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Are we in a newsletter bubble?

About this episode: This week we have the first Newsletter Crew community episode. We’re going to start doing community episodes frequently now. These episodes will consist of having 3-4 members of the Newsletter Crew community come on and discuss hot topics within the newsletter space. And this week we’re discussing a very interesting topic. Are we in a newsletter bubble? This week we have Zahid, Reza, Rohan, and David joining us! Zahid is a newsletter publisher and maker of Mereku, a discovery platform for newsletter content. Reza, who is a writer and startup growth strategist and Head of Growth at Sorted and writes a weekly newsletter called Out of Curiosity, which promotes mental models to help you get 1% better every day. Rohan runs the Bootstrapped Branding newsletter which helps all kinds of early-stage entrepreneurs build killer brands without big budgets, personal connections, or prior experience. and David who runs The Land of Random, a newsletter rediscovering the magic of the internet.

Link to the podcast: https://newslettercrew.com/podcast/ep18-are-we-in-a-newsletter-bubble-with-the-newsletter-crew-community/

Episode sponsor: SparkLoop (https://sparkloop.app/)

Feature Newsletter Growth Story: This week we’re featuring Victor Lei, creator of The Average Joe newsletter. Victor’s newsletter is growing 30% faster with a SparkLoop referral program without having to lift a finger.

Are you interested in being a part of the Newsletter Crew community episodes? Become a member of the Newsletter Crew today! You'll also get access to forums, chat, successful newsletter creators, a featured spot on InboxStash.com, and so much more!

Newsletter Crew Membership (20% discount): https://newslettercrew.memberful.com/checkout?plan=45199&coupon=PODCAST

Show Notes & Insights:

  • We’re still early in this newsletter cycle. The bubble is far out but coming.
  • A lot of people will drop off after they either go back to work or their circumstances change.
  • Are we really in a “bubble” or simply a hype cycle?
  • Newsletters are becoming what blogs were ten years ago.
  • Our tastes are shifting, we all want to go straight to the source.
  • The ways, means of creation, and barriers are entry have been changed. It’s so much easier to start a newsletter today.
  • Newsletters are a medium that will get more popular due to the sea of content that’s here.
  • Newsletters get the keys to the kingdom.
  • Most people who start a newsletter will drop off.
  • There is something inherently human about newsletter type of communication.
  • Newsletter fatigue is only happening in our own newsletter bubble. Normal people probably are only subscribed to one or two newsletters.
  • Practice in public.

Newsletter Crew Community Guests:

Zahid Lilani: @ZahidLilani, http://mereku.com/
Reza Saeedi: @rezsaeedi, https://outofcrsty.substack.com/
Rohan Gandhi: @timesnewrohan, https://bootstrappedbranding.com/
David Nichols: @land_ofrandom, https://thelandofrandom.substack.com/


If you’re interested in purchasing the Profitable Newsletter course, please use the link below to help support the show.

Profitable Newsletters Course: https://kintuhq.podia.com/a/hdixb

Newsletter: Join the newsletter to get amazing curated content on how to be a more successful newsletter creator. Go to https://newslettercrew.com/newsletter.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/newslettercrew

Patreon: if you’re interested in supporting the show, become a patron here https://www.patreon.com/newslettercrew. We’ll be reading the supporters each week.

  1. 3

    I've been wondering this for a while now!

    1. 1

      Well you'd be surprised by the discission this week haha

  2. 2

    I'm getting a 404. Can I find this episode anywhere else?

    1. 1

      Seem like the link has changed on the backend. Check it out here https://newslettercrew.com/ep18-are-we-in-a-newsletter-bubble-with-the-newsletter-crew-community/

      Apologies for the inconvenience

  3. 2

    @yaroslawbagriy this is a really timely question to raise, and I can't wait to digest it fully (will listen after dinner!). But there were two quick thoughts that leapt out from my previous research:

    Is there a market?

    The flip side of @datagod's "for younger generation emails almost don't exist" is where the gold is: for CxOs, VPs and other execs, email is central. And they're not retiring for decades to come.

    They are where the money is (it's no accident that the poster child of profitable newsletters, Stratecherry, targets them). So you can say email is where the money is.

    Why newsletters, why now?

    I think this is much harder to answer.

    Infrastructure like SubStack certainly helps make it accessible.

    But I think 'social media fatigue' is closer to the truth, and it's causing an era shift:

    • Consumers are aware 'social media is bad for mental health' and want to cut back.
    • Publishers - in particular the truly bright minds people want to follow (@harrydry @FalakDigital @dru_riley etc.) - don't want to be constrained by the formats of Twitter/FB, nor have their relationships owned.

    It's not all roses though. Newsletters still have a terrible reputation amongst the masses. So I think - I hope actually - what we're seeing is the start of the classic S adoption curve, still with early adopters, and there are years to play out.

    1. 2

      Very legit post! Just makes me more bullish on newsletters!

      1. 0

        The thing is why everyone is jumping on newsletter is because of TREND. People follow not what could work better than for example newsletter, but they are jumping what guru says. I know the data, the email marketing is decreasing why do you think IGN is not doing well with email newsletter. Because this generation is not using emails anymore. Simple as that, if you want to follow trends go ahead, but you'll always be behind. Innovate! Don't follow the mass. That should be the motto.

        The one who will cash the best on it are email services. As the quote goes : Don’t Try to Mine Gold When You Can Sell Shovels

        • And Yaro of course, you are one of those salesy man who would do anything to "promote" people to jump into newsletter. Funny!
        1. 1

          I mean we all have our own opinions. Email is still by far the best way to keep a direct intimate connection with your audience.

    2. 1

      Thank you for mentioning me.

  4. 2

    Yes we are. But for younger generation emails almost dont exist anymore. They use it only to make purchase and thats it. Prepare that bubble will POP soon

    1. 2

      That's an interesting observation but don't you think eventually the younger generation will graduate college, look for a job, and will need to use their email more and more once they embrace 9-5? They might not use it to communicate with their immediate circle but will overtime realize that it offers a lot more than just a receipt dump.

      1. 0

        No younger generation won't use the email service, even if they would need the email for job or whatever. They will dump all the "promotion" newsletter. They have other ways of getting news like from youtube influencers. We are talking about the age of 18 - 23 they rarely use as much emails as older generation use, already. If you take a look at 13 to 16 years they don't use emails at all. Why? Because that generation is not made for reading, they want information on fast and what they look for. Not some salesy promotions on emails that older generation get. So what do they do? They find information over youtube, google it and that's it. Building community on younger generation is far harder.

    2. 1

      Sure if you're in the B2C space. In B2B it is the center. Plus as people get older they move more into email. I never used email when I was 16 too.

      1. 0

        The thing is why everyone is jumping on newsletter is because of TREND. People follow not what could work better than for example newsletter, but they are jumping what guru says. I know the data, the email marketing is decreasing why do you think IGN is not doing well with email newsletter. Because this generation is not using emails anymore. Simple as that, if you want to follow trends go ahead, but you'll always be behind. Innovate! Don't follow the mass. That should be the motto.

        The one who will cash the best on it are email services. As the quote goes : Don’t Try to Mine Gold When You Can Sell Shovels

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