[HN Gopher] The time it takes to run a paid newsletter
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The time it takes to run a paid newsletter
Author : exolymph
Score : 34 points
Date : 2020-08-27 19:43 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (simonowens.substack.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (simonowens.substack.com)
| jamestimmins wrote:
| This is fascinating because while tools like Substack lower the
| technical barrier to entry for starting a newsletter, they don't
| make it easier to create good content. That part is still a
| grind.
|
| On a few occasions I've thought about creating a newsletter on a
| whim, only to think better of it when I consider how long it
| would take to create great content.
| mrjivraj wrote:
| You're certainly right. It takes quite a commitment to write a
| good newsletter.
|
| I started writing one last year myself. I have always been
| passionate about investing. And having grown up working in the
| tech and venture world, I've always had this theory that
| approaching stocks like Venture Capital can outperform the
| market, so I decided to write about it. It's been an
| interesting journey.
|
| Time goes into 4 areas: 1) Research (figuring out what to write
| about...in my case, investment ideas and philosophy) 2) Writing
| (developing your writing style, actually putting your thoughts
| down on paper, and simplifying the topic as much as possible)
| 3) Outreach (actually finding the people who will find your
| writing interesting) 4) Discussion (email, dms, zoom calls with
| readers can be insightful, fun and motivating, but take time as
| well)
|
| That's in addition to a full time job (if you do it on the
| side).
|
| Best of Luck if you decide to start one :)
|
| Here's a link to mine: https://playingfordoubles.substack.com/
| pryelluw wrote:
| The grind will always be there, but can be offloaded to ghost
| writers. The focus then lies on building the theme of each
| issue. Which itself is another grind.
|
| People dont realize that running a newsltetter is akin to
| publishing a magazine. They tend to see it more as publishing a
| blog, but are super wrong. Blogs are suspended in time.
| Newsletters expire (most do).
| dhimes wrote:
| The Marshall Memo [1] is one I happily subscribed to for a
| while. Kim Marshall went through the journals and gave a
| summary of the research and news most important to educators,
| weekly.
|
| [1] https://marshallmemo.com/
| iuguy wrote:
| I've been running Tales From The Dork Web
| (https://thedorkweb.substack.com/) since January on Substack. In
| some respects TFTDW is a bit like Tedium.
|
| So far it's been a pretty good experience, but I keep expecting
| the day to come when it turns into Medium.
| MaximumMadness wrote:
| I've been writing about the world of gaming via Substack for the
| last year or so (https://pausebutton.substack.com/) for somewhat
| sizable audience, and this is a particularly accurate breakdown.
|
| Links/Round-ups = retention. They make sure your brand stays top
| of mind for folks, but very rarely are they the thing that makes
| new subscribers come in. The tradeoff is that this is way more
| time-efficient that writing your own long-form.
|
| New Long-form Content = Growth. The long-form stuff takes us 10x
| the time to write, but is consistently responsible for the
| increase in audience size. If you're going full-time, this is the
| place to invest. Particularly because Substack is so bad at
| reader Discovery, you need to invest in getting people onto your
| publication in your own way (original content), because Substack
| only really helps the biggest creators drive traffic.
|
| It's why the I think the idea of bundling is going to be so big
| with newsletters, akin to how traditional newspapers started
| through a bunch of independent writers coming together.
| Eventually producing new long-form stuff wont be able to drive
| sustained growth and there's a cap on how much content a single
| person can put out.
| PatrolX wrote:
| You're better off with "self-hosted" Ghost.
|
| https://ghost.org/
|
| I don't understand the obsession with substack.
|
| Get on Ghost, run it on your own domain, own the entire asset,
| and stop paying the substack tax.
| mrjivraj wrote:
| +1
|
| But it's just so much easier to just get started and try to
| develop the writing habit. That's the primary objective of
| someone starting out, I think.
| foxdev wrote:
| You need a mailing address in the footer of emails in the US
| and any country with a CAN-SPAM-like law. Substack lets you use
| their PO box. It's even auto-filled. That adds cost for a self-
| hosted option unless you want your home address dangling out
| there or already have a business address.
| anonAndOn wrote:
| Small USPS PO boxes are ~$10/mo. Is the convenience of
| Substack's PO box worth $10/mo?
| jrott wrote:
| Most people don't want to run there own infrastructure. Also
| many newsletters are written by people that aren't technical so
| self hosting is for a really limited audience.
| louisswiss wrote:
| Interesting article, however I'm surprised the author only went
| into the time it takes them to create content.
|
| I run a bootstrapped product called
| [SparkLoop](https://sparkloop.app) which makes it easy for
| creators to add a referral program to their newsletter, and by
| far the biggest (and most annoying) time investment we hear
| newsletter creators complaining about is marketing, not content
| creation.
|
| For most newsletter creators, marketing takes as much (if not
| more) time as content creation does!
| Firebrand wrote:
| What's frustrating about discovering Substack content is I would
| have no idea Simon Owens wrote about why Patreon's business model
| is under threat if I didn't see this post on HN. I'm unable to
| come for the topic, and then stay for the author.
|
| If I search "Patreon" on Substack I get a bunch of people who
| moved there from Patreon:
|
| https://imgur.com/a/L0qYrUQ
|
| What gives? How do I search by topic?
| MaximumMadness wrote:
| From the Substack-related interviews/content I've consumed, it
| seems like the company is more concerned with tools/support [0]
| [1] for its creators, before it worries about consumer growth.
|
| The idea is that once you have an excess of supply (writers),
| who are all bringing in their own readers, it's easier to
| connect the dots for readers to other publications. Whereas if
| your reader demand outweighs supply, people will not see any
| value from sticking around.
|
| As a writer on the platform[2] itself, I think the general
| tools/support for the non-Top 20 creators leaves a ton to be
| desired, so would love to see them step it up in a number of
| ways if they're really trying to get behind the average writer.
|
| [0] https://on.substack.com/p/announcing-the-next-substack-
| fello... [1]https://on.substack.com/p/legal-support-for-
| substack-writers [2]https://pausebutton.substack.com/
| hammock wrote:
| What are examples of the biggest Substack newsletters? I don't
| think I've ever encountered one, although I keep hearing more and
| more about Substack.
| mrjivraj wrote:
| you can see the top ones here
|
| https://substack.com/discover
| calvano915 wrote:
| I don't know about biggest but Matt Taibbi has been exclusively
| there for a while.
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