Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 217 posts

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

#161

Post by anyfactor »

This is what I was looking for! I love seeing other people's normal work setup.

I will tell you my story. I was doing part time freelance dev work when I was uni (/college). I was very proud of my setup. My siblings essnetially gifted me the entire setup a decent laptop, dual monitors, mechanical keyboard, MMO mouse with 12 programmable buttons. I didn't use the setup for entertainment just for freelance projects and sideprojects.

Then I got a "real" job working for a bank. I had to move out to a shared aparartment.

Oddly, I would often just imagine myself in desk. For some reason, imagining myself there acted like my meditation/zen place. Helped me sleep.

One of the main reason, why I left that job and now work execlusively from my home is my setup. It is pretty damn average but being there comforts me.

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

#162

Post by [deleted] »

ryangilbert wrote: post #154
stevenjgarner wrote: post #152

New subscriber. Thanks for sharing. Would you be willing to expand on and clarify your revenue model? So inspiring and aspirational I'm sure to many of us on HN. Who was your first paid sponsor?

Glad you liked it! The revenue model is simply charging sponsors (1 per newsletter edition) a flat rate to get their message in front of my growing and engaged subscriber-base. First paid sponsor (and most that have followed) was a reader of the newsletter who wanted to promote their product to the audience.

[deleted]

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

#167

Post by rococode »

ryangilbert wrote: post #65
boplicity wrote: post #62

What's your process for securing sponsors for the newsletter? How is the sponsor slot integrated into the email?

Every month or so I add a short blurb at the beginning of a newsletter asking for sponsors and laying out my current metrics. This always leads to multiple readers replying with interest. The typical sponsor has gone on to book 4 slots at a time (I do not offer a bulk discount - this is just what they tend to do). The slot is integrated right after the intro blurb and before the guest's content. I offer them a headli…

Wow, is that the full extent of your sales efforts? Your readers happen to include enough interested sponsors that you've been able to sell out your slots just by asking your audience? That's awesome!

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

#168

Post by lrae »

ryangilbert wrote: post #151
99cent wrote: post #146

I'm curious about this too. And as a non-developer myself I don't see this asked/answered: What platform do yo use for your website and for the newsletter? Do you self-host or have a hosting service you recommend for doing this? I have always wanted to do a similar thing, targeting a niche segment, but don't know how to start on the technical side of things. Thanks!

I am hosting this on Substack ( https://substack.com/ ) which was free to get started in minutes. I was able to buy and add my own domain later as well. If I were starting from scratch today I would choose Beehiiv ( https://www.beehiiv.com/ ) over Substack. They just seem to care more and are more or less the same but adding features much quicker. I am moving to a custom setup soon but the above options are very usef…

beehiiv is for sure interesting, but also pretty expensive (for people starting out) with $50/month if you want to use your own domain. Just that people don't overlook that.

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

#169

Post by assttoasstmgr »

bradwood wrote: post #158
ryangilbert wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've highlighted many "minimal" spaces that are mostly just a Macbook. https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/032-teresa-man https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/172-pat-walls https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/168-samiur-rahman https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/048-leah-fessler https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/036-mike-slaats https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/workspaces-020-devin-bramhall

These all look very on trend, with only one that looked remotely like an engineer's setup (a front-end dev, IIRC). It would be cool to see some tech professionals' setups. I'm looking for lots of hardware, server innards hanging about, NVMe drives on the desk, and arduino nano with some blinky LED display, a nest of cables on the desk, and a lot less macbooks to boot! Maybe some Dell or Framework machines running Swa…

The Linux Foundation made a series of videos a while back which has what you're looking for.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbzoR-pLrL6rsb1bc3En9...

That playlist doesn't have them all but you can search their YouTube channel for more.

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

#170

Post by gpm »

amelius wrote: post #104
didgetmaster wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point of the newsletter is to showcase workspaces at home that really work for those doing creative things. It doesn't have to be an expensive setup or a super clean environment, but it should be functional for the task at hand. Just throwing an old computer on top of a garbage heap doesn't do anything for me!

You could wear VR goggles and turn that garbage heap into a beautiful beach. Someone should start selling VR workspaces.

First you need VR goggles that you can reasonably work in...

These guys are making a go at that: https://simulavr.com/

And facebook is probably going to in the future given the R&D they've been showing off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6AOwDttBsc

But having used the current generations of headsets (Valve Index, Quest 2), they just aren't quite there yet.

Post reply on HN