Can You Really Make a Living Writing Newsletters?
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Hi Reader, A few weeks ago, I wrote to you about Bob Dunning. He spent 55 years writing a hugely popular column for the Davis Enterprise. That’s a US-based newspaper. The newspaper laid him off without warning and no severance pay, even though he was the paper’s top columnist. Bob was gutted. I was gutted for Bob, too, and I haven’t even met the guy! (Probably because a few newspapers let me go over the years without warning, too.) Then, Bob started writing his newsletter over on Substack. His readers followed him from the Davis Enterprise to Substack. Now, he’s earning six figures a year by writing a paid newsletter about local sports, politics, and community issues. I shared Bob’s story with another newspaper writer. They told me: Former newspaper editor here — and I had a syndicated column. Most of us will not make what he makes! My Medium and Substack would be considered successful, but I’ve yet to exceed the $40K I made as the editor of a daily paper, working 60-hour weeks. So, is this editor right? Can you make a living by writing a paid newsletter, or is Bob an outlier? Earning a living from a paid newsletter is doable. I’ve interviewed nearly a dozen writers for my podcast who’ve done it. They earn between four and five figures a month from their paid newsletters. They typically charge at least $10 per month or $150 per year. Some examples of writers doing well with paid newsletters include Elle Griffin of the Elysian (on Substack) and Luke O'Neill of Welcome to Hell World (previously Substack, now on Ghost). Irish writer Laura Kennedy is also doing well on Substack. Now, a few caveats: Your earning potential depends on what niche you’re in. A paid newsletter about crypto or finance has more earning potential than one about poetry. Readers of the former have much more disposable income than the latter. The writers of successful paid newsletters also have thousands of readers. They often attract these readers on social media or through past jobs, like Bob. It can take years to grow a newsletter…unless you’re well-known or willing to spend money on ads. So what should you do instead? You can layer on additional income streams, like affiliate promotions and sponsorships. That’s what I do. But it’s much easier if you think of your newsletter as an entry point into your ecosystem. That means going deeper than subscriptions. Build in coaching and consulting. A subset of your paid subscribers will happily pay for that. Get your newsletter content right, and you’ll quickly outstrip earnings from monthly subscriptions. If you want to learn more about starting and running a profitable newsletter, I’m running a birthday bundle offer this week… ​Learn more. Write on, |