My newsletter is making $2k per month with 7k subscribers – AMA
Roughly two years ago when the pandemic had people shifting to a WFH environment, I started a twice-weekly newsletter called Workspaces that gives readers a behind the scenes tour of their favorite entrepreneurs, designers, developers, etc. new desk setups.
Growth has remained consistent week to week, relying on the featured guests Twitter presence to help spread the word.
I have featured 175 workspaces to date (70+ more in the backlog) and have grown the newsletter to 7,000 subscribers while maintaining a >50% open rate.
I published the fist 117 editions of the newsletter without a sponsor. I had inbound requests but I was focused on growing the subscriber base as much as possible. With the new year, I shifted this focus slightly and began offering one sponsor slot per newsletter edition.
Since then, the newsletter has been sold out weekly and the price has risen from the initial $150 to $250, earning $2,000 per month from sponsorships.
I think it’s important to note that this was not an immediate cash cow… sending out 117 editions of a newsletter without receiving a dime can be draining. You have to truly enjoy the content you are putting out (I do!).
However, I think this shows that consistency rules and as long as you continue to show up, put out great content and iterate based on feedback you will continue to see your newsletter grow and ultimately the money will come.
Happy to answer any questions around newsletter growth, finding sponsors, etc!
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[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 270 ms ] threadPast examples can be seen https://www.workspaces.xyz/ and https://twitter.com/workspacesxyz
Is it a cash cow?
Sorry I really should have something better to contribute!
Early on I made it a conscious effort to feature guests with larger followings than me. My hunch (which turned out to be correct) was that after the guests took the time to provide the content they would be very willing to share it with their networks.
Once the newsletter went out, I'd share the content on Twitter and tag the guest. 99% of guests go on to retweet or share in their own way after this.
"Hi [name]! I publish a newsletter with x+ subscribers that highlights the workspaces of creative individuals and would love to include you. Let me know if you're at all interested! :)"
I think the earliest guests simply liked the idea of the project and thought it would be fun to share the workspace that they spend hours of their day in.
Now I think people agree because they are able to plug their projects in front of thousands of readers.
What was the first "x" you used in that message early on? How did you get that many of initial subscribers?
It seems to me that the only way to bootstrap something like this is with ad spend or viral social media content that inspires people to subscribe, but that's sort of a chicken and egg problem if you don't already have wide reach.
I think these early guests simply loved the idea of being able to share their space with their community so probably gathered all of the content for themselves and then had no issue sharing with me as well.
I have never spent on ads or any sort of growth driver like that. All organic to this point.
It's not as chicken and egg as it may seem. Let's say you want to create a newsletter about, oh.. TCP/IP, say. You write some interesting articles about TCP/IP related topics, interview some people in the field, put together some cheat sheets or something.. build up a useful Web site about TCP/IP teasing your newsletter somewhere on each page, submit things from it to Hacker News, Reddit, and relevant places enough, and eventually something will work out.
And somewhat related because you don't do this, but for newsletters that are more "news aggregator" types that collect various blog posts/info, do they typically reach out to the authors before including the links in the newsletter asking for permission?
Nowadays, it's mostly inbound requests to be featured. Every time I send a new edition out I get 1-2 requests from readers to be featured as well. This has led to the current backlog of 70+ spaces that I am currently working through.
Re the news aggregator type newsletters... I'm honestly not 100% positive. However, Workspaces as a whole and also specific editions have ended up in some of these and I was only notified after the fact (not a big deal IMO).
Haven't fully thought out how that would look but it's definitely interesting...
Since work from home took over I've moved all that equipment to a budget Costco standing desk that seems to be a popular model on the warehouse floor https://www.costco.com/tresanti-47%22-adjustable-height-desk.... I think I paid like $275 on sale sometime last year.
I've modified that desk by fabricating a bracket on it to secure a Workrite Banana Board keyboard tray. I've also ceased using the mouse bungee at home since the bracket serves as a cable holder with a cable clip routing the wires. There's some other minor stuff like an old KVM switch and a DC barrel plug switch to restart the KVM switch when it misbehaves.
Does that sound like something interesting to feature?
I've run a network of around 10 newsletters of this type for about 10 years now and no, extremely rarely (usually only if something is obviously being kept on the down low or if a flood of traffic would be likely to cause problems, such as personal projects that use a lot of bandwidth). It hasn't been a problem though. People are generally very happy to get the attention and visitors in my field, but all of our links are positive and shining a spotlight in style, not criticism or making fun, etc.
I sell one sponsor slot per edition. The current rate is $250 and I send 8 newsletters per month. This slot is sold out months in advance and the price should probably be bumped up.
I have Amazon affiliate links where it makes sense on the blog posts themselves but this only generates a couple hundred on the best months. I should also invest more time into this going forward.
I definitely think some readers are hoping to get some sort of inspiration for their own setups as they either upgrade or begin to WFH more consistently.
I think another group of readers simply like the voyeuristic nature of peaking into their peers workspaces to see how they might compare.
Re future growth... adding a nice visual site to complement the newsletter soon. Very soon!
Often times people talk about products that create promoters and are good enough that you have users that eventually promote the good for you, but in my experience this is exceptionally rare.
Growth also comes in bursts based on advertising events. That may be, for example, by social media presence with responding to topics on threads that are relevant to your product.
I am curious about your general experiences, and if they align with mine.
I didn't make a single dollar until the 118th edition. 117 editions of doing it simply because I (and the readers) enjoyed this little hobby.
It also took over 400 days for the newsletter to get its first 1,000 subscribers. It would have been very easy to give up on the project in the early days when I wasn't seeing a ton of growth.
Consistency >
https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/161-diana-chow
https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/139-travis-andrews
https://www.workspaces.xyz/archive
lol wtf
My first question to your original post would be: "where's the link so I can see what you built?"
If I may suggest, it would be cool to include screenshots of their workspace on both desktop and phone. But may be that is too much to ask from them. Anyway thank you for creating a refreshing newsletter!
That's a good suggestion... I'll see if I can include that a bit going forward.
I started a home office site ~13 years ago and wasn't able to ever make it happen so I am glad to hear that someone has cracked the code.
The individual readers subscribe for free.
Although it's an entirely different type of content/business, this reminds me of Humans of New York. [1] There seems to be a broad desire for simple, consistent content about the lives of everyday people. I think it may be a reaction to the increasing unreality of most larger media outlets, which have become very contrived and overly-optimized.
If I were looking to start a newsletter, I would pick a similar everyday topic.
1. https://www.humansofnewyork.com
I think the consistent and predictable content is also what leads to the high engagement around it.
You don't have to worry about opening the newsletter not knowing if you will need to set aside 30 minutes to read an essay. Each newsletter is very visual and can be read in just a couple of minutes.
Congrats on the success!
This is news to me.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/03/28/morning-brew-tops-4-mill...
I have always been interested in how other people work, prioritize, think, their workflow and tools, and this really spoke to that interest.
Here were some surprises:
-- I was much more interested in their software than hardware.
-- I was most interested in their physical set up. This told me more about workflow than I imagined.
-- Everyone has a camera and mic these days -- table stakes -- but people had much fancier camera/mic setups than I do.
-- I also have a pad and pen. I was interested to see some people had set up a mini-teleprompter by putting their pad next to their screen.
Yeah... when people started tweeting pictures of their spaces I was instantly drawn to them for my own inspiration. I figured others might be too!
[Edit] Especially with that backlog.
I do pause new sponsors from time to time when I book out too far to give myself a chance to reevaluate.
I have enjoyed working with sponsors who read the newsletter themselves too. It hasn't been too much work (only publishing twice per week).
My main concern when raising prices is always if that will create a gap in sponsors. I'd rather have every slot booked at a lower price than have gaps at a higher price. This is less about the actual money hitting my bank account and more about how potential sponsors would view this. If they see gaps they may conclude that the price isn't worth it...
One way to increase your fees is to keep pricing the same for existing advertisers for a while and charge a higher rate to new advertisers. As you fill in spots with higher priced ads you can then transition older customers to the new rates.
Also - I've found that the personal contact with sponsors has made them likely to rebook or simply book additional slots up front.
After that they provide me with ~250 or so characters of text (not too strict on this) as well as text + link for a CTA button.
Outside of that, there are no demands from their end. Some ask for the Click Rate after the fact and some don't. If they ask I give it to them.
The main back and forth with sponsors is that when they book multiple slots they often want to test multiple versions of copy and/or CTA button.
The typical sponsor has gone on to book 4 slots at a time (I do not offer a bulk discount - this is just what they tend to do).
The slot is integrated right after the intro blurb and before the guest's content. I offer them a headline, some text (not too strict on character count as long as it isn't crazy) and a CTA button.
I have two sponsor slots open next weekend. Reply to this email if you’re interested in learning more about sponsoring Workspaces!
Some quick numbers: 5,700 subscribers 55% open rate
______________
Source and AD example in link below:
https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/149-allan-grinshtein
I think I have gotten very lucky in this regard and it might change if prices go up.
I promise that I welcome all workspaces - clean and dirty!
I too, have a newsletter that I started last year about data management. I only have about a hundred subscribers so far, but I am trying to grow it with interesting articles about how computers organize, process, and analyze all kinds of data. https://didgets.substack.com/
If I get a few thousand subscribers like you, I might look for sponsors too.
Here's some "real" ones:
https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/106-michele-hansen
https://www.workspaces.xyz/p/070-alex-wilhelm
"Some sort of ergo-friendly chair that I bought online" "Apple Watch in case I work out"
Have you ever posted your workspace?
I have also bought some artwork that a few of the featured guests created - partly to support/thank them and partly because I loved the art.