It’s Time to Finally Crack the Code on Newsletter Ad Sales
We’re Dan Oshinsky, of Inbox Collective, and Ian Barto and Nate Heintz, of Ad Astra. We’ve worked with some of the biggest newsletters in the world — brands like 1440 and Nice News — as well as B2B newsletters. We’ve even helped one-person, local newsletters bring in more than $100,000 per year in ad sales.
Anyone can learn how to make more money selling ads in their newsletter. You just need the right systems to put in place.
That’s why we built the Newsletter Advertising Playbook — a three-step system guaranteed to help you sell more ads and maximize your newsletter’s revenue potential.
Step 1: We’ll deliver a personalized ad assessment for your newsletter
You’ll provide us with a few details about your newsletter, your audience, and your current ad pricing. From there, we dive into your strategy and deliver a customized assessment of your strategy, showing you what’s working, what’s not, and where you’re leaving money on the table.
This isn’t some templatized doc. Everything is tailored specifically to your newsletter. We’ll dive into your current ad sales system to identify gaps that are costing you money. With our assessment, you’ll learn exactly how to price your ads and what ad formats you should implement to drive more revenue.
Everything’s done asynchronously — that way, we can deliver your personalized assessment within just a few days.
Step 2: We’ll give you the Playbook for success
We’ve spent years learning best practices for ad sales, and months turning all of that knowledge into this step-by-step guide. The Playbook is the companion to the assessment — first we’ll give you the strategy, and then the Playbook shows you how implement the system to execute on that strategy.
Plus, we’ll share best practices you can implement immediately — everything from how to identify the right people to contact at a prospective advertiser to how to write ad copy — to help you sell lots more ads in your newsletter.
Step 3: We’ll give you a complete suite of sales resources
Whether you’re a one-person operator or part of a big team, the Playbook comes with a set of tools designed to help accelerate your sales growth. When you buy the Playbook, you’ll also get:
- A media kit builder that can create a custom media kit for your newsletter in just 15 minutes — no design experience required.
- Examples of real media kits from best-in-class newsletters.
- The template Ian and Nate use to draft contracts with any new advertisers.
- A spreadsheet to track your leads and active clients.
- A series of prompts to help you use AI to send better emails to prospective advertisers.
The Playbook is a one-of-a-kind offering in the newsletter world
- You get expert, personalized insights from three pros in the newsletter space.
- You get the step-by-step guide to implementing an elite sales system.
- And you get the tools to execute on every part of your strategy.
You get all that for just $500.
Still have more questions? Here are a few answers:
Who’s behind this Playbook?
Dan was the Director of Newsletters at BuzzFeed and the New Yorker. Since 2019, he’s run Inbox Collective, a consultancy to help publishers grow audiences, build relationships, and drive revenue via email.
Ian and Nate ran ad operations for The Water Coolest, prior to being acquired by Barstool in 2021. Since then, they launched Ad Astra Media and have sold over $8.5 million in newsletter ads on behalf of publishers.
What types of newsletters will get the most out of the Playbook?
If you’re selling ads in your newsletter but have room to grow, this Playbook is perfect for you. We’ll show you how to set up the systems — alongside customized recommendations — to help you make a lot more money from ads in the months and years ahead.
But if you’re just getting started with ad sales, you’ll get lots of value from the playbook, too. We’ll make sure have all the knowledge and tools you need to hit the ground running.
In general, we think newsletters with at least 10,000 subscribers will benefit most from the Playbook. (Anything smaller and you may not see significant returns from your ad strategy.)
What makes this Playbook so unique?
You can find ebooks online that explain some of the basics of ad sales. But this isn’t an ebook — it’s really a customized consulting paired with systems you can implement to maximize your ad sales.
What kind of questions do you answer in the Playbook?
We’ve answered more than 30 of the biggest questions we’ve been asked about sales, including:
- How do you collect the right audience data?
- How do you find the right people to contact at a company?
- What are the rules for a successful sales call?
- Should you ever offer discounts on your ads?
- How do you write a good ad?
- What data should you report to a sponsor?
- How do you convince them to book another ad?
What if the Playbook doesn’t work for me?
We’re so confident that this book will deliver massive value, we’re offering a money-back guarantee. If you’re not seeing results in the 100 days after buying the Playbook, we’ll refund your money.