#108 — Passion communities are flourishing
This week we've got an interesting success story, why newsletters are surging, some free resources for publishers from Google, a webinar about being an independent journalist and more. We hope you enjoy this issue!
💯 Top picks
Nathan Tankus's newsletter subscribers don’t care about diplomas
With 450 subscribers generating $45,000 in annual revenue, Nathan Tankus has carved a niche as one of the most popular newsletter publishers writing about economics and finance, with plenty of economists and journalists following and subscribing to Nathan's work, Notes on the Crises.
💸 Business models
Passion communities are flourishing
"The surge in popularity of passion communities largely boils down to two factors: time and opportunity."
50 lessons from writing 50 newsletters
Anne-Laure Le Cunff shares plenty of insights about what it's like to write an email newsletter after publishing the 50th issue of Maker Mind.
Steady subscription strategies for publishers: “This is a full-blown transformation”
Content consumption is growing and people are more willing to pay for content they find worthwhile. This article investigates how this is a full-blown transformation, rather than a passing trend. "The TL;DR is that this is happening, and it seems like it’s here to stay."
Reuters plans to put many articles behind a paywall
"Reuters would become one of the last free news services to adopt a subscription business model, a sign of how much the news industry has shifted away from relying on advertising."
‘If your enemy has all the power, you may as well sleep with them’: Why subscription publishers can’t quit Facebook ads
"It’s clear to see why publishers advertise on Facebook, even if they say they don’t like it very much."
Why the email newsletter is 2020’s MVP format
"Newsletters are surging, and it’s not just a COVID thing"
✍️ Modern journalism
[Resource] GNI Digital Growth Programme: Helping European publishers succeed online
Check out these free workshops, labs and tools to help grow your digital presence, grow your audience, and strengthen your revenue strategies.
[Webinar] Going Solo: When journalists build their own ventures
A fireside-chat style conversation on how journalists build their own ventures with Jennifer 8. Lee and Rose Eveleth. Moderated by Jeremy Caplan from the Newmark J-School.
Creating reader habits with digital editions
Twipe hosted over 200 publishers for a webinar on habit-forming news products. In a poll of webinar attendees, 58.8% shared that they are in the process of updating their editions while 15.5% are creating entirely new edition products.
💻 Technology
What's really behind "tech" versus "journalism"
"But what if you take the whole discussion of “tech versus journalism” and reframe it as “managers versus employees”? Then, I think, you get closer to the truth of what’s going on."
“Higher engagement rates than any other type”: The power of long-tail articles
Discover how to determine which content you publish has "everlasting power" and why long-tail articles are important for publishers.
🤷 WTF?
Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired
"Streaming service Quibi only managed to convert a little under 10 percent of its early wave of users into paying subscribers, says mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower."
