The Newsletter Business: July 22, 2025

Hi there.

Time for my semi-periodic (read: haphazardly infrequent) missive on how the business of creating a newsletter business is going.

I know some of you are newsletter + email metrics nerds, so let’s get straight to the numbers.

-              I’ve published 125 issues of Godspeed since March 14 of 2023.  So, about 106,000 words, give or take.

-              On the engagement front, my open rates are 60% and clicks are 5%.  Both, I’m led to believe, are pretty good measured against industry standards for email newsletters.

-              Readership growth. It’s molasses-like these days as I find myself high centered on the road to newsletter bliss.  I gain one or two subscribers per month; I’m at the 554 mark for overall readership.

-              Paid subscribers – Godspeed now has 22 paid supporters.  (Thank you 💪, thank you! 🙏)  Publishing platform Substack (more on it later) says you should be able to convert 5-10% of your subscribers to paid memberships, with 10% being an achievable goal.  I’m at 4%, so, by that measure I’m running a bit behind.

What Am I to Make of This?

As a writer, I’m loving it.  Pure editorial freedom to do what I want and, along the way, hopefully creating impact by providing some inspiration or tools and news that helps folks positively change the lot of people and our planet.

But as a marketing guy, I’ve got a big of yin and yang going.  The lightness is that the content, as gauged by the engagement stats, seems to be resonating.  But the darkness comes from the anemic reader growth – necessitating an iron supplement, perhaps? – along with paid membership rates that lag industry standards.

On that reader growth thing, I’m told by the publishing platforms to keep it up, it’s a long game, and just wait for that viral moment when things really explode!  (Of course, it’s in their best interests to provide this advice.)

I promote Godspeed primarily via social media.  I began publishing a slimmed-down version of it on LinkedIn to see if it would drive traffic to the full newsletter – nothing much there so far, although the LinkedIn newsletter quickly garnered 1,000 subscribers (1,001 actually).  I also syndicated it on Medium, though I’m a little behind on that front.  I recently started posting enticements to BlueSky.

I also explored publishing twice weekly for a few months to see if it might boost readership or engagement.  Results:  Nada. (Though I might give a different variant of this approach a try.)

From what I can tell, this overall experience tracks with those of other writers.  The market’s flooded for newsletters, and it’s incredibly tough to get traction in a big and crowded online world.

Let’s circle back to that earlier mention of Substack.  I’m publishing on a platform called Ghost.  I chose it over Substack (and others) because it’s a nonprofit foundation,  built on open-source software, and has a flat-fee for services compared to Substack, which takes a percentage of any revenues generated.  Oh, and because, until very recently Substack’s strong free speech stance allowed pro-Nazi hate speech to find a home there.

Substack likely has a larger community, and I suspect it also does a better job of cross-promoting among its customer publications through its recommendation engine and the social media function of its “Notes” application than does Ghost. 

Again, just suspicions.

I have a long history of making purchasing and partnership decisions based on values alignment rather than immediate outcomes, often to my detriment, and Substack v. Ghost might be another instance of it.  As a writer, I long for a larger audience, and I do think about teleporting (hello Star Trek) my work over to Substack.  But that’s for another day.

Chasing Rusty Foster

Perhaps I’m chasing a ghost or, more specifically, chasing Rusty Foster who publishes Today in Tabs.  I first learned about Rusty and his e-newsletter in a New York Times feature story (with photos by Greta Rybus, a highly regarded photojournalist who – true fact – I once coached as a second-grader on a soccer team here in Boise a long time ago).  Rusty’s newsletter is financially successful, at least from my perspective – it allows him to write as his only job – and his voice is one of the more original I’ve encountered.  It’s a fun read for its quirk and its quiver.  And yes, I’m a paid subscriber.

He started early in the e-news publishing business, before it got so crowded.  Regardless, he stands out in a unique way.  (You really should give it a read.)  He’s got a vertical audience orientation around the media and internet worlds.  I wonder – if he can earn a living publishing from the wilds of Maine, why can’t I do it from the wilds of Idaho?

Of course, he pursues this full time which may make a difference.  This is one of many side gigs I’ve got going on.  What is it they say?  “ Jack of all trades, master of none”?

As a writer, Rusty’s achieved one of my goals, even still at my advancing age – not only to inspire, inform, and make an impact, but to earn enough so that I can write independently full time.

I’ll likely experiment with some promotions and other mechanisms soon to see if I can improve my numbers.  Stay tuned and let me know what you think.

All ideas on how to advance that aim are gratefully welcomed.

Godspeed, friends.

Russ

💬 Think About It

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