

2. Affiliate marketing

Simple. Use affiliate links from the first issue.

3. Sponsorships

Won't hurt to advertise sponsorship spots from the first issue. It'll prepare your subscribers for future advertisements, too.

4. Your own products

I wouldn't start until you have at least a few hundred subscribers because otherwise it'll be a waste of your time.

5. A community

Same as above, only I think I'd wait for at least a few thousand members to make sure you'll have at least a few dozen active people in your community.

6. Consulting/coaching

From the first issue because one sale can potentially bring a lot of income.

 

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[Supa]

@MTF you got me excited for a business model with just one post. Well done.

Currently working on my first novel and was thinking about ways to get it out there as soon as it is done. Especially your posts on how Amazon works at the moment concerning self-published books got me thinking more about ways to promote a self-published book.

Your post convinced me to go with a newsletter as not just a marketing tool for my book(s) as I thought about it so far. And instead create one as a business itself that can then also be used to promote my book(s).

Within minutes of reading your post I had the topic of content, the name and ideas for this newsletter running through my brain. It’s been a long time that I’ve been excited about creating something, besides writing, so thank you for that

 

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[Taktik]

You know what, I'm in. Ever since I joined the forum, I couldn't stick to one idea. There were always things, that bothered me a lot. This happened with every idea I ever looked into. But with a newsletter it suddenly feels as if a lot of things are already going for me. That's incredible.

Now I just have to decide, which topic to choose. In the last couple of days I thought about it a lot and I have two ideas, that I think have some potential.

One is an overarching theme, under which I could write about a couple of different topics that I find interesting. In this newsletter I could write about the things I learn along the way, so this would be a student newsletter.

The other one is about a topic I was looking into lately. I found, that there is a lot of noise in this sphere, but that really good content/information is rare. So this could be a curated newsletter, that shows the best news in this specific area.

To be honest, I would like to start them both - as these are two different types of newsletters. But then again I am a fan of focus, as you can get farther with the same amount of energy invested, when you just focus on one thing.
This could be a classic case of FOMO. Or maybe the reason I am thinking of starting both is, that I don't really know, how much work it would take to produce a newsletter on a regular basis.

 

[Madame Peccato]

Progress report?

It was a hectic week between Ukraine and my mom breaking her foot, but I managed to pick a topic and have an outline ready. I'll write the full thing tomorrow.

 

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[MTF]

The platform/software seems very nice but their pricing model seems a bit steep though. i.e - They increase the monthly fees based on the number of subscribers (including free ones) rather than a % of paid profits. So if you get a few thousand free subscribers and don't have any monetization channels in place, you'll end paying them a large monthly cost. Has this been an issue for you since your newsletter doesn't seem to have a paid subscription either ? I know some tech startups who got into trouble with this model because of using a service which charged based on the number of signups (including free ones) and the app going viral.

This is the same model used by all email marketing providers like ConvertKit, AWeber, etc. They're a bit cheaper than Ghost but don't offer its most important newsletter publishing features.

I don't think it's that expensive to pay $99/month for 10,000 subscribers. Even if it's a free list, if you can't generate at least $99 a month from your list then it means it's probably a bad business.

I think that the percentage of profits is terrible for newsletter creators as platforms that do that (like Substack) don't help you with marketing. They get a percentage for doing nothing. With Ghost, you're paying for more subscribers but it won't get more expensive just because you make more money.

 

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[MTF]

I'm alive. What a PAINFUL process, good grief. Yes, I'm 2 days late, but...it was either this or nothing.

It was pure agony to power through all the objections my brain was throwing at me. I have written 3 different articles and deleted all of them. Not fun. I was VERY close to deleting this one too

I finally settled on a topic and powered through it. I'm satisfied with the result (mostly because I hit the publish button, lol). But dear Lord, it took me sooo much time. Now I feel like I know better what was stopping me, so next issue will be easier for me to produce.

Here it is:

Words, Words, Words!

Language controls your thoughts – but you control your language

waltermoraschinelli.substack.com

Things I've figured out:

• I need more notes - I recently deleted all of my old notes because they got too messy. I restarted about a month ago with Obsidian, but I'm still building a knowledgebase.
• I've done 0 editing and re-reading. There will be the occasional typo as I'm human, but I know how it'd end if I were to edit my writing. I'd publish my 1st issue in 2030. I'm ok with the current writing quality, so that's a relief.
• Self-sabotage is not cool. I need to listen to my brain less.
• I should dedicate 10 or so minutes every day to reflect on topics. I feel like I rushed through it all in the last 2-3 days. I guess what I need is to actually manage my time in regards to the newsletter.

Things I want to figure out:

• The optimal length. This first attempt is at ~1.000 words. I just wanted to get it out. I'll experiment with different lengths now that I have a better idea of what goes into the project.
• Have an idea of topics I want to talk about. Right now I plan to go very wide and see if there's anything I enjoy writing about in particular.
• You know...get some subscribers I want to write at least 2 more issues, maybe 3 before I look into promotion. I want to have at least have 2-3 extra issues ready to publish so I know I'm committed.

That's awesome! I'm very happy to see that you followed through and got it done. Now that you have the first issue live, there are no obstacles anymore. It only comes down to writing (and marketing it).

A little bit of feedback on your article:

But let’s go back to words and why they matter.

I was told by a professional editor to avoid structures like that because they make the reader feel as if what you wrote before that "But let's go back to [the main topic]" is irrelevant and unimportant.

Words will make you free, if you use them correctly. Languages have so many different ways

You didn't finish this thought.

Our brains, especially in heated situations, is easily confused

Our brains are, not is

This is most commonly seen when people are giving you useful advice, but you aren’t willing to listen to it. And in self-talk.

A very abrupt and unexpected transition into the second sentence. IMO, it would be clearer if you wrote "You can also notice this problem when you talk to yourself."

A more elegant way of beginning a conversation in this fashion is simply by saying: “Hey, are you free now?”

Are you used to starting your sentences with “to be honest” or “I’m not gonna lie”? These are destructive speech patterns that imply you’re lying every time you don’t preface your sentences with them.

Luckily, there is a straightforward solution: abolish these phrases from your vocabulary.

I'd transition from one example into another more smoothly as this also sounds like an abrupt change of the topic.

Depending on the topic/issue/style, sometimes it's also a good idea to end the issue with something related to the opening of the article or a more general observation as otherwise it results in an unexpected, abrupt end.

Having said that, again, I'm super happy you took action, overcame your perfectionism, and published it for everyone to see. It takes courage and it takes discipline. But most importantly, it's the first real step that most people fail to take. Once you take that first step, it's way easier to keep going.

 

[MTF]

Nice growth. Curious what your monetization strategy for the newsletter is ?

I have a few ideas in mind. One of them is a private online community/mastermind, perhaps with regular calls with people influential in the niche. For example, pro athletes, adventurers, philosophers, etc.

Sponsorship may be an option as well if there's a good fit though I'd rather prefer a long-term relationship with a brand I believe in (for example, it would be cool to partner up with Strava).

Live events or "discomfort workshops" could be also interesting but that would be hard to scale and logistics would be an issue as well. But it's doable.

For now, my priority is to build it, understand the newsletter industry better, and then see where it takes me.

 

[Andy Black]

As a side note, it's interesting to see how different approaches we have. It seems like you want to go in many directions right away while I'm a guy who'd rather focus on as few things as possible.

That’s me trying to find a marketing channel/strategy that might work long term, and make use of the assets you’re already building.

“What’s the extra twist you can do on the end of what you’re already doing?”
(Blaise Brosnan)

You’ve already done the reading, research, writing, and editing. 20 hours worth per newsletter issue?

I’m sure you could create sub 60 second videos that get just one point across in each. There’s software out there to help do this, and there’s people doing this affordably.


My thoughts on YouTube are that you could create short videos that are summaries/key points from some of the books you’ve read and issues you’ve published. There’s whole channels of book summaries, and whole channels just of YouTube shorts. If you have the videos you can get them posted to other platforms too.

Maybe they’re evergreen topics or questions and people will find your videos on YouTube and Google for years to come.

Maybe those videos get embedded into the online newsletter issue? This would increase time on site, which helps SEO. And YouTube videos rank well on Google.

I’d also want a value exchange from newsletter subscribers who will never buy. A great value exchange could be that free newsletters direct them to free videos, and they in turn watch, like, comment on, and share (which helps get those videos their initial traction).

Oh, and I liked Nicolas Cole’s thinking that your main asset isn’t the social media channel, or even your email list. Your main asset is the content that gets people onto your list. Build that library of newsletters, videos, etc and take it from platform to platform.

“Don’t tell the same people different things. Tell different people the same things.”

 

[Andy Black]

I researched YouTube. My conclusions:

1. Whiteboard animation is extremely cheesy these days. Well, I've known it for a long time lol. And I'm saying it as a person who produced several dozen of such videos in the past few years.

2. Live action videos produced with stock footage look cheap, cheesy, and generic. If I were to do it, I'd love to achieve this level of quality and this was all shot by the Youtuber himself (who's a filmmaker).

3. I'm not going to invest my time and effort in shooting videos myself since this would be like a separate business. Even if it was a talking head video (which is horribly boring for me to watch), it's still too much work and it's not my strength.

4. A freelancer/agency producing okay-ish videos (nothing spectacular) with stock footage charge at least a few hundred dollars per 1-2 minutes of a video. That's too big of an investment considering it's not really satisfying quality anyway.

So not sure how to approach YouTube. I know that you'll probably say something like "try and see." From my perspective, if I'm going to put out mediocre stuff I wouldn't watch myself, I'd rather not publish anything. Same with writing.

So, yet to decide what to do to scale this newsletter. So far it's been slowly growing almost exclusively with my subtle, organic marketing on Reddit.

You seem to talk in absolutes a lot.

Paddy Galloway has a great YouTube channel with whiteboard videos. There’s a handful more channels I know with great videos and great metrics. My subjective view of course.

James Jani uses stock video and his videos doesn’t come across as cheap, cheesy, or generic.

Have you watched any Alex Harmozi talking head videos or listened to the audio on his podcast? Do you find them boring? Even if you did find all talking head videos boring, are you your market?

If you can’t justify paying a few hundred dollars per minute of video, then don’t. I’m sure there’s ways of getting video created without paying that. There’s lots of tools out there to help.

I’m not going to say to try it and see. That’s up to you. It seems your current job is find a path that suits you and that also suits your market.

 

[JoeyF]

This is a good tool to see what questions people are asking in your niche: Search listening tool for market, customer & content research - AnswerThePublic

Could create a well SEO'd blog to answer these questions and funnel traffic to your newsletter

 

[Supa]

Little update on my progress with my newsletter.

I looked at quite a few newsletter tools, Substack, Ghost, MailCheat(Chimp), Revue, and some more. For now I decided to go with ConvertKit.

One of the most important factors for me is that you can easily access the sent newsletter posts online as well, so that they not simply disappear for anyone to read after they are sent, except in the inboxes of those subscribed at the time. So more of a blog/newsletter hybrid.

Set up a little landing page, bought a domain, created a little logo myself and did all the serious stuff like disclaimers, privacy policy and some more things that one needs when running a website in the EU and in Germany.

Currently writing on my first post to publish. Taking me some time but it's going faster and faster, while I already have more posts in the pipeline that I'm working on simultaniously.

 

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[Andy Black]

Ones that resonates with me were:

• There’s bravery in brevity. Small is considerate, difficult, and valuable. Most books should be a blog post. Most blog posts should be a tweet. Most tweets shouldn’t be.

Shorter is indeed harder to do, and more valuable imo. Loved the “Most tweets shouldn’t be.” 100% agree.

• Don’t get bogged down in tracking clicks. Respond. People are not “opens.” People are not “clicks.”

Amen. I’ve been saying that for years. Stop calling it traffic.

• Meet your subscribers. When you meet readers in person, you get a better understanding of how what you do fits in their world. It shapes the way you publish, as well as what you publish.

Get to Zoom as soon as you can. Only the most engaged will want to. You’ll benefit more than they will.

• When stuck, apply another constraint.

Yes! Constraints are what make us innovate. So long as we see hurdles as stepping stones.

• Be ready to unlearn in an instant when presented with new information.

This is good advice for business and life.

 

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[MTF]

How can you test newsletter ideas quickly?

Can you create simple opt-in pages and then focus on figuring out how to get a constant streams of new subscribers?

I can set it up super fast with Ghost or maybe even use Carrd instead.

Perhaps I could skip writing any content as well and just book an ad or two on a similar newsletters and see how many people sign-up.

After their sign-up I could redirect them to a simple survey form to learn more about what they're interested in.

Thanks for that suggestion. Going back to the basics.

By the way, that's roughly how this newsletter got started (notice how extremely simple the landing page is):

Get They Got Acquired's free newsletter

Want our stories and advice in your inbox? Sign up for our email newsletter.

theygotacquired.com

Here's a great article on how she did it:

How We Got 1,000+ Email Subscribers Before Launch

Here's the scrappy approach we took to growing our email list for They Got Acquired from 0 to 1,000 subscribers with only a landing page.

alexisgrant.com

 

[MTF]

I'm trying to figure out a way to do this where it's fun to write for me and I'm not quite there yet.

The way I see this working is, If I can get to a place where I have fun writing the newsletter and there is strong interest in the topic for the reader, that's where the magic will happen.

But it has to be fun to write otherwise I know I'll struggle to keep it going and really invest the time and effort into making it a great newsletter.

I can relate to that. In general in business perhaps you shouldn't chase passion but IMO in writing, if you can't have at least some fun doing it, it just isn't going to work.

This is particularly important if you're building a mostly solopreneur kind of a business where you don't plan to ever hire someone else to write it for you. Most writers/writers-entrepreneurs don't want to do that.

What makes writing your newsletter enjoyable?

Is it giving your thoughts in your own style?
Working on your writing and seeing that improve?
Knowing you're delivering value and building relationships?
Entertaining people?
The subject matter is super interesting to you?

For me and my current newsletter:

• Voluntary discomfort has been a part of my life for many, many years. I don't see myself ever not doing it because whenever I take a break, my life gets worse.
• It's an excellent way for me to contemplate my own self-improvement, particularly since all my articles so far are based on specific quotes from books (that makes it more enjoyable to write than if I were to provide just my original thoughts).
• It fills a gap for my target audience. So far I haven't found anything aimed at self-improvement for men that wouldn't be about pick-up/dating/sex, fashion, gadgets, or toxic masculinity. The only exception is www.artofmanliness.com but they tend to be quite conservative in style and for older readers.
• It helps me remember better what I learned from the books I read. I also enjoy sharing quotes from these books with other people.
• I like inspiring my male friends to get uncomfortable. The newsletter lets me do that on a larger scale (although most of the time I can't see the results with my own eyes as I can when I push my friends face to face).
• Potentially it will help me network with some men I inspire. That would be an incredible bonus.
• I think that many men these days struggle with lack of purpose/depression/apathy and similar mental issues. I know for a fact that discomfort can help them feel better. So if I can help turn someone's life around, this is how I can provide real value.

 

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[MTF]

Just secured my first YouTube sponsorship / a "brand ambassador"

I'm really curious whether it will translate into any growth for the newsletter since these are two different mediums.

Still, I think it's a pretty rewarding kind of marketing as you're working directly with a fellow creator instead of a faceless corporation.

Also, I had a plan to hire someone to customize my Ghost theme once I hit 500 subscribers since the website looks basic and perhaps a little cheap. Maybe I'll do it sooner as I think that my opt-in rates could be much higher. A more professional custom brand design would help build more trust and show that it's not just another similarly-looking newsletter.

Update on the YouTube promo:

The first video (which he did for free to see how it would go) went live yesterday and brought me 3 new subscribers. And that's from a video with just 74 views as of now. He has a very engaged audience. He interacts with them in the comments and encourages them to check out my newsletter which is awesome.

There are 10 more videos to go.

It's interesting to test this whole "nanoinfluencer" thing (people who have between 1,000-10,000 subscribers).

If I were to reach out to a very popular influencer I probably wouldn't even get a response. And here I'm working with a guy who's super engaged and goes beyond to help me out.

Now, if I figure out how to find a few dozen such influencers, I think this could be a nice growth strategy.

Update on the theme:

I reached out to the most promising designer twice (via Ghost marketplace and on Twitter as I couldn't find his email address) and never heard back from him. I also checked out some other agencies but they either have too high of a minimum to work with or they're from India/Bangladesh (after some terrible failed projects in the past I have a rule to never work with anyone from this region).

I'm considering customizing the theme I have by myself. I should be able to figure out how to do the key changes in the code. I could also switch my theme to a paid custom one though the ones I found aren't that much better than the one I have. So I'll probably take the learning opportunity and brush up on my HTML/CSS skills.

By the way, an entrepreneur who knows coding or how to work with coders would absolutely kill it with a Ghost custom theme company. There are just a few such companies which is nothing compared to how many there are for WordPress. Ghost has been steadily gaining more popularity and there will be only more and more people interested in custom Ghost themes. Ghost also acquires some custom Ghost theme companies so that's your possible exit strategy.

On second thought, I'm semi-seriously considering this myself lol.

 

[MitchC]

I'm thinking of creating a logo and brand identity for my newsletter (and then redesigning the website) but I'm not sure if it's a sensible investment (logo and brand identity would cost between $500-1000, redesigning the website probably $1000+). I'm wondering how important design is for the success of a newsletter.

Arguments for spending money on professional design:

• You'll have a brand identity and stand out from other newsletters.
• It'll help make it look and feel like a "real" business and not just a random blog/newsletter.
• It'll possibly increase opt-in rates as it'll look more legit.
• It'll possibly encourage more influencers to work with a well-designed newsletter and treat it more seriously in general.

Arguments against spending money on professional design:

• It's just a newsletter. It's the content that matters. Most people visit the website once anyway and then read articles in their inboxes.
• It's possible action faking, fooling myself it's important while what's important is marketing.
• I could spend this money in a better way, for example on launching the curated newsletter.
• There are some big newsletters that have bad or basic design (for example Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter) and nobody cares.

What are your thoughts?

How much would it be to get on a big podcast? I think $1000 would go a decent way in terms of influencer marketing or a podcast or newsletter mention?

What’s your current optin rate? I don’t think branding would increase it much

The Hustle example you shared has a few things yours doesn’t

It has reviews and testimonials

And it has a disclaimer about it being easy to unsubscribe and that they won’t spam you

If you wanted to tweak the site these are the things I would start with to increase the conversion rate

Typical direct response style things, not branding

Also for the person above who matched their button color to the logo, it might look nice but you’ll generally convert better if you have the button color a unique color to the site which stands out, it can still match your branding, but don’t just blindly make it the same color as your logo.

Again, the Hustle is a good example of this, black logo, black website, and bright red button. It still matches the brand but if he made that button and box black like the logo it would blend in and convert less. Sam is huge on copywriting and direct response and a massive tight arse so it’s no surprise he has an ugly website that’s clearly designed with direct response tactics in mind to convert.

 

[Andy Black]

I don't want people to think I'm pretending to be a great man. Compared to the men I cover I'm nothing. If I accomplish something big like the guys I cover then perhaps I'll change it lol.

I don’t think anything on the homepage comes across as you pretending anything.

Why not swap that paragraph for something stating you’re a self-employed writer who enjoys exploring different parts of the world and pushing yourself in various sports such as X, Y, and Z?

You’re a great writer and a great researcher. Both are true, and both would likely encourage someone to signup.

On a separate note, I don’t think it’s healthy (or true) that you think you’re “nothing” compared to these “great men” you’re studying.

 

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[MTF]

From the Sparkloop newsletter:

KEY TREND​

Personality-driven content​

True fans of quality cinema will remember the classic quote from Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights: "if you ain't first, you're last".


This sentiment has long been a popular one in journalism and news reporting. With emphasis put on the value of getting the "big scoop".


But for newsletters? Not so much (anymore).


Smart operators are rapidly learning that readers place little value on you being the first to "break" a story in their inbox.


The audience is looking not for news, but for the writer's personal take, opinion and insight on a given subject.


As Toby Moses, head of newsletters for The Guardian told Press Gazette:


"There’s been this personality-driven news trend recently [...] newsletters feel like they offer an opportunity for a way to talk to readers quite directly that is distinct from what you can do on the website".


This dynamic makes sense in a world where — increasingly — people's media consumption habits are shifting rapidly from brands and channels to creators.

It's also a huge opportunity for newsletter operators.​

Being "first" is hard and unpredictable. It requires a huge budget. And you're constantly fighting against superior distribution channels for "time-sensitive" media — like push notifications and Twitter.


Embracing personality-driven content, on the other hand, plays into a newsletter operator's strengths.


The inbox is an inherently personal place. Where the reader will afford you more attention than they would elsewhere.


More importantly — unlike competing to be first — there's nobody out there who can write your personal take better than you can.

So how will this play out?​

Already, we can see the changes unfolding across newsletters of all kinds...

• The Guardian is one of many traditional publishers ditching the "bundle of curated links" approach to newsletter creation in favour of original, long-form newsletter content
• Morning Brew and other first-movers are acquiring/launching personality-driven newsletters of their own, like Money with Katie
• Newsletter operators are seeing value from investing more time into strengthening their personal connection to readers. From being active on social media, to events and more "personable" content formats like video on TikTok and Youtube

Our take is that this isn't a fad. It's a trend that's here to stay.

 

[MTF]

Last week I sent a survey to my list and asked them a few questions about my newsletter, the content, the length of it, etc. I then followed up with people who left their email address and asked them some extra questions.

Based on the survey and the interactions, I created a new, shorter format for the newsletter. Looks like it was a good move:

 

[StrikingViper69]

First article drafted. I'll get two more done next weekend and kick things off.

I've been thinking about doing something like this for a while and have a note on my phone with 40-50 ideas. It was quite enjoyable to sit and write for an hour or so.

 

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[MTF]

From the SparkLoop newsletter. A good reminder that it's all about quality of your list. Better grow slowly but keep high open rates.

 

[MTF]

@MTF update?

I recently sold my newsletter for low four figures. I didn't even recoup my financial investment, let alone my time investment.

I'm still very pro email list but not so much for regular newsletters where you need to send content weekly or even more often. It's too easy to end up on what @Andy Black Black likes to call a "content treadmill" that does no good to anybody (including your readers).

Perhaps it can work if you hire writers but if you're doing it solo, it's a lot of work for a low return. It's because each newsletter issue only creates value when you send it. Very few people read the archives. So in a way, writing newsletters is like publishing posts on social media that disappear within a day or two. I prefer creating content that's more long-lasting.

Instead of newsletters, I would create free autoresponder-based courses that lead to paid digital products (for example, a 7-day course leading to a specific outcome and then selling a more comprehensive paid course). Then I would keep sending emails but to paying customers and primarily to upsell them. It's just not worth it to write content for free these days, particularly with the rise of AI.

 

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[woken]

I’m on beehiiv too.

Been manually sending lead magnets on Linkedin to every single one of my subscribers.

Currently at ~8500 subs.

No sponsors yet, just sparkloop&boosts bringing in $1k/month.

Recently hit me that I should do something more scalable— currently exploring that.

Willing to sacrifice some quality if it means I can grow it exponentially

 

[woken]

Is that because Beehiiv doesn't allow you to create an automated welcome email/series where you can send the lead magnet?

Good work at the $1k/mth revenue just from Sparkloop.

Currently working on writing more clearly too .

I meant that I’m using Linkedin as an acquisition channel. I post something, ask people to comment / message me and then send the link towards the lead magnet which requires their email.

Newsletter all time stats:
8881 subs; 59.8% open r, 8.5% click rate

 

[Tiago]

One that I like is Tomas Pueyo's "Uncharted Territories".

What keeps me from paying for the premium content, is that there is so much high-quality, free content out there. Maybe if it was super niche I would pay for it.

 

[Madame Peccato]

What do people ask you about?
What are you famous for in your world?
Interesting list above, and I overlap with you on IT and writing.

Usually people ask me to edit / proofread what they've written in English (here in Italy English is a low-priority subject for the majority of people). Online, I've had native English people ask me to edit their writing too.

In my world I'm famous for being knowledgeable about many different topics. I know the basics of a lot of subjects. I can have an intellectually stimulating discussion about a million different things. Such a breadth is cool in conversation, but it doesn't feel useful at all in business. Or maybe I know more than I think and I'm just limiting myself.

Also, I'm known for being a good listener, which comes naturally to me. I shut up and ask prodding questions to move the conversation forward or to let the other person dive deeper in what they're talking about.

 

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