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Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

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Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#43

It's a little light and snarky for my taste, but if you see it as a thin slice of "what people are talking about" more so than "what happened," then it makes sense. If you read this every day it basically hands you clever hot takes on current events you can use to sound smart with your friends. Not hard to see the appeal. Personally, for thin-sliced news that's more about "what happened," I prefer Axios :)

Then you would love Wikipedia's current events page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#44
post #15

I thought the newsletter trend was a bit ridiculous, and then I started writing one. Writing a blog feels a bit like throwing messages into the wind, and tweeting sometimes feels like trying to start a conversation in the middle of a concert. Writing a newsletter and knowing there's a group of people who signed on to hear directly what you have to say feels so much more personal.

I don't understand how everyone is expecting to monetise newsletters. Who in their right mind pays for a newsletter unless the newsletter provides some transactable value (cheap flight deals etc)?

People read newsletters to be informed on certain topics, entertained, or for their curiosity.

Those who find enough value out of a newsletter that does one of those things for them, will be willing to pay for it.

You could say the same thing about books, newspapers, magazines, etc.

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#45
post #15

I thought the newsletter trend was a bit ridiculous, and then I started writing one. Writing a blog feels a bit like throwing messages into the wind, and tweeting sometimes feels like trying to start a conversation in the middle of a concert. Writing a newsletter and knowing there's a group of people who signed on to hear directly what you have to say feels so much more personal.

I don't understand how everyone is expecting to monetise newsletters. Who in their right mind pays for a newsletter unless the newsletter provides some transactable value (cheap flight deals etc)?

People who are not struggling or cheap? I pay for a couple of newsletters (on Substack).

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#47
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the idea of a newsletter compelling. But I never read any of the newsletters that I signed up for. So to me it feels like even if I did have people sign up for a newsletter that I’d write, most of the recipients would not be reading it either. Like 98.8% of this hypothetical audience of mine probably would not read the letters I feel like.

I, too, have signed up for a few newsletter subscriptions——just in the last few months——that I never seem to read. Is there an email-newsletter equivalent for "tsundoku?"

> I, too, have signed up for a few newsletter subscriptions——just in the last few months——that I never seem to read.

Me to. I wonder why that is, though. Is it the fact that I have little time? Is it my email client's user interface where an entire folder of unread newsletter emails always looks particularly intimidating? Or maybe I'm just associating unread emails with yet-to-do tasks and, thus, with stress?

I think, (for me) it might be the latter two points. I mean, I listen to podcasts on Spotify, too, and am able to make time for them. But with the Spotify UI I never get the feeling that I have to listen to each podcast or that I have unfinished business to take care of. I can listen to a couple podcasts in a row and then not touch that podcast for a couple months and Spotify won't nag me about it.

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#48
post #15

I thought the newsletter trend was a bit ridiculous, and then I started writing one. Writing a blog feels a bit like throwing messages into the wind, and tweeting sometimes feels like trying to start a conversation in the middle of a concert. Writing a newsletter and knowing there's a group of people who signed on to hear directly what you have to say feels so much more personal.

OTOH, your newsletters cannot be found through $FAVORITE_SEARCH_ENGINE, are not archived through the Internet Archive, they cannot be linked to, …

I don't know, as a reader I like blog posts a lot more.

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#49
post #15

I thought the newsletter trend was a bit ridiculous, and then I started writing one. Writing a blog feels a bit like throwing messages into the wind, and tweeting sometimes feels like trying to start a conversation in the middle of a concert. Writing a newsletter and knowing there's a group of people who signed on to hear directly what you have to say feels so much more personal.

OTOH, your newsletters cannot be found through $FAVORITE_SEARCH_ENGINE, are not archived through the Internet Archive, they cannot be linked to, … I don't know, as a reader I like blog posts a lot more.

Exactly this. As a reader, I want to search old posts when I have time to read them and am looking for a specific topic, rather than wait for a weekly email and hope it's relevant.

Re: Morning Brew went from college newsletter to $75M in 5 years

#50
post #15

I thought the newsletter trend was a bit ridiculous, and then I started writing one. Writing a blog feels a bit like throwing messages into the wind, and tweeting sometimes feels like trying to start a conversation in the middle of a concert. Writing a newsletter and knowing there's a group of people who signed on to hear directly what you have to say feels so much more personal.

OTOH, your newsletters cannot be found through $FAVORITE_SEARCH_ENGINE, are not archived through the Internet Archive, they cannot be linked to, … I don't know, as a reader I like blog posts a lot more.

Why not have both?

You send your newsletter, but show the contents in a blog post format as well.

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