#72 — How much revenue thousands of indie creators make each month
This week, your summary of the biggest ideas in publishing is packed full of interesting stories and resources about curating email newsletters, reader loyalty, how to foster a culture of listening and much more!
Next week’s issue is going to be a little different as we’ve got some exciting announcements to make… watch this space 👀
💯 Top picks
Graphtreon: Earnings, graphs and rankings of thousands of independent creators
Graphtreon.com has a ranked list of Patreon creators with information about their revenue and statistics updated daily. With categories spanning writing, magazines, podcasts and more it’s a great place to get some inspiration, discover new content and to understand just how much revenue an independent publisher of any kind can generate!
💸 Business models
How publishers re-engage dormant email subscribers
Publishers who send email newsletters have to find ways to improve open rates and click-through rates. Nothing hurts these metrics more than having a huge list of disengaged subscribers - so what methods can you use to either re-engage or remove churned email readers?
Find out how popular newsletters such as Morning Brew are managing their email lists in this Digiday article.
The News Revenue Hub is launching a pilot project to help news orgs increase their readers’ loyalty
"You can turn loyal readers into members and subscribers. But first, you have to turn occasional readers into loyal readers."
This article explains how the well-established conversion funnel relates to publishers, and what they should be doing to optimise their funnel as membership and subscription models start to take the place of advertising.
Unexpected ways publishers engage readers
Apps, newsletters and social media are some of the most obvious building blocks of a digital strategy in publishing - but there's many other innovative ways to engage with your audience. This article explores three less obvious trends: Building communities, using calendars to deliver news and forming reader habits with WhatsApp groups.
The October edition of your monthly guide to sending better newsletters is here
The latest tips, tools and advice about building an email newsletter from Dan at Not a Newsletter has arrived. This monthly Google Doc curation is one of our top reads each month. We really enjoyed the newsletter spotlight in this issue, with real insights from an independent newsletter writer, Pit Gottschalk, who has over 12k subscribers.
“Publishers are going to live or die based on their relationship with readers”: How Quartz is rethinking its membership offerings
Quartz have announced major leadership changes and are rethinking their membership strategy with a new subscription that is “similar to an Audible.com subscription, where you’re getting access to this huge library of journalism, than it is to a daily news subscription.”
✍️ Modern journalism
Get rid of your ego and be an empathetic journalist [Podcast]
“It’s about really listening and trying to see audiences for who they are, not who we think they are, and letting them direct the coverage a little bit more than we ever have before,” says P. Kim Bui, director of audience innovation for The Arizona Republic.
A culture of listening strengthens reporting and relationships
To extend the sentiment of the podcast above from a different perspective, this article from American Press Institute includes tips for being more empathetic by developing a stronger culture of listening
How to engage with consumers through private messaging apps
“The rise of dark social sharing poses both threats and opportunities to news organisations - here is how to make the most of it."
Best ways to use Reddit for local journalism
Reddit is one of those corners of the internet where you might just accidentally get lost for a few hours. Increasingly, publishers are using Reddit as a platform to find unique story ideas or to build community. This article shares some of the best and worst ways to use Reddit for local journalism.
👩💻 Technology
The Guardian launches subscriber-only, ad-free daily app
“The Guardian has released a daily app for paying subscribers, as part of its quest to reach 2 million financial supporters by 2022. The draw of the new app is that it won’t carry ads and will offer a more streamlined news product.”
The Information will launch Ticker, a tech news app aimed at consumers
The Information are launching an app too! Typically aimed at professionals, the membership news site offers $399 annual subscriptions for investors, entrepreneurs and tech industry executives. Their new app Ticker will be aimed towards consumers, with a much lower price point of $29 per year.
ICFJ Survey: Journalists are embracing tech to tackle daunting challenges
“Journalists around the world are increasingly turning to digital technology to help address daunting challenges such as the spread of misinformation and growing attacks on reporters, according to the International Center for Journalists’ 2019 survey of the State of Technology in Global Newsrooms.”
Spend less time in your inbox with this tool
This Chrome extension promises to help you spend less time on your email, helping you to reclaim back an hour of your time every week.
🤷 WTF?
This Facebook scam siphoned millions from unsuspecting boomers
A “politically connected” entrepreneur was the founder of a company called Ads Inc. which operated subscription traps that would trick people into buying what they believe is a free trial of a celebrity-endorsed product – but what turned out to be a recurring subscription that was difficult to cancel.
