Category: sethwCategory: sethw
CJ Chilvers in response to Matt McGarry’s ‘Why “newsletter ad-only” businesses are dead and how to adapt.’
“I feel like newsletter creators need to be reminded pretty regularly that ordinary businesses have been publishing email newsletters for decades — sometimes for tens of millions of customers — without any ads or expectations of short-term ROI.
It’s more likely those companies have the dominant newsletter model.
Call it Newsletter 0.0, or the “hey, just keepin’ in touch” model. It sounds boring, but boring is usually where the money is.”
If it takes talking about these “traditional ads-in-newsletters” to get to that last point, that’s fine.
As I’ve written recently, your newsletter isn’t your permanent address. For most of us we’re releasing music, making photos and videos, creating art.
The newsletter is the delivery truck to your actual work.
Had a great talk with Max Pete about his whirlwind start to 2025, which included getting laid off, moving across country, and finding his way into a new role with a new company in a rather unique way.
Max works in the community space, and he shared some very practical advice for anyone with a product, or making art or music.
“Even if you have like one or two or three people or ten… it doesn’t have to be anything like super complicated to like activate them. Like, once a month we’re gonna hop on a zoom and i just want to chat with y’all like what do you like what do you like what do you want to see more.”
I see this line come up quite often: “I came to Substack to find readers.”
Setting up shop on Substack to “find readers” can be a trap. I joined Substack in 2021 simply to start an email list, and inadvertently found an audience. I was going to write and send newsletters regardless, but I’m grateful for the audiance I was able to build (just over 6.300 subscribers as I write this).
But… there’s a whole world of readers out there!
There are people doing podcasts, running YouTube channels, hosting live events – all these people are their own “platforms,” and doing work with them (interviews, workshops, collaborative projects) can bring in not just new readers, but engaged readers.
Something you said in an interview resonated. Maybe an off the cuff remark offered a new perspective for someone, or the story behind your work struck a nerve.
We need to stop trying to find readers, like they’re hiding in a dark forest or under a table. We need to be doing work so good that people notice and want to come along with the ride.
What this is: Casual Zoom hang out where we work on our own websites, talk about why having a website is important, riffing on “your blog eats first,” and why not to put all our work on platforms we don’t control
What this isn’t: a tutorial on building sites, an SEO seminar, a deep dive into HTML and CSS, and other super technical things
Tuesday, May 13
9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDTRegister here: https://lu.ma/6pc8c308
From Bree Stilwell, talking about crying upon the experience of human nature and college radio, and how getting there came from a piece I helped with called “Ghosting Spotify: A How-To Guide.”
And here Kid is, with his own radio show, queuing up Amy Winehouse because he and his crew ‘blast her stuff all the time back home’ and telling his dad on-air that hosting his show would never have happened without him.
I cried into my breakfast not only because I’m a mom and often daydream about such flagrant and public gratitude from my own kids
Read the rest of “How a student DJ made me cry into my breakfast.” Then close your music streaming app and find a nearby radio station to listen to.
You’re tired of social media, but wondering if there’s life after the newsfeed. That’s exactly what we figure out here – together. 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
→ See our upcoming Zoom schedule
Say hello. Ask about working together. Tell me how you’re doing: seth@socialmediaescape.club
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