Building a community through Discord or Slack could be a way to deepen engagement with readers and drive additional revenue. But it comes with a lot of work — and some potential headaches.
Category: Indie newsletters
Newsletter writers are increasingly taking time off to grow their families, recharge with a vacation, or cope with burnout. Here’s what you can learn from those who’ve taken a break from writing their newsletter.
Over the past seven years, Virginia Sole-Smith’s grown Burnt Toast into a product that brings in six figures annually. Here’s what she’s learned about deciding what content to paywall, what kind of perks to give away to paying subscribers, and why her reader surveys are designed to get feedback from superfans.
Want to sell more subscriptions? Advisorator’s Jared Newman discovered one tactic that worked for his newsletter: Giving away more content.
In 2021, Léa Lejeune co-founded Plan Cash, a French-language newsletter to help women invest better. Now they’re offering paid training courses, 1-to-1 financial consulting — and even taking on investments for Plan Cash itself.
The Food Section brings independent coverage of Southern restaurants and food culture to inboxes. Publisher Hanna Raskin explains how she built the newsletter, grown her paying audience, and launched new editorial partnerships.
A.J. Daulerio survived the Hulk Hogan trial, the blog bubble, and bankruptcy. We talked to him about his current project, The Small Bow, and how he’s built a newsletter and a digital community to support others going through hard times.
Not every newsletter is trying to grow its audience quickly. For some indie newsletters, a focus on content or community — not growth — is the right move.
How do you know when it’s time to start monetizing? And what are the different ways newsletters like yours monetize? Let’s talk through some options.
Launching your newsletter is the easy part. Now comes the real work: Starting to build a loyal audience for your newsletter. Let’s talk about the next steps.