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newsletters VLADISLAV KOCHELAEVSKIY / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO How to start a newsletter


Just start The key is simply to just start, says Simon Ellington from Ko-fi. “Don’t overthink it. It doesn’t matter if you have 10,000 readers or 10.” “Just start writing, publish


anxiety. Not to say I’m rolling in money, but the newsletter definitely helps.” However, as with anything, starting a newsletter does not


work for everyone. As Livingston, Weiser and Totora all indicate, putting together a good-quality product is a time-consuming business, and there is no guarantee things will take off straight away. “We don’t suggest you open up your page and this will be


your full income stream,” adds Ellington. “It’s additional, not instead of. Don’t quit your job to open a Ko-fi page.” Finding an audience itself can also be tough – especially in


on a consistent schedule, then seek feedback from your readers,” echoes Hamish McKenzie. “Don’t invite paralysis analysis.”


Go free first Even if a paid newsletter is the plan, start by producing a high-quality free newsletter, says McKenzie. “Keep adjusting [your


content] until you’re in a good rhythm and you know people like what you’re


producing,” he adds. “At that point, you can pick


a launch date for your subscriber-only content.”


Always have some free content “Even once you have payments enabled, you should continue to do regular, high-quality free posts,” stresses Hamish, suggesting these are sent out at least once a week. “This free content should


often be your best stuff, because that’s what builds your reputation, brings in new readers and can be shared.”


Don’t be afraid to stop A newsletter doesn’t work


for everyone, so don’t be afraid to quit. “If it’s not going well and


you’ve been doing it for six months, you shouldn’t feel like you can’t put that down,” says Gavin Allen. “If you have an audience, you can still transfer them to a new product.”


Find software that works for you There are lots of options. Ko-fi, Substack and Patreon offer an all-in-one service, while sites like CampaignZee integrate with Mailchimp. Make sure you look at


what works best for you, looking at both fees and the user journey.


a crowded marketplace. “Newsletters are becoming more and more specific,” explains Allen, pointing to the Washington Post’s Trump impeachment newsletter. “It shows how specific it’s getting. It’s not just a Trump letter – you’re going down three notches of niche.” While Livingston found she was easily able to entice readers, she admits this was thanks to the profile she had already built. Then, there’s the noticeable silence after you press send.


Even if your newsletter has thousands of subscribers, you won’t be inundated with replies. “You know that people have read it because they’ve all opened it,” adds Livingston. “But there’s less of a feedback loop. It’s rewarding on a personal level, but you aren’t getting the same sort of discussion going.” After all, asks Allen, when was the last time you replied to a newsletter? However, challenges aside, subscription newsletters offer freelance journalists a new way to diversify their income and connect with the readers in a more meaningful way. With subscription prices varying anything between £1 and £9 a month, they’re not a million miles away from packages offered by The Telegraph, The i Paper, and other national news sites. So, just what is it that


makes readers willing to pay journalists directly? “There’s a qualitative difference between the idea of paying for a publication and paying to support a person,” says Hamish McKenzie, a co-founder of Substack. “You don’t subscribe to get content, you subscribe to a person. Really, a subscriber is paying for a newsletter that improves their life.”


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