The Mistake Most People Make When Selling Paid Newsletters

Most people trying to sell a paid newsletter as an offshoot of their free newsletter struggle in part because they're approaching it the wrong way.

Let me explain...

What most creators do in this situation is their paid newsletter is basically the same as their free newsletter but includes additional issues or bonus content in some way that's not available in the free newsletter.

They sell "more."

But...

Almost nobody wants "more" - even of a newsletter they love!
Most people don't want extra emails in their inbox or extra "content."
And they especially don't want to pay to get more similar stuff that requires their attention.

I think a much better approach to a paid newsletter is to sell "different."
Instead of offering extra issues or bonus content, offer a newsletter that's a completely different take on a complementary/related subject that your free subscribers will want to access.

For example, a couple years ago I launched a paid version of my For The Interested newsletter which featured additional ideas each week (it was basically twice as big as my free newsletter).

Some people subscribed, but it didn't ultimately take off.
But now I'm offering a paid newsletter called THIS IS HOW I DO IT in which each week's issue offers a behind-the-scenes look at exactly how I do something myself to grow my audience and build my business.

This version of a paid newsletter is working much better (and I'm charging more) because it offers something DIFFERENT from my free newsletter, but something many of my free subscribers are interested to learn and willing to pay for.

(And fyi, I don't offer any free version of This Is How I Do It. My For The Interested newsletter functions as my "free" newsletter which draws people into my world and then some of them become interested in buying my paid newsletter.)

There are lots of ways to do this - it all depends on your niche, audience, etc.

If you've got a free newsletter and are trying to figure out what a complementary "DIFFERENT" paid newsletter might look like for you, let me know in the comments and I'm happy to give you some suggestions.