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Milestone: My archaeology newsletter just hit 1K subs - next stop, monetization

12 points by jamesofthedrum ↗ HN
So excited! I'm having a ton of fun with it and growing organically (mostly reddit). Woohoo!

Next stop, monetization. I think I'll make the current format paid, and offer a truncated version to free subs. Pricing this type of thing is really hard, but I'm thinking $8/mo. Would really love feedback/thoughts if any of you have done this type of thing before!

ancientbeat.substack.com

21 comments

[ 12.3 ms ] story [ 55.6 ms ] thread
radiojasper
Congrats on the 1k subscribers! I personally would feel violated if i subbed to a newsletter and suddenly it was behind a paywall of $8 a month.

Brand New [0] did the same a while back, but for a much much lower price. And they offer their whole website with a massive history and daily updates for $2 a month or $20 a year.

I would personally try to find a sponsor instead of hiding your content that your 1k subscribers signed up for behind a paywall. A sponsor for a newsletter is IMHO a very normal thing.

[0] https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/subscribe

jamesofthedrum
Thanks for the feedback! I've thought a lot about sponsors and ads, but I don't know where I would find people who want want to sponsor a newsletter on archaeology/ancient news. If you have any ideas, I'm all ears!
radiojasper
Museums?
Zircom
Museums are presumably gonna be interested in getting people to visit them, and 1000 people isn't really a high enough number to guarantee a significant amount of them will be local to the museum and able/interested in visiting. Maybe history/archaeology podcasts, or websites/blogs would be interested in some plugs or ad placements maybe? Those aren't restricted by locale.
jamesofthedrum
Thanks! Yeah, I think that's my best bet sponsorship-wise. I don't think it's big enough yet, though. I've reached out to a few youtubers and podcasters, but haven't heard back from any of them. Oddly, I also reached out to some about advertising on their channels, and I didn't hear back about that either. I'll keep trying!
jamesofthedrum
Really appreciate the idea, but I agree with Zircom - they're too geo-restricted. Maybe if a museum had a course or online experience that I could advertise... Something to think about. Thanks!
radiojasper
Yeah you're right, this was a brainfart but after reconsidering that for 5 seconds it's clear to me this is too generic.

But since I didn't want to leave you hanging I thought about it a bit more and I came up with a list of websites that could potentially sponsor your newsletter. Sorry if this comes off as intrusive, this is just my brain not being able to let this go :)

1. Online antique stores: loveantiques.com / 1stdibs.com / rauantiques.com

2. (Online) magazines dedicated to classic art: minervamagazine.com / juxtapoz.com / artnews.com / theartnewspaper.com / artltdmag.com / aestheticamagazine.com (offers a subscription service)

3. Education dedicated to art: courtauld.ac.uk/study/ / corcoran.gwu.edu

I hope this helps!

jamesofthedrum
Whoa, just saw this. Thanks so much! I can't believe how much time and thought you put into this — it's really really kind of you. You're awesome. I'll check these sites out :)
softwaredoug
I love your newsletter!

Particularly I love reading the most interesting headlines to the kids at the dinner table. Keep it up!

jamesofthedrum
Whoa, so awesome that this newsletter is being read around the dinner table to kiddos! Really glad you're liking it :)
jamesofthedrum
Btw, since you're subscribed already, do you mind me asking what you think about the $8/mo? I'd really value your opinion.
softwaredoug
I would think about it for sure.

My comparison point would be a Patreon podcast membership that’s $5 a month for weekly bonus podcasts.

I would do this ASAP if you plan to. As in the “podcast” model you’re getting more than what youre used to receiving for free. Here you’d be restricting free content to something less than people have gotten used to.

jamesofthedrum
Thanks, Doug, really appreciate that feedback! Yeah, I'd prefer to add value for the paid tier, I just don't know where I would find the time. This is really helpful, though, thanks again. I'll keep noodling on it :)
asdefghyk
Why not a survey to ask current subscribers this question?
jamesofthedrum
I mentioned it a few issues ago but didn't get any responses about it. Maybe I wasn't explicit enough in my ask. Something to think on - thanks for the feedback!
exolymph
Congrats, that's awesome! Simon Owens has many articles about this – paywalled, ironically, but worth it IMO, and you could just pay for a month and then cancel. His case studies based on interviews with media entrepreneurs are especially good.

Link: https://simonowens.substack.com/archive?sort=new

jamesofthedrum
Nice - that's really helpful, thanks! I'll definitely check it out.
cercatrova
Trends.vc does this, it works very well for them. I think they make mid 5 figures a month. If people want, they can unsubscribe but honestly I doubt most would.

Sponsorship could work, which is why you should add it in addition to, not instead of, a paid newsletter.

jamesofthedrum
Yeah, I agree, that makes the most sense — paid tier has paid subscriptions, free tier has sponsorships. Thanks for the feedback!
skymer
What's your barrier to entry that supports charging money? An equivalent list of articles seems like it could be generated in a few hours a week from the content on r/Archaeology. Maybe that could even be automated.
jamesofthedrum
Fair question. There are some other newsletters that have links... I don't know of any who summarize the content into bite-sized but reasonably comprehensive snippets. Those summaries, as well as the curation itself, are where the value is IMO. I'm a professional writer and it takes quite a while to put it together each week. Might also be worth nothing that much of what I find never makes it to r/Archaeology (until I post it there in my weekly roundup).