How did you get initial traction for your newsletter?
Twitter!
My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA
191–200 of 217 posts
Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA
#192Oh I actually do have a question. Is your setup featured too? If not, let's see it!
Hasn’t been featured yet but it is coming soon!
Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA
#193If you're still selling out at $250, have you considered raising prices again? Thanks for sharing this, it’s great to see people making money off of something they love.
I’ve definitely considered it but I have an (irrational) fear of having gaps in sponsor slots once I raise them. I feel that if I end up having gaps other potential sponsors may get scared off thinking that the price isn’t worth it because “clearly others are passing on it too”.
Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA
#194how do you know if subscribers are real, and 3000 of them are not actually cats?
I guess it’s a good thing that I like cats.
Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
Twitter DMs and GMail for all things related to the outreach and management of the content. Substack for the actual publishing. As barebones as you can get! (This will be changing a tiny bit next week)
What do you think of https://www.getrevue.co/ ?
I’ve never used it as a publisher but don’t like the design much as a reader of a couple newsletters hosted on it.
Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA
#196How do you handle submissions? Just by email or perhaps with a webform?
All handled through email to this point! It has worked well and allows for some personal back and forth.
Thanks! Looking at archives I see most have list of equipment and then some questions and answers. Do you prefer submissions process to be free format or more structured with standard questions?
Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA
#197Kudos! Although it's an entirely different type of content/business, this reminds me of Humans of New York . [1] There seems to be a broad desire for simple, consistent content about the lives of everyday people. I think it may be a reaction to the increasing unreality of most larger media outlets, which have become very contrived and overly-optimized. If I were looking to start a newsletter, I would pick a similar e…
There has also been plenty of criticism of HONY: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/humans-of-new-yo...
That is a fat lot of navel gazing that says almost nothing about anything. It demonstrates the worst tendencies of that rag, which I loved for 30 years or so.
Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA
#198I run Payload ( http://payloadspace.com/ ). We are a media company covering the space industry. Congrats on all your success so far. For those reading this, there is a lot of riches in the niches. Just choose a topic that you don't think gets a lot of coverage and start writing about it. Two areas that come to mind: - Geospatial - Nuclear Energy Media/content -- to Ryan's point is being consistent. As long as you do…
It’s always good to have that PMF. So many of us are struggling for it… uh, what is PMF?
Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
I won't presume to speak for the owner of this newsletter, but I do receive it, and I'd just say: "I don't want to see messy spaces." The whole point of seeing other people's workspaces is for inspiration – what are ways I could organize my desk, what are some neat things I might want to add, what tech is out there I could purchase to make me like my workspace better. My workspace sometimes look messy, but I always c…
OP here - thanks for the thoughts around this! I don't ask guests to clean their spaces beforehand but I totally understand why many do.
Ryan never asked me to clean anything. However, I find it hard to work in messy spaces, so my workspace rarely looks like a "real" one.
Re: My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
What works for them may not work for you, that's why it's their workspaces, who are you to judge them for how they like to work? If you want to compare, submit your own workspace then.
> who are you to judge them for how they like to work Generally speaking, publishing a deliberate, intricately staged (like a doll's tea party), museum exhibit-like workspace, which looks more like a Jony Ive wet dream rather than where actual humans produce, in a public venue, is a tacit invitation to criticism. This attitude is how we ended up with things like the MacBook butterfly keyboard.
It's interesting that you're assuming all these workspaces are staged and not how they actually work, with maybe a bit more cleanup like today's lunch bowl not on the desk, or water bottle / coffee cup and a few papers.
I know many people who are neat freaks and these "staged" workspaces are exactly how their lives are daily.