
Is Anyone Going to Get Rich Off of Email Newsletters? - mathattack
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/10/substack-revue-email-newsletter-startups-tinyletter/599557/
======
undefined3840
I read an a16z blog post on the thesis behind their investment in substack,
which is the belief that there will be this big “passion” economy where
millions of people will be able to make careers out of making podcasts,
writing, etc. I don’t really buy it.

These things are tools that lower the barrier of entry to creating but that
alone doesn’t generate mass demand for creators. You will see power laws apply
just like it does in many situations, and there will be a handful of people
who can pull six or seven figures in something like writing a paid email
newsletter.

~~~
Multiplayer
I'm a big big fan of the "1000 true fans" concept as applied here. It's not
for everyone but.... who knows? If you are persistent and passionate...

[https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-
fans/](https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/)

[https://seths.blog/2008/03/1000-true-
fans/](https://seths.blog/2008/03/1000-true-fans/)

~~~
WA
What if 1,000 true fans is already a power law? Doesn’t seem a lot on a global
scale, but yet, who can claim to have 1,000 true fans with a paid newsletter?
For 1,000 true fans, you probably need 10,000 customers and be exposed to
100,000 people. Because 1% conversion rate to true fans seems about right.

Note: this isn’t about strict numbers. 1,000 true fans paying 10 bucks a month
might be enough. The same paying $2 a month? Doesn’t pay the bills of a
family.

I like the concept as well, because it seems a lot more approachable than
trying to build a unicorn, but what if only the top 0,1% really get 1,000+
true fans? Still a power law.

~~~
OnlineGladiator
> For 1,000 true fans, you probably need 10,000 customers and be exposed to
> 100,000 people. Because 1% conversion rate to true fans seems about right.

The rule of thumb for email subscriber to paying customer is actually closer
to 1% (compared to your 10%) which just means it's that much harder. I don't
think there is a rule of thumb for "true fan" conversion, where it might be as
high as 50% for something like Tesla and 1% for something like Comcast.

------
patio11
There were a lot of people who could claim hipster cred on the TinyLetter
boom, because they’re talking mostly about when a community / use case decided
to use email as a platform. Email was so obviously the most effective way to
sell professionally-oriented content that when I started my newsletter in 2012
I was kicking myself that I had waited so long. The seedy side of Internet
Marketing, and many less-seedy users, had been doing it since before the dot
com bubble. And that was decades after people sold newsletter subscriptions
_on paper._

Everything old is new again, sometimes.

~~~
AlchemistCamp
> _Email was so obviously the most effective way to sell professionally-
> oriented content that when I started my newsletter in 2012 I was kicking
> myself that I had waited so long._

When's the last time you published to that newsletter?

~~~
patio11
A few years ago; two kids and one very demanding day job have been keeping me
busy. Hoping to resurrect it at some point.

~~~
AlchemistCamp
Definitely looking forward to it!

------
zxlk21e
I’m the guy that submitted this:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21423263](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21423263)
which might be what this post is in response to.

I have a paid newsletter, and I’ve started a community / education site
dedicated to the model, as I couldn’t find one when creating my own.

Let me just say this... people are going to get rich off of paid newsletters,
full stop.

But like anything else, it’s a many will play, few will win game.

There are examples of newsletters that have done well, and many examples of
newsletters that have not.

In my opinion, given the choice between creating a blog and starting a paid
newsletter, the choice is a pretty simple one.

Blogging is heavily saturated.

Google is downright hostile towards new, small publishers.

CPM rates are looking downright anemic.

The legal requirements behind affiliate offers are becoming complex, and
sometimes confusing to understand.

On the newsletter side you have enhanced discovery, instant monetization with
rates chosen by you, an implied audience that is “in theory” additive by
nature, not just hit and bounce. Yes, you’ll have churn, etc. but that is how
I am viewing the value prop.

~~~
pergadad
Isn't the main challenge to get people to sign up?

~~~
zxlk21e
No, the main challenge is to produce fantastic content, over a long period of
time. That changes the sign up equation substantially.

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no_wizard
I think Ben Thompson is doing well on his. If your newsletter provides high
enough value then I believe you most certainly can

[https://stratechery.com/](https://stratechery.com/)

~~~
ci5er
It is more than "just" a newsletter, but it is certainly hinged around it, and
they are doing more than OK: \-
[https://www.theinformation.com/](https://www.theinformation.com/)

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lethologica
AT first I thought this was serendipity, but now I'm starting to think it's a
little more than a coincidence that this is the second time in as many days
that the topic of paid newsletters has surfaces to the front page of HN (See
my post history for some details)

Is there some sort of a push for this particular niche or something?

~~~
blunte
Some HN readers will see a new link posted that reminds them of a relevant
link they are familiar with, so they add their own submission. Or they may get
interested because of the first post and then seek out more info, ultimately
sharing what they found.

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nokya
Yes, companies that sell mass mailing services.

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godzillabrennus
Jeff Walker has been making money off email since 1996 and showing others how.
His stuff is basically the foundation of all the spammy content we see today.

Search for “The Launch Book” and you’ll find how to use email to sell.

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CPLX
Pretty surprised this author didn’t mention Jason Calacanis at all. He’s been
going on about this for awhile too.

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nightnight
The problem with newsletters from a product perspective: They are not
addictive.

~~~
Tomte
Hi nightnight1, meet Matt Levine.

~~~
palcu
To go a little bit off topic. Is there any other newsletter that even comes
close to Money Stuff for the tech industry and news in general? Yes the
Techmeme one is informative for the tech industry and NextDraft is good for
getting the news cycles. But both lack humid, irony and witty.

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arkitaip
So what newsletters out there are actually making money (besides Substack
ones)?

~~~
goqu
Morningbrew will be the top example.

Forbes: "Morning Brew’s native advertising revenue averages $200,000 a week
thanks to more than 40 active clients, including Microsoft, JPMorgan and
Allbirds."

~~~
hownottowrite
Here's a nice writeup on Morning Brew's formula:
[https://medium.com/marketing-and-entrepreneurship/reverse-
en...](https://medium.com/marketing-and-entrepreneurship/reverse-engineered-
how-morning-brews-newsletter-makes-200k-per-week-1cb91b847d58)

------
xellisx
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21423263](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21423263)

------
sdan
As others have mentioned, not many are going to get "rich".

However, everyone will get rich.

Rich with information that may not be available online (like what certain
people did on their YC application to get in...). Overtime I think
this/Twitter will be a great platform for people who want to enrich themselves
knowledge-wise rather than getting "clickbait" from random posts online.

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coleifer
Every website I visit these days seems to have this newsletter modal timebomb
that unexpectedly blows once I've read a few sentences or so. Like the
quarter-screen cookie dialog, I've just become blind to them searching just
long enough to find an "X" or "close" button. I wonder how many others are
being conditioned in the same way?

At any rate, i think it's worth pointing out that you can always blog (and
please support rss!). If the goal is to make money, maybe newsletters are one
way to avoid grimy ads, but that said, how many newsletters are filled with
ads and affiliate crap anyways?

I like the idea of getting emails for stuff I am consistently interested in. I
just don't get the hype.

~~~
blunte
Honestly, if the page started with the newsletter signup box visible, I'd be
more likely to consider signing up. But let me get 1-2 seconds into finding
the start of the content that I'm looking for, and then pop up a newsletter
(or any other) box over that, and I get annoyed. I'm VERY unlikely to sign up.
Not never, but practically never will I sign up.

Pop up a chat window next, 1-2 second after I closed the newsletter box, and
I'm even angrier.

Pop up a third thing and I'm out. Disruption is already bad enough in our
modern world... but building systems specifically to disrupt is just garbage.

~~~
bllguo
as always, it boils down to you being in the minority. This kind of thing has
been a/b tested to death.

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ykevinator
This is unreadable.

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angel_j
I'm never going to pay for articles by the Atlantic, that's for sure.

