Start a Paid Newsletter

One of the most interesting trends I’ve seen over the past few years is the rise of paid newsletters.

Not nearly a week goes by that I don’t run across a new paid newsletter that people seem to be excited about and are keen to join.

And for good reason. It’s one of the most attractive models I’ve seen over my two decades of building and marketing internet products. Given the choice between blogging and starting a newsletter, I think the decision is pretty obvious.

Blogging used to be the old standby. If you liked to write and could finagle a website, you could develop an audience and probably figure out a way to make an income. It’s not that way anymore. Blogging is heavily saturated, and the SEO environment on Google is less than friendly to new startups.

I should know, I’ve spent the past 7 years in house at a major media company helping their brands stomp others without the advantage of trust and authority (and links) established overtime periods measured in decades.

So what does a paid newsletter operation look like?

A typical model is beginning to emerge. Most major newsletters, such as Ben Thompsons’ Stratechery, and Bill Bishop’s Sinocism, follow a repeatable pattern. They write fairly long-form editorials covering news events 4-5 days per week. Normally one issue is made free and public, as a way to acquire new readers and let people see what they’re buying into.

• Monthly membership prices range from $3 per month to well over $100.
• Many offer discounts for paying for a year upfront.
• Some offer team-based pricing options.
• Some offer communities and additional private sections of their websites.
• Topics range from startups and tech to personal blogs, to treatises on China and economic analysis. There’s also a fast-growing segment of sports-related newsletters, too.
• Most paid newsletters do not offer sponsors. I think that’s the right move, and I’ll go further into that in the future.

Check out the full blog post here: https://newslettercrew.com/start-a-paid-newsletter/