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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"> <channel> <title>Creator Spotlight</title> <description>Your guide to building an audience with social media and newsletters. Creator deep-dives every Friday.</description> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/</link> <atom:link href="https://rss.beehiiv.com/feeds/BYHzkPNV1v.xml" rel="self"/> <lastBuildDate>Fri, 29 Nov 2024 17:23:12 +0000</lastBuildDate> <pubDate>Fri, 29 Nov 2024 16:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-11-29T16:11:00Z</atom:published> <atom:updated>2024-11-29T17:23:12Z</atom:updated> <copyright>Copyright 2024, Creator Spotlight</copyright> <image> <url>https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/publication/logo/b95740fa-e8eb-44a5-ab87-ddd2c5d6a75d/PFP.png</url> <title>Creator Spotlight</title> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/</link> </image> <docs>https://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification</docs> <generator>beehiiv</generator> <language>en-us</language> <webMaster>support@beehiiv.com (Beehiiv Support)</webMaster> <item> <title>🔴 How liquid is your content capital?</title> <description>An letter from the editor</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ea0c389a-0cc5-4531-b4e1-0e4d42d4ed23/image__24_.png" length="509470" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/content-capital</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/content-capital</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 29 Nov 2024 16:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-11-29T16:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>No guest today. It seemed a disservice to throw someone into the email chum bucket that is Black Friday.Instead I wrote about a few ideas I’ve been marinating on — whether or not “creator” is a real job, if individual TikToks have real staying power, whether or not, as Elon says, “you are the media,” and a concept I only came across this week: content capital.I had fun with this one. If you read it through, please do reply and let me know what you thought! You can also comment on the post (see the comment icon at the top of this email, or, if you’re reading this online, just scroll to the bottom).Have a lovely weekend : )— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast, but there’s no new episode this week. Catch up on recent episodes <a class="link" href="https://pod.link/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">here</a> (and <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/@creator_spotlight_?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">on YouTube</a>).</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1c3a10f3-eabb-4916-b58f-51dcfab0a9d7/image__24_.png?t=1732820251"/></div>Have you ever burned a newspaper? I grew up in a wood-fire-heated house, and one of my chores was to make the fire. I’d rip pages of the old dailies in half, crumpling them up and piling on the kindling.Newsprint burns well, and the local daily was cheap. It’s not meant to last. The reason I’m thinking about burning newspapers is this tweet that’s been making the rounds:<blockquote align="center" class="twitter-tweet">No one ever says "this is a tiktok from two years ago you have to see" Disposable content. Created in 24 hours to be consumed in 24 hours and never seen again<a href="https://twitter.com/PaulSkallas/status/1860308194674835821?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital"> — LindyMan (@PaulSkallas) 1:03 PM • Nov 23, 2024 </a></blockquote>As I write this, the tweet has 4.4k quote-tweets and retweets, many of the former featuring videos of old TikToks, disputing Skallas’ point. It’s clear that for the individuals responding with old TikToks, the one they chose does hold lasting meaning for them and has likely become ingrained in social groups’ colloquial culture.Re-encountering some of these TikToks feels like re-encountering articles I’ve read in old newspapers, select pieces that hadn’t crossed my mind since I first experienced them but, for one reason or another, were interesting enough to gain purchase in my memory.<blockquote align="center" class="twitter-tweet">take a look all these tiktoks being postedProves my point<a href="https://twitter.com/PaulSkallas/status/1860872099839033518?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital"> — LindyMan (@PaulSkallas) 2:24 AM • Nov 25, 2024 </a></blockquote>Scrolling, consuming all these videos, each one becomes functionally crumpled after I consume it. Firestarter. But the accumulated piles don’t heat my home; scroll consumption simply burns the minutes of my life, providing me with fleeting entertainment while converting the heat to two forms of capital, neither of which flow to me:<ul><li>Content capital: The creator of the videos gains viewcounts, likes, and follows</li><li>Financial capital: The advertisers whose spending keeps the content free gain customers, and the platform where it all takes place receives those ad dollars (while maintaining a healthy daily active user count, contributing to the more abstracted company valuation)</li></ul><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div>I’ve just read <a class="link" href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262543286/content/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Content</a>, a short book by Kate Eichorn, a media historian and theorist, published as part of The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series.There’s not really a one-size-fits-all answer to what content really is. The closest to a punchy definition Eichorn gets is “everything that circulates digitally”. <div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>She also makes a point that digital content isn’t best categorized by genre, medium, or format as it is by purpose. The categories she uses are content marketing, publishing content, educational content, and entertainment content. In other words, content should be categorized primarily by the creator’s intent.But a creator’s intent — not just on TikTok, but on any feed-based, short-form platform — is always subsumed by the platform’s own motives; the primary purpose of any TikTok is to generate ad revenue and sustain daily active user count for TikTok.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div>Let me take you on a trip to Richard Scarry’s Busytown. Scarry was a children’s book author known for his practical illustrations of little animals participating in everyday municipal life. In the internet's collective mind, the lasting image trait of Scarry’s work is its labeled depictions of jobs like letter carrier, firefighter, grocer, and farmer.There’s a meme that if your job isn’t depicted somewhere in Scarry’s oeuvre, it isn’t a real job, the implication being that you don’t produce anything of real value or contribute to society. Here’s one of many examples from Twitter:<blockquote align="center" class="twitter-tweet">if your job doesn’t have a richard scarry illustration showing what they do then it isn’t a real job<a href="https://twitter.com/eviedead2/status/1614089159223947264?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital"> — evie (@eviedead2) 2:36 AM • Jan 14, 2023 </a></blockquote>Scarry passed away on April 30, 1994 — exactly one year after the World Wide Web went into the public domain. There were fewer than a few thousand websites online when he passed. Mark Zuckerberg was 9 years old. YouTube, the platform that birthed the word “creator,” as we use it here, would not launch for another 11 years.Is “creator” a real job? Were Scarry alive today, would he have illustrated it? It does contain multiple jobs that, though they might not all appear in Scarry’s 20th-century vision of society, certainly are real jobs.These jobs include writer, filmmaker, photographer, artist, salesperson, businessperson, and advertiser.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>It’s difficult to think of a profession we haven’t seen refracted through the creator lens. That lens functions to collapse the separation between jobs. To Eichorn’s list of “cultural workers,” we might also include chef, builder, nurse, athlete — on and on and on. Any type of professional is subsumed into creatordom.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div>For my money, the most illuminating idea in Eichorn’s book is the term “content capital”.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Content capital, in other words, is your reach. The size of your following, the engagement rate on your average post. The identities of your following and how much data you possess illuminating them. More importantly, your ability to wield content for material gain.Skallas’ TikTok hot-take is that no given TikTok contains significant cultural capital. He’s essentially correct. Some TikToks may prove to cast a long, lasting shadow on global culture, but it’s more about the creators themselves; a newspaper is not significant for any given edition but for the publication as a whole. One viral video does not necessarily generate content capital for its creator. Consider @joolieannie on TikTok, the creator whose work brought “demure” from dusty dictionary pages to the tip of the internet’s tongue back in August. At the time of posting, she had just under 1 million followers. Her following had remained basically static for at least the previous year. Within two weeks of that viral “demure” video, her following passed 2 million.Any given TikTok is a burnt newspaper; one piece of content never represents content capital. It can only be a lever in building content capital for the creator. But that content capital is illiquid as long as the creator’s following is isolated to TikTok or any other corporate social media platform.The closest analog to a short-form, feed-based platform “creator” as a unique job in Scarry’s Busytown is a farmer. More specifically, it’s a sharecropper. TikTok splits 50% of ad revenue with creators who have at least 100,000 followers. Sharecroppers did not own the land they worked; the farmer provided the land and often housing and equipment, often collecting 50% of the farmer’s crop in lieu of rent.A creator on a short-form, feed-based platform is farming ad revenue for the platform and may receive 50% of associated ad revenue and additional business opportunities (from influencer deals to speaking gigs). But in terms of content capital, they only receive store credit. Their distribution is not their own.Any creator not working to diversify their content capital cross-platform is doing themselves a disservice. The best way to do this — the gold bullion of content capital — is an email list.One final note on sharecropping. It’s been almost entirely phased out in the United States for a number of reasons, one being the industrialization and mechanization of agriculture; it became more economical for large landowners to use less human labor and more mechanized labor.Just a few weeks ago, during Meta’s third-quarter earnings call, as <a class="link" href="https://fortune.com/2024/10/30/mark-zuckerberg-ai-generated-content-next-big-category-social-media-feeds/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reported by </a><a class="link" href="https://fortune.com/2024/10/30/mark-zuckerberg-ai-generated-content-next-big-category-social-media-feeds/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Fortune</a>, Mark Zuckerberg said this:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><blockquote align="center" class="twitter-tweet">You are the media now<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1854045379408326909?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital"> — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 6:17 AM • Nov 6, 2024 </a></blockquote>The night of the 2024 United States presidential election, Elon Musk tweeted, “You are the media now”. Tens of thousands of words and surely a ridiculous number of podcast hours have already been spilled on this, but for our purposes, let’s situate his position in terms of content capital. Elon has far more of it than almost anyone in the world. At 206.2 million followers, he is the most-followed Twitter user; the second most-followed is Barrack Obama at 131.1 million.He also owns the platform and has more financial capital than anyone in the world.Without getting too deep in the weeds, Elon is basically saying that control of and the ability to contribute to public narratives has shifted from traditional media (i.e., broadcasters, newspapers, and the people they employ) to everyone else; creators, especially on X.He’s not wrong. Neither is he precisely right. He is certainly the media. And any given X user with high content capital is “the media” to an extent. But that content capital isn’t necessarily theirs; it’s his.This past Monday, Elon’s X (formerly Twitter) filed an objection against The Onion’s buying InfoWars. <a class="link" href="https://www.404media.co/xs-objection-to-the-onion-buying-infowars-is-a-reminder-you-do-not-own-your-social-media-accounts/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">404 Media reported on this</a>, pulling out a crucial detail:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>In other words, if you have a great deal of content capital, but it’s all on Twitter — you have 100,000 Twitter followers but no following elsewhere — you do have content capital, but your liquidity is zero. X owns your content capital. “X calls itself “the sole owner” of X accounts,” Jason Koebler writes for 404.Elon’s X owns the newspaper. Any given poster is just a gig-worker columnist.It’s the same with Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn — any social media platform. Their exact terms of use vary but largely function to the same end: corporate ownership, not user ownership. Koebler ends the article making a case for Blue Sky and Mastodon, these decentralized social media networks where users do own their audience and content capital.There’s nothing wrong with producing content for ephemeral purposes. It is simply dangerous to not be actively working to consolidate that capital in a truly owned form — like on decentralized social media platforms and email-list .CSV files you can put on a hard drive, not on some data warehouse server.Newspapers burn; produce them, but work to own your own publishing press and paper route. No fire can destroy gold bullion. </div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#FCF9F4;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-18-were-all-in-it-together-ft-defectors-jasper-wang-404-medias-sam-cole-and-hell-gates-m/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-18-were-all-in-it-together-ft-defectors-jasper-wang-404-medias-sam-cole-and-hell-gates-m/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the latest episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-18-were-all-in-it-together-ft-defectors-jasper-wang-404-medias-sam-cole-and-hell-gates-m/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-liquid-is-your-content-capital" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, the weekly podcast about media, tech, and business hosted by Spotlight editor Francis Zierer and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. This week we're talking worker-owned media with people from three of our favorite worker-owned publications — Defector, Hell Gate, and 404 Media. They're very transparent about what it takes to run a modern, subscription-based media business — it's a great conversation.This is from our live pod earlier this month in support of the National Writers Union's legal fund for media workers. </div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=a098e34d-eaca-49e4-bb94-b7bac00361ab&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 Helping journalists get paid</title> <description>"I'm not a journalist, I'm a monetizer," says Lex Roman of Journalists Pay Themselves</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8648af8a-639e-4b61-a530-f15eb1cfbfaa/Featured__23_.png" length="513442" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/lex-roman-journalists</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/lex-roman-journalists</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 22 Nov 2024 16:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-11-22T16:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Lex Roman, creator of Journalists Pay Themselves, a newsletter that helps journalists … pay themselves. Lex isn’t a journalist by trade but a monetizer. They’re very clear-eyed on the business side of making and distributing content online — full of insights applicable to both indie journalists and content creators.In this issue:<ul><li>💵 Monetizing without a large audience</li><li>📈 Subscription fatigue isn’t a problem (and $9/month is the perfect price)</li><li>📣 Helping people who distrust marketing find a way to do marketing</li></ul>— <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-zierer/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Francis Zierer</a>, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://pod.link/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen</a> to our full interview with Lex or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTMcMondjEg&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">watch it on YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8648af8a-639e-4b61-a530-f15eb1cfbfaa/Featured__23_.png?t=1732225611"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">A commitment to independent journalism</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Lex Roman started their newsletter, <a class="link" href="https://journalistspaythemselves.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Journalists Pay Themselves</a>, in March of this year. They are not a journalist; the bulk of their career has been in growth design.Journalists Pay Themselves descends directly from Lex’s work as a growth designer; instead of working with traditional businesses, they’re now focused on helping independent journalists and creators grow and monetize their businesses. Lex learned the importance and power of journalism firsthand while living in LA and working in community organizing, specifically around homelessness.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>At the start of this year, seeing a “rapid succession of layoffs,” Lex decided to see if any journalists caught in the drift might need help launching independent publications. They began helping several indie journalists and journalist-owned publications (including New York’s Hell Gate) with their businesses.But don’t call them a consultant.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Shifting to a creator mindset</h2>Lex didn’t start using the term “creator” to describe themself and the type of work they were doing until 2022, about 15 years into their career. In 2019, when they left their last full-time job to begin working as an independent growth designer (and then marketer), they incorporated as Lex Roman, Inc.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>This is the creator model, another answer to <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/creator-meaning?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">our ongoing questioning</a> of what it means to be a creator. It means that you are a studio; you-as-brand become a platform for experimentation and monetization.If Lex had just continued working as a consultant, they wouldn’t be a creator. And building their personal brand has made launching new projects and transitioning between them easier. Clients and followers happily come along with Lex for each new ride, trusting in some ideological consistency.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/668805e5-0ff5-4a26-9190-b3a9d6f2b9b3/Lex_Roman__Creator.png?t=1732225596"/><div class="image__source">Confusing, no?</div></div>Lex’s first real creator project was LA Pays Attention, a short-lived local politics newsletter that was acquired for between $2 and $3 per subscriber. One of the first Growthtrackers members (this was a higher-ticker, membership-based community, not a lower-cost subscription product) came from that newsletter’s subscriber base. As they shifted from project to project, Lex realized, “For some people, this is where we leave each other, but for others, they're going to come along.“<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">One-to-many consulting</h2>One-to-many consulting is a standard model for any education-focused creator. From niche aggregation-and-commentary products like <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/casey-lewis-after-school?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Casey Lewis’ Gen Z insights newsletter </a><a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/casey-lewis-after-school?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">After School</a> to any creator selling courses — it’s all about selling access to a standardized consult. This was an obvious path for Lex, who tells me they are “trying to get out of consulting.” For a couple of years, while running Growthtrackers, membership was their main source of income.More recently, it’s paid subscriptions. Here’s a graph Lex shared of their revenue in October (read about it in more detail at<a class="link" href="https://revenuerulebreaker.com/p/it-takes-a-lot-of-emails-to-sell-something?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> </a><a class="link" href="https://revenuerulebreaker.com/p/it-takes-a-lot-of-emails-to-sell-something?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Revenue Rulebreakers</a>):<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/44bc4fbb-faec-4100-a094-13876df7ca58/AnyConv.com__y-yvRvtj.jpg?t=1732245278"/></div>This revenue breakdown has shifted frequently as Lex has shifted their project focus. Growthtrackers was a $500/month membership that included 50 paying members during two years of operation (not at once). Lex generated between $4,000 and $7,000 per month from those memberships.At no point in their years working as a creator has Lex had a sizable following. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Small audiences are enough</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Most people trying to build a sustainable living as some sort of creator would do well to avoid falling into the large-audience-envy trap. It’s not about the size of the audience; it’s about who is in the audience. It’s a question of building a growth business with a distant ceiling versus a lifestyle business with a realistic ceiling. Kevin Kelly’s classic “<a class="link" href="https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">1,000 true fans</a>” concept — 1,000 people paying $100 a year for your content or services is enough to make a decent living. Let’s look at some of Lex’s audience sizes:<ul><li>Revenue Rulebreakers newsletter: 150 subscribers</li><li>Journalists Pay Themselves newsletter: 775 subscribers</li><li>Low Energy Leads newsletter: 1.5k subscribers (60 paying)</li><li><a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexroman/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a>: 4,920</li><li><a class="link" href="https://x.com/lexjustliving?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a>: 680</li></ul>Most creators we feature in this newsletter have audiences many times this size. And some of them are bringing in less revenue than Lex. To be clear, Lex has a seasoned, proven specialist skillset; they’re not a mass-market entertainer. This is why they’re able to bring in a healthy revenue.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Conversion is the problem and the answer</h2>The question for most creators isn’t how big an audience you can build; it’s how many people you can get to literally buy into what you’re doing. The ideal audience size is how much revenue you’re aiming for … divided by your average per-customer purchase … divided by your conversion rate.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Still, you’ve got to grow that audience in the first place. Lex self-identifies as “not the best” at this, but they note that it’s all a relationships business … especially when you have a small audience.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Connect with Lex on <a class="link" href="https://x.com/lexjustliving?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexroman/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a>. Read and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://journalistspaythemselves.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Journalists Pay Themselves</a> and <a class="link" href="https://revenuerulebreaker.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">R</a><a class="link" href="https://revenuerulebreaker.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">evenue R</a><a class="link" href="https://revenuerulebreaker.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ulebreaker</a>.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://pod.link/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTMcMondjEg&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">watch it on YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="true" class="youtube_embed" frameborder="0" height="100%" src="https://youtube.com/embed/rTMcMondjEg" width="100%"></iframe>🎙️ This was an excellent conversation. It was impossible to fit every topic we touched on in this newsletter — here’s some of what we touch on in the podcast:<ul><li>🤔 Different types of newsletters, writers, and how they should monetize</li><li>📈 Why journalists have an advantage over growth marketers as creators</li><li>🥱 Subscription fatigue is a myth</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://pod.link/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen</a> on your preferred podcast platform or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTMcMondjEg&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">watch on YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">The ideal subscription price is $9</h2>According to Lex, the ideal price of a content-based subscription is $9. They arrived at this number by analyzing 14 different worker-owned media outlets (including 404 Media, Defector, and Hell Gate). To be clear, the businesses they’re looking at are putting out a relatively high volume of content per week. Lex credits Matt Brown, creator of the <a class="link" href="https://www.extrapointsmb.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Extra Points</a> sports newsletter, with saying, “It’s not worth doing anything closer to the $5 tier.”<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><hr class="content_break"><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Write a personal thank-you note to every paid subscriber</h2>Skip the automated welcome email for paid subscribers. Write it yourself.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><hr class="content_break"><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Great content matters more than anything else</h2>It’s easy to get caught up in talk of growth levers, social media tactics, content repurposing, etc. At Creator Spotlight, we believe the point is to produce quality content. You do need to do some marketing, but it mustn’t eclipse the content. Lex agrees:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-17-dining-with-ben-leventhal-founder-of-blackbird/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the latest episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-17-dining-with-ben-leventhal-founder-of-blackbird/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, the weekly podcast about media, tech, and business hosted by Spotlight editor Francis Zierer and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. <ul><li>This week, we’re joined by Ben Leventhal, founder of Eater, Resy, and now Blackbird. We talk about the death of anonymous restaurant criticism, the future of dining, and his 20-year commitment to food-focused content.</li></ul><hr class="content_break">Lex has published a number of articles we think you’ll find helpful. Here are some highlights:<ul><li>“<a class="link" href="https://journalistspaythemselves.com/p/32-ways-to-grow-your-newsletter?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">32 ways to grow your newsletter</a>”</li><li>“<a class="link" href="https://journalistspaythemselves.com/p/how-to-convince-readers-to-pay-you?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">How to convince readers to pay you</a>”</li><li>“<a class="link" href="https://journalistspaythemselves.com/p/should-i-leave-substack?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Should I leave Substack?</a>”</li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=helping-journalists-get-paid" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#FCF9F4;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=3f964396-c45b-4daa-8157-0c9090e2b613&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 Lessons in newsletter growth from Brad C. Onversion</title> <description>ft. Alex Dobrenko — comedian, writer, and creator of Both Are True</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/64badcc7-b609-474b-986c-60f373957d1b/Featured__22_.png" length="574776" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/alex-dobrenko</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/alex-dobrenko</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 15 Nov 2024 16:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-11-15T16:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Alex Dobrenko, creator of a newsletter called Both Are True, Head of Creative for knowledge-management app Sublime, and, generally, a writer-comedian with a natural talent for self-expression.Alex is very much a “newsletter creator” — his work is unmistakably his, deeply personal, and born wholly of the medium. His is not a traditional industry-news newsletter; it’s more like a personal essay blog. In this issue:<ul><li>🪞Notes on writing personal essays in a newsletter context</li><li>✍️ Learning to professionalize a personal creative practice</li><li>🫂 Building community to become a better creator and grow audience</li><li>🎭️ A few techniques from the world of improv comedy to add to your writing</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://pod.link/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to our full interview with Alex</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLDbwH8sSk4&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">watch it on YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/64badcc7-b609-474b-986c-60f373957d1b/Featured__22_.png?t=1731606520"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Stand-up comedy newsletter</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Alex Dobrenko isn’t afraid to look like a complete idiot, something that over 15,000 people seem to love about him. He writes a newsletter called Both Are True and is one of the best personal-essay-columnist stylists currently working in the medium.It reads like a diary acknowledging an audience. In one post two years ago, he wrote, “I guess my north star has been to just be as honest as I can possibly be without upsetting my parents.” I asked him if that’s still the case.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Alex’s most popular post to date is an essay called <a class="link" href="https://botharetrue.substack.com/p/beautifuldisasters?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Beautiful Disasters</a>. It clocks in around 7,000 words, takes about half an hour to read, and has received over 100 comments. It’s written in a raw, stream-of-consciousness style. It’s about being addicted to marijuana. Going to Burning Man. Friends, family, love. Microdosing acid. Hitting rock bottom. Getting sober. One commenter called it “searingly great.”<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">You must always remember that both are true</h2>The newsletter's name comes from those acid trips — realizing, in the throes of the trip, that two things can be true at once; it’s never just one or the other. As he writes in Beautiful Disasters:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Alex has been developing this voice — here harried and hilarious, there crystal and profound — over about 3 years of newsletter writing (and 30-some years of bopping around, but that’s beside the point). Before choosing newsletters as the outlet for his comedy instincts, he made videos for Twitter; before that, he made a webseries about a long-distance relationship called <a class="link" href="http://distancetheseries.com/index.html?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Distance</a>.That’s years of playing various comedy games; only in newsletter world did Alex find a project he could both sustain longterm and monetize.(We’ll get into a few replicable comedy techniques you might apply to your own writing down in the “Steal This Tactic” section of today’s newsletter.)<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Professionalizing a personal creative practice</h2>Though he first posted to Substack in 2019, Alex didn’t start posting regularly until February 2022. He had around 49 subscribers and hoped to hit 200 by the end of the year. In <a class="link" href="https://botharetrue.substack.com/p/how-i-grew-this-newsletter-from-56?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a post sent 1 year later</a>, he shared a subscriber count of 2,177, including 63 paid subscribers. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d9e4a0e7-0918-4885-aed9-a9e303328868/image__22_.png?t=1731610698"/></div>This piece, like any other Alex has written for his newsletter, is funny, self-flagellant, and open-hearted. It’s the first in a series he’s written about growing his audience and developing his newsletter concept. (Find more posts from this series linked at the bottom of this newsletter.)He doesn't always write these growth retrospectives from his own perspective — sometimes, he plays a character named Brad C. Onversion, supposedly his twin brother.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/892bc32c-56cc-4b0f-b1ba-c49005198626/Screenshot_2024-11-14_at_1.34.11_PM.png?t=1731609263"/><div class="image__source">Screenshot from <a class="link" href="https://botharetrue.substack.com/p/mailbag-1-answers-to-all-your-questions?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a Brad C. Onversion video.</a></div></div>Brad seems like a way for Alex to sublimate his anxieties about selling out, a squirminess about building a business around a creative outlet, a product of his desire to monetize without snuffing some spark. It’s hardly a rare anxiety — a look in the comments of any post from this series surfaces dozens of fellow travelers.Core to Alex’s talent as a personal-essay newsletterist is this ability to struggle with his fears and problems in public. To process his struggles with addiction, he writes Beautiful Disasters. To process his conflicting desires around professionalizing as a creator, he writes this growth-recap series and becomes Brad. It’s cathartic for him and cathartic for his readers — this catharsis is a core appeal for the audience.It’s also telling that of the 11 pieces of advice he shares in that 1-year-anniversary-of-regularly-posting post, 5 come down to simply interacting with other people in earnest:<ul><li>“#4 make friends!”</li><li>“#5 The Hail Mary Email™”</li><li>“#6 Accountability buddies”</li><li>“#7 Read other people’s stuff!”</li><li>“#11 Make the comments feel like a party”</li></ul>He’s a prosocial essayist.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">It takes a team and a village</h2>Alex has always seen success by reaching out to people. Early on, subscribed to multiple fellow writers’ newsletters, he would comment on their posts and participate in their Discords. He would meet people there. They would recommend each other’s posts, swap essay drafts, and share feedback.There are three key collaborators — Erin Shetron, hired in January 2023, handles creative producer duties, from editing to strategizing. Rachel Katz is a writing partner and sounding board; they exchange drafts and kvetch. Prolific BAT commenter Madeline provides additional editing support; they share a Slack channel where early drafts and ideas bounce around and germinate into drafts.Look: nobody is building an audience or making high-quality content alone. The more the merrier! <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/caitlin-dewey-links?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">I interviewed Caitlin Dewey a few weeks ago</a>, and she mentioned seeing a bump in paid subscriptions when Rusty Foster put his Today in Tabs newsletter on hiatus; he recommended his readers look to her in his absence. Not coincidentally, it was in Rusty’s Discord that Alex began several collaborative, fruitful relationships.Another example is <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/pj-milani?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">PJ Milani, who I interviewed this past spring</a>. He first built an audience by participating in Dickie Bush and Nicolas Cole’s Ship 30 for 30 program, which is cohort-based. The group would post to Twitter each day and reply to each other’s posts. I saw the latest cohort doing this just the other day. Creating on the internet in community with other people always works. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Personal essays alone don’t pay the bills</h2>Alex makes around $15,000 a year from paid Both Are True subscriptions. Which is, as he says, “for that 27-subscriber guy, crazy. But how do you support a family on that?”In a classic Both Are True situation, the newsletter itself doesn't pay all the bills, but it has opened doors that do allow him to make a full living.At one point, writing the newsletter but still without a full-time job, he began reaching out to other writers, offering to help them define their brand, edit their writing, and market their newsletters. He found most were interested in the latter. After helping a few people pro bono, he had testimonials and <a class="link" href="https://botharetrue.substack.com/p/help-me-help-you-with-your-writing?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">began picking up paid clients</a>.He then, about 1 year ago, got an offer from Sari Azout, the founder of <a class="link" href="https://sublime.app/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Sublime</a>, a knowledge management app, to work on <a class="link" href="https://sublimeinternet.substack.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">their newsletter</a> and handle a number of other responsibilities as Head of Creative. This is his full-time job; the newsletter and consulting work provide supplementary income.I asked Alex if he had any idea what he might be doing 2–3 years from now. He hopes to still be working at Sublime and publishing Both Are True — and to have published a book of essays.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>He and the agent went back and forth, and he asked about the next steps. She asked if he had anything he was trying to write; he “manically” wrote out a pitch he’d had in mind “forever” and sent it over. She told him what to do next, and he hasn’t done any of it, but “basically, I have a book deal,” he says.If you take only one lesson from Alex’s work, let it be this: take your work extremely seriously, never let it get too serious, and talk to people about it. Other people are what it’s all about.Connect with Alex on <a class="link" href="https://x.com/Dobrenkz?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a>. Read and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://botharetrue.substack.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Both Are True</a>.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://pod.link/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLDbwH8sSk4&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">watch it on YouTube.</a></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="true" class="youtube_embed" frameborder="0" height="100%" src="https://youtube.com/embed/wLDbwH8sSk4" width="100%"></iframe>🎙️ I had a great time chatting with Alex. He’s funny! He’s a great conversationalist! I really think you’ll enjoy this episode; it’s a great entry point into the podcast if you’ve yet to listen.<ul><li>💵 There’s a difference between monetizing your work and “selling out”</li><li>🎤 We go deeper on applying stand-up comedy mindset to newsletters</li><li>📈 Much more chat on how Alex grew his newsletter</li><li>✍️ The only writing advice that matters</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://pod.link/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLDbwH8sSk4&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">watch on YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">A very brief improv course</h2>When I interviewed <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/rachel-karten-link-in-bio?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Rachel Karten, who writes </a><a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/rachel-karten-link-in-bio?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link in Bio</a> about and for social media managers, she told me that the most common trait among people who are good at social media is a background in improv or comedy; I asked Alex to share a few techniques from that world.<h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">You gotta riff</h3>"You're not afraid to come up with bad ideas,” Alex says. Improv is about coming up with ideas at a rapid clip and supporting those ideas in real time — exploring them and pushing them to their logical and illogical conclusions. This is something you can practice. It does require other people. Ideas bounce better off of other people than they do off a wall.<h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Idiot work</h3>There’s a genre of comedy called “idiot work.” For our purposes here, it’s about being able to accept failing in front of an audience … which makes the audience feel safe.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Your audience is smart; treat them like it</h3>I distinctly remember my 5th-grade teacher giving me feedback on a paper about “pretending my audience was stupid.” It’s possible I’d just left out a bunch of necessary context, but regardless, this is advice I’ve tried to lose. Alex says he was taught, in improv sessions, to “play to the top of [the audience’s] intelligence.”<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-16-mushrooms-in-our-ears-ft-lauryn-menard-ceo-of-gob/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the latest episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-16-mushrooms-in-our-ears-ft-lauryn-menard-ceo-of-gob/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, the weekly podcast about media, tech, and business hosted by Spotlight editor Francis Zierer and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. This week, we’re joined by Lauryn Menard, CEO and co-founder of Gob, a compostable, plastic-free, mycelium-based earplug company.We discuss Tesla’s influence on green marketing, developing wild new biomaterials, and disrupting a market producing 40 billion disposable plastic earplugs per year.<hr class="content_break">More writing and growth advice posts from Alex:<ul><li><a class="link" href="https://botharetrue.substack.com/p/my-tell-all-guide-of-everything-ive?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">my tell-all guide of everything I've learned on the road to 3211 free subs / 111 paid subs</a></li><li><a class="link" href="https://botharetrue.substack.com/p/the-only-tip-you-need-to-become-a-a4c?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The ONLY Tip You Need To Become A Great Writer</a></li><li><a class="link" href="https://botharetrue.substack.com/p/6666-tips-on-how-i-reached-6666-subscribers?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">6666 tips on how I reached 6666 subscribers on Substack</a></li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=lessons-in-newsletter-growth-from-brad-c-onversion" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#FCF9F4;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=87786f5b-9872-49d8-9495-cbf7625a9d9e&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 How to make and monetize viral TikTok shows</title> <description>ft. Penn Weinberger, founder of content agency Bad Behavior</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/74b25431-8033-4e71-8c80-16bdcfecdbc8/Featured__20_.png" length="866083" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/penn-weinberger-bad-behavior</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/penn-weinberger-bad-behavior</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 08 Nov 2024 16:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-11-08T16:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is not a creator.I reached out to Penn Weinberger because he’s the founder of Bad Behavior, an agency brands hire to produce content (largely short-form video) with creators and influencers.We spoke about:<ul><li>💫 Differences between celebrities, creators, and influencers</li><li>📱Building viral, highly monetizable short-form video shows </li><li>💵 Pricing contracts with brands and creators</li><li>📈 How the creator market has changed in the last five years</li></ul>I boiled down much of the advice Penn had for creators in the “Steal This Tactic” section in the bottom half of this issue — don’t miss it!— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZOcKX7Phu4&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Watch the full interview on YouTube</a> or <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/ZmRlM2Y5MDAtNmQ3NS00ZmNlLThmOTMtYmVhMDU4MzRiZWRl?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen</a> wherever you get your podcasts.P.P.S. Send me a reply if you enjoyed our taking a bit of a different approach this week! Or drop a comment (at the link in the upper left of this letter)!</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/74b25431-8033-4e71-8c80-16bdcfecdbc8/Featured__20_.png?t=1731011066"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Engineering virality</h2>What is true virality? 25 million impressions. This is what Penn Weinberger was taught in the year he spent working for Jerry Media, the advertising company built around a portfolio of multi-million-follower Instagram accounts in the 2010s. <div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Penn spent a year at Jerry as a “hybrid sales, account manager, utility person,” learning about social media brand advertising before being poached by the founders of a then-new agency called Fallen Media.This was mid-2020, as the pandemic kicked off and short-form video became the leading social media product. Penn spent two years there as Head of Partnerships, overseeing all client-facing (brand-facing) business. Clients included all manner of household names, including Lyft, Cash App, and Meta. The team’s most visible achievement was a TikTok show called <a class="link" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@whatspoppin?lang=en&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">What’s Poppin? With Davis</a>, which Penn helped develop and monetize. He says it was generating over six figures in annual sponsorship revenue.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Bad Behavior: Notes from a middleman’s view of the brand-creator relationship</h2>After two years with Fallen, Penn left to start his own agency, <a class="link" href="https://www.bad-behavior.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bad Behavior</a>. This was in October 2022. Why do brands come to Bad Behavior? To crack social media: to fill gaps in an existing social strategy or to build one from scratch; for bespoke, end-to-end, performant short-form video production; even for one-off campaigns; for full-service social channel management.Bad Behavior still works brand-first and primarily in short-form video — brands are clients, creators are talent. They’re producing street interview series, talking head shows, game shows, placing creators on red carpets — all manner of formats within short-form. There are seven full-time employees, plus a crew of freelancers. The full-time team is:<ul><li>Head of Agency (Penn, leading partnerships)</li><li>CEO</li><li>Two senior creative project / account managers</li><li>Two senior producers / creative directors</li><li>Community manager</li></ul>Clients include brands like Cash App, Benefit Cosmetics, and Bet MGM.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ca7a32a3-2ac4-453b-8361-c347d3042bdf/Screenshot_2024-11-07_at_5.10.04_PM.png?t=1731017409"/><div class="image__source">More of Bad Behavior’s clients</div></div>The big KPIs Penn says his team tries to push and orient their clients around, though, are shares, bookmarks, and percentage of video watched. “Are people clicking away after five seconds, or are they watching 40% of the video? Because that’s pretty strong.”I asked Penn to get into how the agency approaches more creator-facing work.<hr class="content_break"><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Getting the best possible work out of talent:</h3>For brands, Bad Behavior is a creator-whisperer; for creators, it’s a brand-whisperer. Brands don’t always understand how to best work with creators; creators don’t always know how to structure a mutually favorable business deal. Key to creator-whispering: let them do their thing.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><hr class="content_break"><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Pricing a deal on the brand side</h3>Bad Behavior does not, at this time, have any creator clients. Their clients are always brands, with the contract pricing in both the agency’s fee and any necessary budget for creator talent.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><hr class="content_break"><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Pricing a creator’s fee</h3>Creators are not Bad Behavior’s clients, but it’s still their job to advocate for a given creator's value to their brand clients; here’s how they do that.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><hr class="content_break"><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">More creators have managers than ever before</h3>I asked Penn if they’re primarily working with fully solo creators or if some of the talent they utilize has representation, which would surely drive fees higher. His answer points at a maturing industry — influencer and creator advertising looks more and more like any other type of creative industry:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>There are more creators than ever and more business-savvy people looking to build businesses with them. At the very least, there are two more since Penn started at Jerry Media — Fallen and Bad Behavior.Connect with Penn: <a class="link" href="mailto:penn@bad-behavior.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">penn@bad-behavior.com</a>. They’re always looking for new clients and creator talent. See Bad Behavior’s work.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/ZmRlM2Y5MDAtNmQ3NS00ZmNlLThmOTMtYmVhMDU4MzRiZWRl?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZOcKX7Phu4&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">watch it on YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="true" class="youtube_embed" frameborder="0" height="100%" src="https://youtube.com/embed/BZOcKX7Phu4" width="100%"></iframe>🎙️ It was impossible to fit every topic we talked about in this newsletter — check out the podcast for:<ul><li>⛳️ Red flags to look for when working with brands vs. creators</li><li>🦠 Engineering virality, even when it’s unpredictable</li><li>🏠️ How Bad Behavior’s team is structured, and why</li></ul>Listen on your preferred <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/ZmRlM2Y5MDAtNmQ3NS00ZmNlLThmOTMtYmVhMDU4MzRiZWRl?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">podcast platform</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZOcKX7Phu4&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">watch on YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Building a viral, highly profitable TikTok show</h2>How does one craft a TikTok show with six figures in annual sponsorship revenue? Penn left Fallen two years ago, but much of what he worked on there is still thriving — I asked him to get into how he and his colleagues there built What’s Poppin? With Davis.At the time of writing, What’s Poppin? has a total audience of over 2.8m — 2.1m on TikTok, 405k on YouTube, and 298k on Instagram. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px 9px 9px 9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px 1px 1px 1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9721f64-3f40-47de-a935-c146763f173b/Screenshot_2024-11-07_at_10.04.23_AM.png?t=1730991869"/></div>The Fallen team found Davis Burleson, the host, making comedy clips online. He was a freshman-year college student just riffing, messing around with short-form, with a low follower count. They approached him with an idea for a man-on-the-street show — he was the talent, they would provide production and business acumen.How did they monetize it? Penn emphasizes brand safety:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>It’s brand-safe but not anodyne. He’s an authentic participant in youth culture as both a creator and consumer; brand catnip with an audience. It took two months for the team to get their first 1m-view video. Then it snowballed:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">A few pieces of advice for creators (and brands looking to make great content)</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Pitching brands</h3>Creators should pitch brands like journalists pitch publications — you need a developed, well-articulated, original concept that makes unique sense for both parties.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Journalists pitch editors privately, over email; creators seeking brand deals don’t have to do that and might even benefit from pitching in public:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>One more thing that you’d think obvious — make yourself reachable. Put your email in your social bios:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-15-the-fda-is-the-original-tastemaker-ft-teddy-brown-and-emily-shugerman/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-15-the-fda-is-the-original-tastemaker-ft-teddy-brown-and-emily-shugerman/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the latest episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-15-the-fda-is-the-original-tastemaker-ft-teddy-brown-and-emily-shugerman/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, the weekly podcast about media, tech, and business hosted by Spotlight editor Francis Zierer and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. This week we spoke to two different journalists who recently published articles about how specific products are marketed along gender lines and what that means. Our first guest, Teddy Brown, wrote about Zyn bro culture for The New York Times. Our second guest, Emily Shugerman, wrote about direct-to-consumer women’s healthcare products for The Guardian.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-to-make-and-monetize-viral-tiktok-shows" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#FCF9F4;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=8df2f04b-247b-4c1e-be06-363086640256&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 "Terrible" content works</title> <description>Building a thriving newsletter-first business ft. The Bottleneck's Rameel Sheikh</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/2adb76b6-5f53-4a50-a8ef-e56dfb9cbadc/Featured__19_.png" length="508688" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/rameel-sheikh-the-bottleneck</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/rameel-sheikh-the-bottleneck</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 01 Nov 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-11-01T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Rameel Sheikh, a first-time newsletter operator whose experience as a serial founder and COO has backed a run from zero just over a year ago to 28k subscribers and $30k/month in revenue today.His is a story of “riches in the niches,” community-building, and constant experimentation. You’ll enjoy In this issue:<ul><li>📈 A two-pronged approach to growth; paid ads and community engagement</li><li>💵 Generating enough newsletter ad revenue to build more businesses</li><li>🤒 Breaking out of a months-long stagnation period as a solo creator</li><li>❓️ One of the best-designed new subscriber surveys you’ve seen</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/YzUyNDc2NTItNTFiNy00YTMwLTg5YWQtZjU1Mzk0MmY4MWNm?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen</a> to our full interview with Rameel or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEfGVCa_T4o&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8e119e62-c81f-4887-b0ef-0dedda032bb7/N_PARTNERSHIP_WITH.png?t=1726101453"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/12cf7573-eae8-422d-a592-0c1b6847a4d3?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ca1ab48a-f2b6-4313-bfa6-f2bfa344c547/TASTELAND_Live_Banner.png?t=1730384235"/></a></div>We’re hosting a live show! Creator Spotlight’s Francis Zierer and Dirt Media’s Daisy Alioto will host journalists from three worker-owned publications at the forefront of independent media — Hell Gate, 404 Media, and Defector.<a class="link" href="https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/12cf7573-eae8-422d-a592-0c1b6847a4d3?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Join us </a>at 7:00PM on Saturday, November 16th, in downtown New York City.All proceeds go to the National Writers Union Service Organization’s legal fund protecting freelance journalists.<a class="link" href="https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/12cf7573-eae8-422d-a592-0c1b6847a4d3?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Buy tickets here</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">A logistics background sets the stage for a strong content business</h2><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6449906a-c4ee-4afe-b022-a31e1425cd01/Featured__19_.png?t=1730403190"/></div><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Right out of college, Rameel Sheikh started working at Uber Freight, the rideshare giant’s enterprise logistics product. Three years later, he quit to start his own business, which he was able to sell after just one year. He repeated this play before moving to New York to become a fast-growing software startup's chief operating officer (COO).Two years later, with no job lined up, he quit again. His wife was pregnant, and it seemed foolish not to move back to Houston, where they could raise their child with “about 100 family members in a 15-minute driving radius.” That was one year ago. Since then, Rameel has built a thriving business, which he says is currently bringing in around $30k per month, all around a newsletter called <a class="link" href="https://www.thebottleneck.io/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Bottleneck</a>.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">“Riches in the niches”</h2>Rameel was never a content person, not a LinkedInfluencer or Twitter talking-head. But he wrote a <a class="link" href="https://x.com/ramshe1000/status/1707741176902680785?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">359-word tweet</a> when he left his job — about 59 more words than he had Twitter followers at the time — laying out his story. The coming baby, why he left, his plans, his intention to build in public.The tweet stated one goal: “get to $10,000 monthly revenue by January.” He’d have 4 months to do … something: “I'll be exploring all kinds of ideas, big and small. Whether thats launching a new SaaS tool, agency, newsletter, I don't know yet.”<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/537f9ebf-aff2-443c-9b82-c9eca8053f77/Screenshot_2024-10-30_at_1.23.11_PM.png?t=1730308994"/></div>The tweet went, for him, viral. About a dozen multi-thousand-follower entrepreneur types popped up in the replies to congratulate and encourage him. His DMs filled up with job offers and consulting gigs, but he missed being a founder and wanted to see what he could spin up.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">A closer look at The Bottleneck’s content</h2>The Bottleneck is a prolific outlet. The first post in <a class="link" href="https://www.thebottleneck.io/archive?page=2&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the archive</a> came 421 days ago, and Rameel has published at least twice per week since. There are three types of content:Ops tactics: Short (<500 words), opinionated recommendations on how to deal with a specific operations-related issue.Case studies: Longform (~2,000 words), researched articles on operations practices at specific companies.Interviews: As an experiment, Rameel joined another founder in cohosting an interview podcast called Operators Only. He turned each episode into a summary newsletter.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Growing the newsletter</h2>For somebody with no experience making public-facing content and no real social media following, it took remarkably little time for Rameel to go from 0 to 21,000 subscribers.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/bd7ceb40-504d-4921-87c7-44da0b53ad5a/The_Bottleneck_subscriber_growth.png?t=1730403115"/></div><hr class="content_break"><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Paid growth</h3>As COO at Firstbase, Rameel learned how to run paid ads through Meta, at one point managing a “couple hundred thousand-dollar budget.” He applied what he’d learned to <a class="link" href="https://www.thebottleneck.io/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Bottleneck</a>.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><hr class="content_break"><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Organic growth</h3>Rameel found was that nobody was really writing to or for COOs and BizOps folks, but there were some communities built around the topic; he participated in earnest.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>This is a classic case of ‘don’t kill the part of yourself that’s cringe, kill the part of yourself that cringes,’ Of just ‘posting through it.’ His work was flawed, but it was an opinionated product in a hungry market.<hr class="content_break"><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Six months wandering the plateau</h3>If you look at <a class="link" href="https://www.thebottleneck.io/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Bottleneck</a>’s growth graph, you’ll notice that it was stuck for half the newsletter’s lifetime, even sliding on the downslope for some months.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>The solution really couldn’t have been simpler: talking to people. Rameel reached out to other newsletter operators who’d been doing it longer than him and asked for advice. They essentially just affirmed he was on the right path and encouraged him to keep going.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Newsletter Community Consultancy Venture studio</h2>Rameel says the purpose of The Bottleneck and all current and probably future businesses built around it is “to help early-stage BizOps professionals get better at their work.”Helping BizOps professionals may be the compass, but the point is to experiment, build, and launch various business ventures monetized towards that end. As he writes in <a class="link" href="https://www.thebottleneck.io/p/1-year-into-the-bottleneck?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">his first-anniversary post</a>, he’s already launched several businesses atop it, most of which he’s already decommissioned.Consulting gigs generated the initial startup capital, but the newsletter itself is the platform upon which everything else is meant to build; it holds a captive audience of 28,000 (and counting) upwardly mobile, high-value professionals.Rameel prices ads against that audience on a CPM basis and currently has <a class="link" href="https://www.passionfroot.me/the-bottleneck?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">four offerings</a>:<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/fe7f2c9f-dcd2-46f0-9b3e-54f0f1d0434a/PLAYBOOK__1_.png?t=1730423450"/><div class="image__source">The Bottleneck’s ad products at the time of writing.</div></div><ul><li>Featured placement in a Thursday (Ops Playbook) edition for $1,200</li><li>Featured placement in a Sunday (longform) edition for $1,200</li><li>Featured placement in three issues for $2,800 (10% discount)</li><li>A dedicated Sunday deep dive about a specific company for $3,000</li></ul>If he’s selling out every week — which is not always the case and sometimes he advertises his own services — that’s $9,600 for a four-week month; the newsletter itself directly generates a third of his current $30k/month revenue.<hr class="content_break"><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Cornerstone — an exclusive membership club</h3>The first business arm to be built on the back of The Bottleneck is <a class="link" href="https://joincornerstone.co/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Cornerstone</a>. Like Chief or Hampton, it is a vetted, higher entry fee members club for a specific type of professional — in this case, executive-level operations professionals at companies with some millions in funding or revenue and at least 10 employees.This was initially a Discord community accessible by paying $10 per month. It launched in February; by June, it had become Cornerstone.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/cc093f12-e787-4d69-93cf-1ad52a5695c0/Screenshot_2024-10-31_at_3.40.45_PM.png?t=1730407795"/><div class="image__source">Cornerstone’s core offerings</div></div><hr class="content_break"><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Future ventures</h3>After sending the first issue, Rameel says, it took him about nine months to replace his previous base salary. The newsletter and surrounding businesses provide more than enough to support his young family; he continues to reinvest the rest in the business and experiment furtherHas he reached anywhere near the top of his market? No, he estimates there is a ceiling in the “couple of hundreds of thousands,” looking at groups like a project management subreddit with around 160,000 members and a LinkedIn search of operations professionals that surfaces five to six million individuals.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>COOs are not a front-of-house bunch, generally, and Rameel’s instinct tells him not to break that, but it’s a question that never leaves him — whether to lean more into a creator persona or keep operating behind the scenes. Regardless, he’s answering the question that matters: converting attention to revenue.Connect with Rameel on <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rameel-sheikh-051246a3/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a> or at rameel@thebottleneck.io. Read and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://www.thebottleneck.io/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Bottleneck</a>.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/YzUyNDc2NTItNTFiNy00YTMwLTg5YWQtZjU1Mzk0MmY4MWNm?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEfGVCa_T4o&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="true" class="youtube_embed" frameborder="0" height="100%" src="https://youtube.com/embed/PEfGVCa_T4o" width="100%"></iframe>🎙️ Rameel had much to say about his operation, and it was impossible to fit every topic we touched on in this newsletter. Listen to the pod for:<ul><li>💔 All the spinoff businesses he’s tried — what’s worked and what hasn’t</li><li>👀 Thoughts on building a business on-camera vs. behind the scenes</li><li>💵 A full breakdown of all the ways the business makes money</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/YzUyNDc2NTItNTFiNy00YTMwLTg5YWQtZjU1Mzk0MmY4MWNm?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or watch on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEfGVCa_T4o&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Making gathering audience data fun for the audience</h2>The Bottleneck has an excellent onboarding survey. Rameel shared these numbers from just the last four weeks:<ul><li>75% open rate for the email — around 6,500 people received it.</li><li>23% click-through rate to the quiz — around 1,300 people filled it out.</li></ul>It comes in an email titled “⚙️ Free Goodie Inside” — the “Goodie” in question is a BuzzFeed-style personality quiz — “What’s your Operator Style?” <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ce2d8f68-01ef-450c-aa9c-2d0e8657152c/Screenshot_2024-10-31_at_11.30.11_AM.png?t=1730388616"/><div class="image__source">The front page of The Bottleneck’s onboarding quiz. <a class="link" href="https://www.thebottleneck.io/subscribe?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">To see it for yourself, subscribe</a>.</div></div><ul><li>Sixteen light A/B-choice questions about project management, workflows, etc., that are more fun — the personality quiz portion</li><li>Four high-signal A/B/C/D/E-choice questions that look more like a traditional onboarding survey, getting at particular pain points that signal what type of content and services participants might want from The Bottleneck</li><li>Four personal questions: first name, last name, email, and job title</li></ul><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>In other words, sugar for the pill; make data self-disclosure fun. It’s entirely replicable:<ul><li>Identify, based on your audience’s interests, what would flatter them</li><li>Create a few bespoke, tongue-in-cheek personality archetypes based on that</li><li>Build a quiz based on those archetypes; add additional personal disclosure questions</li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=terrible-content-works" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#FCF9F4;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=e5477d1e-54dc-4442-ac51-3de50b027545&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 Do they have YouTube in space?</title> <description>ft. Swapna Krishna of Ad Astra</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e1876c48-1f97-42ec-872f-f58de0dd01ee/Featured__18_.png" length="822214" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/swapna-krishna-ad-astra</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/swapna-krishna-ad-astra</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 25 Oct 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-10-25T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Swapna Krishna, creator of Ad Astra, a YouTube channel and beehiiv newsletter about space. She’s a professional writer with over a decade of experience — everything from journalism to content marketing to authoring a book.In this issue:<ul><li>🏗️ Insights from a creator working to build on unexpectedly early wins</li><li>▶️ Unlocking YouTube AdSense revenue</li><li>📧 Thoughts on repurposing YouTube scripts into a newsletter</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/ODA4NTUxOWEtZjVmNi00NWJkLWE4NDUtY2I3ODk0ZjRmZDUz?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to our full interview with Swapna</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-33owO2haYI&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/dc8f35c1-8864-4d0b-a69d-a2673d91c2a7/Featured__18_.png?t=1729778555"/></div><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Swapna Krishna did not go to journalism school. She formed a career in science and culture reporting out of pure passion, curiosity, and a drive to share those traits with the world.Hobbyist book reviews led to freelance gigs and a career in writing for the internet. Swapna has written for outlets The Verge, Gizmodo, Fast Company, SYFY; she’s worked as an editor and content marketer for tech companies like 1Password and Stripe; she’s hosted a YouTube show for PBS.Currently, she is one year into working full-time on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/@adastraspace/featured?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ad Astra</a>, a YouTube show and “place to learn about the universe around us” she writes, produces, and hosts.Engadget is the key publication in Swapna’s career, the place that provided her with an education in journalism. “They took a chance on me,” she says, teaching her how to work in a newsroom, how to write concisely, how to write about topics she lacked background in, how to be a reporter in a traditional sense.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4414ea37-50e6-4868-954b-b4b69eb78a77/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1723063841"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">The PBS-to-creator pipeline </h2><a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/@adastraspace/featured?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ad Astra</a> was born from Swapna’s <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdLbNHnsef2O1S5QOafGHkWVWD5i858sB&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">seven-episode stint</a> hosting PBS’ YouTube show Far Out. “It taught me I have a natural affinity for being on camera, which I never knew,” she says.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ee40705a-42ec-41a9-8786-e86b786767c3/Screenshot_2024-10-24_at_11.36.14_AM.png?t=1729784179"/><div class="image__source">The most-viewed <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXh0DTP998w&list=PLdLbNHnsef2O1S5QOafGHkWVWD5i858sB&index=1&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">episode</a> from Swapna’s time working on Far Out</div></div>There was a year between her accepting the offer to work on the show and production beginning. To prepare, she started <a class="link" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@swapna_krishna?lang=en&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">making TikToks</a>, as she’d done writing and podcasting, but never video.Ad Astra happened because Swapna never stopped making videos; she just switched from vertical to horizontal. Her break came one year after making that switch, on February 19, 2024, when she posted a video about <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L0PEcioDJo&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the first private-company moon landing</a>. Swapna pegs the start of this year as when she started working on Ad Astra in earnest, when it moved from hobby to full-swing. Still, it took 59 videos (and 11 months) from her first for-YouTube horizontal to her first semi-viral video (32k views at time of writing), incidentally the same number of videos she’s produced since. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Creator craves company</h2>Swapna still freelances, but <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/@adastraspace/featured?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ad Astra</a> has become her main gig. On the PBS show, she was just one member of a full production team; now, this career writer is doing everything herself, figuring out a totally different format.Her current highest priority is to not do everything herself:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Finding an editorial point of view in a crowded niche</h2>I asked Swapna about her goals for the business over the next year — her answer had nothing to do with subscriber or revenue numbers.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>This goes back to her wanting to hire an editor soon; she’s having trouble sitting with the work and standing above it at the same time. For now, her public is her editorial thermometer:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/93370454-96a2-4c0d-8fc8-c3b483c8777b/Screenshot_2024-10-24_at_4.15.08_PM.png?t=1729800926"/><div class="image__source">Recent Ad Astra videos</div></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Revving up the revenue streams</h2>Ad Astra generates revenue through YouTube’s AdSense, beehiiv’s native ad network, TikTok’s creator program, and one-off YouTube and vertical video partnerships.Swapna “expected to be in the hole for two years” while building the project; if, by the end of 2025, she still wasn’t making any money, she’d know it was time to reconsider. Her semi-viral videos at the start of the year pushed her beyond her expectations ahead of schedule. There are a few requirements to access YouTube AdSense, including an audience of at least 1,000 subscribers and a video catalog boasting at least 4,000 hours of watch time over a 12-month period. She achieved that off of one video. Of course, she’d spent a year practicing, publishing dozens of videos beforehand.Unlocking YouTube AdSense has changed her approach to creating videos:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>She’s quick to clarify she’s able to make the project work because her husband has a full-time job.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>He’s also the sole other person currently involved in the project, if in a small way. He moderates the YouTube comments; she reads them only after he’s gone through.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Being a creator-journalist takes personality</h2>I asked Swapna if she identifies with the creator-journalist label — the answer was an easy “yes,” probably helped along by the fact that she didn’t come up within the world of pure, J-School journalism.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>She’s certainly helped along by her time at Engadget and other publications, and she’s spent years building contacts at places like NASA; she can easily reach out to a few people there and get “well-researched responses” because she’s built that trust over many years, including when she did represent known publications.While she’s not ready to share specific subscriber or revenue goals, it’s clear Swapna is on an upward trajectory. Her YouTube channel has added nearly 1,500 subscribers per month on average this year, and her YouTube instincts are only getting sharper. Most important, perhaps, is that being independent allows her to lean into her personality; the stage suits her.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Connect with Swapna on <a class="link" href="https://bsky.app/profile/swapnakrishna.com?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bluesky</a>, her preferred social app. <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/@adastraspace?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Watch </a><a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/@adastraspace?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ad Astra</a> on YouTube or <a class="link" href="https://www.adastraspace.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">read the newsletter</a> on beehiiv.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/ODA4NTUxOWEtZjVmNi00NWJkLWE4NDUtY2I3ODk0ZjRmZDUz?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-33owO2haYI&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8349e452-a67e-4d81-9ce8-4ef7ad2b768c/SPONSOR.png?t=1729803495"/></div><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;" id="how-to-launch-an-email-course-step-">How to launch an email course (step by step)</h3><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://emailbasedcourse.com/?utm_campaign={{publication_alphanumeric_id}}&utm_source=beehiiv&_bhiiv=opp_99ece8e6-eca7-4dca-8228-430ff4e4de4b_9cbe5281" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/2c891f42-6648-41d9-8eec-a7235560ce15/Frame_298.png?t=1731005038"/></a></div>In this in comprehensive guide, Will Steiner (creator of <a class="link" href="https://emailbasedcourse.com/?utm_campaign={{publication_alphanumeric_id}}&utm_source=beehiiv&_bhiiv=opp_99ece8e6-eca7-4dca-8228-430ff4e4de4b_9cbe5281" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Master the Email-Based Course</a>) partnered with beehiiv to share everything he knows about email courses. It’s a master class in selling more online–by teaching through email.Over 1,000 students have taken his course (but he’s sharing the best way to get started here).<a class="link" href="https://emailbasedcourse.com/?utm_campaign={{publication_alphanumeric_id}}&utm_source=beehiiv&_bhiiv=opp_99ece8e6-eca7-4dca-8228-430ff4e4de4b_9cbe5281" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Use code LEAD for $50 off (next 48 hours)</a></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-33owO2haYI&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/feda3423-0d1d-4391-a665-33646580fe0c/Frame_18.png?t=1729778987"/></a></div>🎙️ We covered a lot of ground in the podcast; the newsletter could only fit a few of the topics we touched on. In this episode of the pod:<ul><li>🎞️ Swapna walks through her full production process</li><li>🦠 We discuss why specific videos went viral when others didn’t</li><li>🤳 How Swapna leverages her arms-open relationship to social media</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/ODA4NTUxOWEtZjVmNi00NWJkLWE4NDUtY2I3ODk0ZjRmZDUz?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or watch on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-33owO2haYI&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Accessibility is a good business plan</h2>Swapna is a writer who became a YouTuber who made a newsletter purely as an accessibility service (as opposed to a tactical repurposing play).<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>So she made a Patreon and posted cleaned-up transcripts there, but it wasn’t quite right.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>The Ad Astra newsletter is a processed byproduct of the YouTube series, but it stands on its own.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>If the script has her talking about a graphic that appears in the video, she changes that to make sense in context. It’s also, crucially, a way for her to thoroughly reference her sources; her work relies on many sources, and hyperlinks in the newsletter are a much more effective way to credit them than are YouTube show notes.The newsletter, Swapna says, is now pushing 2k subscribers (the YouTube channel is nearing 15k). She pushed hard for the first 1,000 subscribers, using beehiiv’s Boosts tool, but has relied on her social media posts and word-of-mouth since.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-13-cake-zines-aliza-abarbanel/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-13-cake-zines-aliza-abarbanel/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the latest episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-13-cake-zines-aliza-abarbanel/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, the weekly podcast about media, tech, and business hosted by Spotlight editor Francis Zierer and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. This week we’re joined by Aliza Abarbanel, co-editor of indie print magazine Cake Zine. We cover the economics of running an indie magazine, community among media people vs. food people, potentially starting a wine bar off the back of the magazine, zine collectors, and more.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=do-they-have-youtube-in-space" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#FCF9F4;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=d89d2d2d-9e46-4240-8c80-f702b049126b&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 Deleting YouTube videos to get more views</title> <description>ft. Alex Emery, creative director and content strategist</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/11c23fb5-3996-4da4-847d-3a2380ef7cea/Featured__17_.png" length="845124" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/alex-emery</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/alex-emery</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 18 Oct 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-10-18T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source">Today’s issue in partnership with The Webby Awards</div></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.webbyawards.com/?utm_source=partner_CreatorSpotlight&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Webby29EED" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5a1afd5b-98ad-411a-8061-cd34d064823c/Webby_logo_Hi_Res.png?t=1726096399"/></a></div>Today’s guest is Alex Emery, a creative director and content strategist who spent the first 8 years of his career at Sky Sports before leaving 2 years ago to work with creators. His first client was John Nellis, a YouTuber with 5,000 subscribers at the time — that number is now 1.75 million and counting.In this issue:<ul><li>📺️ Working with traditional media vs. creators, from a guy who’s done both</li><li>⏯️ Lessons on developing excellent, channel-growing YouTube content</li><li>📹️ Recognizing good YouTube talent as a producer</li></ul>We haven’t had a YouTube-focused guest in months, so you’ll find a special, expanded “Steal this tactic” section down at the bottom of today’s letter.— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/MTY0YzllMTAtMDA5ZC00MmI2LWIwYTItMDBjMDFmOWRlMmQx?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to our full interview with Alex</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2w9Lu-eXbA&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">watch it on YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/11c23fb5-3996-4da4-847d-3a2380ef7cea/Featured__17_.png?t=1729174547"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">1 million, 1 million, and counting</h2>When you reach 1 million subscribers on YouTube, the company sends you a golden plaque to mark the occasion. Alex Emery has two. Neither one bears his name. The YouTube channel inscribed on the first plaque is Sky Sports Football. Alex joined Sky Sports, the UK’s largest subscription sports television group, as an apprentice. He was hired and stayed for 8 years, producing content across all their social media channels — YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat — but he shone brightest when allowed to focus on and lead their YouTube channel a few years in. He was 23 at the time.This was August 2018, and the channel, launched 3 years earlier, had 250k subscribers. Alex’s content strategy quadrupled that number to 1 million within 9 months. The core concept — clips from the company’s vast stable of star-studded television programs — didn’t change. The differential was Alex’s studied-to-the-point-of-instinct clip selection and packaging skills; titles, thumbnails, and platform-native editing.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">A high tolerance and hunger for risk</h2>The scale and speed of Alex’s achievements at Sky Sports outpaced the organization’s ability to reward him. This is not to say he didn’t receive due promotions and raises or was ungrateful — far from it.Alex’s reward for cracking YouTube at his day job was the opportunity to try cracking one of his employer’s dozens of other digital media properties. <div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Sky Sports has over 10,000 employees. It’s owned by Sky Group, which is owned by Comcast, who took the company private after acquiring it 6 years ago. Alex wanted equity in his work, and there was no world where his employer could give it to him.This is a core appeal of the creator economy: a creator is a startup. A creator is a small business for which overhead can be as low as rent and a phone bill and the upside could be millions of dollars (or pound sterling, in this case). The downside, of course, is there are no guarantees. You only eat what you kill.It’s not even that staying at Sky would necessarily mean stability; Sky Group announced at the top of this year that they expected to cut around 1,000 jobs over the year.Alex left Sky Sports in June 2022. His team gave him the YouTube plaque as a parting gift.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ed1513a8-77b1-4093-b12b-092bcebd59c3/Screenshot_2024-10-17_at_1.07.59_PM.png?t=1729184905"/></div>A few weeks earlier, <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/@JohnNellis/featured?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">John Nellis</a>, an acquaintance, had called Alex up asking if he knew anyone who could help him with YouTube.John had been working as an air traffic controller as long as Alex had been working at Sky Sports. He’d recently been making fantasy football content on YouTube. When he called Alex, he had around 5,000 subscribers. They started working together in their spare time, secured a contract with Fantasy Football Hub to make content for the brand’s YouTube channel at a per-video rate plus a percentage of ad revenue and quit their jobs.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Being John Malkovich Nellis</h2>Initially, Alex planned to work with a stable of creators, some on ongoing contracts and some on a one-off consulting basis.There is now little time in Alex’s life for other clients: “What happened is John has blown up so fast, and we’re operating at such a high level that he’s the best place for my time.” Alex was a one-man production team early on, doing everything from filming to editing to strategy. They’ve since brought on his cousin to take some of the editing and production off his plate, giving him more time for high-level strategy and creative direction.John waited a few months longer than Alex to quit his job, leaving in December 2022. By the end of June 2023 — a full year after Alex left Sky — they broke 400k subscribers. Another year later, this past summer, they cracked 1 million. Today, they’re at 1.75 million, having added 500k subscribers in just the past month. I asked Alex if that growth spike was due to a <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cef7gp3AK5E&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">recent video</a> featuring French superstar Kylian Mbappé; he says it’s more related to improvements in their Shorts strategy.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/77e4f673-3e6a-4f7a-a04b-4b9b55eb5170/Screenshot_2024-10-15_at_7.42.11_PM.png?t=1729035778"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4414ea37-50e6-4868-954b-b4b69eb78a77/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1723063841"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Identifying the talent is the talent</h2>Alex quit his job to play the high-risk, high-reward creator game. But why hitch his cart to John, of all the creators out there, other than proximity?Being a good producer means recognizing talent, even when only 5,000 YouTube subscribers have validated it. John is indefatigable, charismatic, and humble. I watched <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Auj8nXMhH2U&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">one video</a> where he convinces first the owner of a random Florida restaurant to let him cook and film in their kitchen and then a security guard at MLS team Inter Miami’s stadium to let him bring the the food into the grounds. In other words: he convinced people to break rules that could have consequences for their jobs, just for the sake of a YouTube video they had no stake in. That’s talent.Crucially, John recognizes that he’s not the star; he is a facilitator, a presenter, a vessel for the viewer. This is core to the content strategy Alex has built with him:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4414ea37-50e6-4868-954b-b4b69eb78a77/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1723063841"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Replacing a traditional salary (and then some)</h2>Alex had been with Sky Sports for 8 years and John had been with the Irish Aviation Authority for nearly 9 years when they quit to focus on YouTube; they both gave up healthy, mature salaries.A creator’s salary might balloon, but it’s rarely steady month over month like a traditional paycheck. Alex says it took “six months to a year” after quitting to replace and surpass what he made at Sky. Here’s how he makes money:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>He’s now making more money than he ever did at Sky, while still working reasonable hours. He rents an office and does all his non-field work there, coming in before 10:00AM and leaving no later than 7:00PM. He only works weekends as required for shooting, like if they’re filming at a football game.John, for the foreseeable future, will remain Alex’s primary focus. As in most any creative profession, the best creators are not lone wolves. They are a business, the product of a team, the more-than-the-sum-of-their-parts output of, at the very least, a sharp creative mind and a sharp business mind working together. This will only prove truer as the creator economy matures.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4414ea37-50e6-4868-954b-b4b69eb78a77/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1723063841"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Further together</h2>Alex has no particular desire to be in front of the camera. It’s not what motivates him or where his skills are best applied.But there is precisely <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhcwogAX7MA&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">one video</a> on John’s channel, from June 2023, where Alex plays a co-starring role. He and his cousin Jacob race John and his cousin Brendy from Manchester to London for VIP tickets to a football match. There’s a 16-hour clock, they’ve no money, and they’ve a few tricks to play against each other.<div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhcwogAX7MA&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px 9px 9px 9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px 1px 1px 1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/804ea86b-ed45-4c76-8bc2-05f0b5235d5b/Screenshot_2024-10-15_at_7.26.21_PM.png?t=1729034789"/></a><div class="image__source">Jacob now works with Alex as an assistant editor and producer</div></div>I watched and enjoyed the video. It's a fun concept, expertly structured to keep the viewer invested, and a perfect example of why Alex prefers to be behind the camera:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-emery/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Connect with Alex on LinkedIn</a> — he’s available to consult. Watch and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/@JohnNellis?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">John Nellis</a> on YouTube.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/MTY0YzllMTAtMDA5ZC00MmI2LWIwYTItMDBjMDFmOWRlMmQx?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2w9Lu-eXbA&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">watch it on YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2w9Lu-eXbA&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/73a8ff0f-58ae-4615-b7e4-10bd4035507c/Group_47973.png?t=1729172596"/></a></div>🎙️ As always, it was impossible to fit every topic we touched on in the newsletter — here’s some of what’s left in the podcast:<ul><li>☁️ War stories from Alex’s time at Sky Sports</li><li>🧠 We go deeper on Alex’s end-to-end production process</li><li>💷 Breaking down all the ways the John Nellis brand generates revenue</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/MTY0YzllMTAtMDA5ZC00MmI2LWIwYTItMDBjMDFmOWRlMmQx?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2w9Lu-eXbA&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">watch on YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8e119e62-c81f-4887-b0ef-0dedda032bb7/N_PARTNERSHIP_WITH.png?t=1726101453"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.webbyawards.com/?utm_source=partner_CreatorSpotlight&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Webby29EED" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4a8fd0f6-ee96-484f-ab17-1bc19b52599b/Webby29_Creator_Ad_EED_1200x700px.png?t=1729173709"/></a></div>The Early Entry Deadline for the 29th Annual Webby Awards is just ONE WEEK away! Since 1996, The Webby Awards has been recognized as the preeminent international honor for Internet excellence, and this year, they’ve introduced a brand-new suite of categories for Creators.Join past Creator winners like MrBeast, Java Doodles, Abi Marquez, Recess Therapy, and Mark Rober in new categories such as Best Editing, Best Series, Best Narrative, Storytelling or Writing and honors across Art & Culture, Comedy, Gaming, Music, Social Impact, and more.Don’t wait! Create Your Mark and <a class="link" href="https://www.webbyawards.com/?utm_source=partner_CreatorSpotlight&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Webby29EED" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204)">Enter</a> by the Early Entry Deadline on Friday, October 25 for the best available pricing today!</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">YOUTUBE STRATEGIST shares the SHOCKING secret to his success</h2>Here’s the secret behind Alex’s YouTube successes: a decade of experience and study. There’s no formula, only action and study compounding over time. That said, he did share a few lessons.<h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Titles and thumbnails</h3>The content is irrelevant if you can’t get someone to click on a video. Alex does use YouTube’s thumbnail AB testing tool but gives more credit to his developed instincts:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Retention editing</h3>Retention editing is a style, associated with MrBeast and encouraged by YouTube’s retention metrics, characterized by an almost overwhelming mix of fast cuts, sound effects, and graphics. A number of <a class="link" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/30/video-editing-mrbeast-retention/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">articles</a> earlier this year proclaimed the style was dying out; the point, after all, is not a specific editing style, it’s to get viewers to watch a full video. Editing can only do so much.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Developing video concepts</h3><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Deleting videos</h3>At the time of writing, there are only <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/@JohnNellis/videos?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">18 long-form videos</a> on the John Nellis YouTube channel. There are many more shorts, but they’ve clearly pruned the long-form catalog. I asked Alex why they do this and how they pick which videos to delete.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-12-public-radio-for-beginners-ft-elise-pepple/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-12-public-radio-for-beginners-ft-elise-pepple/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the latest episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-12-public-radio-for-beginners-ft-elise-pepple/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, the podcast hosted by Creator Spotlight editor Francis and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto.This week we’re joined by Elise Pepple, Executive Director of Marfa Public Radio, to discuss how important radio as a pillar of rural communities, podcasting vs. broadcasting, what you learn sitting on the NPR board, and telling stories about and (more importantly) for communities. </div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=deleting-youtube-videos-to-get-more-views" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#FCF9F4;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=c68724b9-ae89-4568-812a-955d14cb5b81&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 A newsletter I would email you if we were friends</title> <description>ft. Caitlin Dewey of Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4ce2440-c65c-4982-a131-bfef0611e139/Featured__16_.png" length="639499" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/caitlin-dewey-links</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/caitlin-dewey-links</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 11 Oct 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-10-11T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Caitlin Dewey, creator if Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends, a newsletter she started in 2014 while reporting on social media for The Washington Post. She wrote it for 2 years, then took a 4-year break before bringing it back in 2020; earlier this year, she went all-in to make it her main gig.In this issue:<ul><li>💵 Monetizing her newsletter a decade in</li><li>📰 Tension between journalists and creators</li><li>🪴Building a sustainable lifestyle business rather than a media empire</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/MmY2ODZkYjktOThkZC00ZjU2LWE4MWItMDc2MTk2MjMyNDc2?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to our full interview with Caitlin</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNAC0GuoKnQ&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4ce2440-c65c-4982-a131-bfef0611e139/Featured__16_.png?t=1728652709"/></div><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>This spring, Caitlin Dewey completed a rebrand of her newsletter, <a class="link" href="https://linksiwouldgchatyou.substack.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends</a>, and for the first time, she launched a paid subscription option.She’s been working as a journalist since graduating college in 2011 and started Links in the first month of 2014 while working at The Washington Post as a social media reporter. Shortly after starting her newsletter, Caitlin became the Post’s first digital culture critic; the beat gelled well with her work on the newsletter, which she published multiple times per week, sometimes daily.Issues were easy to write (she never spent more than an hour on a given issue) and easy to read, rarely including more than 400 words; she’d write an intro note and include briefly-contextualized links to three articles or other pieces of internet.Six months after launch, Links landed a recommendation <a class="link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/business/media/newsletters-you-might-actually-be-happy-to-find-in-your-inbox.html?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">in </a><a class="link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/business/media/newsletters-you-might-actually-be-happy-to-find-in-your-inbox.html?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The</a><a class="link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/business/media/newsletters-you-might-actually-be-happy-to-find-in-your-inbox.html?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> </a><a class="link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/business/media/newsletters-you-might-actually-be-happy-to-find-in-your-inbox.html?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">New York Times</a>, not the last mention it would earn from traditional media. Links was a formalization of exactly what the title describes; a way for Caitlin to get more out of the research she was already doing for work, finding a home for stories and slices of internet that didn’t fit into her primary output. She’d already spent years curating an RSS feed that sat at the core of her work — today, though she’s sending the newsletter to over 23,000 readers, that RSS feed is still her crystal ball.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4414ea37-50e6-4868-954b-b4b69eb78a77/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1723063841"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Sabbatical</h2>On the eve of the 2016 election, not two years after the first issue graced inboxes, Links suddenly went dark. The <a class="link" href="https://linksiwouldgchatyou.substack.com/p/chasin-the-lulz?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">last issue</a>, sent on November 2nd, 2016, was a guide on how to safeguard your sanity in the last days of the election. “By all appearances, it looks like I stopped because of the 2016 election,” Caitlin says. “That is not the case. I actually got a new job.”She was still at the Post but had switched beats to food policy. Two years later, she changed jobs again, moving from D.C. back to her hometown, Buffalo, to work for The Buffalo News, reporting major narrative and investigative projects on topics like housing and economic development.Then, just a few weeks after the pandemic shut America down, Caitlin sent out the first <a class="link" href="https://linksiwouldgchatyou.substack.com/p/introducing-links-i-would-gchat-you?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">issue</a> of Links in nearly four years — “I suddenly find myself with a lot of links, a lot of aimless screen time, and a *very* unexpected, born-again appreciation for the peculiarities of internet culture.”By last fall, having been writing the newsletter the second time around for longer than she had the first time around, and seeing other journalists leave traditional media for gainful independent newsletter projects, Caitlin quit Buffalo News to do the same.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/37a83111-7ae0-42c3-88c4-68e000d254ab/TIMELINE__2_.png?t=1728652726"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4414ea37-50e6-4868-954b-b4b69eb78a77/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1723063841"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Replacing a local news salary with newsletter subscriptions</h2><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7dc39bb1-ad72-43d5-9b0c-1538412dbcd2/image.png?t=1728512461"/></div>The Links <a class="link" href="https://linksiwouldgchatyou.substack.com/p/announcing-the-long-awaited-links?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">relaunch</a>, which happened on May 1st, is most visible in three changes. First is the brand and visual language, as seen in the above site header.Second is an increase in publishing pace; whereas the original version of Links sent almost every day, the post-pandemic version was usually once per week; the post-rebrand version sends twice weekly in distinct formats.Third is the addition of a paywall for the first time.Until this May, Caitlin had not directly monetized Links; it was “a pro bono enterprise.” There is now a $7/month option ($70 for a yearly plan). Saturday editions of the newsletter are classic link roundups and Wednesday editions are original essays; free subscribers only see some of the Wednesday editions and don’t get access to the gift links guiding readers past paywalled article in the link roundups. Paid subscribers also get access to planned community-focused events and experiments.Three months after the rebrand, Caitlin said she’d replaced “roughly 40%” of her salary at Buffalo News. That was two months ago; when we spoke, she told me the number had increased to “over half,” pacing ahead of the revenue goals she’d set.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6eebe5e1-9a3f-4479-ba64-edf2ccaadc08/SALARY_GRAPHIC.png?t=1728652771"/></div>So far, all her revenue is subscription-based, but she’s “tiptoeing into ads,” working on a trial basis with an ad salesman to see if the additional revenue stream might work for Links. She’s still taking on freelance work as a supplement.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">“There is this perceived tension between ‘content creators’ and journalists”</h2>Caitlin never aspired to be an entrepreneur and has a distaste for that side of indie journalist life. She may have replaced over half of her local news salary, but the Buffalo is a union shop, and she gave up excellent health insurance by leaving.She knows she’s supposed to be “posting TikTok summaries of my newsletter, and getting-ready videos where I also talk about digital culture,” in order to drive audience growth, but says, “You will never see me doing those things because they're not in my wheelhouse. I'm not good at them.” Caitlin does not feel a tension between herself as a journalist and creators, though she sees this tension in others. She, of course, admires the work creators do — it’s work she’s spent a great deal of time immersed in covering internet culture — but sees it as separate from what she does and not in competition.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4414ea37-50e6-4868-954b-b4b69eb78a77/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1723063841"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">There’s no need to build an empire</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Caitlin’s goal in leaving traditional journalism to go independent is nothing more than to live a happy, healthy, and sustainable lifestyle on her own terms. She doesn’t want to have employees; she wants to produce work she’s proud of and make a middle-class income doing so.The current academic semester is Caitlin’s first teaching; her third source of income at the moment, after Links and freelancing. She’s an adjunct at Syracuse University, teaching a twice-weekly class on magazine writing that she took as a senior at the same university 13 years ago. Nothing about what she’s teaching has changed since she took the classes except for some of the examples she’s teaching, which now include stories from writers like Anne Helen Peterson and Jia Tolentino.Links takes up about two-and-a-half workdays per week researching and writing Links, plus a half day on admin work like writing thank-you notes to paid subscribers. She still freelances out of necessity but doesn’t say she would stop were her income from Links to suddenly balloon beyond the heights of any previous salary; again, she likes the work. Weeks that she newsletters, teaches, and freelances, she says, “I don’t sleep a lot.”Though she works on Links alone, Caitlin does feel a sense of community with some of her fellow newsletter writers. It’s a massive group, much larger than when she started Links a decade ago. The writers she is in community with trade advice and help; she can’t recall that any of them have ever turned each other down.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Most of her growth to 23,000 subscribers has come via this community and her readers. And “readers” is indeed the word — when I asked Caitlin to describe her “relationship with her audience,” she said, “Even saying ‘audience,’ I don’t really want to refer to them in that way.” <div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Read and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://linksiwouldgchatyou.substack.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends</a>.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/MmY2ODZkYjktOThkZC00ZjU2LWE4MWItMDc2MTk2MjMyNDc2?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNAC0GuoKnQ&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNAC0GuoKnQ&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/306dd310-0771-48f2-827f-19eaf77fe7ec/image.png?t=1728568637"/></a></div>🎙️ As ever, it was impossible to fit every topic we discussed into the newsletter. In the podcast this week:<ul><li>📆 Creators, journalists, creator-journalists; ethics and audience growth</li><li>🔗 The art of building an excellent links aggregation newsletter</li><li>💻️ Differences in writing about the internet today vs. a decade ago</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/MmY2ODZkYjktOThkZC00ZjU2LWE4MWItMDc2MTk2MjMyNDc2?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or watch on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNAC0GuoKnQ&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Do more than just replying to your readers’ emails</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Every creator or indie journalist business is a relationships business. Those relationships may be parasocial, but attending to them builds trust and accountability both ways.The simplest way for newsletterists to do this is to email all new readers. This is standard practice; we do it at Creator Spotlight and respond to all good-faith responses in kind.Caitlin takes it a step further. In preparation for her rebrand, of course, she surveyed her existing readers (the list then numbered nearly 15,000 emails) and did follow-up video calls with three dozen respondents.To encourage paid subscription signups, Caitlin decided to mail a Links sticker to the first 100 people to sign up, along with a handwritten thank-you note. She enjoyed doing it, and the stickers weren’t expensive; she decided to keep it going for every paid subscriber (you opt in after signing up).She even made an Instagram account to follow readers back and create a sort of two-way parasocial relationship. None of this is strategic — this is just who Caitlin is.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-11-fragranceland-ft-bibi-prival/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the latest episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-11-fragranceland-ft-bibi-prival/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, the podcast hosted by Creator Spotlight editor Francis and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. This week we’re joined by Bibi Prival, a fragrance development director with 20 years of industry experience. We talked about … <ul><li>Building a career in fragrance</li><li>Teaching kids how to smell</li><li>How TikTok is changing fragrance culture</li><li>Scent memories</li><li>What fragrance evaluators actually do</li><li>How fragrance marketing has changed in the past twenty years</li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-newsletter-i-would-email-you-if-we-were-friends" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#FCF9F4;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=5a8c6f86-5779-4e1c-9e3f-5655a2d6d29a&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 What it means to be a creator</title> <description>What exactly it means to be a creator and why the answer matters</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ab07c2cb-6205-4bb0-bde6-a440c931133b/2.png" length="573801" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/creator-meaning</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/creator-meaning</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 04 Oct 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-10-04T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=what-it-means-to-be-a-creator" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source">Brought to you by beehiiv</div></div>No guest today — instead, an essay wherein we attempt to answer three questions:<ul><li>🤳 What do we talk about when we talk about “creators?”</li><li>📌 What does it mean to be a creator?</li><li>🤔 Do creators have particular responsibilities to their audience? Themselves?</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! No new episode this week; it’s a great time to browse the backlog. <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?view=episodes&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=what-it-means-to-be-a-creator" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred platform</a> or watch on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/@creator_spotlight_?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=what-it-means-to-be-a-creator" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ab07c2cb-6205-4bb0-bde6-a440c931133b/2.png?t=1728026614"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">What is a creator?</h2>I’ve asked this question of almost every person I’ve interviewed for Creator Spotlight this year. No answer has proven fully satisfying; the most all-encompassing answers are necessarily broad; they lack a useful point. Today’s newsletter means to find a point.The “creator” definition I’ve been using since this spring, influenced by all the definitions shared in these interviews, is: somebody creating content for distribution online to an audience beyond immediate friends and family. This feels true as a surface-level description but lacks edge and fails to reveal a core truth. It describes what a creator is, but not what it means to be a creator. Rachel Karten, who we featured in September, made sure to clarify a distinction between creators and influencers:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>In this definition, an influencer is someone telling and selling their own story. A creator might do the same, but they’re more focused on craft — writing, producing, filming, etc. — creative hard skills. They’re telling stories about subjects other than themselves.The influencer-creator distinction, though, matters less and less. Ten years ago, legions of influencers might’ve been able to command hefty fees to post Instagram photos featuring some product, and plenty still do so today, but the market is more competitive; influencers have been forced to improve their craft and, in doing so, have become creators or been left behind. Creators, meanwhile, execute influencer-style promotions because it’s part of a healthy revenue mix.<hr class="content_break"><hr class="content_break">Ryan Broderick, who we featured in May, had a similar answer to Rachel’s, but instead of the influencer angle brought up creators’ relationship to tech platforms.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>I asked Ryan to clarify what he meant by “Uber driver for posts.”<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>The definition he’s getting at here is something like: a creator is someone who works for the tech platforms they distribute content on and the audience consuming that content as much as they work for themselves. Like an Uber driver, a creator picks their hours and has some degree of agency, but they rely on the tech company to connect them with consumers, sharing part of their earnings in exchange. YouTubers, for example, get 55% of the ad revenue generated by their videos, while YouTube keeps 45%.Let’s say you’re a full-time social media manager for The Acme Corporation, whose entire job is to manage the company's TikTok account end-to-end. You’re strategizing, writing TikToks, producing them, starring in them, posting them, and tracking the channel's performance.The actions you’re executing day-to-day might be exactly the same as an independent TikTok creator who generates their living entirely through the platform, but you’re not a creator because you work for Acme; you are accountable to your employer, not to TikTik or your audience. To be a creator is to operate independently in the precarity of the attention company, your sail exposed in the storm to any upside or risk, absent employer-funded health insurance or long-held employer-employee relationship FTC protections.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">The working conditions of the internet define what it means to be a creator</h2>Drew Harwell and Taylor Lorenz wrote as good an article as I’ve read on what it means to be a creator for the Washington Post one year ago. (Taylor, as it happens, <a class="link" href="https://www.usermag.co/p/introducing-user-magazine?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=what-it-means-to-be-a-creator" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">announced</a> this week that she’d left the Post to focus on her own creator-journalist publication.) It’s a thoroughly reported, well-researched piece I recommend <a class="link" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/26/creator-economy-influencers-youtubers-social-media/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=what-it-means-to-be-a-creator" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reading in full</a>. This passage serviceably sums up their points:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Yes, to be a creator is essentially to post online, as noted the people we’ve interviewed for Creator Spotlight — but the weight is that this is an intensely competitive, incomprehensibly massive, and largely unregulated arena. This is what it means to be a creator: to fight for limited attention with little to no labor protections.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Attention is the gold-standard currency</h2>The nature of the creator economy — inasmuch as it is an unforgiving, endless competition for attention — is that the first “responsibility” a participant has is survival, a responsibility to hold attention, which is the gold-standard currency.This is their responsibility to themselves if they wish to make a buck. It is their responsibility to their audience, who search for content worth their attention. It is also their responsibility to their advertisers and the platform they use, which may be functionally one and the same; a YouTuber monetizes through ad revenue provided turnkey by the platform, revenue unlocked through sustained and scaled attention.This is the lone, impossible-to-fulfill goal of the mercenary creator: scaled attention. It is, by nature, unsustainable, a shallow well you must dig deeper every time you take of it.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Purpose beyond immediate attention is the foundation of a sustainable creator business</h2>I often ask the creators I interview for this series if they think much about their responsibility to their audience and if that’s something they’ve defined. Some have clearly given the matter much thought. Others haven’t given it much conscious thought but will have an instinctive answer, usually concerning transparency and honesty, especially in how they communicate advertiser relationships.I first asked this question — “What do you think about your responsibility to your audience?” — in my <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/henry-winslow-tricycle-day?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=what-it-means-to-be-a-creator" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">first interview</a> for Creator Spotlight. The context is important; I was interviewing Henry Winslow, whose newsletter, <a class="link" href="https://www.tricycleday.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=what-it-means-to-be-a-creator" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tricycle Day</a>, is about psychedelics news, policy, and research.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>John Doerr, a veteran venture capitalist, <a class="link" href="https://www.svpg.com/missionaries-vs-mercenaries?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=what-it-means-to-be-a-creator" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">once said</a>, “We need teams of missionaries, not teams of mercenaries.” Henry’s answer shows him to be a missionary — essentially someone whose work is driven by a deep sense of purpose rather than a desire for short-term capital gain.A mercenary approach to the creator economy — producing clickbait, sensationalist lies, rage bait, AI slop — prioritizes attention above all else and provides no foundation to build upon. A missionary approach understands that to be a creator is to be a type of modern media entrepreneur. It is defined by respect and duty to the creator’s specific audience and to the internet more broadly. This is how Henry sees it and how other creators I’ve interviewed see it:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>All three of these people run newsletters serving very specific niches. All three are generating multiple thousands of dollars in revenue per month. The responsibility to their audience is how and why.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-10-the-largesse-of-tasteland/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=what-it-means-to-be-a-creator" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><ul><li><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-10-the-largesse-of-tasteland/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=what-it-means-to-be-a-creator" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to this week’s episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-10-the-largesse-of-tasteland/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=what-it-means-to-be-a-creator" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, the podcast hosted by Spotlight editor Francis Zierer and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. <ul><li>This week: “magazines” are the inevitable endpoint of every form of media business, a magazine is just a container for taste, is neutrality in journalism over, AI agents consuming AI content, and the death of advertising, </li></ul></li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=what-it-means-to-be-a-creator" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#FCF9F4;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=07e651b2-0ed8-45ce-b91d-96c29e2fe1b6&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 How LinkedIn changed my life</title> <description>From nutrition coaching content to cracking LinkedIn ft. Tommy Clark</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/51f2ba51-0245-420b-a663-43803a2ccad4/Featured__14_.png" length="590211" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/tommy-clark</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/tommy-clark</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 27 Sep 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-09-27T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Tommy Clark, creator of the Social Files newsletter and founder of Compound Content Studio; a B2B social media expert. He started out making Instagram and YouTube content for his nutrition coaching business while still a college student in 2018, but never set out to build a career in content. Just over six years later, he has an agency on track to make over $1 million this year.In this issue:<ul><li>🏀 How playing college basketball led to dominating LinkedIn</li><li>✍️ Tommy is hiring a content writer for his agency (links to apply below)</li><li>📐 A few of Tommy’s rules for posting (scroll to the ‘Steal This Tactic’ section)</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/YWNkOGMxNWItMzIzMy00ZWQ2LWE2NjEtYzNhMGMyYzZhNzI5?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to our full interview with Tommy</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm92uZi9iN0&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/tommy-clark?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/51f2ba51-0245-420b-a663-43803a2ccad4/Featured__14_.png?t=1727376072"/></a></div>Less than a year after graduating college with a nutrition degree, Tommy Clark was hired as Head of Social for Triple Whale, a B2B SaaS product built for managing marketing data. He hadn’t even applied for the job — he’d just sent a Twitter DM to the company’s CMO introducing himself and complimenting the company's work.Rabah Rahil, the CMO, replied the next day asking if Tommy was looking for more work, and one month later, Tommy was working at Triple Whale full-time. He kept freelancing on the side, and by April 2023, his freelance income had eclipsed his full-time salary; it was time to leave. Demand for Tommy’s freelance work far outstripped his availability, so he began hiring help and started an agency almost accidentally.<a class="link" href="https://www.compoundcontentstudio.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Compound Content Studio</a>, Tommy’s agency, now has eight employees and is on track to bring in seven figures in revenue this year. And he just turned 25 this month.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Athletic content and an athlete’s approach to content</h2>Tommy didn’t start creating content in earnest until near the end of his freshman year of college, in 2018. His dream at the time was to become a doctor, and he was working towards a biology degree, but he got “super into sports nutrition” while playing college basketball and changed course.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>That Instagram account is now mothballed, but Tommy also started posting to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The latter platform proved the most effective — he started posting to YouTube in April 2019 and would post 91 videos over the next 19 months, stopping by November 2020. The account still has 2.32k subscribers and the videos still get views — one has racked up 46k and has been commented on as recently as seven months ago.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60402b58-28ad-46b7-8d50-e9d3b0b6d488/Screenshot_2024-09-24_at_2.14.31_PM.png?t=1727201678"/></div>Tommy’s first full-time job after college was as a content strategist for the Nutritional Coaching Institute, which he left after a year and a half to join Triple Whale. This was his in to professional marketing — he never took a single marketing class in college. He studied internet “marketing thought leaders” and tested their ideas with his own content; this is how he got the job; personal content as proof of work. It’s clear-eyed, DIY careerism.It does not seem to be a coincidence that Tommy has experienced his successes as quickly as he has and comes from an athletics background. He’s not the first <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/jade-buffong-phillips-240-days-to-raise?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">person</a> we’ve <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/just-go-grind?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">featured</a> in Creator Spotlight with this kind of <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/caitlin-murray-bigtimeadulting?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">background</a>. A sets-and-reps, learn-from-your-mistakes-and-go-again approach to content creation, regardless of specific platform or medium, all but ensures improvement and audience growth. Repetition compounds, on YouTube as in the gym.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Means to an end</h2>Tommy, to be clear, is not a creator for whom the content is the product. In his early days, his Instagram posts and YouTube videos were purely a means to attract customers; the same is true of the newsletters, videos, and Tweets he sends out today. It’s just that the service has changed from nutrition coaching to social media content strategy and production.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a77e1cab-6b21-4eba-a995-b016fe06c496/Tommy_Clark_and_Compound_Content_Studio.png?t=1727376496"/></div>In 2020, Tommy was one of many people with newfound time on their hands to start a newsletter on Substack. The <a class="link" href="https://tclarkmedia.substack.com/p/t-clark-media-newsletter-1st-edition?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">first issue</a> of Tommy Talks Marketing was published on October 28, 2020, when he was still in college and figuring out marketing on his own; he wasn’t an expert, nor did he present himself as one. That wasn’t the point:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>In the spring of 2022, shortly after joining Triple Whale, Adam Ryan, co-founder of the media company Workweek, approached Tommy about working together. Workweek’s model involves identifying talent producing content for a specific, business-focused niche (social media professionals, in this case), using a recommendation network and paid advertising to grow their audience, then selling ads against that audience while paying the creator a flat fee and a percentage of ad revenue. Tommy’s newsletter had around 500 subscribers at the time.Social Files, as Tommy’s newsletter was rebranded under Workweek, added subscribers by the thousands. The email list is over 17,000 strong today. But a few months after leaving Triple Whale, Tommy and Workweek made a decision to part ways:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1d32edfb-7f32-4a27-a106-d882e8412a5f/image.png?t=1727384582"/><div class="image__source">A graphic from Social Files.</div></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Building an agency, or Compound growth</h2>Tommy “already knew from the beginning,” when he joined Triple Whale, that he wanted to start his own business at some point. He just thought it would take “five or ten years versus one-and-a-half.”<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>By the time he left Triple Whale, Tommy already had an operations manager on contract to help with administrative work and posting client content. He hesitated to hire someone to help with the content production; that was his specialty.Upon leaving and announcing he was taking on new clients, Tommy was flooded with inbound and immediately hit capacity. He labored for over two months, “and then the cracks started to show.” He was burnt out but still “terrified to hire,” waiting another two months before bringing in a head of content.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Today, Compound Content Studio has a team of eight full-time employees. Soon they’ll number ten — they’re currently hiring a <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3989712108/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">content writer</a> and a <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4025566076/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">content editor</a>. Tommy says revenue is on track to break seven figures this year; they’re showing no signs of slowing down. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/bcd89ead-abc4-4c13-bd2a-46c9a647623f/Screenshot_2024-09-26_at_5.00.37_PM.png?t=1727384459"/><div class="image__source">New topic, same commitment to the YouTube thumbnail game.</div></div>Tommy is clearly well-suited to the entrepreneurial lifestyle; running a rapidly growing agency isn’t enough. Over the past few, he’s been teasing a new SaaS project on Twitter. He was tight-lipped but said he’s been working on it for a few months with a technical co-founder who had been working on it for “quite some time” before.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Connect with Tommy on <a class="link" href="https://x.com/tclarkmedia?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tclarkmedia/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a>. Read and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://www.readsocialfiles.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Social Files</a>.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/YWNkOGMxNWItMzIzMy00ZWQ2LWE2NjEtYzNhMGMyYzZhNzI5?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm92uZi9iN0&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e07ac077-96fc-47be-b186-42b4dd65236d/Frame_17.png?t=1727446318"/></div>🎙️ There’s more to the story. In this week’s podcast:<ul><li>🤖 Tommy’s hot takes on AI and scheduling tools</li><li>🧰 Tommy’s system for reliably producing great content with his founder clients</li><li>🤝 How Tommy connects his personal brand and business brand</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/YWNkOGMxNWItMzIzMy00ZWQ2LWE2NjEtYzNhMGMyYzZhNzI5?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or watch on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm92uZi9iN0&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">A few of Tommy’s rules for posting</h2>We asked Tommy a few questions about how he approaches social media. We’ve summarized a few of his answers here — listen to the podcast for more detailed answers.<h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">“Start with cadence” </h3><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">“The most important thing is the idea”</h3><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">“Make sure the hook is strong”</h3><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-9-debunking-zirp-ft-joe-weisenthal/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><ul><li><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-9-debunking-zirp-ft-joe-weisenthal/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the latest episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-9-debunking-zirp-ft-joe-weisenthal/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, the podcast hosted by Spotlight editor Francis Zierer and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. <ul><li>This week we’re joined by <a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-9-debunking-zirp-ft-joe-weisenthal/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Joe Weisenthal</a>, cohost of Bloomberg’s popular Odd Lots podcast. We discuss what ZIRP meant for a generation of businesses, the impact of the Fed’s rate cuts on both startups and everyday people, Lina Khan, whatever happened to yuppies, selling out, and more. It’s a good one.</li></ul></li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-linkedin-changed-my-life" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#FCF9F4;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=93667fa4-0235-4515-b920-40609947b175&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 Newsletter acquired! And bought back for $1</title> <description>ft. Ryan Gilbert, creator of Workspaces</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8fe52160-d7e8-421c-be8e-01cd7e02d899/Featured__13_.png" length="910359" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/ryan-gilbert-workspaces</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/ryan-gilbert-workspaces</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 20 Sep 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-09-20T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Ryan Gilbert, creator of a newsletter called Workspaces. He created it as a sort of “proof of work” while trying to break into the tech startup world in 2020 — it worked. In the years since, Ryan has built an email list of nearly 14k (and a Twitter following three times as large), successfully switched industries, and even sold the newsletter, before buying it back two years later. His is a unique story.In this issue:<ul><li>💵 The full story of Workspaces’ acquisition</li><li>💼 Successes and struggles selling ad space pre- and post-acquisition</li><li>⚖️ The pros and cons of keeping his voice out of the newsletter</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/OTMxOWMxNDQtYTk3Zi00MzhjLTllZTctNDdlNjY4MGNiN2Vk?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to our full interview with Ryan</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiJa7oiFpik&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/p/ryan-gilbert-workspaces?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8fe52160-d7e8-421c-be8e-01cd7e02d899/Featured__13_.png?t=1726783854"/></a></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">“This is going to sound kind of weird”</h2>This past May, two years after his newsletter was acquired by a company that also hired him to lead their content program, Ryan Gilbert learned he was being laid off. By that point, he had been working on said newsletter, <a class="link" href="https://workspaces.xyz/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Workspaces</a>, for four years.Rewind to 2015. Ryan has just graduated college with a marketing degree. He dreams of finding a role in the tech industry, at some exciting startup, but he has no connections, no in; he finds a job in the supply chain industry instead. It’s a fine career. He keeps getting promoted and earning raises, all the while applying for roles at various tech companies to no avail. It’s April 2020 and the pandemic has created a work-from-home boom. Ryan, active on tech Twitter, starts seeing all these people “from Facebook, Twitter, starting to work from home,” sharing pictures of their setups. Some are elaborate, composed of thousands of dollars of furniture and electronics. Eames chairs, pegboards tiled with tricked-out mechanical keyboards. Some are simpler. A kitchen counter, a couch. But they’re all beautifully photographed, all representative of this world he hasn’t been able to crack.At the same time, everyone is starting a newsletter. Ryan isn’t technical, but he can make a Substack. <a class="link" href="https://workspaces.substack.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">So he does</a>. And he texts a friend, then working as an engineer at Facebook:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ce4e55e6-a125-450d-af30-792a8c194a75/image.png?t=1726670648"/><div class="image__source"><a class="link" href="https://workspaces.substack.com/p/workspaces-001-shivkanth-bagavathy?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The first Workspace</a></div></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Newsletters open doors</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Ryan didn’t think <a class="link" href="https://workspaces.xyz/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Workspaces</a> would lead directly to a job offer, but he did think it might open doors leading to other doors containing connections that would. It only took one year publishing Workspaces for Ryan to get his first break. The project was fun and easy to engage with; it wasn’t long until he had people lining up asking to be featured, so much so that he started sending two issues per week just over a year in. To this day, he receives new submissions at a pace far beyond what he can publish.In issue #60, Ryan announced that he would begin working with a company called Journal (now Heyday), running content for them part-time.Heyday co-founder Sam DeBrule was a <a class="link" href="https://workspaces.xyz/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Workspaces</a> subscriber and had reached out to Ryan to write a Twitter <a class="link" href="https://x.com/SamDeBrule/status/1380553308612386818?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">thread</a> on him just a month earlier. Now he was hiring him as a content strategist.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/959bb0d7-dfba-4c03-ab55-bdd5b884e913/Screenshot_2024-09-18_at_1.10.27_PM.png?t=1726679434"/><div class="image__source"><a class="link" href="https://x.com/SamDeBrule/status/1395060663773405184?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Original tweet here</a></div></div>Then, in June 2022 — barely a year after Ryan got his first opportunity in tech — SaaS company Loops came knocking about an acquisition. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Monetizing other people’s workspaces</h2>By the time Loops brought Ryan their proposal, he’d been monetizing the newsletter for over a year. Each issue, from the beginning, included a list of items in the featured workspace: hardware, furniture, stationery. Eventually, this would expand to software and anything else a guest cared to include.Ryan started using Amazon affiliate links in <a class="link" href="https://workspaces.substack.com/p/086-alex-hao?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">issue #86</a>. I asked him why he waited a year and a half to implement what seemed like an obvious play:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Of course, when he asked some of his guests how they’d feel about affiliate links and sponsorships in the newsletter, they saw no issue.Affiliate links ceased under Loops’ ownership. Sponsorships also ceased, at least in plural — every issue from #179 on, the first one post-acquisition, now began with a banner: “Published By Loops.” This sponsorship predated the acquisition: they’d begun sponsoring Workspaces in issue #168. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Why sponsor what you can outright acquire?</h2>Two days after the first Loops-sponsored issue, the company’s CEO messaged Ryan asking to hop on a call. “At that point, they wanted to either buy a bunch more sponsorships or look into acquiring the newsletter, which I wasn’t really interested in selling,” Ryan says.There was no shortage of sponsorship demand, but balancing ad sales against rapid audience growth was proving to be a headache. He’d been selling ads in bulk — the previous sponsor had run for two months, or around 16 issues.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>At this point, Ryan had been at Product Hunt — his first full-time role in this industry he’d been trying to break into for half a decade, remember — for under a year. He loved it and wasn’t looking to leave, but Loops proposed hiring him as part of the acquisition and giving him “the role I would have wanted after four years at Product Hunt.”It was hard to say no. He’d taken a pay cut when he left the supply chain world and joined Product Hunt. And so he sold Workspaces — for “new car money, not new house money” — and accepted a new role as Loops’ Head of Content.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">“They didn’t have to give it back”</h2>Four years after starting Workspaces, three years after it had opened a first door into startupland, and after two years in his post-acquisition role, Ryan was laid off.It’s part of the game; he was one of 11,011 people in the tech industry laid off this May (according to <a class="link" href="https://layoffs.fyi/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Layoffs.fyi</a>). Startups inevitably make cuts and marketing departments are often among the first affected.<hr class="content_break"><hr class="content_break">The project that Ryan had ridden all this way on was no longer his. He had no right to the Workspaces brand, the email list, the Twitter account, any of it. But, in the layoff call, his former employer offered to sell it all back to him for $1.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>He accepted. There are conditions to the deal, Ryan says, one of which is that he’s not at liberty to describe them. But Workspaces is his; issue #420 was the last sent under the Loops banner. After that, during the re-acquisition period, he missed a weekend (the newsletter goes out every Saturday and Sunday) for the first time in four years.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Rebuilding in a changed industry</h2>Since re-acquiring Workspaces four months ago, Ryan has been working to re-monetize.Before the acquisition, he was charging $250 per ad slot, sending two newsletters per week, and reliably clearing $2k per month. Not bad for a little side project. He was booked out three months in advance and only spent about an hour on each issue. Now the audience “has doubled in size,” with open and click rates remaining consistent.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/802152f4-97e5-439d-a2d9-6fde8db39bc5/Workspaces_newsletter_stats.png?t=1726783891"/></div>And yet Ryan “cannot sell sponsorships.” He hasn’t even increased rates to account for subscriber gain.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Selling for a second time and spinning up new projects</h2>I asked Ryan what he’d change if he sold the newsletter again — and yes, he says he is “not 100% opposed to selling it again.” He’s even received multiple offers since he bought it back, but has no plans to sell anytime soon.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Ryan’s personal valuation is inevitably based in pride and emotion — this is something he’s spent years building — but also includes the personal-brand and network benefits the newsletter provides. Understandably, the offers he’s received do not price these factors in.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5e35d497-e431-4021-8e12-3edc1cc4ebda/Workspaces_subscriber_growth.png?t=1726783951"/></div>It’s been three years since Ryan left his last supply-chain industry role. Four-and-a-half since he sent the first issue of Workspaces. And he’s succeeded in breaking into the tech industry; it worked. A new full-time role does not figure into Ryan’s immediate plans, but he’s working on a few projects. Last month he helped relaunch and is continuing to help publish <a class="link" href="https://www.twid.fyi/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">This Week in Design</a>, a newsletter a connection of his acquired this summer.Just last week, he launched a new project of his own, <a class="link" href="https://h1gallery.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">H1 Gallery</a>, in part because he was “embarrassed by the lack of side projects” he’d launched this year. It involves “featuring and highlighting the best marketing headlines on the internet,” as a weekly digest and he hopes it’ll be able to grow in much the same way he grew Workspaces: “piggybacking off of other people’s audiences.”<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>H1 Gallery has yet to publish its first newsletter issue, but it’s been a week since Ryan announced it, and some 500 people have signed up.Before Workspaces, when he was unsuccessfully applying to tech industry jobs, Ryan says the hiring parties would ask him, “How can you help us?” and he would reply, “Well, I really can’t.” He didn’t know the shape of his offering or ability, how it fit into this world.Looking at Workspaces and now H1 Gallery, though, Ryan’s role is clear: he’s a talented curator and producer. Maybe it’s the years he spent outside this industry looking in that honed this skill — he’s a keen observer with a well-developed taste for a particular tech-culture aesthetic. Also, quite clearly, he’s a newsletter specialist.H1 and Workspaces are both billboards for other people. Guests often come to Ryan when they’re looking to build hype around a new project. “Honestly, it’s like a giant ad for yourself,” he says.Ryan, by the way, has never featured his own workspace in Workspaces. And he’s yet to spend a single dollar of that “new car money” he received upon first selling Workspaces.Connect with Ryan on <a class="link" href="https://x.com/rjgilbert?lang=en&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">X/Twitter</a>. Read and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://www.workspaces.xyz/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Workspaces</a>.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/OTMxOWMxNDQtYTk3Zi00MzhjLTllZTctNDdlNjY4MGNiN2Vk?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiJa7oiFpik&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>. And if there are any details you’re still curious about … just reply to this newsletter! We’re always happy to hear feedback and answer questions.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiJa7oiFpik&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a88d8dfe-45f8-4e87-91b9-a0adfddbdecc/Frame_15__2_.png?t=1726784298"/></a></div>🎙️ It’s not possible to fit every topic we discussed in our conversation with Ryan in this newsletter. In this week’s podcast:<ul><li>🐦️ How Ryan built and leverages Workspace’s 45k-follower Twitter account </li><li>📈 We discuss all the levers Ryan has used to grow his subscriber list</li><li>🔗 How Ryan has evolved his affiliate link strategy</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/OTMxOWMxNDQtYTk3Zi00MzhjLTllZTctNDdlNjY4MGNiN2Vk?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or watch on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiJa7oiFpik&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-8-trying-our-best-ft-ty-haney/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><ul><li><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-8-trying-our-best-ft-ty-haney/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the latest episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-8-trying-our-best-ft-ty-haney/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, the weekly podcast hosted by Spotlight editor Francis Zierer and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. <ul><li>This week: Your hosts are joined by Ty Haney, founder of Outdoor Voices and, more recently, TYB and Joggy. Topics covered include gamifying community-building, building a tool that allows brands to measure community-building efforts, Founder Mode, and building digital-first vs. physical-first. Also: sports fans and Bostonians suffering.</li></ul></li><li>For more about newsletter acquisitions …<ul><li>We interviewed <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/the-writers-job-newsletter?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Akhil Chauhan</a> about his acquisition of The Writer’s Job Newsletter.</li><li>We interviewed <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/ali-abassi-ai-for-work?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ali Abassi</a> about selling AI For Work only six months after he started it.</li></ul></li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-acquired-and-bought-back-for-1" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#FCF9F4;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=137c6368-c6f1-4a14-ad92-3094b350edc4&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 Every social media manager's favorite newsletter</title> <description>ft. Rachel Karten, creator of Link in Bio </description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6037c346-30b0-4611-85ce-b25545dd79ee/Featured__12_.png" length="1032610" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/rachel-karten-link-in-bio</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/rachel-karten-link-in-bio</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 13 Sep 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-09-13T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a></div>Today’s issue in partnership with The Webby Awards<div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.webbyawards.com/?utm_source=partner_CreatorSpotlight&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Webby29EED" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/5a1afd5b-98ad-411a-8061-cd34d064823c/Webby_logo_Hi_Res.png?t=1726096399"/></a></div>Today’s guest is Rachel Karten. She’s a social media consultant and the creator of Link in Bio, an excellent newsletter about and for people working in social media. She started publishing in early 2021 and has since built an audience of 69k subscribers. Her social media work has earned her multiple awards, including a Webby; she now sits on the Webby Awards judges panel.In this issue:<ul><li>💹 Turning her newsletter into a sustainable, well-paying job</li><li>🏘️ How she build a thriving, active community around the newsletter</li><li>🤔 The most common trait in all the best social media managers</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NDE5M2NlYjctOTBmMC00OGM4LWEzOGUtMTM2Njc2ZDY5ZmI3?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to our full interview with Rachel</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9npqhxN_DJ8&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6037c346-30b0-4611-85ce-b25545dd79ee/Featured__12_.png?t=1726148351"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Social media expertise requires humility</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>The trouble with figuring out rules, guidelines, or even general advice for working in social media is the rapid pace of change. Algorithms are black boxes. Trends come and go as soon as they’re defined. There are all kinds of resources out there — books, blogs, YouTube videos, social media accounts about social media. Few are as consistently sharp and rich as Rachel Karten’s newsletter, <a class="link" href="https://www.milkkarten.net/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link in Bio</a>.By the time Rachel left her job leading the social media team at Bon Appétit in the summer of 2020, she’d won a Webby for her work there and had worked in social for more than half a decade.Not ready to go back into a full-time job, Rachel started consulting and writing a newsletter at the same time; the former to make money, the second as a sort of duty to her profession.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>When Rachel started working in social in the early 2010s, the field wasn’t mature enough to have produced much of an expertise canon. In <a class="link" href="https://www.milkkarten.net/p/lets-talk-about-gary-vee?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">an early issue</a> of Link in Bio, Rachel says she wanted her newsletter to be “the anti-Gary Vaynerchuk social media resource. I wanted it to highlight lots of different social media managers, and never just be me doling out personal advice week after week.” She’d read one of Vaynerchuk’s books (Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, published in 2013) when she started in social, but years later it bothered her that so many people still saw him as a leading social media expert — that he’d become “more motivational speaker than social media professional.”Link in Bio had a few thousand subscribers when Rachel wrote that post, three months after starting the newsletter. The ethos described therein underlines why the newsletter was already becoming such a success: “Doing social for a non-profit is very different from doing social at a huge agency. And doing social at a beauty startup is very different from doing social at legacy magazine. I recognize that I don’t know everything there is to know about social media, and unlike Vaynerchuk, I don’t pretend I do.”<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Over 69k subscribers in bio</h2>At the time of writing, <a class="link" href="https://www.milkkarten.net/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link in Bio</a> has 69k subscribers — two weeks previously, when I interviewed Rachel, it had 65k. By the time you read this, it may be past 70k; <a class="link" href="https://www.milkkarten.net/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">you can check</a>.Rachel already had a decent following across Twitter, LinkedIn, and especially Instagram when she started the newsletter; you don’t have to be good at personal social to succeed as a social media professional, but it certainly helps. When she announced her newsletter on her personal socials, it didn’t take long for some 8k people to sign up.Revelio Labs <a class="link" href="https://www.reveliolabs.com/news/social/how-social-media-manager-went-from-inter-tier-to-full-on-career?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reported</a> that in 2022, there were over 64k social media managers working in the United States alone. The number had been flat for a year after steadily increasing throughout the previous decade. <hr class="content_break"><hr class="content_break">Accounting for other countries and disregarding any possible growth or contraction in the social media manager workforce, that number is likely over 100k by now. And Link in Bio may be their primary trade publication.Plenty of the readers, though, don’t work in social media at all.You don’t have to be a professional to get something out of the newsletter; even if you only use social media in your personal life, Link in Bio offers is an excellent, accessible resource for understanding the what and why of the social media accounts and trends we interact with on a daily basis.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/140cbb93-bf02-4c6b-a0bd-bc51fd21aed0/Link_in_Bio_subscriber_growth1.png?t=1726176078"/></div>Other people and brands may have tried to fill the gap — Gary Vaynerchuk, social media software company blogs — but Rachel’s boots-on-the-ground approach, complete editorial independence, and primarily subscriber-funded business model make for an integrous, authentic product.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">The newsletter audience is Rachel’s biggest client</h2><a class="link" href="https://www.milkkarten.net/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link in Bio</a> didn’t have a paid subscription option until April 2023, just over two years after the first issue went out. By then it had 27k free subscribers. Rachel was making a healthy income consulting, but it dominated her days, and she was having trouble giving the newsletter the time it deserved:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>While she declined to say how many Link in Bio subscribers pay, Rachel did share that the newsletter makes up about 60% of her income. So consulting is still a significant source of income for her, but she’s certainly succeeded in making the newsletter her job.Free subscribers receive just one interview-based issue each week, featuring social media managers like the New York Public Library's <a class="link" href="https://www.milkkarten.net/p/the-ny-public-library-memed-their?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Victoria Reis</a>, Letterboxd’s <a class="link" href="https://www.milkkarten.net/p/letterboxds-social-manager-got-her?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Flynn Slicker</a>, and Duolingo’s <a class="link" href="https://www.milkkarten.net/p/yes-duolingos-viral-tiktoks-lead?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Zaria Parvez</a>. There are, occasionally, additional free omnibus and original research-based issues like ‘<a class="link" href="https://www.milkkarten.net/p/guide-to-freelance-social-media?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Link in Bio Guide to Freelance Social</a>,” ‘<a class="link" href="https://www.milkkarten.net/p/brand-social-trend-report-q1-2024?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Brand Social Trend Report: Q1 2024</a>,’ and an upcoming social media <a class="link" href="https://www.milkkarten.net/p/the-social-media-compensation-survey?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">compensation survey</a>.Paid subscribers, besides supporting Rachel’s work producing the free content, receive:<ul><li>🗞️ A second weekly newsletter (more strategy-focused)<ul><li>Essays on social topics, quick-and-easy ideas for on-trend brand posts, additional interviews, etc.</li></ul></li><li>🤝 Access to a Discord channel<ul><li>A thriving community of people who work in social (across industries) trading insights and advice</li></ul></li></ul>The information and advice behind the paywall is actionable and tactical; Rachel says she sees brands post “those ideas, very clearly,” within days of the paid posts going out. Readers who work in social have told her they will regularly sit down and read the newsletter together with their team to brainstorm social post ideas; it’s one-to-many consulting on a subscription basis.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">From the Discord to the conference hall</h2>In her first role at Plated a decade ago, Rachel’s responsibilities were ostensibly community and people ops (social was scope creep). Community is precious — hard to build for brands, as much as they may try, but so meaningful when it happens organically around a shared interest.Rachel did not set out to create a community, but that’s what she’s done — social media work is the shared interest, Link in Bio is the core text, and the Discord is the venue. She doesn’t need to do much in the way of management. There’s a chat room for every industry and people happily trade ideas and feedback. They even organize meetups among themselves.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>It’s impossible to be an all-encompassing social media expert. There’s too much to know, changing too rapidly. Rachel’s expertise is in her curiosity and attendance; in knowing where to look and when; in knowing how to tell when a trend is rising and when it is about to die. She’s spoken at several conferences and has considered running one herself.She’s done meetups — she launched paid subscriptions right after a meetup and alongside <a class="link" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CrOniWiPxiF/?hl=en&img_index=8&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a photo shoot</a> featuring members of her readership. The need she sees for a Link in Bio conference is the same as the need for the community that has grown around the newsletter; existing conference models are deeply reliant on and thus inevitably influenced by sponsorship dollars. It’s a question of authenticity.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9a84d1bc-4d57-4e31-932f-ecce97661399/linkinbiocommunity.png?t=1726090812"/><div class="image__source">From the photo shoot announcing paid subscriptions.</div></div><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>I often ask Creator Spotlight guests if and how they think about their responsibility to their audience. They usually don’t have an answer. Rachel did; she said she thinks about it a lot and feels a responsibility to advocate for social media managers — to empower and uplift them. These are the values that power the newsletter and attract such an engaged audience.Will she ever work on Link in Bio full-time? Never say never, but Rachel has no plans to stop consulting; she says it’s “what makes me good at writing the newsletter.” She’s in the trenches alongside everyone she interviews and all of her subscribers; that’s what makes it the resource she always wanted.Connect with Rachel on <a class="link" href="https://www.instagram.com/milkkarten/?hl=en&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Instagram</a>, <a class="link" href="https://x.com/milkkarten?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a>, and <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-karten-13331222/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a>. Read and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://www.milkkarten.net/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link in Bio</a>.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NDE5M2NlYjctOTBmMC00OGM4LWEzOGUtMTM2Njc2ZDY5ZmI3?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9npqhxN_DJ8&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8e119e62-c81f-4887-b0ef-0dedda032bb7/N_PARTNERSHIP_WITH.png?t=1726101453"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.webbyawards.com/?utm_source=partner_CreatorSpotlight&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Webby29EED" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/852f2b45-f488-4801-a836-ee57f775303e/Webby29_Creator_Ad_EED_16x9_1080px.png?t=1726095985"/></a></div>The 29th Annual Webby Awards are <a class="link" href="https://www.webbyawards.com/?utm_source=partner_CreatorSpotlight&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Webby29EED" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">now open</a>! This year, a new generation of creatives will make their mark as Webby Winners, with a brand-new dedicated suite of categories for Creators. Join past Creator winners like Mr. Beast, Mark Rober, Abi Marquez, Recess Therapy, Michelle Phan, and Patrick Starr. Don’t wait. Create your mark and enter before the early entry deadline on October 25. <a class="link" href="https://www.webbyawards.com/?utm_source=partner_CreatorSpotlight&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Webby29EED" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Enter today</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NDE5M2NlYjctOTBmMC00OGM4LWEzOGUtMTM2Njc2ZDY5ZmI3?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a3291357-f3d1-44ec-bda0-b00c9727160d/TCSPvideo_Rachel_Karten.png?t=1726151097"/></a></div>🎙️ In the full interview:<ul><li>🤝 Advice for creators who want to partner with brands</li><li>🤳 The crucial differences between a “creator” and an “influencer”</li><li>🤖 Rachel’s hot takes on our relationship with social media algorithms</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NDE5M2NlYjctOTBmMC00OGM4LWEzOGUtMTM2Njc2ZDY5ZmI3?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or watch on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9npqhxN_DJ8&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">One trait the most innovative social media managers have in common</h2>There’s no one way to do social media well, not even necessarily one way to do it well on any given platform or for any given niche; that there are so many ways to approach it is the thesis of Link in Bio. But!I asked Rachel if there’s anything the hundreds of social media pros she’s talked to have in common. It’s a comedy background.For example:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>It’s not just about humor, though that’s part of it. It’s that comedy training teaches you to be reactive to a situation, to an audience. To think on your feet. To control the narrative. To take risks, to fail and move on.Some schools offer social media management degrees nowadays, but you might be better served by taking an improv class.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-7-industry-mickey-down-konrad-kay/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><ul><li><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-7-industry-mickey-down-konrad-kay/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the latest episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-7-industry-mickey-down-konrad-kay/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, the talk show hosted by Creator Spotlight editor Francis and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. <ul><li>This week: <a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-7-industry-mickey-down-konrad-kay/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Mickey Down and Konrad Kay</a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-7-industry-mickey-down-konrad-kay/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">, </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-7-industry-mickey-down-konrad-kay/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the creators of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-7-industry-mickey-down-konrad-kay/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Industry</a>, the hottest show on HBO, join us to talk writing a subplot about the intersection of tech and energy, Americans butting up against the British class system, why the show defies categorization, cycles of cruelty and hope, reading the reviews, and more.</li></ul></li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=every-social-media-manager-s-favorite-newsletter" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#F5ECDD;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=c87b2954-9478-4975-ac4c-98db914a8e74&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 Two decades of experience in digital media revenue</title> <description>Building a new women's lifestyle media brand with Michelle Curb of Gloria</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b77a4a75-dba9-4d99-a579-c81041d7a735/Gloria__Thumbnail.png" length="923825" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/michelle-curb-gloria</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/michelle-curb-gloria</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 06 Sep 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-09-06T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Michelle Curb, co-founder of the women’s lifestyle newsletter Gloria and a digital media monetization expert with nearly two decades of experience working with outlets like Eater, Curbed, Racked, Lucky Peach, and PUNCH.Gloria, which began publishing in early 2021, is her first venture as a founder, alongside Leslie Price, her editorial co-founder.In this issue:<ul><li>🥃 Selling ads in the early days of Eater, Curbed, and Racked</li><li>💹 Growing (and monetizing) a new digital media business</li><li>🤳 Building a brand that stands on its own, not a personal brand</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NTYxZDJjYjMtNDJkZC00ODcxLWEzZTUtMGM0YTYwNWYzMDZl?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to our full interview with Michelle</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NTYxZDJjYjMtNDJkZC00ODcxLWEzZTUtMGM0YTYwNWYzMDZl?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b77a4a75-dba9-4d99-a579-c81041d7a735/Gloria__Thumbnail.png?t=1725547394"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Selling ads in the mid 2000s</h2>Michelle Curb’s first media job, in the mid 2000s, was a year-long stint at 7×7 Magazine, a Bay Area publication where she sold ad space to home, design, and real-estate businesses. By 2008, she was at Eater, where, when she left nearly 5 years later, she’d held the title of Sales Director for Eater, Curbed, and Racked.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>At the time, a colleague told Michelle that Nick Denton, founder of Gawker and an investor in Curbed and Eater, had said he “didn’t think anyone would ever buy an ad on Eater; it’ll be Curbed that’ll make all the money.” She thought he had it all wrong — the reason she wanted the job was she knew liquor companies were clamoring for regional ad space. Food culture was evolving at the time: “Chefs were becoming celebrities and Top Chef was the hottest thing.”She was right; she had no trouble selling ad space in Eater. The hardest brand in the portfolio to sell, she recalls, was Racked — “fashion didn’t like digital at the time. They thought it was too gutter. They [were] just like, ‘we don’t want to be on the internet. We still want to be glossy Vogue.’”By the time Michelle moved on from that role, she’d met future Gloria co-founder, Leslie Price, who was the founding editor at Racked — “she was the voice behind that. And it was just incredible, [she’s] such a skilled editor and creator.”<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Hello, Gloria</h2>Gloria, launched in 2021, is a lifestyle media brand built for women who, as the brand says, aren’t yet “old,” but aren’t still “young.” Michelle and Leslie, both now mothers in their earlier 40s, saw a gap in the market — no outlets were serving a cohesive product covering what people them and their friends were talking about. Gloria is that product. It’s a mix of fashion recommendations, interviews with successful women authors and journalists, and articles about topics like sexual health, parenting, and divorce.They first started discussing the concept in 2018, when, consulting for an undisclosed newsletter startup targeting women in their 20s, Michelle started noticing something:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>She and Leslie started seriously talking about what would become <a class="link" href="https://gloria.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Gloria</a> but they wouldn’t send their first issue until April 2021. One problem they were grappling with: a sense in the industry that no one wanted to advertise to women their age. “I think that used to be true, but I don’t think that’s true anymore,” Michelle told me. Case in point: Gloria’s ad inventory has been sold out all year, with enough demand that they, as of this week, they’ve increased publishing cadence from one weekly send to two, in part to accommodate demand.<hr class="content_break"><hr class="content_break">The other market state blocking the <a class="link" href="https://gloria.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Gloria</a> co-founders from moving forward was that “media was really about scale at that time.” Neither of them cared to produce mass quantities of content just to distribute on social media platforms where they wouldn’t really own or even reliably reach their audience.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Michelle and Leslie have purposefully designed the brand not to be about them — they have an Instagram, but you won’t see their faces on it. They’re “not people who like to live online,” and it’s “not what [they] want to build.” They dream of an eventual exit uncomplicated by the brand being tied to their personalities; the goal is for it to live on without them someday.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Doubling revenue every year</h2>Three-and-a-half years — or around 170 weekly issues — in, Gloria is not yet profitable, but it’s been generating ad revenue since last year.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Michelle declined to share how many people currently subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://gloria.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Gloria</a>. She did say the open rate is currently “between 50% and 60%, and we do put a lot of links, so 30% of readers are clicking on something.”<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1ec4f9d8-3f62-4dc8-80c1-8f83d1b08bdf/AUDIENCE_STATS.png?t=1725547436"/></div>The full-time team is just the two co-founders, who both work full-time on the business; they both “have pretty active family lives and never feel like this is pulling away from that. It’s actually perfect.” They work with freelance designers as needed. Every issue includes an original article, sometimes from Leslie, but usually from a cast of freelance writers.Michelle’s responsibilities include paid advertising on Meta, sourcing new advertisers, working on ads with them, brand management — it’s all in the weeds. She says they hope to bring someone in soon, a support person who’ll allow them to work on more high-level business goals.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Growing, growing, Gloria</h2>The <a class="link" href="https://gloria.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Gloria</a> audience has been built with four main tactics<ul><li>Word of mouth</li><li>Trading recommendations with other newsletters</li><li>Paid advertising</li><li>Sparkloop</li></ul>But that last piece comes with a caveat:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>More women-run, women-focused newsletters figure in Michelle’s long-term dreams for Gloria. Asked where she’d like the project to be in five years, she mentions “a network of women’s newsletters, full of these great brands that speak to different groups of women.”<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6c7a58c1-d604-4436-9fd7-56802d3f5291/timeline__1_.png?t=1725549904"/><div class="image__source">Gloria, in an abbreviated timeline.</div></div>For now, the goal is clearly profitability. Since I spoke to Michelle last week, she and Leslie have begun rolling out three significant changes to help facilitate that:<ul><li>A redesign, including a move from Mailchimp to beehiiv</li><li>A paid subscription option</li><li>A second weekly email</li></ul>The platform shift, Michelle says, will reduce their monthly email service spending to around one fifth of the former amount.A paid subscription where there was none before is always a bet — will people subscribe? Currently, Gloria’s revenue mix is around 25% affiliate links and 75% ads; the goal is to take some of the pressure off the inherently volatile ad portion. Paid subscriptions will give access to in-person events (they’ve done book launch events in the past, moderated by Leslie). The idea is not to produce more content but to create a stronger community around the brand.Up until now, there’s just been one email every Friday. The addition of a second newsletter, on Tuesdays, will mean producing slightly more content, but it’s more about splitting the stuffed Friday issue into two shorter, more digestible newsletters. They’d noticed readers coming back to the Friday issue multiple times over the weekend and the open rate dropping when an issue got two long — this play means to ease both pressures, while also creating more surface area for ad sales.By the time Gloria is a profitable business, Michelle and her co-founder Leslie may have been working on it for four years. I asked if she ever misses being an employee:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Connect with Michelle on <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellecurb/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a>. Read and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://gloria.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Gloria</a>.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NTYxZDJjYjMtNDJkZC00ODcxLWEzZTUtMGM0YTYwNWYzMDZl?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NTYxZDJjYjMtNDJkZC00ODcxLWEzZTUtMGM0YTYwNWYzMDZl?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NTYxZDJjYjMtNDJkZC00ODcxLWEzZTUtMGM0YTYwNWYzMDZl?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e972687f-26be-4381-b33a-25b0247e1fa6/Frame_13__1_.png?t=1725545825"/></a></div>🎙️ In the full interview on this week’s podcast:<ul><li>💵 All of Michelle’s stories from her two decades monetizing digital media</li><li>📆 A closer look at the day-to-day of running Gloria</li><li>📈 More on how Gloria has grown</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NTYxZDJjYjMtNDJkZC00ODcxLWEzZTUtMGM0YTYwNWYzMDZl?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or watch on <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NTYxZDJjYjMtNDJkZC00ODcxLWEzZTUtMGM0YTYwNWYzMDZl?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Advice for creative-minded operators struggling to monetize</h2>I asked Michelle what advice she’d give to more creative, less business-minded newsletterists based on her experience monetizing digital media brands:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Michelle says she didn’t start selling ads for Gloria until they hit 25,000 subscribers; it’s a general lifestyle brand, and maybe she would’ve started sooner if it was, for example, a high-value B2B niche.And the type of salesperson Michelle describes here, one selling across multiple, separate newsletters, is the kind of service offered by something like beehiiv’s ad network. Any paying beehiiv user can access a slate of advertising opportunities. That long, drawn-out sales process still happens, but it’s beehiiv staff working behind the scenes to do it; it’s an economy of scale resulting in efficient access to a high number of publishers for the advertiser and easy access to a wide variety of advertisers for the publishers.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-6-here-for-the-wrong-taste-w-charles-broskoski/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><ul><li><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-6-here-for-the-wrong-taste-w-charles-broskoski/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the latest episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-6-here-for-the-wrong-taste-w-charles-broskoski/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, hosted by Spotlight editor Francis Zierer and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. <ul><li><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep-6-here-for-the-wrong-taste-w-charles-broskoski/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">This week:</a> Charles Broskoski, CEO and Co-founder of <a class="link" href="http://Are.na?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Are.na</a>, the stubbornly anti-algorithm social media platform, joins us to talk about their slow, sustainable business model, the culture the platform propagates, profound bathroom graffiti, life-changing “nodal points,” and email sign-offs.</li></ul></li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FFFFFF;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=two-decades-of-experience-in-digital-media-revenue" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#F5ECDD;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b4c00b0a-a714-419e-9448-8620a32183dc/Working_on_your_own_newsletter___3_.png?t=1725556467"/></a></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=afe96851-0f86-4daf-8607-5b5fb2528b67&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 It's soccer, not football</title> <description>Building a career as a journalist in the beautiful game ft. Theo Lloyd-Hughes of Squad Depth</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4bfa588c-f8a4-47e3-a1d9-7d1e3a252492/Featured__11_.png" length="853192" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/squad-depth-soccer-journalism</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/squad-depth-soccer-journalism</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 30 Aug 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-08-30T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Theo Lloyd-Hughes, a British journalist covering women’s soccer in the United States. He has his own newsletter and podcast, Squad Depth, writes freelance for a couple of outlets, and produces The Athletic’s flagship women’s soccer podcast, “Full Time with Meg Linehan.”In this issue:<ul><li>💰️ Money in women’s soccer vs. men’s soccer</li><li>🎙️ From DIY podcasting to producing for The Athletic</li><li>📰 Navigating the line between “creator” and “journalist”</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NzVlYjVhNDMtNWYxYS00ZmM3LWI2MWMtNzdjODhlMjM2ZjY1?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to our full interview with Theo</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmjYNsjitxE&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Money and the women’s game</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>The most valuable team in the MLS, the United States’ top-tier men’s soccer league, is Los Angeles Football Club. At least, it was as of 2023, when <a class="link" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/justinbirnbaum/2024/02/02/major-league-soccers-most-valuable-teams-2024/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Forbes valued</a> it at $1.2 billion.Earlier this year, in the NWSL — the women’s top-tier American soccer league — Angel City FC, also based in Los Angeles, became not just the most valuable women’s soccer team in the country but the highest-valuation women’s sports team worldwide, <a class="link" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/07/17/bob-iger-and-willow-bay-take-controlling-stake-in-angel-city-fc-making-it-highest-valued-womens-sports-team/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">at $250 million</a>. But even the lowest valuation of the 29 MLS teams, the Colorado Rapids, is still worth nearly twice as much as Angel City.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ef191415-5657-4958-8597-d03acf641aca/US_Soccer_Team_Valuations.png?t=1724951144"/><div class="image__source">Valuations from <a class="link" href="https://www.sportico.com/valuations/teams/2023/nwsl-team-values-angel-city-1234740928/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Sportico</a></div></div>The average MLS player salary is <a class="link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5499223/2024/05/16/mls-player-salaries-teams-messi/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$594,390</a>, more than ten times higher than the NWSL average of <a class="link" href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/article/bay-fc-players-live-nwsl-salary-very-low-19472858.php?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$56k</a>. It’s a familiar story in women’s sports — you may have read about WNBA number-one draft pick Caitlin Clark signing for a <a class="link" href="https://www.sportico.com/leagues/basketball/2024/wnba-salary-boost-top-earners-cba-opt-out-1234779839/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$76,535</a> salary this year. But she also signed <a class="link" href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/40008254/caitlin-clark-set-sign-new-8-year-deal-nike-reports-say?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a Nike deal</a> worth $28 million over eight years. Most players, and this applies to the NWSL, too, aren’t getting deals like that.<hr class="content_break"><hr class="content_break">The NWSL is growing in popularity. Some 7 million viewers had tuned in through Week 13 of this season, an average of nearly 77,000 viewers for each of those 91 games. This is a <a class="link" href="https://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/attendance-viewership-engagement-soar-at-halfway-mark-of-2024-nwsl?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">95% increase</a> year over year.There are nowhere near as many journalists covering the women’s game as there are the men’s game, which makes sense — there are fewer people looking for this content, fewer dollars to pay for its production.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4bfa588c-f8a4-47e3-a1d9-7d1e3a252492/Featured__11_.png?t=1724951137"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Working on “Full Time” part-time</h2>One of the most popular women’s soccer podcasts is The Athletic’s “<a class="link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/podcast/201-full-time-with-meg-linehan/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Full Time with Meg Linehan</a>.” Linehan joined The Athletic ahead of the Women’s World Cup in 2019 and became, according to <a class="link" href="https://meglinehan.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">her website</a>, “the first full time women's soccer reporter in the U.S. for a mainstream sports outlet.”When the current “Full Time” season launched this May, it was with a new producer, <a class="link" href="https://x.com/theolloydhughes?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Theo Lloyd-Hughes</a>.Theo first started writing about soccer in 2019. He’d spent the previous half-decade working in the music world: writing about bands, building a small, independent label, and managing tours. He worked in coffee shops to support himself; in the interest of transparency, I have to say I met Theo when we worked together for a couple of months at a cafe in New Orleans in 2018. We didn’t stay in touch after I moved cities the following year; when I discovered his newsletter this summer, I reached out to find out how he’d found his way into this indie-newsletter industry I now cover.When the pandemic hit, shuttering music venues and cafes, Theo started a podcast, “<a class="link" href="https://audioboom.com/channels/5033129-relatively-football?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Relatively Football</a>,” with his sister, a football journalist in the UK. Over the next 13 months, they’d do 62 episodes.The podcast regularly approached 500 downloads per episode, and Theo started writing for a website covering the Houston Dash, but he wasn’t being paid. Then, in March 2021, he was hired by a website covering women’s soccer in Texas, The Striker.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>It’s tough for independent media outlets to sustainably monetize. The Striker dissolved last summer, but Theo’s two-and-a-half-year stint there was, if not lucrative, at least an education in digital media. The site’s shutdown spurred him to finally start his own newsletter.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">The dead publication to indie newsletter pipeline</h2>Squad Depth, Theo’s project, started as a podcast. The first episode — featuring Katelyn Best, a former soccer journalist who’d recently joined the NWSL’s Angel City FC as Editorial Content Manager (more on this later) — was published on Substack in April 2023:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>On July 8, 2023, Theo sent out <a class="link" href="https://squaddepth.substack.com/p/barbra-bandas-genius-against-germany?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the first proper issue</a> of <a class="link" href="https://www.squaddepth.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Squad Depth</a>. Over the next 7 months, he’d send 39 issues, at least one per week. And then he migrated from Substack to Ghost, <a class="link" href="https://squaddepth.substack.com/p/squad-depth-is-migrating?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">spurred by</a> “concerns about how Substack is being run.”<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c6db1e43-2e97-4be6-bb2c-d7340fb5076a/Screenshot_2024-08-28_at_7.26.51_PM.png?t=1724887617"/><div class="image__source">The first proper issues of Squad Depth</div></div>These days, Theo tends to publish <a class="link" href="https://www.squaddepth.com/nwsl-returns-olympic-break-orlando-pride-unbeaten-streak-undefeated-record-washington-spirit-megan-rapinoe/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a roundup</a> of goings-on in the NWSL every Monday, plus at least one more interview or essay most weeks. In just over a year of publishing, he’s built an audience of just under 500 subscribers. Around 5% of those subscribers currently pay $5 per month or $50 per year for his trouble; to date, Theo says the project has made him less than $400.The open rate is an above-industry-average 61%; the list size is modest, but the readers clearly appreciate Theo’s considered storytelling. His two biggest bursts of subscribers have come via search engines — when he covered the World Cup last summer and <a class="link" href="https://www.squaddepth.com/tag/2024-w-gold-cup/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the Gold Cup</a> earlier this year. He’s clearly filling a demand.His interview work, both <a class="link" href="https://www.squaddepth.com/tag/interviews/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">written</a> and <a class="link" href="https://pod.link/1683324485?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">podcasted</a>, is carefully curated and researched — he mentions taking “personal storytelling very seriously, and this idea that the world has so many stories that we’re missing.” There are interviews with people in the game, like former Houston Dash midfielder <a class="link" href="https://www.squaddepth.com/brittany-bock-interview-10-years-houston-dash-2014-nwsl-expansion-first-season/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Brittany Bock</a>, and people around the game, like Brazilian photographer <a class="link" href="https://www.squaddepth.com/georgia-soares-interview-podcast-photographer-christen-press-daniela-arias-world-cup-nwsl/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Georgia Soares</a>.Five years ago, Theo was just a soccer fan who had never been paid to create content around the sport. Now he’s built a many-fragments career in the game — he writes his newsletter, produces his podcast, writes freelance for a couple of different outlets, researches the NWSL on contract for the company behind the massively popular Football Manager video game, and produces one of the best-known podcasts in the women’s game. He’s also a parent, and all those part-time and freelance gigs aren’t enough to make a decent living; he still works two shifts a week at a coffee shop.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Is a journalist a creator? Is a creator a journalist?</h2>If you’re interested in soccer and spend time on Twitter, you’ve seen a Fabrizio Romano post. <a class="link" href="https://socialblade.com/twitter/user/fabrizioromano?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">SocialBlade</a> says he’s the 133rd most-followed account on the platform, and at one point during the writing of this piece, he’d tweeted 2,297 times in the previous 30 days.Romano is one of the most-platformed figures in global football media, with 22 million Twitter followers. He and The Athletic’s David Ornstein own the transfer media market, which is exciting, all rumors and weeks of gossip until contracts get signed. Ornstein has a smaller platform — 3.1 million Twitter followers. He’s more strictly a journalist, on-staff at The Athletic, whereas Romano is more of an independent creator.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/78dec3b6-bbbd-4213-83fc-e3075f6705e1/Frame_10__2_.png?t=1724893194"/></div>What’s the difference? Scrolling through either of the <a class="link" href="https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">two</a> <a class="link" href="https://x.com/David_Ornstein?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> accounts, Ornstein’s posts are fewer and all link to <a class="link" href="http://?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">nytimes.com/theathletic</a> URLs. Romano is more fast-paced, rarely linking out, all platform-native content. He’s often accused, on Twitter, of taking commissions from players’ agents to help fan rumors and drive up transfer fees.I share this context from the busiest end of the football media spectrum only to illustrate that contentious line between journalist and creator, something we <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/ambreen-ali-central-desi?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">often talk about</a> in the Spotlight. There’s clearly room for both. Theo leans more towards the journalist side. Perhaps he could learn from the more attention-grabbing creator-journalist model Romano practices to grow a bigger audience and make more money; perhaps he doesn’t want to.Theo describes his podcast as a place “to tell slow-paced, soft, and curious stories” about soccer and the people in and around the game.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Recall what Theo’s first podcast guest, Katelyn Best, said in her quote shared earlier in this piece: “It’s just a really hard field to get into at all. If your niche is women’s soccer, it’s obviously even harder.”<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9fb93899-568a-4e9c-9fce-36e276cd65a4/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1724435922"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">You either die DIY or live long enough to go pro</h2>Best started her career as a fact checker and writer for Portland Monthly before getting into women’s soccer and writing about the game. She even founded a publication, <a class="link" href="https://rosecity.review/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Rose City Review</a>, dedicated to the Portland Thorns and the Timbers. But in 2022, she moved to Los Angeles to take on a role as Editorial Content Manager for Angel City FC; it offered a better income, a more sustainable lifestyle. When I asked Theo where he sees his soccer media career going, he said, “Sometimes I daydream about getting involved, a bit like Katelyn Best, on the club side.” He dreams, too, of writing for a major publication or producing podcasts full-time. He’s applied for many of these jobs; he’s received no offers.For now, he will continue to produce Squad Depth alongside his freelance work, though it’s that paying work he prioritizes. There was little Olympics coverage in his newsletter, even as the US Women’s National Team blazed a path to gold; “Full Time” was working overtime, taking all his time and energy. Theo is a passionate, talented storyteller; a podcaster and journalist; a creator. But he’s not, currently, much of a businessman. Can a newsletter and podcast like his survive as a loss leader for a freelance journalist-producer career? Time will tell. His path so far is replicable, though, for any budding journalist trying to break into a field they’re passionate about, especially if that field is as underserved as women’s soccer.<a class="link" href="https://x.com/theolloydhughes?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Connect with Theo on Twitter/X</a>. <a class="link" href="https://www.squaddepth.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Read and subscribe to </a><a class="link" href="https://www.squaddepth.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Squad Depth</a>.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NzVlYjVhNDMtNWYxYS00ZmM3LWI2MWMtNzdjODhlMjM2ZjY1?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmjYNsjitxE&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.Talk soon, Francis Zierer, Editor Say hi: <a class="link" href="https://twitter.com/fzierer?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> / <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-zierer/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NzVlYjVhNDMtNWYxYS00ZmM3LWI2MWMtNzdjODhlMjM2ZjY1?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d55b134a-8653-4c2c-8c93-6dfd3c72ab02/Frame_12__1_.png?t=1724936212"/></a></div>Here’s some of what we touch on in this week’s podcast:<ul><li>🎙️ Everything Theo has learned about hosting and producing podcasts</li><li>📰 Are newsletters the future of journalism?</li><li>💷 Soccer journalism salary talk</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463/episode/NzVlYjVhNDMtNWYxYS00ZmM3LWI2MWMtNzdjODhlMjM2ZjY1?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or watch on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmjYNsjitxE&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><ul><li>Listen to the latest episode of Tasteland, a podcast hosted by Spotlight editor Francis and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. <ul><li>This week: "cozytech," tiny smartphones that aren't phones, $35 lobster rolls, car crash music, kid football journalists imitating the 133rd-most-followed Twitter user, and “Tech” vs. “tech.”</li></ul></li><li>In February we wrote about a very different football newsletter — <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/lazyfpl-james-copeland?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LazyFPL</a>. The weekly Fantasy Premier League newsletter had gone from 0 to 48.5k subs in just under 2 years. In the 7 months since, they’ve apparently added another 22k.</li></ul></div>Thinking of starting your own newsletter? Creator Spotlight is brought to you by <a class="link" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=it-s-soccer-not-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">beehiiv, the newsletter platform for creators, by creators</a>.</div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=8926ac1b-b22c-4dec-bb0f-c830caf5e28e&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 Newsletter design is about strong opinions</title> <description>One year of Today in Design, ft. creator Cole Derochie</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b111f378-16fb-4b48-aa76-eaa953477f4c/Featured__10_.png" length="380770" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/cole-derochie-today-in-design</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/cole-derochie-today-in-design</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 23 Aug 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-08-23T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Cole Derochie, a professional product designer (he’s worked across basically every design discipline in his career) who also happens to run one of the best-designed newsletters out there: Today in Design.In this issue:<ul><li>💰️ How much revenue the newsletter generated this first year</li><li>📈 Gaining 5.4k subscribers through organic Twitter growth</li><li>🎨 Cole’s advice on newsletter design</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to our full interview with Cole</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eYggPF1FlQ&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/cole-derochie-today-in-design?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b111f378-16fb-4b48-aa76-eaa953477f4c/Featured__10_.png?t=1724351671"/></a></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">A great aggregation product requires great packaging</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>One year ago, on August 15, 2023, Cole Derochie sent out the first issue of Today in Design. In this first year he published 240 issues of the weekdaily newsletter, only missing around 20 weekdays (he never publishes on weekends).When I started writing Creator Spotlight in January, I asked a few people to share the best-designed newsletters they knew. Today in Design came up thrice. <a class="link" href="https://news.todayin.design/p/aug-22-2024?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">See for yourself: here’s a recent issue.</a> I’ve been following it ever since, which I just share to say, I’ve never actually noticed it missing a day; the industry best practice is to set a schedule and never deviate, but for a personal passion project like this … you can skip a beat. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/256b3ce3-b717-402f-a568-6f8f6f59123f/Screenshot_2024-08-22_at_1.45.45_PM.png?t=1724348751"/><div class="image__source">Today in Design has a rare-for-newsletter black-dominant color scheme. The design is clean but highly customized — for example, it’s on beehiiv, but Cole opens for a custom-designed Tally poll over beehiiv’s built-in poll feature.</div></div>Today in Design is exactly what it sounds like: the day’s design news, aggregated. It’s “more of a hobby right now” than a business, Cole says, but it’s a dialed format with plenty of potential to become a real business; the well-polished visual template elevates a largely commentary-free aggregation product into something worth opening every day. Like any good aggregation newsletter, you can scan and fully consume a whole issue in less than 30 seconds or settle in and actually click into some of the linked items.There are, <a class="link" href="https://www.readfeedme.com/p/the-machine-in-the-garden?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">people are saying</a>, too many <a class="link" href="https://onethingnewsletter.substack.com/p/aggregation-theory?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">aggregation</a> newsletters. It’s arguably the easiest type of newsletter to write; everyone who spends too much time online has a list of sources they check every day, and compiling a handful of your favorite links once each week or day takes little extra time when you’re already consuming the content.Cole’s newsletter works because it looks great. If it were just the same links but in a bulleted list format instead of a beautifully designed structure, I’m not sure anyone would’ve recommended that I check it out. This isn’t to say that Cole’s curation alone isn’t compelling — it is, but a design newsletter needs to have a striking point of view. The audience trusts Cole’s curation all the more because of the packaging.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Organic growth builds strong bones</h2>Cole only had around 600 Twitter followers when he started Today in Design and says “engagement was almost nothing.” In February, 6 months into working on the newsletter, he broke 5,000. A “big part of starting [the newsletter] was to build that up,” which has certainly worked: today, one year in, the count is over 7,600. It’s unclear how many of these followers also subscribe to the newsletter, but Cole says Twitter has driven the vast majority of his growth; it’s a productive system. A few days before the publication of this newsletter, Cole shared a subscriber count of 5,435 — when I interviewed him three weeks earlier, he was at 4,995; growth is picking up.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/32ddaaa5-5aba-45ae-8720-dde1d4a147e0/d08b9e94b9115dcf9c97b6e4842698aea8736fcd__1_.gif?t=1724347950"/><div class="image__source">A recent ‘bento’ video taken from<a class="link" href="https://x.com/colderoshay?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Cole’s Twitter</a></div></div>An organic audience means, generally, and certainly in this case, high engagement. The newsletter audience is currently over 5,400, with an open rate of 60% and a clickthrough rate of 18%. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/29eb50b0-d6ac-4952-beea-3670d11a2b4b/Today_in_Design_s_Growth.png?t=1724351650"/></div>Cole says he spends “under an hour” on each newsletter nowadays, in the mornings, but that he used to stay up “sometimes until two in the morning” working on it. Now he gets up at five in the morning. He’s employed full-time — a co-founder and Head of Product at <a class="link" href="https://www.gighound.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">GigHound</a>, he also takes on occasional freelance work — plus he has a small child; he had to find a way to bend the newsletter into his schedule.It’s just Cole working on the newsletter. He’s never had outside help and is unsure how he’d scale the concept:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Outside of any particular format scaling would take, Cole’s main concern is scaling the content selection process — scaling his taste. At the start, he’d open up all his bookmarked sources every day and scour for interesting items. By now, he’s compiled various RSS feeds into his Feedly to save time, and he has a Twitter bookmarks folder he fills throughout the day to revisit for the next morning’s issue. It’s “100%” his taste, but he tries to maintain some level of objectivity:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4414ea37-50e6-4868-954b-b4b69eb78a77/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1723063841"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">"I’m spending more time in the business than on the business”</h2>Cole stresses that, for now, Today in Design is still a hobby. It’s a small part of his day, a way of putting a point on the time he spends online. But he’s given at minimum 300 hours to it so far, and it has generated revenue of over $7,000.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c6cbfad3-f4b5-4b76-a4e5-bcbfc4ab788d/Today_in_Design_s_Revenue.png?t=1724351632"/></div>Like so many great newsletter, this is a passion project built to fill a market gap. There was no one design news outlet Cole loved most:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>It’s a well-packaged business digest. That is what makes Today in Design stand out from other aggregation newsletters. Cole translates at least an hour of daily browsing into a concentrated, 30-second skim. And it’s not just about whatever Cole is into at the moment. He aspires to truly serve the design community, or at least a particular design community.What kind of community does Cole aspire to build? What kind of designer does he hope Today in Design, as it scales, will attract and even propagate?<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Connect with Cole <a class="link" href="https://x.com/colderoshay?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">on Twitter/X</a>. <a class="link" href="https://news.todayin.design/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Read and subscribe</a> to Today in Design.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eYggPF1FlQ&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eYggPF1FlQ&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8b2c8fd5-bbd9-40d9-aa99-d0739195aefc/Screenshot_2024-08-22_at_10.09.43_AM.png?t=1724335788"/></a></div>🎙️ I spoke to Cole for nearly an hour. Only some of what we talked about fits in this newsletter. In the full conversation —<ul><li>📽️ Cole traces his unusual path into the design business</li><li>🧬 How the newsletter has evolved over the past year</li><li>⏳️ Cole walks us through his full production process</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or watch on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eYggPF1FlQ&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">We obviously had to get Cole’s advice on newsletter design</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Don’t overthink newsletter design; the fluff erodes over time</h2>Early on, each issue of <a class="link" href="https://www.todayin.design/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Today in Design</a> had a written-out intro and Cole’s commentary included on most links. Today, the product is more image-driven, less text-driven. It’s become lean. This is partially a matter of intent and partially a matter of necessity — Cole needed to spend less time on it, so he stopped doing extra bits that took too much time.With a newsletter — with any sustained project, really — plans begin to fail. The point is to have an opinionated, intentional plan in the first place, then adapt once in motion. Is it worth a few extra hours of your week to write a specific section in your newsletter that gives you a headache? Or will your life — and your readers’ experience with the newsletter — work better without? You have to recognize and make these decisions.Creator Spotlight, for example, has changed in the 8 months I’ve been writing it. <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/henry-winslow-tricycle-day?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Look at my first issue</a>. There used to be a “Zoom Out” section where I’d sum up 3–5 key points from each newsletter. I stopped because it began to feel overly repetitive; I didn’t feel it was doing a great service to you, the reader. Know when to cut.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep4-after-school-detention-w-casey-lewis/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><ul><li><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep4-after-school-detention-w-casey-lewis/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the latest episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep4-after-school-detention-w-casey-lewis/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/ep4-after-school-detention-w-casey-lewis/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">,</a> our weekly podcast co-hosted by Spotlight editor Francis and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. <ul><li>This week: Casey Lewis, <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/casey-lewis-after-school?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">former </a><a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/casey-lewis-after-school?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotlight</a><a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/casey-lewis-after-school?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> guest</a>, joins us to chat: the blurred line between amateur and professional writing online, “aesthetic” culture, her new podcast, and Tumblr’s lack of monetizability compared to new platforms.</li></ul></li><li>We recently profiled another creator working in the (UX) design space, Peter Ramsey of Built for Mars. It’s a good one —<a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/peter-ramsey-built-for-mars?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> read it here</a>.</li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;">Thank you for reading. For more, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">check out Cole’s episode of our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eYggPF1FlQ&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.Next week’s guest is Theo Lloyd-Hughes, an independent journalist covering women’s soccer in the United States. We’re covering And if you missed last week’s issue about Sean Devlin and Nice News, a positive-news-only daily newsletter that’s gone from 0 to 820k subscribers in 3 years, <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/sean-devlin-nice-news?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">read it here</a>.Talk soon, Francis Zierer, Editor <a class="link" href="https://twitter.com/fzierer?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> / <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-zierer/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-design-is-about-strong-opinions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a> Say hi!<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8df6fa45-8344-4c6a-b8f1-d6a6d6e9875d/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1706121188"/></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=d06778f9-7e81-48e7-8369-c3d7725157e5&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 820k subscribers in 3 years</title> <description>Making a profit sharing only positive news, ft. Sean Devlin of Nice News</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9479e507-4335-46c3-b1e7-63d800a1c21b/Nice_News__Thumbnail.png" length="446059" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/sean-devlin-nice-news</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/sean-devlin-nice-news</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 16 Aug 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-08-16T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Sean Devlin, a media entrepreneur whose Nice News newsletter has grown from 0 to 820k subscribers in less than three years. The company currently has seven full-time employees and at least four freelancers, and it’s been profitable for just under one year.In this issue:<ul><li>🤝 Building a profitable media company through sponsored newsletters</li><li>🔍️ How Nice News sources and sifts through 100s of stories every day</li><li>📈 Growing the audience by hundreds of thousands yearly</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to our full interview with Sean</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdxqYQpZTrs&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.P.P.S. We want to hear from you. What do you think about this issue? Use the poll at the bottom to let us know.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9479e507-4335-46c3-b1e7-63d800a1c21b/Nice_News__Thumbnail.png?t=1723741583"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Got any good news?</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>One year into doomscrolling through the pandemic, having read headline after headline about fresh outbreaks and new death tallies, Sean Devlin wanted some good news. Working, at the time, as a producer at Optimism (then known as Likemind), an incubator for email-based media brands, he figured other people probably did too, and he was well-situated to bring it to them.By October 2021, Sean had left his role at Optimism to build Nice News. His previous employer would fully fund the new initiative; he’d shifted from incubator to incubatee. By October 2023, Nice News was sending to 450k email addresses every day. They’re on track to double that this year, with Sean sharing a current subscriber count of more than 820k.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/889a9d4f-1b6f-45b8-907f-aeb414548cfe/Nice_News_subscriber_growth.png?t=1723741616"/></div>At the time of this writing, the Nice News team includes seven full-time employees and at least four additional freelancers.Sean has owned the general manager role since the start, focusing mainly on growth and sales. He recently hired a director of partnerships, freeing him up to focus on “overall strategy for the newsletter, supporting the team, and launching new initiatives.”The first member of the team besides Sean was Natalie Stone, who came over from People magazine as a managing editor for the new publication. She brought an associate editor with her, and a few months later, they hired a staff writer, who has grown into an assistant editor role; they’ve since hired an additional staff writer. Rounding out the full-time staff is a campaign coordinator.Key to editorial operations, though, is a team of four freelance curators in the Philippines.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Not all good news is Nice News</h2>A typical daily edition of the newsletter consists of: a couple of “Must Reads,” one larger story from at least three of Nice News’ eight coverage areas, five items “In Other News,” one “Something We Love,” one “Inspiring Story,” currently an “Eyes of Paris” Olympics section, and at least four “Odds & Ends.”Add an intro note, a few ads, a referral module, and a quote of the day — you’ve got a full issue of Nice News.But what defines nice news? Sean says it’s not strictly clear-cut: “Pretty early on, we realized that there is a gray area. It's going to be impossible to please everyone.” They’ve developed editorial guidelines to determine what makes the cut:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>The full-time editorial staff makes the final call, but it’s the team of freelance curators, based in the Philippines, that sources the bulk of the daily content crop. By the time they’re done, it’s still early morning for the California-based editorial team and the content slate is full.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/ff196ec4-7ac3-4f20-911e-e8a29191bbb1/Nice_News_CURATION_PROCESS__1_.png?t=1723815501"/></div>In other words, Nice News is primarily a tightly curated aggregation product. There’s original reporting, too, but Sean says that the majority of the daily digest is aggregated. He says they try to include at least one story that links out to the Nice News website in each daily email, with the Sunday edition always leading with an original story.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Two years to profitability</h2>Nice News became profitable in November 2023, two years after its founding. Since September 2023, says Sean, “We’ve more than doubled revenue just because we’ve been really focused on sales.” Sean says they’ve not drastically increased costs since becoming profitable, either — the biggest cost increase came when hiring their director of partnerships.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>There is no podcast, no YouTube channel. The Instagram account does boast a following of 184k, largely built through aggregated (and credited) Reel reposts. They hadn’t posted a Reel until the week of this newsletter’s publication — this time, it’s <a class="link" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-qML2-yw-M/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">original reporting from the Olympics</a>. The still post still-images referencing stories from their site multiple times a week. The social channels, though, are “not a core focus,” Sean says; this is decidedly a newsletter business. The <a class="link" href="https://x.com/nicenewshq?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">X</a> account is active and well-followed, but has near-zero engagement. Four times per day, it posts an article (from sources like The Guardian, Reuters, and NPR). These posts rarely get more than one like and 300 views, even though the account has 33k followers. This is hardly surprising; people don’t seem to come to the platform formerly known as Twitter for good news. Nice News and X — oil and water situation.Sean says the newsletter itself will continue to be the core focus for the near future. As the audience grows, so too will the advertising rates — "in terms of our inventory, we’re already in a really good position.”He also mentioned nascent plans for a “news model, in terms of the types of stories we could be producing for brands.” For example, he sees an opportunity to work with brands on corporate social responsibility initiatives.Aggregation newsletters seem easy on the surface — just put a bunch of related links together — but they take a lot of work to do well. It’s a crowded market. Take <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/casey-lewis-after-school?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">former </a><a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/casey-lewis-after-school?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotlight</a><a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/casey-lewis-after-school?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> guest Casey Lewis</a> as another example; it’s a combination of research and a clear niche. “Good news” is such a vague niche, not even really a niche; you’d think it might not work. But it wasn’t easy; it did take two years to become profitable, and it takes a team of 11+ a full day of work to maintain; 7 salaries and at least 4 freelance fees. Add infrastructural overhead and yearly operating costs are probably pushing closer to $1 million than $500k. But I’d be shocked to hear Nice News isn’t on track to bring in multiple millions in revenue this year. Given their ads run on a CPM basis, revenue will likely have doubled between their second and third anniversaries.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/93a64de2-db6b-4bd9-bfbd-461bbc7aac64/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723063238"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">An ever-growing audience</h2>A significant advantage, unfair in growing Nice News early on was cross-pollination with the full suite of media products in <a class="link" href="https://www.optimism.com/brands?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="color: rgb(74, 110, 224)">Optimism’s portfolio</a>. These days, growth comes more through collaborative giveaways with other publications and paid ad campaigns. Word of mouth is big, too — people like to share good news.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/28fb5916-4843-4748-a719-09a60d575470/Nice_News_readership.png?t=1723741654"/></div>The ambition is to build an email list numbering in the millions, looking at large-scale outlets like 1440, which has a reported 3.8 million subscribers, as a model — the potential audience is essentially anyone “genuinely interested in nice news in the US and Canada.” They’re well on their way.Read or subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://nicenews.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Nice News</a>.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdxqYQpZTrs&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1d16618a-4545-4bc5-83b8-7495a57e27cb/Screenshot_2024-08-15_at_10.15.01_AM.png?t=1723731309"/></a></div>🎙️ It’s impossible to fit every topic we talk about in this newsletter — here’s some of what we touch on in the podcast:<ul><li>🌞 How Nice News relates to the broader media landscape</li><li>💼 What Sean learned launching 10 email media brands at Optimism</li><li>🧠 Thinking about audience in terms of psychographics</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or watch on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdxqYQpZTrs&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">To monetize through advertising, start sooner rather than later</h2>It took about two years and 450k subscribers for Nice News to become profitable. To be fair, this was not a long-gestating creator passion project that slowly bloomed into a business; it was more of a venture capital-funded media business from the get-go. They burnt cash on salaries and advertising spend for a greater payoff down the line. Still, Sean says they “didn’t have a ton of resources early on.” But it didn’t take them long to sell ads. I asked him for advice:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Henry Winslow, who <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/henry-winslow-tricycle-day?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="color: rgb(74, 110, 224)">we featured</a> for his Tricycle Day newsletter in January, had similar advice. Very early on, he built out full-on “ads” for affiliate links so he’d have proven examples to show proper advertisers down the line.It’s not just about the advertisers; effective newsletter advertising is about understanding how readers interact with a newsletter and designing it to get them in the habit of clicking the ad (at least, if that ad is cost-per-click).</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><ul><li>Listen to the latest episode of Tasteland, the podcast hosted by Spotlight editor Francis and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. <ul><li>This week: music festival curation, what choice of font says about AI brands, we chat Dirt editorial decisions, and Anthony Bourdain starter packs are cursed.</li></ul></li><li>Want another story about an aggregation newsletter that built a multi-hundred-thousand subscriber list this quickly? Read our piece on AI Tool Report, <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/ai-tool-report-martin-crowley?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">‘0–500k subscribers in 10 months’</a>.</li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;">Thank you for reading. For more, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to Sean’s episode of our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdxqYQpZTrs&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.Next week’s guest is Cole Derochie, a design professional who creates a daily newsletter curating design news, the fittingly named Today in Design. He’s built a list of nearly 5,000 subscribers in the last year, fully organic and word-of-mouth. It’s one of the most simply but beautifully designed newsletters we’ve featured this year.And if you missed last week’s issue, about journalist Ambreen Ali’s grant-funded newsletter Central Desi, serving the New Jersey South Asian community while (and by) running a fellowship program training young journalists, <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/ambreen-ali-central-desi?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">read it here</a>.Talk soon, Francis Zierer, Editor <a class="link" href="https://twitter.com/fzierer?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> / <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-zierer/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=820k-subscribers-in-3-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a> Say hi!<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8df6fa45-8344-4c6a-b8f1-d6a6d6e9875d/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1706121188"/></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=895805c3-d5bb-4ac6-8919-8f4a1a1d79b0&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 A $100k grant for local journalism</title> <description>Building a community around a newsletter for South Asians in New Jersey, ft. Ambreen Ali of Central Desi</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/93e997ea-a885-4660-bb16-5dd3639f9d12/Featured__9_.png" length="543003" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/ambreen-ali-central-desi</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/ambreen-ali-central-desi</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 09 Aug 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-08-09T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://creatorspotlight.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/></a><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Ambreen Ali, a journalist, teacher, and digital marketing expert running a grant-funded newsletter serving the broad South Asian community of New Jersey.Central Desi was created by Ambreen but is not about her; today’s newsletter is less about Ambreen than the journalistic values and philosophy her work aims to deliver and propagate.In this issue:<ul><li>📰 A newsletter-based fellowship program for young journalists</li><li>💵 Grant funding is a viable model for indie newsletters</li><li>🏘️ Why the future of local news might be bright</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to our full interview with Ambreen</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=867WdK9oCyI&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/93e997ea-a885-4660-bb16-5dd3639f9d12/Featured__9_.png?t=1723131681"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Local journalism by local journalists</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>One year after starting <a class="link" href="https://centraldesi.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Central Desi</a>, Ambreen Ali was ready to give up. Besides working on the newsletter, she had a full-time job and was teaching, not to mention writing as a freelancer and attending to her personal life.In July 2022, Ambreen wrapped up a 100-day entrepreneurial journalism program at CUNY, where she’d expected “a crash course in launching a newsletter”<a href="#b-29f6f8e8-5534-4241-8f88-3b110e8618f6" target="_self" title="1 ‘In the Substack era, local news gets a second life’ (Ambreen Ali, Medium)" data-skip-tracking="true">1</a> alongside a global cohort of journalists. That’s what she got; within two weeks of graduating, she <a class="link" href="https://centraldesi.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">launched the concept on beehiiv</a>.The <a class="link" href="https://centraldesi.beehiiv.com/p/rise-desis-new-jersey?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">first edition</a> of Central Desi included a brief essay about a Marvel-produced miniseries featuring stories about Desi New Jersey, an interview with a woman who built a thriving local Facebook community, and a vision:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>But, over the next 12 months, Ambreen shipped only 7 issues; sustaining the project proved harder than she’d thought. So she applied for a grant.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/febce6e3-a188-4d9a-9b24-8af21c486ca8/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723054756"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Grant funding for fellows</h2><a class="link" href="https://njcivicinfo.org/about/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The New Jersey Civic Information Consortium</a> (NJCIC) is a nonprofit created in 2018 “in response to the growing local news crisis impacting communities across the state’s 21 counties.”<a href="#b-3b4e7ebe-c28b-440a-964f-95077f5b6e08" target="_self" title="3 About the Consortium (NJ Civic Info)" data-skip-tracking="true">3</a> The grant Ambreen won for Central Desi in 2023 was one of <a class="link" href="https://njcivicinfo.org/press-release-fifth-round-of-grants/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">17 new grants</a> that year, totaling $1.35 million (not to mention renewal grants totaling $1.51 million).Central Desi won $81k, primarily to fund a fellowship program for young journalists. As she shared in the <a class="link" href="https://centraldesi.beehiiv.com/p/winning-80k-grant-wanting-quit?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="color: rgb(74, 110, 224)">newsletter issue</a> announcing the funding, Ambreen's first instinct was “to return the grant money and run.”Funding meant accountability to a level beyond Ambreen’s lone ability. So, she hired a project manager — journalist and public relations professional Bilal Lakhani — and they got to work creating the fellowship program she’d pitched.Central Desi’s fellowship program <a class="link" href="https://centraldesi.beehiiv.com/p/hiring-fellows-help-spread-word?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">began</a> accepting applications within two months of winning the grant. Each fellow would be given a $3,000 stipend over six months to write monthly articles under Ambreen and Bilal’s editorial guidance while receiving training on community journalism, how to distribute it online, and how to operate as part of an editorial team. Two months later, the first round of four fellows — all young, South Asian women journalists living in or near New Jersey — was announced.In its first year, operated by a team of one, Central Desi only published 7 issues; in the second year, which just ended, the number of issues increased nearly sixfold. This summer, using the grant money, the team grew again, bringing in Associate Editor Teshin Pala. A media outlet is taking shape.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">The future of local media in New Jersey is bright</h2>Not two weeks before the publication of the newsletter you’re reading now, Central Desi was awarded a <a class="link" href="https://centraldesi.beehiiv.com/p/announcing-100k-grant-renewal?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$100,000 renewal</a> on its initial grant. They’ll invest in more consistent coverage and audience growth, besides launching the call for the next round of fellows in September. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0ff86d4f-3817-4a1c-8a2b-52460f30b153/Central_Desi__An_Abridged_Timeline.png?t=1723131841"/></div>This round of grants, unlike the previous, contained no new awards, only <a class="link" href="https://njcivicinfo.org/njcic-renewals-june-2024/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">16 grant renewals</a>. The NJCIC press release says, “These grantees represent a diverse array of community-focused initiatives, ranging from grassroots journalism and civic engagement to youth journalism programs.”All 16 grant awardees are niche community outlets; there’s even $25,000 for a digital journalism program at a New Jersey high school. Ambreen describes the consortium as “trying to both grow the New Jersey [media] ecosystem and diversify it.”When she applied with Central Desi, the NJCIC had yet to fund any South Asian-focused outlets — a significant gap given that, as Ambreen notes, “New Jersey is 10% Asian, the fastest growing demographic within New Jersey is Asian people, and a big chunk of that is South Asian. “<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9ce7ec1d-1b70-42ce-ae97-6deca81395eb/Screenshot_2024-08-07_at_12.13.37_PM.png?t=1723058023"/><div class="image__source">The NJCIC’s vision and value statements, from the nonprofit’s <a class="link" href="https://njcivicinfo.org/about/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">about page</a>.</div></div>It’s important to note that, by law, neither the NJCIC nor the State of New Jersey can have ownership in any project these particular grants fund, nor can either body editorially control any project funded by the grants. The goal is to foster an ecosystem, not to build the next monolithic media company.Small, local media outlets like Central Desi and its fellow NJCIC grantees create shared reference points for the communities they serve, inasmuch as they’re able to connect with, reach, and even actively form those communities. As Ambreen puts it:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4414ea37-50e6-4868-954b-b4b69eb78a77/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1723063821"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Teaching is its own multiplying reward</h2>Is Central Desi on the way to becoming a sustainable business? Not exactly, but journalism of the kind Ambreen champions — deeply researched, community-oriented, and integrous — has rarely been profitable. Success, for an outlet like Central Desi, is not about profit and only partly about growth. The goal is to serve the Desi community in New Jersey and, eventually, beyond. In one way, the newsletter is already a success: it has brought dozens of stories from, for, and about the community it serves into the world, stories that would never have been published had it not existed. But success is even more about the people who produced those stories — the fellows:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Ambreen says the first round of fellows constantly shared feedback along these lines — that they’d never been able to tell stories about their own communities or connect with successful journalists from their own communities.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/93a64de2-db6b-4bd9-bfbd-461bbc7aac64/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1723063238"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Funding is never to be taken for granted</h2>Outside of grants, the business is not generating much revenue. Says Ambreen, “We've been focusing so much on the editorial content, but we need to think about marketing and sales.” There’s a premium membership option, but it doesn’t currently come with extra benefits; it’s more like supporting NPR or Wikipedia. She hopes to explore local advertising, too, which could serve the community in a symbiotic sense, funding the newsletter while bringing new customers to local businesses within the same community.Ambreen does harbor dreams of the newsletter serving communities far beyond New Jersey<a href="#b-4b70008e-0a3b-4247-88ac-9919d18122fe" target="_self" title="2 ‘The Journalism Creators Program at CUNY teaches participants to launch their own news products, from wherever they are’ (Hanaa’ Tameez, Nieman Lab)" data-skip-tracking="true">2</a>. For now, though, she’s happy. The newsletter has grown to around 800 subscribers largely through word of mouth, people sharing issues in community with each other.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d7f8b68f-afe1-4bc9-8726-d6c31b13adc6/Central_Desi_s_audience_in_context__1_.png?t=1723132722"/></div>The vision is to foster a network of local newsletters serving different South Asian population centers across the States — “local newsletters feeding into all of those places and then coming up to a national publication. That’s my ultimate dream for this,” says Ambreen.Connect with Ambreen on <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ambreenali/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a>. Read and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://centraldesi.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Central Desi</a>.For the full story, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">listen to our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=867WdK9oCyI&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d61336b5-fa81-4dba-87f4-b264bef8f9c5/TCSP_Ambreen_Ali.png?t=1723136301"/></div>🎙️ This was an excellent conversation. It was impossibly to fit every topic we touched on in this newsletter — here’s some of what we touch on in the podcast:<ul><li>📧 Ambreen’s work with business newsletter company SmartBrief</li><li>👓️ Media literacy is worse than ever, but schools are teaching it</li><li>📱 Grappling with journalistic responsibilities in a creator world</li></ul><a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen on your preferred podcast platform</a> or watch on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=867WdK9oCyI&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Funding service and community-oriented newsletters through grants</h2>Not all newsletters are well-suited for grant funding. Most probably aren’t. But there are many grants out there, awarded by many different organizations; if you’ve got a solid newsletter concept, there might be a journalism or arts grant out there that’ll afford you time and resources to properly execute it.We already covered, above, why Central Desi won a grant — the NJCIC sought to fund a range of diverse media projects in New Jersey; Ambreen is a journalist living in New Jersey; Central Desi fills a gap in the state’s media landscape and educates journalists to do the same.Admittedly, I’ve never written or won a grant, so I can’t give thorough advice on how to do so. But there’s no <a class="link" href="https://www.aje.com/arc/ultimate-grant-writing-guide/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="color: rgb(74, 110, 224)">shortage</a> of <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/@LearnGrantWriting?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="color: rgb(74, 110, 224)">resources</a> on <a class="link" href="https://grantsplus.com/insights/blog/grant-writing-support/nonprofit-grant-writing/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="color: rgb(74, 110, 224)">writing</a> grants.And there’s no shortage of grant opportunities out there. A quick Google search surfaces a few lists:<ul><li><a class="link" href="https://fundsforwriters.com/grants/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">FundsforWriters</a> compiles grants in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia.</li><li><a class="link" href="https://www.arts.gov/grants?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The National Endowment for the Arts</a> gives grants for a variety of arts, media, and research projects.</li><li><a class="link" href="https://www.mellon.org/resources?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Mellon Foundation</a> awards grants for arts and culture, higher learning, humanities, and public knowledge projects.</li></ul>Financial success in the creator economy is a hard-fought prize, requiring a great deal of work, luck, and persistence to accrue. Grants don’t exactly represent financial freedom — the goal for so many creators — but they do represent time, an opportunity to produce great work.You won’t win a grant with a weak project proposal. Listen to Ambreen —<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a></div><ul><li><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Listen to the second episode of </a><a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a>, our new podcast hosted by Spotlight editor Francis and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. <ul><li>This week: local media models from the Village Voice through Central Desi, Daisy talks about the 19th century origins of taste, and airport sushi … good, actually.</li></ul></li><li>For two quite different stories about local media newsletters, we recently covered:<ul><li>Ryan Sneddon’s ad-supported daily, the Naptown Scoop (<a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/ryan-sneddon-naptown-scoop?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Creator Spotlight</a>).</li><li>Kate Samuelson’s ad-supported weekly, Cheapskate London (<a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/kate-samuelson-cheapskate-london?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Creator Spotlight</a>).</li></ul></li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;">Thank you for reading. For more, <a class="link" href="https://episodes.fm/1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">check out Ambreen’s episode of our podcast</a> or watch it on <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=867WdK9oCyI&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.Next week’s guest is Sean Devlin, a sharp media entrepreneur who has built Nice News into a profitable 800k+ subscriber product in under three years.And if you missed last week’s issue, about how realtor Glennda Baker built a media business generating 10.8 million views per month and driving 30% of her real estate revenue, <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/glennda-baker?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">read it here</a>.Talk soon, Francis Zierer, Editor <a class="link" href="https://twitter.com/fzierer?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> / <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-zierer/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a> Say hi!<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8df6fa45-8344-4c6a-b8f1-d6a6d6e9875d/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1706121188"/></div></div><div style="border-top:2px solid #272A2F1A;padding:15px;">1  ‘In the Substack era, local news gets a second life’ (<a class="link" href="https://medium.com/journalism-innovation/in-the-substack-era-local-news-gets-a-second-life-20e22900214a?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ambreen Ali, </a><a class="link" href="https://medium.com/journalism-innovation/in-the-substack-era-local-news-gets-a-second-life-20e22900214a?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Medium</a>) 2  ‘The Journalism Creators Program at CUNY teaches participants to launch their own news products, from wherever they are’ (Hanaa’ Tameez, <a class="link" href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/10/the-journalism-creators-program-at-cuny-teaches-participants-to-launch-their-own-news-products-from-wherever-they-are/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Nieman Lab</a>) 3  About the Consortium (<a class="link" href="https://njcivicinfo.org/about/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-100k-grant-for-local-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">NJ Civic Info</a>) </div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=4530bcd9-9d8a-42b8-933b-d6e17ff44c8e&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 1 shoot, 30-50 videos, 10.8 million views</title> <description>Building a multi-media audience ft. Glennda Baker</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/880c844e-5810-4ab8-b4b7-d197ae1b86d7/Glennda_Baker__Thumbnail.png" length="702911" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/glennda-baker</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/glennda-baker</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 02 Aug 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-08-02T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Glennda Baker, a real estate agent from Atlanta whose star has risen on social media over the last four years. It took a few tries, but she now has an audience of over 1 million, and 30% of her real estate business comes to her through her content.In this issue:<ul><li>🪣 Clearly defined content buckets make for better content</li><li>💵 What it takes to consistently produce viral content</li><li>📚️ How Glennda generates and frames her stories</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! Listen to Glennda and I in conversation on <a class="link" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Fwi5kKxRNMtgpPG1Xnyxh?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotify</a>, <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-creator-spotlight-podcast/id1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple</a>, or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25umisCrTzs&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/880c844e-5810-4ab8-b4b7-d197ae1b86d7/Glennda_Baker__Thumbnail.png?t=1722522445"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Two false starts and a home run</h2><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>In 2016, Glennda Baker paid a producer to shoot and edit six videos for her YouTube channel, priced at $450 each. She’d created the channel two years earlier to post home tour video slideshows for her real estate business, but this was her first time earnestly pursuing content marketing qua content marketing. The videos were a failure. Eight years later, none of the six have cracked 1,000 views. At the time of writing, the six videos have a combined viewcount of 2,985. It was not an effective investment, but it might’ve been a necessary failure.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/f2f9864c-11c7-4014-9dc9-ad87c94a17d6/Screenshot_2024-07-31_at_2.26.10_PM.png?t=1722450375"/></div>In 2019, Glennda tried again with “Posts from the Porsche,” this time with no producer involved — she just set up her phone camera and spoke in her parked car for a few minutes. She’d publish 11 episodes over the next few months, this time for a combined 1,868 views to date.Watching the videos now, this second series is better. She’s comfortable. Her stories flow freely; it’s like you’re FaceTiming. Still, the series didn’t take off. There was a problem. But it wasn’t Glennda. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6c7ace01-8cb8-4652-ab9f-6464d3f0b4a9/Screenshot_2024-07-31_at_2.47.46_PM.png?t=1722451673"/></div>In October 2020, she started posting to TikTok; three months later, <a class="link" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@glenndabaker?lang=en&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">her account</a> had 100k followers and 30% of her real estate income was coming from clients who said they’d found her through her videos.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Real estate is theater, and content is too</h2>What changed in 2020? Glennda had a clear, differentiated vision that she’d lacked four years earlier.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>I see three things aligning for Glennda’s rise at the end of 2020:<ul><li>Desire — Glennda wanted a stage and had the charisma to fill it — this had long been the case.</li><li>Timing — Short-form video is her medium; 2016 was too early. Longform YouTube videos and the platform’s nascent algorithm weren’t ready for her. By late 2020, TikTok was flying; distribution was easy.</li><li>The right collaborators — In 2016, she got burnt; in 2020, she found a collaborator who fully understood how to set the stage.</li></ul><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7b448f75-7e09-4297-aa24-ed51ec1462b9/How_Glennda_wins_on_social_media.png?t=1722522483"/></div>To execute her vision, Glennda found Atlanta-local producer <a class="link" href="https://www.instagram.com/denverbailey/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Denver Bailey</a>, whose services would end up running Glennda $5,000 to $7,500 per month, at least twice as much as her previous producer’s $2,700 for a six-video package, but with a much better ROI. Today, across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, Glennda says her content, on average, receives 350,000 views per day — 10.8 million views per month.In the YouTube experiments, Glennda’s “role” was unclear, as was the contour of her audience. Today, Glennda keenly understands that audience and how to speak to them. She has three content style buckets:<ul><li>What would you tell your best friend?</li><li>What would you tell your best client?</li><li>What would you tell your therapist?</li></ul>Each piece of content she puts out falls into one of these buckets. At first, Denver had Glennda speak directly into the camera. It didn’t work; she needed an avatar, so now she speaks to him. He’s off-camera, silent and invisible, smiling and nodding, playing five roles — producer, director, friend, client, and therapist.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">A podcast, a newsletter, a media network … television?</h2>Entering January 2021, 90 days after creating a TikTok account, Glennda had 100,000 followers; at the time of writing (three-and-a-half years later), that number stands at 874.8k, with 287k on Instagram.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/914c33ea-fd93-402d-9c4e-c1d3e845535c/GLENNDA_BAKER_An_abridged_timeline__1_.png?t=1722538412"/></div>In July 2022, Glennda started a podcast, <a class="link" href="https://glitterandgay.buzzsprout.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Glitter and Gay</a>, with Tyler Whitman of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York. Last year, she joined <a class="link" href="https://estatemedia.co/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Estate Media</a>, a modern media company producing podcasts, newsletters, and shows with a roster of popular luxury real estate personalities — her star has well and truly risen.After joining Estate, Glennda launched a second podcast, <a class="link" href="https://estatemedia.co/podcasts/glenndas-guru/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Glennda’s Guru</a>, and a newsletter, <a class="link" href="https://glenndagazette.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Glennda Gazette</a>. Her online presence has only multiplied and diversified since 2020.People kept asking Glennda if she had a newsletter — eventually, someone offered to help her produce one. The first issue shipped in April 2023. Today, nearly 5,000 people receive it each week, with a reported 50% open rate and 7–10% click rate.Glennda does not write the newsletter, but she does dictate it; she says it’s like therapy. At first, a few people were working on it, which made it more work for her. These days, once every week, she gets on the phone with the writer, Jen, for up to an hour, and Jen turns that call into a newsletter. It’s the same core ideas as her podcast and short-form videos, just in written form: personal stories and real estate opinions.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">It’s simple: control the narrative, sell real estate</h2>From her early YouTube experiments to today’s multimedia portfolio, Glennda’s goal has always been to sell more real estate. And it’s working! Today, as has been the case for three years now, some 30% of her real estate business comes from social media. When she asks people how they heard of her, they say, “I saw you on TikTok!”It’s a highly effective marketing strategy. In October 2018, Glennda says, she was paying the same amount she now spends monthly on videos to market her real estate business <a class="link" href="https://www.zillow.com/profile/glenndabaker?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">through Zillow</a>. The business she brought in through Zillow equaled just over a third of what she draws through content.She wants, of course, to sell yet more real estate. I asked if she’d considered doing television. The answer was a hard no. It boils down to one thing: on social media, she controls the narrative; if she worked with network producers, they would control her narrative.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Does Glennda want more views and exposure? Yes, of course; that would help sell more real estate. But, again, she says, “I have more views on my videos than the majority of reality television has per week. The key is, it is not about the exposure. It's about the ability to control the narrative.”Attention is a force that must be controlled; you have to wield it, direct it. To borrow a Glenndaism, “It is not about vanity and virality, it is about value and visibility.” Find Glennda on <a class="link" href="https://www.instagram.com/glenndabaker/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Instagram</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@glenndabaker?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TikTok</a>. Read and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://glenndagazette.beehiiv.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Glennda Gazette</a>.For the full story, listen to our podcast on Spotify, <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-creator-spotlight-podcast/id1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple</a>, or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25umisCrTzs&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/af575106-51d6-424c-8592-b5e3a5d8d191/TCSP_Glennda_Baker.png?t=1722450721"/></div>🎙️ In Glennda’s episode of The Creator Spotlight Podcast:<ul><li>🎬️ We go behind the scenes on Glennda’s full production process</li><li>📢 Glennda has no issue sharing details of her life online — but!</li><li>🏘️ A few secrets to Glennda’s success in real estate</li></ul>Listen on <a class="link" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Fwi5kKxRNMtgpPG1Xnyxh?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotify</a>, <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-creator-spotlight-podcast/id1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple</a>, or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25umisCrTzs&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Content in any medium that isn’t time sensitive is batchable</h2>There’s a new video on Glennda’s socials every day, but they’re all recorded at once, in a four-hour session at her producer <a class="link" href="https://linktr.ee/denverbailey?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Denver Bailey</a>’s studio each month.Over the last two years, Glennda and Tyler Whitman have recorded five seasons of their podcast, Glitter and Gay, totaling 65 episodes. They don’t record weekly; they get together for a weekend once every quarter and record a whole season.The only piece of Glennda’s media operation that isn’t batched is her newsletter. She’s a realtor first; the content creation has to serve those business needs, not stand in their way. Her content is not time-sensitive, not based on ephemeral trends — it’s built for batching.<h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">An efficient way to capture ideas in the moment</h2>To efficiently batch content, you need to enter production well-prepared. You need ideas; you need developed stories.Early on, Glennda kept track of her ideas in the Notes app on her iPhone. It was messy. But two years ago, Glennda’s intern at the time had an idea:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Now, on her iPhone’s home screen, Glennda has a Google Form <a class="link" href="https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/add-webpage-your-smartphonetablet-home-screen?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">pinned like an app</a>; when it’s time to record, all her ideas are accessible, organized, and easy to run through on-set. There’s a column for the concept itself, the thing that inspired it, and the caption once it goes to socials.On shoot days, she and the team just open the spreadsheet on a laptop and run through the latest list; it's easy.<h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">The right collaborators maximize your potential</h2>It’s a <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/kate-lindsay-embedded?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views#:~:text=The%20two%2Dperson%20newsletter%20operating%20model%20is%20underrated" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">pet topic</a> of this newsletter — working with other people is good. When she started TikTok, Glennda knew precisely what she wanted to produce. She had stories to tell and a proven format she wanted to tell them in, and she found a producer who got it; who understood the vision and exactly how to execute it. Compare that with her first outing on YouTube in 2016; neither she nor the producer she hired had clarity of vision.Fill the gap between your vision and your ability to execute with hand-picked collaborators.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div>Two pieces of content we’re thinking about this week.<ul><li>We launched a new podcast this week! <a class="link" href="https://www.tasteland.fyi/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tasteland</a> is co-hosted by Spotlight editor Francis Zierer and Dirt Media CEO Daisy Alioto. Come for considered takes on digital culture, creators, and the media business; stay for the banter. <div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://tasteland.fyi/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/92b63b1f-f684-47ea-823f-189198b7c1b3/TASTELAND_text_only.png?t=1722366512"/></a><div class="image__source">Logo by Kyle Knapp</div></div></li><li>If you enjoyed this issue, you’ll enjoy this one from a couple of months ago about <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/caitlin-murray-bigtimeadulting?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Caitlin Murray</a>, who similarly found fame through short-form video and is working to parlay views into a sustainable income.</li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;">Thank you for reading. For more, check out Glennda’s episode of our podcast on <a class="link" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Fwi5kKxRNMtgpPG1Xnyxh?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotify</a>, <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-creator-spotlight-podcast/id1734648463?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple</a>, or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25umisCrTzs&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.Next week’s guest is Ambreen Ali, a journalist currently editing a newsletter called Central Desi, catering to the South Asian diaspora of New Jersey. It’s a grant-funded newsletter carrying the torch for serious journalism and, in the process, teaching young writers how to cover a beat.And if you missed last week’s issue, featuring veteran indie newsletterist Ernie Smith and lessons on newsletter syndication and building a trusting audience, <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/ernie-smith-tedium?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">read it here</a>.Talk soon, Francis Zierer, Editor <a class="link" href="https://twitter.com/fzierer?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> / <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-zierer/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=1-shoot-30-50-videos-10-8-million-views" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a> Say hi!<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8df6fa45-8344-4c6a-b8f1-d6a6d6e9875d/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1706121188"/></div></div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=3c291826-233f-4a82-a109-f72694672d71&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 "My approach probably leaves a bit of money on the table"</title> <description>Lessons from 10 years of DIY newslettering ft. Ernie Smith of Tedium</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c011c948-f720-4da0-b617-914020c64236/Featured2.png" length="661494" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/ernie-smith-tedium</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/ernie-smith-tedium</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jul 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-07-26T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>Today’s guest is Ernie Smith, a deeply committed DIY newsletterist with 10 years in the game. Before getting into newsletters, he built an audience of 150,000 for a pioneering news aggregation Tumblr.We’re featuring him for Tedium: a newsletter about “strange and unusual descriptions of common things, explained in extreme depth.”In this issue:<ul><li>🥁 What Ernie, Fugazi, and Taylor Swift have in common</li><li>📰 Syndication as a way to build a newsletter audience</li><li>🛠️ Taking a staunchly DIY approach to newslettering </li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! Listen to Ernie and I in conversation on <a class="link" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xDukZ3sFzrNe9tTAamPgt?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotify</a>, <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-20-is-the-internet-getting-better-or-worse-ft/id1734648463?i=1000663328582&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple</a>, or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAokId1_WYI&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c011c948-f720-4da0-b617-914020c64236/Featured2.png?t=1721923362"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Does anyone make cool stuff anymore?</h2><a class="link" href="https://tedium.co/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tedium</a> is a defensive-camouflage name for an uncommonly curious, generous, and well-written newsletter. Ernie Smith has been running it for just six months shy of 10 years, largely by himself (with occasional guest writers) and with a staunch DIY ethos. He eschews any specific newsletter platform, opting to cobble together a system that gives him maximum control (<a class="link" href="https://thecontentaudit.substack.com/p/tedium-ernie-smith?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table#:~:text=Subscribe-,Tedium%E2%80%99s%20blog%20stack,-Craft%20CMS%2C%20CMS" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">see his full stack here</a>).The newsletter, which currently has around 12,000 subscribers, does not follow a consistent schedule. Yes, there are generally three issues per week, but Ernie doesn’t schedule sends; he finishes writing a newsletter and then sends it out.Two years after Ernie sent his first newsletter, Substack launched, and the platform’s representatives reached out, offering to pay him to move his newsletter to their platform. He declined:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>When he declined Substack’s offer, Ernie was employed full-time; he was 5 years into 11 at Manifest, a D.C. area content agency. He’d not created Tedium to generate a full-time income; he’d created it because he wanted to.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Going short-form for too long</h2>Six years before penning the first issue of Tedium, Ernie started <a class="link" href="https://shortformblog.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ShortFormBlog</a>, a news aggregation Tumblr that would grow to over 150,000 followers before he shut it down in 2014. He started it after getting laid off, but even after landing a new job, he’d sit down every morning to post. Each post contained one linked news item or statistic with anywhere from a few words to a couple paragraphs of commentary.The ShortFormBlog Tumblr archive goes back as far as February 2010, about a year after Ernie started the project (the first year was on <a class="link" href="https://archive.shortformblog.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">WordPress</a>). From then until <a class="link" href="https://shortformblog.com/post/99865262925/a-long-trip-into-the-wilderness-tldr-this-is?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the ‘last’ post</a> (he’s continued to post intermittently over the years), there were a total of 21,482 posts. That is, on average, more than 12 posts per day for nearly 5 years. Burnout came as no real surprise. It was a mix of the being grind of the news cycle and Tumblr’s limitations: “nearly all my audience was tied up with Tumblr, a platform that was difficult to monetize. I felt like I was renting my readership, rather than owning it outright.”<a href="#b-dc7ec7d1-8a29-4d6e-9303-17f3c46dbdf5" target="_self" title="1 Ernie Smith Interview (Letterlist)" data-skip-tracking="true">1</a><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6e86cc55-1df0-40fe-9bcc-ac6524a4fc9a/A_timeline_of_Ernie_Smith_s_longterm_indie_publishing_projects.png?t=1721922303"/><div class="image__source">A very high-level timeline of Ernie’s main indie publishing projects over the years.</div></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Projects come and go; writing is forever</h2>Ernie is a serial project abandoner, if only because he’s a serial project starter. When he stopped ShortFormBlog to start Tedium, he meant to start an entirely different project called DataSlam. That never quite happened.Six years into starting Tedium, though, Ernie started another side project: <a class="link" href="https://midrange.tedium.co/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">MidRange</a>. He’d give himself 30 minutes to write about whatever was on his mind that day, then just send it out. The idea<a href="#b-4e5941fb-2a7a-490c-a092-e05693aa92de" target="_self" title="2 MidRange mission statement (Tedium)" data-skip-tracking="true">2</a>, after years of writing long, meandering articles for Tedium, was to exercise the part of his brain that could produce short-form writing quickly but with depth.This lasted for exactly two years.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/189f7e0f-8d49-4972-9134-f93eafe15b8e/mid_range.png?t=1721922441"/></div>After MidRange Ernie planned to start something called NextGeist — he never got to that, but he did start Lesser Tedium, which was a short version of Tedium he ran on Substack, largely to experiment with the social media features they’d recently launched. He <a class="link" href="https://readtedium.substack.com/p/what-im-doing-next?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">shuttered it</a> after 3 months; turns out his audience wanted the content in long form.(This May, another one-off side project of Ernie’s went semi-viral: <a class="link" href="http://udm14.com?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">udm14.com</a>, a way to search Google without AI results or other fluff. He explains it in an <a class="link" href="https://tedium.co/2024/05/17/google-web-search-make-default/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">article on </a><a class="link" href="https://tedium.co/2024/05/17/google-web-search-make-default/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tedium</a>).<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Tedious profits, tedious growth</h2>Does Ernie make a living from Tedium? Not entirely. He’s had <a class="link" href="https://www.patreon.com/tedium?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a Patreon</a> for about seven years; these days, there are no significant member benefits, but it’s currently bringing in $262.30 per month. He also hosts ads on the site using Carbon and sells sponsor slots in the newsletter. (Recent sponsors include other newsletters and a Chrome extension called Lumin for editing PDFs).One of Tedium’s best sources of revenue and growth has been syndication. In the early days, he pitched Atlas Obscura, which was then less of a travel site and more of a general oddities site. Between 2015 and 2018, they <a class="link" href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/categories/tedium?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="color: rgb(74, 110, 224)">ran at least 72 of his articles</a>, compensating him by placing CTAs to subscribe to his newsletter at the top and bottom of the page.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/23b6ed8a-fca9-45da-8276-3d06e9b0a0e3/Screenshot_2024-07-25_at_4.01.12_PM.png?t=1721937678"/><div class="image__source">A CTA in an Atlas Obscura-syndicated Tedium article.</div></div>After a year of syndication with Atlas Obscura, somebody from VICE reached out to syndicate his work in their Motherboard technology vertical. This time, he was paid for it in what was a great relationship until shortly before Motherboard shuttered in 2024.These days, Ernie syndicates <a class="link" href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/u/ernie-smith?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">with </a><a class="link" href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/u/ernie-smith?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">IEEE Spectrum</a> — they’re currently compensating him on a one-article-per-month deal.Tedium generates enough revenue to pay for all infrastructural costs, compensate occasional freelance writers, and justify some of the time Ernie spends on it. But it’s just as much about the halo effect — about it being a calling card for his freelance journalism work.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">What do Taylor Swift, Fugazi, and Ernie Smith have in common?</h2>I asked Ernie what he’s optimistic about in the newsletter world these days:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>By his own admission, “an easy buck” is not Ernie’s priority: “I’m not trying to turn it into this $10 million business. I’m just trying to make it a successful thing creatively.”There was — bear with me here — a band called <a class="link" href="https://wamu.org/story/19/05/06/fugazi-by-the-numbers-exploring-the-punk-bands-history-through-infographics/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Fugazi</a> that came out of Washington, D.C.’s hardcore scene in the 80s. For years, they famously insisted on keeping ticket prices $5 to ensure people who wanted to come to their shows could come. This is just a small representation of their more broadly anti-corporate, antiauthoritarian political stance.An on-principle $5 ticket stands in stark contrast to, say, Taylor Swift tickets, which go for thousands of dollars — a combined result of her tours’ high production costs, of Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s grip on the live performance ecosystem, and relentless resale demand.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8d6df36c-01c4-440a-9ab1-fc40b9ad69ae/fugazi_taylor_swift__1_.png?t=1721952765"/><div class="image__source">An old Fugazi flyer and tickets for an upcoming Taylor Swift concert in Miami this October showing the cheapest available tickets first.</div></div>These are two extreme approaches to the relationship between an artist and their audience, respectively prioritizing accessibility and profit above all else.There is clearly a place in the world for both approaches: there remains a niche but fervent Fugazi fandom years after the group broke up and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour surpassed $1 billion in revenue.Fugazi was staunchly anticapitalist, Taylor Swift is one of our most gifted capitalists, and Ernie falls much more on Fugazi’s end of the spectrum. What’s important is that, in each case, the audience understands, on some level, that these are the underlying principles defining their relationship to the artist.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div>I asked Ernie what he’s pessimistic about in the newsletter space:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>In media, quality products backed by consistent principles build loyal audiences, regardless of the creator’s relationship with capitalism. It is a relationships business, after all. Connect with Ernie on <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/smithern/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a>, <a class="link" href="https://writing.exchange/@ernie?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Mastadon</a>, or via his personal <a class="link" href="https://erniesmith.net/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">website</a>. Read and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://tedium.co/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tedium</a>.For the full story, listen to our podcast on <a class="link" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xDukZ3sFzrNe9tTAamPgt?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotify</a>, <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-20-is-the-internet-getting-better-or-worse-ft/id1734648463?i=1000663328582&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple</a>, or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAokId1_WYI&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d67e4930-fd96-4221-a58a-6f558c2c7ccf/TCSP_Ernie_Smith.png?t=1721916674"/></div>🎙️ In Ernie’s episode of The Creator Spotlight Podcast:<ul><li>🧑‍🎨 How Ernie’s work is like this Japanese painter’s 50-year project</li><li>💻️ Why (and how) Ernie coded his newsletter himself</li><li>🤔 Is the creator economy good for the internet?</li></ul>Listen on <a class="link" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xDukZ3sFzrNe9tTAamPgt?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotify</a>, <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-20-is-the-internet-getting-better-or-worse-ft/id1734648463?i=1000663328582&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple</a>, or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAokId1_WYI&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Email is a visual medium</h2>Tedium doesn’t look like any other newsletter in my inbox these days. This is the whole point: Ernie has consistently chosen to avoid no-code platforms because he wants complete control of his product; he wants it to look exactly how he wants it to look, not how a platform dictates.The thing is, Tedium also doesn’t look that different from every newsletter in my inbox. They’re all just columns of text of varying lengths broken up by images, different text formatting, and a few other visual tricks.If I squint and quickly scroll through an issue of Tedium, two details make it distinct: the overall red-white-grey color scheme and big, red boxes with big, white numbers. Take a look at this (guest-written) post about <a class="link" href="https://tedium.co/2024/07/20/roger-price-mad-libs-droodles-history/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the history of the Mad Libs and Droodles games</a> (yes, this is the web version, but the design is largely consistent across email and web).<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/30db00d0-63ff-470f-8ac5-fd2e41bdb1e5/Screenshot_2024-07-24_at_5.24.46_PM.png?t=1721856289"/><div class="image__source">Isn’t this eye-catching? Doesn’t it draw you in?</div></div>Ernie spent the first seven years working in news design at traditional newspapers; this bit of visual flair seems to come directly from that, like a pull quote or other text-based graphic disrupting a page of newsprint otherwise crammed with text.For me, the most basic tenet of newsletter design is visual texture.You don’t necessarily need JPEGs or GIFs to make a newsletter visually compelling. Text is visual, too — tweaking the color of the text or the background, tweaking the size of the text, ensuring inconsistent paragraph lengths — sometimes, that’s all you need.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/c5f37122-63d9-47bc-af6a-79b381f650f4/REPOSTS__2_.png?t=1705502817"/></div>Three pieces from Ernie we think other newsletter people will find useful:<ul><li>“What can modern newsletter authors <a class="link" href="https://tedium.co/2022/08/10/pre-digital-newsletter-history/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table#:~:text=Nine%20interesting%20facts%20about%20newsletters%20from%20Howard%20Penn%20Hudson%E2%80%99s%20book%20on%20newsletters" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">learn about newslettering</a> from an era when people actually mailed these things? A lot, it turns out, according to this book I bought.”</li><li>“Pondering the way that the creative process is often directed by rules which, in many cases, stifle creativity. Sometimes, you just have to <a class="link" href="https://tedium.co/2019/09/24/creativity-technical-errors-impact/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">throw the rules out</a>.”</li><li>“Of the many things that social platforms have taken away from us, perhaps the most disappointing is <a class="link" href="https://tedium.co/2020/07/14/social-media-customization-failings/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the freedom to customize our spaces</a>. We need it back.”</li></ul></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;">Thank you for reading. For more, check out Ernie’s episode of our podcast on <a class="link" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xDukZ3sFzrNe9tTAamPgt?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotify</a>, <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-20-is-the-internet-getting-better-or-worse-ft/id1734648463?i=1000663328582&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple</a>, or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAokId1_WYI&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.Next week’s guest is Glennda Baker, an Atlanta-area real estate agent with three decades of experience who blew up on social media four years ago. We spoke about batching content, how both real estate and content are actually relationship businesses, and the art of storytelling.And if you missed last week’s issue, where we featured Justin Gordon for his prolific podcasting, long-form newslettering, and community building skills, <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/just-go-grind?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">read it here</a>.Talk soon, Francis Zierer, Editor <a class="link" href="https://twitter.com/fzierer?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> / <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-zierer/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a> Say hi!<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8df6fa45-8344-4c6a-b8f1-d6a6d6e9875d/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1706121188"/></div></div><div style="border-top:2px solid #272A2F1A;padding:15px;">1  Ernie Smith Interview (<a class="link" href="https://letterlist.com/ernie-smith-interview/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Letterlist</a>) 2  MidRange mission statement (<a class="link" href="https://midrange.tedium.co/issues/mission-statement/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=my-approach-probably-leaves-a-bit-of-money-on-the-table" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tedium</a>) </div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=baa42885-c84a-44eb-bf14-7299091ce2fe&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>🔴 A 10k-word newsletter with 21k subscribers</title> <description>And a 'podcast ultramarathon,' ft. Justin Gordon of Just Go Grind</description> <enclosure url="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d772fed3-4cbc-4d05-b514-e4e42cc6773c/Justin_Gordon__Thumbnail.png" length="635914" type="image/png"/> <link>https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/just-go-grind</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/just-go-grind</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jul 2024 15:11:00 +0000</pubDate> <atom:published>2024-07-19T15:11:00Z</atom:published> <dc:creator>Francis Zierer</dc:creator> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <div class='beehiiv'><style> .bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p { color: #2A2A2A; font-family:'Trebuchet MS','Lucida Grande',Tahoma,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } </style><div class='beehiiv__body'><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1fb00cf4-5d66-4896-83ce-90f035e373aa/CS_Logo_Wide.gif?t=1705502632"/><div class="image__source"> Your guide to the newsletter world — new stories every Friday. Brought to you by beehiiv.</div></div>It would be an understatement to call today’s guest, Justin Gordon, prolific. For example, we publish one ~50-minute podcast episode per week; he once published one ~50-minute podcast episode per day for 112 days straight.Justin, for the last 12 years, has been a blogger, vlogger, podcaster, newsletterist, and entrepreneur — often all at once. In this issue:<ul><li>☮️ How Craigslist kickstarted his creator-entrepreneur journey</li><li>🏃 Doing a ‘podcast ultramarathon’ (would he recommend it?)</li><li>💯 Why writing extremely long newsletters is good, actually</li></ul>— Francis Zierer, EditorP.S. We have a podcast! Listen to Justin and I in conversation on <a class="link" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/24yjbInckR2YSXex8Ku0WN?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotify</a>, <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-19-building-a-high-value-network-by-podcasting/id1734648463?i=1000662627646&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple</a>, or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT32VpCdOhs&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/3bc0367d-ab76-486c-adaa-33c6e9d4e883/IN_THE_SPOTLIGHT__3_.png?t=1705502743"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/d772fed3-4cbc-4d05-b514-e4e42cc6773c/Justin_Gordon__Thumbnail.png?t=1721310472"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">You never know what you’ll find on craigslist</h2>He didn’t really think he’d get murdered, but he wasn’t not thinking about it. It was the summer of 2012, and Justin Gordon was a football player and rising senior at UW-La Crosse. He’d decided to start working as a personal trainer, so he posted a craigslist listing, and within a few days, some stranger reached out — his first client.<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>The craigslist play worked, Justin didn’t get murdered, and he set up a search engine-optimized blog to land in-home personal training clients around Milwaukee more efficiently. From 2012 to 2018, he wrote over 200 blog posts and topped out at 5,000 monthly site visitors, building his practice as an in-home and online fitness coach while working with clients through various gyms.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">A ‘podcast ultramarathon’</h2>It’s not that you have to run a 5k every day to be a successful creator, but the repetition and consistency required to do both well are the same. Check Justin’s <a class="link" href="https://x.com/justingordon212?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> feed, and among posts about entrepreneurship, investing, and his various ventures, you’ll find regular Strava <a class="link" href="https://x.com/justingordon212/status/1809962472927043902/photo/1?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">screenshots</a> like this one for a casual 15-mile Sunday run at a 7:36 pace. In 2018, Justin started his MBA at USC and a new blog, Just Go Grind; the second era of his creator career. He wrote about and interviewed investors, founders, and entrepreneurs for an intended audience of the same. Six months in, the format frustrated him.Justin switched to podcasting: “I wanted to have relationships as the starting point.” An interview done over email is, relative to a recorded-live podcast interview, a missed connection. You can’t interrupt with a follow-up question, you can’t laugh, you can only build so much rapport. Podcasting was a great networking move; if someone agreed to come on the show, he’d get to spend a focused hour speaking with them, building, over time, a healthy Rolodex.By July 2020, two years in, Just Go Grind had 128 published episodes. On August 1, 2020, Justin started what I’d call a podcast ultramarathon. He decided to release a new episode every single day, indefinitely.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7a0d6820-9d28-4795-81cb-8808d914ef27/A__Podcast_Ultramarathon_.png?t=1721310501"/></div><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Each episode would only get a couple hundred listens, but the audience was so valuable and the output volume so high that Justin could secure sponsors at a fee around $2,000 per month.In the end, Justin lasted 112 days. One Sunday in November, he did not post. Of course, he posted again on Monday, then Wednesday, then Friday. But the streak was over.Not for nothing, the experiment supercharged his network growth, which was always the goal. Just two months after finishing his ‘ultramarathon,’ Justin started a new role as Director of Marketing at VITALIZE Venture Capital. He’d podcasted his way into a job.Would he do it again? “I don't recommend it, necessarily.” But did he stop? Absolutely not; he would release a new episode every few days for the next couple of years, through January 2023, until he’d released 352 episodes.At that point, Just Go Grind shapeshifted from podcast to newsletter. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">Just go write (10,000 words)</h2>Before he started his newsletter in earnest, Justin had been sending out the show notes of each podcast episode to a small email list, meaning, in December 2022 he sent <a class="link" href="https://www.justgogrind.com/p/yearly-planning?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the first issue</a> of his dedicated newsletter to 519 subscribers.That first issue contained Justin’s advice for reviewing a year and planning for the next, but most issues since have been in-depth founder profiles — <a class="link" href="https://www.justgogrind.com/p/sam-altman?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the first of these</a>, from February 2023, was a 3,898-word piece on OpenAI’s Sam Altman. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/08463d20-3350-4e94-8d8e-abad1af0fe0a/Screenshot_2024-07-18_at_9.01.35_AM.png?t=1721307708"/><div class="image__source">A few weeks’ worth of posts from earlier this year</div></div>Many of the people Justin profiles have already been written about and interviewed extensively; he reviews anywhere from 10 to 40 sources, quoting from them heavily in the final piece. He aims to create as complete and insight-rich a narrative as possible, all “in one spot, both for me personally and other people [who] find it useful.”<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#e73d00;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a1bbf53c-fc9c-4378-bd6c-96e82bc3d18f/Growth__Just_Go_Grind__1_.png?t=1721311984"/><div class="image__source">Just go grow (20,000 subscribers in 9 months)</div></div>For the first 9 months of the newsletter’s existence, Justin shared subscriber numbers at the top of each issue. That hockey-stick subscriber growth is mainly from two sources: organic Twitter and paid ads. By 2023, Justin recalls having around 20,000 Twitter followers; “I probably got to the first 3,000-ish subscribers organically.” He then took <a class="link" href="https://maven.com/jackandnathan/newsletterplaybook?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a newsletter course</a> and started running paid ads.The subscriber count has remained flat this past year compared to the early surge — this is due both to Justin’s routine clearing out of unengaged subscribers and turning off paid advertising. <div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div>Justin generally spends 20-30 hours working on each deep dive. A recent piece on <a class="link" href="https://www.justgogrind.com/p/walt-disney?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Walt Disney</a> was an exception — he read two books while researching, spent two weeks writing it, and ultimately shipped over 10,000 words. Why aren’t the newsletters shorter? <div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>The Just Go Grind podcast feed still lives, by the way; when Justin shifted his focus to the newsletter, he began reading out the newsletter text and publishing the recording to his podcast feed.<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9f7fea6f-33f6-4488-be8c-7d0c67b42266/Content_Breaks__2_.png?t=1713883505"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">A pillar of the village</h2>Justin’s ideal audience has never been measured in size, but in value. He wanted ambitious entrepreneurial types, founders, and investors in the crowd; the who mattered more than the how-many. He writes for them. This has also allowed him to charge a premium for ads: at the peak, Justin sold ad space at a $100 CPM. These days, that number usually tops out around $75.By now, Justin’s network is quite large. It’s founders at all stages of the journey, it’s investors at firms investing in various stages of business, it’s talented specialists. It’s a game he relishes: connecting people.In 2020, Justin tried building a community for founders, but it didn’t last long. In June 2022 — while still focused on the podcast and his job at VITALIZE — he tried again. Within two months, 100 people joined. He still runs regular events in LA.The Just Go Grind events are free and open. At the end of May, Justin <a class="link" href="https://www.justgogrind.com/p/village-lane-announcement?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">launched</a> a new venture, <a class="link" href="https://villagelane.io/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Village Lane</a>, a vetted community for startup founders. Members — early-stage startup founders with at least $100k in ARR or $250k in funding — pay for access to a structured community with services including coworking, retreats, a Slack group, an investor database, and more. <div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Justin now seems to be entering a new chapter in his journey as a creator-entrepreneur; after 12 years of relentless content creation, his output has slowed. Blogging to promote his personal training services taught him how to operate in the world of online content; he used those skills to build a network. That network now sustains itself. Content creation brought him here and he’ll probably never stop doing it, but he no longer needs to be so prolific.Theres a seemingly inexhaustible energy to Justin. It’s how he spent two weeks putting together a 10,000-word newsletter issue on Walt Disney; it’s how he published 112 podcast episodes in 112 days; it’s why he can build a business around connecting other driven people. Beneath everything is this energy; that is what he sells.Connect with Justin on <a class="link" href="https://x.com/justingordon212?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> or <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a>. Read and subscribe to <a class="link" href="https://www.justgogrind.com/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Just Go Grind</a>.For the full story, listen to our podcast on <a class="link" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/24yjbInckR2YSXex8Ku0WN?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotify</a>, <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-19-building-a-high-value-network-by-podcasting/id1734648463?i=1000662627646&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple</a>, or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT32VpCdOhs&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/60ac05ff-322e-413b-bdb8-4667820fcd25/INTERVIEW__2_.png?t=1705502753"/></div><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:9px;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b7bfec23-117b-4b79-b21c-d6b5e4d17ccd/TCSP_Justin_Gordon.png?t=1721310742"/></div>🎙️ In Justin’s episode of The Creator Spotlight Podcast:<ul><li>💵 All the ways Justin has made money in the creator economy</li><li>🎤 The best and worst interviews Justin ever had on his pod</li><li>📆 Everything Justin has ever learned from podcasting</li></ul>Listen on <a class="link" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/24yjbInckR2YSXex8Ku0WN?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotify</a>, <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-19-building-a-high-value-network-by-podcasting/id1734648463?i=1000662627646&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple</a>, or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT32VpCdOhs&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.</div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/a9cb3309-93b0-410d-b42e-526fb1b603b6/STEAL_THIS_TACTIC__1_.png?t=1705502788"/></div><h2 class="heading" style="text-align:left;">No rules, no goals, but your own</h2>Is releasing a nearly hour-long interview podcast every single day for 16 weeks straight a good idea? It accelerated the growth of Justin’s network and led him to a job, but it was grueling; he wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. Nonetheless —<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Justin’s up-to-10,000-word newsletters are cut of the same cloth: the desire to follow these whims, to execute these creative acts of endurance. The point is not that you should produce a daily podcast or write a novella’s worth of newsletter each month; it’s that you should act on your own ideas:<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div>Being an independent creator is only sustainable if you’re working on projects you want to work on. Justin said that with podcasting, he was inspired by Acquired "breaking every rule of podcasting because that’s what they wanted to do. They were scratching their own itch, and you find your people through that.”<div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote__quote"></blockquote></div></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/eb4d6cbc-e034-4507-9c01-5d2641af595f/SPONSORED_BY.png?t=1711561083"/></div><h3 class="heading" style="text-align:left;" id="keep-up-with-ai">Keep up with AI</h3><div class="image"><a class="image__link" href="https://magic.beehiiv.com/v1/4d03390d-2481-4299-b949-ffd8b38b4c38?email={{email}}&utm_source=beehiiv&utm_campaign={{publication_name_param}}&redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fupscribe.page%2Faa34c745df&redirect_delay=1&_bhiiv=opp_60920837-12be-4b2f-bcdc-fa5316bd379e_e4221c46" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/12170b88-9694-4de6-bf68-f50065da16af/Rundown_Q1_Beehiiv.png?t=1714074381"/></a></div>How do you keep up with the insane pace of AI? Join The Rundown — the world’s largest AI newsletter that keeps you up-to-date with everything happening in AI, and why it actually matters in just a 5-minute read per day.<a class="link" href="https://magic.beehiiv.com/v1/4d03390d-2481-4299-b949-ffd8b38b4c38?email={{email}}&utm_source=beehiiv&utm_campaign={{publication_name_param}}&redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fupscribe.page%2Faa34c745df&redirect_delay=1&_bhiiv=opp_60920837-12be-4b2f-bcdc-fa5316bd379e_e4221c46" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Sign up with one click</a></div><div class="section" style="background-color:#FCF9F4;border-color:#F5ECDD;border-radius:9px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;padding:15.0px 15.0px 15.0px 15.0px;">Thank you for reading. For more, check out Justin’s episode of our podcast on <a class="link" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/24yjbInckR2YSXex8Ku0WN?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spotify</a>, <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-19-building-a-high-value-network-by-podcasting/id1734648463?i=1000662627646&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Apple</a>, or <a class="link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT32VpCdOhs&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YouTube</a>.Next week’s guest is Ernie Smith, a seasoned newsletterist with a refreshingly earnest and DIY approach. Nobody is doing it quite like him; I learned a lot.And if you missed last week’s issue, about Kate Lindsay from Embedded, making a living newslettering, and building a newsletter from the bones of a scrapped publication, <a class="link" href="https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/kate-lindsay-embedded?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">read it here</a>.Talk soon, Francis Zierer, Editor <a class="link" href="https://twitter.com/fzierer?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> / <a class="link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-zierer/?utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LinkedIn</a> Say hi!<div class="image"><img alt="" class="image__image" style="border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px;border-style:solid;border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;box-sizing:border-box;border-color:#E5E7EB;" src="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8df6fa45-8344-4c6a-b8f1-d6a6d6e9875d/Content_Breaks__1_.png?t=1706121188"/></div></div><div style="border-top:2px solid #272A2F1A;padding:15px;">1  Incidentally, one of his last <a class="link" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/348-tyler-denk-of-beehiiv-on-building-in-public/id1397036566?i=1000588841889&utm_source=www.creatorspotlight.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=a-10k-word-newsletter-with-21k-subscribers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">episodes</a> was with beehiiv co-founder Tyler Denk, just over a year after the product launched. </div></div><div class='beehiiv__footer'> <hr class='beehiiv__footer__line'><a target="_blank" class="beehiiv__footer_link" style="text-align: center;" href="https://www.beehiiv.com/?utm_campaign=19572f76-fc17-43ed-9325-66ee0308907b&utm_medium=post_rss&utm_source=creator_spotlight">Powered by beehiiv</a></div></div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> </channel> </rss>