Unconventional Career Idea 💡 Start a Paid Newsletter (That Actually Pays)

And replace your salary while having a ball (especially relevant for Millennials & Gen X)

The paid newsletter.

It’s on everyone’s lips.

Imagine, newsletters becoming hot again? That’s because blogging is becoming hot again. 😍 And, I have a fun theory about this: it’s going to be the Millennials & Gen Xers who dominate this world.

NOT TO GROUP MYSELF INTO AN AWESOME GROUP (except I am totally grouping myself into an awesome group), but we grew up writing on the internet—or just writing in general. Gen Z, on the other hand, grew up making videos on the internet. There is a difference in the way we communicate. And newsletters definitely favor writing.

So, not to get all excited about this or anything, but there is BIG opportunity in running your own newsletter right now.

And, there’s big opportunity in creating paid newsletters right now, too.

LET US EXAMINE THE POSSIBILITIES.

So, I’m going to start this by straight up telling you what I know to be true about running a paid newsletter, having done it various times throughout my writing career:

• If you’re a great writer, people will pay for your writing.

• If you’re a mediocre writer, people will pay for your ideas.

• If you’re a bad writer, people will pay you for your information.

I’ve been spending £10 monthly (~ $13 US dollars) to be a member of The London Times for years now, solely so I can read Caitlin Moran’s weekly column.

She is a great writer.

On the other hand, plenty of newsletters are doing VERY well right now, simply by either sourcing awesome ideas, or sourcing exclusive information.

Rachel Karten, who runs the industry-leading newsletter LINK IN BIO, is a social media advisor whose “five post formats to try right now” is such an excellent spring of fresh ideas—it’s worth the cost of her newsletter alone. (And each newsletter is chock full of analysis of what’s working on social media right now, and what’s not—those ideas are worth money.)

Karten has over 66,000 subscribers.

Lenny Rachitsky writes a newsletter about how big companies build their products and go to market (like how Duolingo reignited user growth and how Figma built their company).

He does not have an inspiring newsletter name. (It’s literally called “Lenny’s Newsletter, which I would never recommend TO LITERALLY ANY ACTUAL HUMAN BEING, so clearly his content is that good). I wouldn’t call him a passionate writer by trade. But the guy has 759,000 subscribers, and his newsletter brings in over $500,000 a year (with his podcast bringing in another $500,000 a year) for a grand total of $1M a year.

He writes one post a week and works on each for 10 to 20 hours.

(Liking this paid newsletter idea now?! Ha!)

Why does this work? It contains specialist information you can’t find anywhere else.

His readers are company founders, product managers, marketers, and start-up nerds. And, Lenny’s creating highly specialized content specifically for them by doing the labor of finding the right contacts and getting the real scoop on how they built the thing they built.

So, once again:

• Great writing = paid subscriptions

• Great ideas = paid subscriptions

• Great information = paid subscriptions

In other words, you don’t have to be a great writer. But if you aren’t, you do have to be a great curator.

And, you also need a paid strategy: what you send out for free vs what you put behind a paywall. EVERYONE is confused about this. But, I have some interesting ideas to share about this, too—including exactly how much you could really earn every month if you do this right.

Want to learn how to start a paid newsletter (that actually pays)?

Upgrade now to access the paid newsletter biz plan. ⬇️

You’ll also get all weekly creative career biz plans—with new plans out every Monday—offering you blueprints for a number of cool, new modern creative career ideas to get the wheels turning, and figure out your next chapter.

New creative career plans are sent out every Monday with a paid subscription. 💪💥

Next Up: The Paid Newsletter (That Actually Pays) Business Plan

Career Title:
Newsletter Publisher

Career Overview:
Create and run a paid online newsletter around a topic you love. (Like horses. Do you like horses?! Then start a newsletter about horses, no joke.)

How It Works:
You launch a free newsletter. Then, a percentage of your readers upgrade to a paid subscription.

Profit Breakdown:

Paid newsletter giant Substack says that between 5% - 10% of free readers become paid readers, with 10% as the number to aim for. (Though 5% is much more common.)

Paid newsletters range in price, and commonly cost between $5/month - $15/month. (Lenny’s Newsletter charges $15/month.)

The more specialist the information, the more you can charge.

So, let’s run through a few models: