#114 — Launching memberships without a large audience
This week's issue includes a brand new post on the Ghost blog, growth stories from two publishers, a free report that you'll definitely want to check out, and the inevitable eclipse of print!
💯 Top picks
You don't need a huge audience to start a membership business
"For as long as you have the curiosity, the innate stubbornness to push through, and a couple hundred ‘true fans,’ you have everything you need to start a successful paid membership business."
Armando Dela Cruz
💸 Business models
From 6k to 93k YouTube subscribers in 8 months: Inside the Evening Standard’s growth strategy
"At the start of the year, Chris Stone, the Evening Standard’s Executive Producer of Video and Audio challenged his team to grow the newsbrand’s YouTube channel from 6,000 subscribers to 100,000 by October."
Quartz passes 20,000 paid members
Quartz publish exclusive content for professionals to help them understand the forces reshaping the world, and provides research pieces about the economy. Their premium offering has now attracted more than 21,000 paying members!
Your reading list on publishing trends for 2021
It's that time of year when we all start thinking about next year. Or maybe that feeling has come early this year, for obvious reasons. Here's 5 publishing product trends to consider!
✍️ Modern journalism
[Free report] The State of Publishing in 2020
Want to feel optimistic? This report from Keewee outlines trends and growth opportunities on every page of this free report about digital publishing in 2020!
The digital juggernaut, and the eventual, inevitable eclipse of print
"When the Financial Times’ digital subscribers surpassed print for the first time, it was an outlier event. Within about half a decade, the exception is becoming the norm."
Successful Pitches shows freelancers the way
"If you’ve been a journalist for long enough, you’ve probably gotten at least a few requests from aspiring writers asking to pick your brain about how you’ve made your living in the industry."
9 remote interviewing tips for journalists
"At many journalism schools we tend to drill into our students the importance of conducting interviews in person, but that’s just not possible right now, and it might not be for some time."
💻 Technology
Google will now label ‘fast pages’ and rank them higher in search
Chrome will begin to highlight high-quality user experiences to users, starting with labels on pages which have high page speeds.
Publishers are using audio stories to fuel engagement and generate revenue
We're big fans of The Economist and their audio versions of articles, which are great to listen to during your morning routine. According to this article, these audio editions have been a great success for growth, engagement and retention.
🤷 WTF?
Spotify has a counterfeit podcast problem
Spotify has been caught off-guard by counterfeit shows distributed by its hosting platform, Anchor.
