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My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA

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Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA

#71

Post by stevesearer »

ryangilbert wrote: post #64
michaelbuckbee wrote: post #58

Have you looked at any of the email newsletter sponsor marketplaces? I'm asking as your sponsor prices seem a bit low (I would guess you could probably get nearly double what you are).

I did awhile ago and found that many of them charged on the publisher side (and a hefty % at that) so I was instantly turned off. I have enjoyed working with sponsors who read the newsletter themselves too. It hasn't been too much work (only publishing twice per week). My main concern when raising prices is always if that will create a gap in sponsors. I'd rather have every slot booked at a lower price than have gaps…

I can vouch for not being reliant on ad marketplaces and instead having personal contact with your advertisers.

One way to increase your fees is to keep pricing the same for existing advertisers for a while and charge a higher rate to new advertisers. As you fill in spots with higher priced ads you can then transition older customers to the new rates.

Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA

#72

Post by silicon2401 »

ryangilbert wrote: post #17
jdmoreira wrote: post #10

How do you monetize? Sponsors? Affiliate links?

A mix of both. I sell one sponsor slot per edition. The current rate is $250 and I send 8 newsletters per month. This slot is sold out months in advance and the price should probably be bumped up. I have Amazon affiliate links where it makes sense on the blog posts themselves but this only generates a couple hundred on the best months. I should also invest more time into this going forward.

So to be clear, your email newsletter costs nothing to subscribers, but your income is through selling that sponsor slot? That's interesting. I wouldn't have imagined there's so much money to make in email newsletters from advertisements

Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA

#73

Post by ryangilbert »

didgetmaster wrote: post #68

It looks like you are up to 175 posts of various workspaces. I didn't look at each one, but all the ones I saw were nicely staged, organized workspaces. Did you get any submissions for 'real workspaces' with stacks of books, papers all over the place, and sticky-notes all around the monitors? If you did, did you reject them? I too, have a newsletter that I started last year about data management. I only have about a…

I don't reject them for being "messy"! I didn't anticipate so many people cleaning their desks off before their feature but that is what many have opted to do.

Here's some "real" ones:

https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/106-michele-hansen

https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/070-alex-wilhelm

Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA

#74

Post by ryangilbert »

stevesearer wrote: post #71
ryangilbert wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did awhile ago and found that many of them charged on the publisher side (and a hefty % at that) so I was instantly turned off. I have enjoyed working with sponsors who read the newsletter themselves too. It hasn't been too much work (only publishing twice per week). My main concern when raising prices is always if that will create a gap in sponsors. I'd rather have every slot booked at a lower price than have gaps…

I can vouch for not being reliant on ad marketplaces and instead having personal contact with your advertisers. One way to increase your fees is to keep pricing the same for existing advertisers for a while and charge a higher rate to new advertisers. As you fill in spots with higher priced ads you can then transition older customers to the new rates.

I like this approach!

Also - I've found that the personal contact with sponsors has made them likely to rebook or simply book additional slots up front.

Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA

#77

Post by ryangilbert »

silicon2401 wrote: post #72
ryangilbert wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A mix of both. I sell one sponsor slot per edition. The current rate is $250 and I send 8 newsletters per month. This slot is sold out months in advance and the price should probably be bumped up. I have Amazon affiliate links where it makes sense on the blog posts themselves but this only generates a couple hundred on the best months. I should also invest more time into this going forward.

So to be clear, your email newsletter costs nothing to subscribers, but your income is through selling that sponsor slot? That's interesting. I wouldn't have imagined there's so much money to make in email newsletters from advertisements

Correct! It's 100% free to sign up as a reader of the newsletter and all the revenue comes from sponsors putting their message in front of these readers.

Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA

#78

Post by ryangilbert »

atleta wrote: post #69
ryangilbert wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$2,000 with $0 in expenses... maybe "cash cow" isn't the correct term but it's definitely not too shabby for something that was set up in 5 minutes ;)

How much time do you put in into each edition (or during a month) on average?

1-2 hours per edition.

Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA

#80

Post by ryangilbert »

sschueller wrote: post #11
ryangilbert wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$2,000 with $0 in expenses... maybe "cash cow" isn't the correct term but it's definitely not too shabby for something that was set up in 5 minutes ;)

"$0 in expenses", he has to put work in it. I would define any labor to be an expense. It is definitely not "free" money.

I'm putting these together Sat/Sun morning while I sip my coffee. It's as close to free as it can be.
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