Ghost Newsletter

⚡️ Where to focus your creator energy next

Team Ghost — Sun, 07 Aug 2022 10:00:51 GMT

It's easy to feel overwhelmed when building your own thing. The trick is to point all your attention towards the few things you can control: your output, attitude, and choices. No matter what twist gets thrown your way — treat it like it's there to help you, and it will.

💬 In this week's issue:

Recession-proof. What steps can you take now to protect your progress?
Control the channel. How you communicate with your audience could make or break your business.
Success metrics. See why creators who go slow tend to win big.

💸 Recession planning 101 for creators

Everyone has questions about the current economy. Where is it headed? Are we already in a recession? What does that even mean?

Even though there's much uncertainty, there are a few proactive steps you can take to ensure your project (and income) land in a good place if things do go south.

The following tips are borrowed from the Creator Economics podcast, which you can listen to in full below.

Understand your cashflow. How much money are you bringing in and sending out each month? Do you have a buffer?
Look for ways to save on costs. Is there a subscription you rarely use or conference you could skip?
Diversify your revenue. It's common for sources like ad revenue to dip in times like this, so how else can you make money with your content?
Be mindful of audience struggles. Are there ways you can support your listeners, readers, and viewers as they face their own challenges?

Regardless of what the global economy does next, getting your financial cards in order is always a smart move for long-term success.

🔖

Here is a link to the document mentioned in the podcast: Thriving in Hard Times

🗞 Latest tips & stories

Creator burnout: A guide to sustainable publishing
An easy framework to improve your content
The metaverse and the future of creativity
Insights on reducing churn of new subscribers
YouTube clarifies how they think about short content

🔑 Why ownership is the future

The audience you are building on other platforms is never truly yours.

Platforms can be temperamental. Rules and algorithms change on a whim, drastically impacting businesses without a single warning.

Designer and author Tobias van Schneider recently dove into this problem. Their conclusion is one that's gradually being echoed by more and more of the creator community: own your audience.

For most, that means guiding people to subscribe to an email list you control. Communication channels are the heartbeat of content-based businesses. The safer yours is, the more sustainable your project will be.

The best guarantee when building an audience is using tools you can control, and building a brand/product people love – one they won't forget if it suddenly disappears from their feed.
— Tobias van Schneider

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Pro tip: If there's a creator or brand you love, make sure you're connected with them beyond any single social channel!

🐢 The slow and steady strategy

How big of an audience do you need? How fast should you aim to grow?

In this video from Matt Koval, they challenge many of the widely held assumptions in the creator community while shining a light on counterintuitive answers to the above questions.

Business-minded creators tend to outlast entertainment-focused ones because they build systems and hire help early. Don't become the bottleneck to your own success.
Although viral stars gather lots of attention, they often have difficulty monetizing it beyond ads and merch. Understand exactly how you plan to make money and offer that to your audience from day 1.
The compound effect is greatly undervalued. It's normal for the early days (years) to be fairly quiet while you gain steam, only to be followed by a period of exciting growth!

TLDR: Be the tortoise, not the hare.

👀 Curators pick

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🌁 Why there's no shortcut to great work

Team Ghost — Sun, 31 Jul 2022 10:00:53 GMT

Actress Sally Field was once asked how to have a long, creative career. Field answered that most people get frustrated by all of the non-acting work (administrative tasks, casting calls, relationship-building, etc.), but early on, they realized this was the key: "The struggle is the work."

Building a successful newsletter, YouTube channel, or content business isn't just about publishing. It's also about ALL of the activities that come with it — investing in communities, making connections, learning software tools. These unseen tasks may be tedious, but they are the secret ingredient to sustainable success.

💬 In this week's issue:

Curation tips. What steps can you take to become the go-to voice in your niche?
Systematize. Processes and procedures aren't the most exciting topics, but they're often the key to leveling up your success.
Invitation hacking. Discover how one newsletter flipped the script to attract its first 1,000 subscribers in record time.

🚶‍♀️ What makes a curator worth following?

Curation is a vital part of the digital creator space. It gives readers a trusted source, while granting new writers, video makers, and podcasters exposure to established audiences.

The opportunity is massive because every niche needs good curators to help the community and topic flourish. But since anyone can start a curated newsletter, what makes some more trustworthy than others?

Writer Hannah Doyle dove into this question during a discussion on how traditional media personalities have leveraged their audience into "curated networks" of related content.

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"Once creators, whether YouTube-focused or otherwise, gain their footing as trustworthy voices for their communities, they earn the right to become curators." — Hannah Doyle

Here are a few takeaways to put into action:

Building a curated resource for readers doesn't mean you can't (or shouldn't) pour a portion of your energy into also creating original content.
To gain trust as a curator, build relationships with the most influential voices in your field. When they trust you, others will follow.
The best curators are not bland. They're opinionated, colorful, and knowledgeable. Bring your whole self to every curated project you publish.

🗞 Latest tips & stories

Tips to increase your email newsletter open rates
15 quick SEO wins to grow your traffic
A complete email marketing glossary
How small publishers can benefit from AI
Why newspapers are finally making the switch from print to digital

Justin Welsh is a powerhouse of a creator. After a rocketship career in the startup world, they began building a portfolio of single-person businesses. At the heart of their 7-figure solo empire is a newsletter — one expertly crafted to attract and serve Welsh's ideal audience.

In a recent interview, Justin gave a behind-the-scenes look at the 10-step system they use to produce high-quality content (and results) week-in and week-out. If you've struggled to find consistency in your work or want to level up your output, give the following resource a watch.

The discussion around "content operating systems" begins at 15:15.

You can also check out the following free template our team put together to point new publishers in the right direction.

15-point newsletter checklist for new writers

Learn the exact steps we use to produce high-quality content every single week. Free template included.

Ghost NewsletterDavid Ramos

🌱 A counter-intuitive method to growing your list

There are tried and true methods to growing your audience as a new creator. You can do everything from sending out handwritten postcards to attract your first 100 subscribers to becoming a thought leader in a niche community as you grow to 1000 subs.

When Alexis Grant wanted to build their newsletter, They Got Acquired, they found a unique way to achieve two goals at once: create a library of content ideas and gather an audience of interested readers.

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Rather than asking people to sign up for our email list, which felt too promotional, I asked for information. Did anyone know of companies that had sold in the last few years for $100K-$50M that we should cover?

I let them know our stories would celebrate these sales, which incentivized some people to share. Using this tactic, we got some great leads for companies to cover.

But the biggest benefit was getting on people's radar in a non-pushy way. Many wanted to read these stories too, so they joined our email list.

Rather than shout about what we were building, we found it more effective to involve others, to ask for help.
— Alexis Grant

Inviting potential readers into your content process can be a powerful tool for growth. You don't only need to build for people, you can build with them.

👀 Curators pick

Stick with it!

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⚖️ How to keep your creative projects legal

Team Ghost — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 10:00:12 GMT

The truth is, no one you look up to had it all figured out when they began (especially when it came to the legal side of things). Thankfully, there are very smart people willing to share their knowledge, tools, and templates to help.

💬 In this week's issue:

Above board. Check out this curated list of resources to keep your project in good standing.
Life span. How long does the average creator last? And what can you do to beat this trend?
Outside the box. Feeling stuck with your current content habits? Here's a few tips to freshen up your output.

📝 Privacy policies, terms and conditions, and more

One of the things that continually holds people back from starting an online business or launching their creative project is uncertainty about the legal elements.

What pages do I need on my website? Can I get sued if I write about X? Do I need to hire a lawyer before I start publishing?

A lot of the fear we feel stems from the ambiguity of not knowing what to do. But you can rest assured — there is an answer to EVERY question you might have. And as you start funneling your apprehension into specific questions, you'll begin to feel much more confident.

Now, although this isn't legal advice, there are a few helpful resources we'd like to point you towards.

First, this video was created by two full-time bloggers, one of which is a Board Certified Attorney. They cover a number of high-level topics for new creators.

Next is this Privacy Policy Template. The website has a generator, but you don't need to use it. Instead, you can use the examples and section headings they provide as a starting point for crafting your own.

This Terms and Conditions Template is another great tool. It follows a similar pattern as the privacy policy template and can be customized to fit your website needs.

Finally, there are legal offices dedicated to assisting creators. New Media Rights curates resources and experts on various copyright laws, legal rights for publishing, and more. Creator's Legal specializes in contracts and negotiations.

If you're willing to ask for help and do a bit of research, you'll quickly find that any answer you need is only a few clicks away.

🗞 Latest tips & stories

How to use competitors to your advantage
Why Facebook is giving up on news for the creator economy
The 4-part strategy Rolling Stone is using to grow again
Intensity vs. longevity: Which is best?
3 principles to writing inclusive content

👵 How long do creators last?

For most creators, getting started is the hardest part. But what about those further down the road? What happens to creators who have started, are seeing growth, and want to continue — what do their long-term prospects look like?

Recently Matt Koval, YouTube's first Creator Liason, dove into this very question.

Matt discovered a few interesting points, although with one big caveat.

The average creator career lasts between 5-7 years.
This trend carries across different platforms, although it looks to be shorter for newer ones (e.g., TikTok creators are likely on a 3-5 year cycle).
Those who survive beyond these milestones do so because they build businesses around their audiences.

Social platforms thrive by providing users with the latest and greatest content. That means, in order to stay relevant, you either need to forever chase the algorithm or leverage that attention into something more sustainable.

The truth is you need a smaller audience than you think to succeed. Once you learn to build a creator funnel, you'll be able to adapt to any curveballs the algorithms might throw your way.

🎓 Smart ways to make unique content

Writer Josh Spector is excellent at finding clever ways to create fresh articles, newsletters, and other content. In this article, they share 10 strategies they use every week to streamline this process.

Even in the most novel of niches, publishing consistently can still feel like a hamster wheel at times. However, Spector's advice can help remedy this. Here's a few of their best tips:

Turn questions you’ve answered in emails into content. Repurposing is a key technique every successful creator leverages to some degree.
Create content around a micro goal. Invite people into every part of the process: write an article about how you decided to pursue it, provide updates along the way, give a comprehensive writeup once you've achieved it, and even revisit it (a year or two afterward) to explain how it impacted you.
Summarize valuable content for people who don’t have time. Summarizing newly released books is a great way to attract readers interested in your niche, and this can work for all types of content: podcasts, documentaries, interviews, essays, etc. Summarizing isn't just content; it's also a service.

👀 Curators pick

Forward to a friend and let them know where they can subscribe (hint: it's here).

Anything else? Hit reply to send us feedback or say hello.

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🥇 Who should be your first "true fan"?

Team Ghost — Sun, 17 Jul 2022 10:00:31 GMT

You.

We can discuss the importance of building an audience until the cows come home. But no one will be excited about your creations unless you are first. Here's how to make that happen.

💬 In this week's issue:

Transformation. What that "stuck" feeling might be trying to tell you.
Word choice. Tips on how we can all use language to help others.
Selfish. Why being your own biggest fan is a hack to long-term growth.

💎 Why trying to be original is holding you back

For an artist to be interesting to us he must have been interesting to himself.

When's the last time you felt stuck while trying to create great work?

As you build your project, whether it's a newsletter, blog, YouTube channel, or product, you will inevitably hit roadblocks. Bumps in the road that stall your progress and make you feel as though it's time to call it quits.

This is normal.

In fact, this is even good. Because these are opportunities for your work to take on a new shape. To evolve and transform. As Adam Westbrook writes, all great art is the "byproduct of transformation."

Don't be afraid of change or back yourself into a corner trying to copy what works for others. "Find the way you do it." Then let that be enough.

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Don’t try to be interesting. And don't try to be unique. Put all of your efforts into being you — unashamedly, unequivocally; the purest expression of what is within you — and the rest will take care of itself.
— Adam Westbrook

🗞 Latest tips & stories

How to get more done with completion-centric planning
Is there such a thing as the perfect article length?
What does the future of political news look like?
Why data will only play a bigger role in the stories we tell
7 podcasting mistakes every beginner makes

💬 Lost for words? A new, free resource offers guidance on thorny topics

I just want to know the ‘right’ word to use.

Language is an ever-evolving tool and it can be difficult to keep track of how to use it best when speaking and writing on sensitive topics. At Ghost, our team works hard to do this well and honor the global community of creators who make our work possible — but we still have a lot to learn and resources like the following one can help.

Diversity Equity and Inclusion in Journalism | Inclusive Language Guide

Language, Please, is a free, living resource available to all journalists and storytellers seeking to thoughtfully cover evolving social, cultural, and identity-related topics.

Language, Please Logo

Language, Please is a joint project that brought together nearly 300 experts to produce a cultural style guide for modern creators.

On it, you'll discover the history, context, and best practices for hundreds of terms within 6 broad categories.

This is one site you'll want to bookmark, especially if your writing focuses on one of the above topics.

🎶 How one YouTube channel became the 24/7 music hub for students worldwide

Today, the YouTube channel has 10.5 million subscribers and over 1.2 billion views.

We assume that big success requires herculean efforts, complex teams, and eye-wateringly large budgets. But what if one of the biggest music channels on YouTube — a notoriously expensive and difficult niche to compete in — was run by a single creator.

Writer Hannah Doyle discovered exactly that when they profiled Lofi Girl, a channel operated by a French artist named Dimitri. Over the last 5+ years, Dimitri has taken their love of ambient music and Japanese anime and combined it into an extremely successful project.

The article is filled with useful points, but the biggest takeaway is why Lofi Girl began in the first place: because the creator wanted it for themself. They wanted a simple, free way to stream the kind of music they liked while having the opportunity to chat with others.

By scratching their own itch, they ended up building a solution over 30,000 students, office workers, and creators use every single day.

Sometimes creating for an audience of one is all it takes.

👀 Curators pick

Great work is always the product of self-trust. Go for it!

Forward to a friend and let them know where they can subscribe (hint: it's here).

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Join an invite-only community! Connect with like-minded people who create content professionally — apply here.

🌱 How to tell if you're on the right track as a creator

Team Ghost — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 15:11:25 GMT

The right path is whatever one keeps you creating. It's a simple truth, but one that can lead to incredible results when applied in the real world. If you've felt unsure about your strategy, here are a few resources to help you reframe your journey.

💬 In this week's issue:

Slow and steady. Want to improve your publishing consistency? See how one YouTuber has managed to stay motivated even after 1,500 videos.
Rethinking success. Why going after small wins can help you build a thriving creative business in the long term.
Neighborhood creators. If you want your work to have a big impact, the best place to start may be your own backyard.

⏳ A 15-year-long YouTube journey

This job is a miracle, and I love it.

WheezyWaiter (real name Craig Benzine) has been publishing videos for a long time. Over the last 15 years, they've shown a level of consistency most of us can only dream of.

1,500+ videos posted, averaging out to around 2 videos per week since 2007.
It took 13 years for Craig to hit the 1,000,000 subscriber mark.
The WheezyWaiter channel now generates multiple streams of revenue (AdSense, direct support, merch, etc.) thanks to a carefully built web of value.

Here's 4 quick tips Craig attributes his lasting power to:

Treat your art like a job — Have a start time, end time, vacations, and clear duties.
Love the craft — You don't have to love 100% of the work, but the core of it should drive you to be better.
Create for yourself first — Craig notes that the only time they've felt burnout is when they've focused too much on what others wanted.
Be intentional about hobbies — It's easy for creative work to suck up all of your free time, but that's a recipe for failure.

🗞 Latest tips & stories

How the Idea Economy newsletter found their first 2,000 subscribers
Common social media mistakes to avoid
The optimistic future of publishing in 7 charts
Are lifestyle businesses a bad thing?
How to use short videos to drive business results

💭 Rethinking the creator economy

You know the game is rigged. And yet, the promise of making it work is intoxicating.

Being a creator is difficult. It requires high levels of output and adaptability over long periods of time. If you want to "win" you need to play well with the algorithms, piggyback trends, and continually attract new eyeballs to what you're making.

On the surface, it can appear to be a "rigged game" according to writer and podcaster Tara McMullin. But what if there's a better way to play?

Increasingly, the way to win online (and offline) is to think smaller. Rather than recording a talking-head video you hope will reach thousands, can you offer that same talk at the local library first? Before you publish a new post, can you send it as an email to people you already know?

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The creator economy is synonymous with social media, but it doesn't have to be.

The goal should be to build relationships, not just an audience (especially when you're first getting started). Pay attention to what works, how people respond, and take the next logical step.

Find the easy, small wins first. In your creative business, you get to make the rules. So why not rig them in your favor?

🏘 How journalism can help our polarized world

Cultural and contextual understanding is crucial to getting the story right.

Regardless of the niche you inhabit, chances are it overlaps with, or at least sits close to, a polarizing topic. Part of the emotional turbulence we feel when it comes to the big problems in our world is how powerless we seem to be in the face of them.

But again, thinking smaller may be the way forward.

Journalist Joseph Ashmenall explains the growing need and valuing of local journalism that's able to empower smaller audiences.

This sentiment was recently echoed by Axios Local, a group that's started 24 separate city-focused newsletters and climbed to over 1,000,000 subscribers in under 2 years.

People want to feel like they have a say in the world they live in, and local creators, writers, and journalists are helping make that happen.

If you want your work to change the world, start with your neighborhood.

👀 Curators pick

Forward to a friend and let them know where they can subscribe (hint: it's here).

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🛣 Where does the road less traveled lead

Team Ghost — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 10:00:00 GMT

As an independent creator, you get the benefit of deciding your route but also the burden of no guarantees about the destination. So, if you want to stack the odds in your favor — build something you enjoy working on from day 1, and let the winding road worry about itself.

💬 In this week's issue:

Breaking the pattern. Why the new way of doing business online won't look like the old.
Number crunching. How a budget can improve your project's chances of success.
Links for creators. Discover what resources platforms have to help their users thrive.

🕊 The pattern and the battle for the soul of the internet

Rob Hardy is a seasoned creator whose decade of experience publishing online has taught them a few things.

First and foremost was that a pattern exists: content that satisfies the lowest common denominator often wins. Pieces that get the most clicks, stir the most emotion, and drive the highest traffic succeed. Hardy saw this when they worked for large websites as a writer and again as they built their own business.

However, even with how prevalent this is, it's not the only option.

Individuals who prioritize creativity, depth, and longevity are seeing a new path forward. They're finding renewed interest in their work. And for the first time, the tools available are making it possible (and profitable) to create for humans rather than algorithms.

Here is Hardy's summarized advice for those looking to take advantage of this shift.

There are no rules. You don't have to follow anyone else's plan or advice, especially if you want something different for your life and business.
Value what you make. No one will believe in or support your content until you do. You have to be your own biggest fan in the beginning.
Define your success metrics. Are things like audience size and view counts really the most important way to measure your work? If not, what's a metric that'd you be proud to measure and share?

🗞 Latest tips & stories

4 steps to building trust online
How agencies are helping creators earn more
Why communities are so valuable to companies
TikTok growth tips for journalists
Best content tools for bloggers and newsletter writers

💵 Budgeting for small and solo businesses

Knowing your numbers is a foundational piece of advice you'll often hear when it comes to building your business. A key part of that is keeping a budget, even when it's still a fledgling side project.

Here are the first few steps to set one up, along with what to look for.

Start by collecting and adding up all your revenue sources. This will help you spot your most profitable actions, along with opportunities for growth.
Next, do the same for your costs. Whether it's a software tool that renews once a year, a business subscription you pay for monthly, or an expected office supply you'll need — make sure to get them all written down.
Do some basic math to calculate the profit. Most small and solo businesses may not have any in the early days and that's okay. Just be sure to keep track of where the money is going and why.

Defining a budget is a key part of setting and achieving the goals you're after. The better you know your numbers, the more likely they'll work in your favor.

📚 A list of platform resources for creators

When used correctly, social media can be a fantastic growth tool. But learning the best practices of these different platforms can feel overwhelming, especially when you're not sure which voices to trust or tactics to use.

A good starting point for beginners is to visit the dedicated creator pages made by these networks. Although most of the information will be very basic, it can be helpful to hear it explained from the horse's mouth, if you will.

How do they talk about their own platform? What features do they emphasize or ignore? And which one or two platforms seem like the best place to reach the audience you're after?

YouTube Creators — Learn the basics of making and monetizing YouTube content.
Creator Insider — A behind-the-scenes look at YouTube's newest features.
Creator's on Twitter — Twitter's starting point for anyone looking to leverage the platform to grow an audience.
Meta for Creators — Facebook and Instagram's starter guide on using their tools effectively.
Creator Portal — TikTok's resource collection filled with text and video tutorials.
Pinterest for Creators — Single page that links out to valuable tips and tools.

👀 Curators pick

Forward to a friend and let them know where they can subscribe (hint: it's here).

Anything else? Hit reply to send us feedback or say hello.

Join an invite-only community! Connect with like-minded people who create content professionally — apply here.

How the political newsletter Tangle is getting industry-leading conversion rates

David Ramos — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 10:00:32 GMT

Politics can be a tricky topic to write about and an even trickier one to build a business around. But Isaac Saul, the founder and writer of Tangle, saw an opportunity. While most news outlets drifted closer to either side of the American political spectrum, Isaac saw a desire for a centrist alternative — someone who could rationally show the merit of both sides.

Fast-forward nearly three years and Tangle’s success shows how right Isaac’s initial hunch was. So, how did a solo-run newsletter go on to become a six-figure business with one of the highest free-to-paid-subscriber rates in the industry? And what can you do to model their success?

Lesson #1: Know your numbers

Every independent creator must learn to balance creative and business priorities. On the one hand, you want to make something unique that reflects what you want to see in the world. And on the other, you need to publish content that helps build a financially sustainable operation.

It’s a delicate line to walk but knowing essential business metrics like conversion and churn rates can give you an advantage. Isaac has a solid grasp of Tangle’s, which is partly why their team has been able to attract over 35,000 readers.

I’m extremely proud to note that, as of today, Tangle is converting 16.5% of our total mailing list, which as far as I know is one of the best in the industry. Our churn rate is also consistently around 1%, and sometimes lower, meaning every month 99% of our customers are deciding to stay with us. Nothing is a better proof of concept for what we’re offering.

The first step to improving your own metrics is to identify where they stand right now so that you can set appropriate business goals. Keep a pulse on how many new readers are finding your content, subscribing to your free offers, upgrading to a paid option, and unsubscribing along the way. Plus, there are plenty of tools to help you do this easily.

A quick look at Tangle's homepage gives readers a clear sense of what topics are covered and where to subscribe. This is exactly what a homepage should accomplish.

Lesson #2: Study your audience

The next major factor that influences conversion, but is rarely written about, is relevancy. It’s not enough to publish great content and choose an attractive price, those elements also need to align with the people you're reaching. In other words, it doesn't matter how many awards your steak dinner might have or how much it might be discounted — no vegan is going to buy it!

Clarifying, researching, and understanding the who your project aims to reach is vital to gaining long-term traction. Here’s how Tangle thinks about its readers.

Our target audience is people who are interested in politics but know that they aren’t getting the full story. It doesn’t matter whether you are a political junkie or someone who just wants to grow their understanding now, Tangle is a great place for you. Monday through Thursday, we publish a free newsletter that summarizes the best arguments from the right, left and center on the news of the day. And then on Fridays, we publish subscribers-only content like interviews, reader-requested content, personal essays and more.

This depth of audience understanding informs Tangle’s entire business model:

What stories they choose to cover
How often they publish
The types of content they share
And their pricing structure.

Tangle's current pricing includes multiple tiers that allow for varying levels of support.

On this last point, Isaac adds the following:

My subscriptions are only $5/month or $50/year (please subscribe!), but for a lot of people that’s important money. A huge chunk of the American workforce exists on low-wages, and millions are on fixed incomes. Very few (if any) living in those economic brackets would or should be paying for newsletters. That means the news they access is the free kind, which is often less reliable. I figured I could carve out a niche by being a free and premium type of news source that didn’t have ads and wasn’t B.S., sensational clickbait news.

Relevancy is a product of empathy. If you care about the people you’re creating for, you’ll usually find that alignment takes care of itself.

Lesson #3: Clarify the problem you solve

As you gain a deeper sense of what is happening in your business, and who you’re creating for, you’ll gain a better understanding of the problem people are trusting you to solve.

This point can’t be emphasized enough: every successful publication solves a problem. Whether that’s temporarily curing boredom, providing financial advice, granting insight into a niche community, or anything in between.

Tangle’s founder has identified two core problems their newsletter solves. The first is that they offer a safe, neutral space in the ever-polarizing political arena.

There are two genesis stories to Tangle: The first is that I grew up in Bucks County, PA, one of the most politically divided places in America. In politics, people call Bucks a "bellwether," meaning it can often tell you which way a presidential race is going to go because it's so evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Bucks is a little more blue now than when I was growing up, but I had a lot of friends across the political spectrum and saw as we got older how their politics tore them apart (or, in some cases, saw people model how to be friends with folks you disagreed with, and civilly discuss those disagreements).

The second was my experience as a political reporter. I learned pretty quickly that no matter what I was writing about, about half the country would dismiss my work based solely on where it was published. If I was writing in HuffPost, I knew most Republicans would never read it or dismiss it if they did, since it was in the Huffington Post. And the reverse was true for Fox News. This made me realize how we were all constructing our own self-affirming news bubbles, rarely considering or engaging with "the other side's" belief. That, combined with the overt media bias I was seeing in the industry, led me to the idea of Tangle: A politics newsletter that showed you the best arguments from the right, left and center, and then left some space for me to offer my point of view. I wanted to build a news organization that everyone could trust, regardless of their politics, and I have.

Isaac introduces their solution in a concise way in the sign-up form.

The second problem they solve relates to access. Isaac saw a gap in what the market provided and chose to risk a go at an alternative.

When I started Tangle, everyone told me to paywall most of my articles and offer up one free edition a week. I did the opposite. To me, the standard format made no sense. I had no idea how often something I wrote would strike a chord and get traction, and if 80% of my content was paywalled I would have to hit the jackpot on the 20% of articles that people could access as a taste test. This made no sense to me. If I was producing good content, I knew people would eventually pay, and I also knew the best way to get the most people was to make as much content free as I could.

When you position your newsletter, get specific about the reason it exists. The easier people can identify your cause, the higher your conversion rates will be.

Lesson #4: Do your best work

All of the strategic work you’ve done up to this point only matters if you’re publishing material worth reading. Although great content is only one element of the conversion puzzle, it’s a vital one, as Isaac points out.

Good content is really the only thing that matters. The best days I’ve had from a business perspective are when I do my best writing. It doesn’t matter how clever my pitch is or what kind of calling card I use, people subscribe when they like what they read or it adds value for them. Full stop.

I'm doing what I love. This is my dream job in every way possible. I'm the boss, I write about stuff I'm interested in, I make good money and I'm excited to work every day. I feel extremely fortunate to be in the position I'm in, and supremely proud of myself for the long nights and early mornings that got me here.

Most creators begin with the question: how can I turn my project into a successful business? But a better starting place might be: what can I build that helps me do my best work? As Cal Newport writes, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

A year ago, I went all in.

Plus, we’re taking a brief vacation.

TangleIsaac Saul

In a recent issue, Isaac presented a behind-the-scenes look at what it's taken to make Tangle a success.

Lesson #5: Ask with intention

At the end of the day, every conversion is the answer to a question: will you pay for what I’m offering? Many business owners forget that all of the analytics and optimizations available can’t replace the one action that must be done — directly asking your audience for support.

The good thing is there are no set rules for how to go about this and what works for one creator may not work for the next. When asked, "what's the top strategy that has positively impacted your number of paid subscribers," Isaac responded with:

Asking in a genuine voice. I do think there is something to just being yourself when you ask for money. I make jokes about how my subscription is cheaper than one beer in New York City a month, or explain candidly what I’m going to do with people’s money, or say in plain terms that if they don’t pay our project will die. All of this tends to resonate.

Instead of trying to become what you believe others want, focus on being what others can’t. The same uniqueness that makes your content stand out is what will help you monetize it effectively.

Create your way to conversion success

As you reflect on Tangle’s success, remember that Isaac spent years building it into what it is today. Their conviction, vision, and courage drove them to action, which in turn converted thousands of readers into paying supporters.

But the only way to get there is to start today.

Be consistent. Try to come up with something new. Think about what you want, then build it. Think about the stuff you hate, and don't be that. Write more. Love the grind. Express gratitude for the work you're doing. Keep writing. And most of all, make sure you practice writing. And read about writing. And write!

🧗 How to climb the ladder of creator success

Team Ghost — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 10:00:00 GMT

Say yes to every opportunity that promises to get you even half an inch closer to your goals. In the early days of building your dream, progress will feel painfully slow. But don't mistake slow progress for none at all. Because it is there. You are getting closer. Just keep climbing.

💬 In this week's issue:

Step by step. Why increasing your income may look different than you think.
All in. Discover the uncommon route one YouTuber took to find success.
Boundaries. Learn how to stop online trolls in their tracks.

🪜 The ladders of wealth creation

Making money is a skill—like playing the drums or piano—that you can get better at over time.

The creator economy offers participants some pretty incredible financial upsides. However, the challenging part can be knowing where to begin and what opportunities to pursue.

A common theme you'll see amongst the top-earning newsletters, bloggers, YouTubers, etc. is that they all leveraged a part of their past experience into successful projects. This insight is exactly the type of filter you can use to decide what project might have the best chance of success.

Nathan Barry created a visual that helps explain this journey.

Progress occurs as you move up each ladder and then migrate to the next.

Most independent creators and publishers begin with traditional jobs that teach them particular skills, industry opportunities, and more.
Next, they create a side project where they leverage a single skill into something that relies less on their time and more on their expertise.
From there, as they gain recognition, they build more things in response to their audience and make their side work their full-time gig.

Now, this is an oversimplification, and many creators have a winding journey that skips steps entirely. But the framework is a powerful one.

Every step you take should be supported by the one you're currently on. And if what you're aiming towards feels like too big of a stretch, find and reach for a smaller step along the way.

🗞 Latest tips & stories

The best books for aspiring writers
The ownership economy and the future of the internet
5 article templates that increase engagement
How can publishers respond to the power of platforms?
The hottest trend on TikTok? In-depth analysis.

🔥 Why obsession can be a good thing

At 13 years old, YouTube took over his life.

Mr. Beast is a phenom of the YouTube world. It's easy to see their massive success and assume they had an advantage getting there.

But in a recent interview, Mr. Beast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) says they owe their rise on the platform to a single trait: obsession. Here are a few points that highlighted this idea.

YouTube has been the only thing Donaldson has thought about, every day, for the last 10 years.
To date, they've uploaded over 700 videos.
Mr. Beast's deepest relationships are with those who share their passion.

💡

Unconventional success requires unconventional focus.

You don't need the same extreme obsession as Mr. Beast to succeed online. But if there's a topic, idea, or community that drives you more than any other — if there's something you just can't stop talking about — lean into that.

Give yourself permission to go all in.

💌 Publishing requires bravery

If there’s one thing a woman can count on, it’s getting harassing messages online.

The moment you publish anything online: a photo, tweet, or article — you're opening yourself up to the comments and opinions of others.

This can be scary because we know hate exists online. But, we often assume trolls must just come with the territory. And while that may be true, there are still things you can do to give yourself a better experience while supporting your work and others too.

Use advanced comment settings on social media platforms.
Utilize a tool like Cove, which only allows members of your Ghost site to comment on your work.
Find niche communities that offer support.
Learn the basic tactics people use to counter trolls.
Develop strategies for emotional resilience.

Growing into a successful creator requires taking care of your whole self. So be brave, hit publish, and set every boundary you need to do your best work.

👀 Curators pick

Forward to a friend and let them know where they can subscribe (hint: it's here).

Anything else? Hit reply to send us feedback or say hello.

Join an invite-only community! Connect with like-minded people who create content professionally — apply here.

How to leverage SEO as a new creator with François Douville

David Ramos — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 14:41:43 GMT

The quote "if you build it, they will come," made famous by the film Field of Dreams, is a controversial one in the marketing world. On the one hand, creating something of quality is bound to gain attention. But every creator and business owner must work to get initial traction.

Your work has to get noticed before it can be appreciated, read, and supported. Growth requires intention. And of all the growth levers one can access, search engine optimization (SEO) stands as one the best options. It’s reliable, cost-effective, and compounds.

The trick is to pursue an SEO strategy that makes sense for the size of your operation.

As a solo operator, François Douville knew exactly what they wanted to build with their website Noncodeur. But with limited time and resources, they had to get picky about the opportunities they pursued. Fast forward to today, and their site now attracts thousands of organic visitors per month on autopilot.

So, how did they accomplish this? And what SEO tips can you apply to your project?

Tip #1: Use your interests to your advantage

Content on the internet is fragmented into an endless number of sub-topics and micro-niches. Even within a mainstream topic such as fitness or personal finance, if you dig deep enough you can find SEO opportunities with lower competition.

SEO opportunities can exist even in the most competitive categories

To find these untapped markets and underserved communties, you need to follow your curiosity and expertise.

Trained as a scientist, François became interested in technology after managing a project’s website. Eventually, they stumbled into the world of no-code tools — software solutions that allow you to build complex things without needing to learn coding languages.

“The no-code movement is growing rapidly in the last few years and the needs of no-code technologies are quite diverse. I used a lot of no-code tools in the past for side projects, but also for the pleasure to discover them. So, I just had to document my experience to take action."

By documenting their progress publicly, going after low-competition terms in their niche, and writing in their native language of French, Noncodeur has spouted into one of the fastest-growing no-code resources for beginners.

💡

Start by creating for yourself. What do you find helpful? Solving your own problems is a powerful way to attract your first fans.

Tip #2: Prioritize content production

As François's content started to gain traction, they began learning more about SEO and realized this growth channel is a long game. Getting your content to rank well requires both people and search engines to trust your work. The best way to build that trust is to produce great content over a long period of time. That, above all else, should be the first priority.

“When I was starting out, I spent too much time on changing my website’s theme, adding new features, and finding a business model - when I should have been trying to grow my audience. To do that, I had to write.”

François has maintained a steady publishing schedule since launching the blog.

There’s a saying that it’s easier to steer a car in motion. Blogs and newsletters are similar in that as you publish more content and build momentum, you'll get a clearer sense of what works and what people want to see more of. Planning and strategizing can only get you so far in the beginning. Putting your work out into the world is the only way to get better.

Tip #3: Utilize templates to simplify

With production prioritized, the next challenge becomes balancing the workload. Most creators start their projects as evening and weekend endeavors, where they dedicate the few spare hours they have to build their dream.

One way to streamline this process, and keep publishing quality high, is to use article templates.

"I have been publishing the same type of content since the beginning. I have templates for each type of article, and they have changed a bit, but the essence remains the same. My articles are typically long (often over 3,000 words) and fall into one of 3 types: tutorials, guides, and reviews."

Much of Noncodeur content follows a similar layout which helps readers know exactly what to expect.

Half the battle of growing a blog or newsletter is knowing what to write every time you sit at your workstation. By curating a selection of templates, you can eliminate this problem and harness your creativity more effectively.

Tip #4: Build backlinks through relationships

As mentioned previously, SEO is about trust. The more trust you build online, the more likely your content will be shown to searchers.

One of the primary ways Google and other search engines measure this trust is through backlinks. Every time a trusted website links to a post or page on your site, a portion of that trust is shared, boosting your ranking in the process.

The challenge is that getting other sites to link to your content can be difficult and time-consuming. To solve this problem, some marketers rely on shortcuts, such as buying links. But these solutions are short-lived at best and detrimental to your site at worst.

One of the best strategies is a time-tested one: guest posting.

"The most difficult part of SEO is getting backlinks from other websites. Why it's important? This sends a signal to search engines that your site is credible. This increases the authority of the website and the chances of ranking on more keywords with lots of competition. I started guest blogging for this. I target websites with a DR (domain rating) of at least 50 and write an article for them, adding at least 1 backlink per article."

One sustainable way to implement this strategy is to simply dedicate a portion of your regular writing time to making content for others. For example, every fourth article you write could be a guest post. This is useful because it integrates promotion and backlink-building into your process, enabling other people to discover your work while you build authority online.

Is guest posting worth it? A guide for publishers

Find out how to do guest posting the right way.

Ghost NewsletterKym Ellis

Check out this guide for tips on implementing this strategy.

Tip #5: Follow SEO best practices

Finally, it’s important to recognize that SEO is both strategy and tactics. Strategy covers the big items like publishing consistently, focusing on quality, and building relationships in your niche.

Tactics are the more granular actions you can take to ensure your content performs as well as possible. One of the best tactics you can begin with is choosing the right tool for your project. From there, it’s about small changes that make your website fast, user-friendly, and interesting.

“Ghost has everything I need to make a living from my blog. If you choose a theme and don't make any changes, you can get away without writing a line of code."

Here are François’s top tactical SEO tips specifically for Ghost:

Add images in .webp instead of .png or .jpg
Keep your URLs short, with the same terms as the targeted keyword
Optimize the meta title
Update articles regularly
Use titles (heading tags: H1, H2) to organize content
Set the post access to Public or use the public preview divider for Members only articles (only public content will get indexed by search engines)
Add internal links in your articles to related articles and pages

Long-term growth starts today

The ironic thing about the Field of Dreams quote at the beginning of this article is that it’s mostly true for SEO. If you publish great content, optimize it for SEO, and use a great tool like Ghost to deliver it — they will come. But all of that can only happen once you’ve started.

Hone in on what interests you, get strategic, and start writing. The opportunity is ready and waiting for you.

🧊 The iceberg illusion of creative work

Team Ghost — Sun, 19 Jun 2022 10:00:41 GMT

No matter how simple another creator's success may appear from the outside, you can be certain that, for anyone who's achieved a significant milestone, there's a whole lot more happening beneath the surface. This week, learn how to get the unseen pieces just right.

💬 In this issue:

Breaking in. The practical reason everyone needs a niche.
10 types. Templates are the secret weapon for many of the internet's most creative people. See why.
Productivity overload. When does getting a lot done become a bad thing?

🪓 Why every niche should be a wedge

Finding your niche is the first piece of advice many creators receive. But at times, the reasoning behind why this step is important isn't communicated very well. What does having a niche actually help you do?

This question came up during a conversation between two newsletter authors and they explained it as follows.

💡

[A niche] is like having a wedge that you're trying to drive in. I grew up in the mountains and we split lots of firewood. Imagine trying to split wood with a sharp axe (e.g., a nice wedge) versus a mallet. The mallet is like trying to hit everyone all at once with all of the different things you can do. The axe or wedge is when you narrow in and say I'm only here for this. — Nathan Barry

If you've ever heard the expression "cut through the noise," this is exactly what defining your niche helps you do. It allows you to break into your market and find the opportunities, audience, and revenue waiting for you.

Here's a strategy for finding yours:

The unexpected way to find a niche in the creator economy

Figure out exactly how to identify your niche and differentiate your work in a crowded space.

Ghost NewsletterDavid Ramos

🗞 Latest tips & stories

How a podcast for parents generates $200k a year
The rise of ethical advertising
Why Snapchat is finally booming
A look at TikTok creator Kris Collins' scripted approach
How to write compelling headlines (17 templates)

📄 10 types of articles and how to use them effectively

Sometimes you can fall into a publishing rut and feel like you're sending out the same ideas over and over again. Experimenting with different formats, structures, and purposes can help with this.

The team at Ahrefs shared the ten configurations they use to keep their content feeling fresh and their idea machine turning.

How-to guides — Teach your audience something.
Content hubs — Organize all of your thoughts on a specific topic into one place.
Expanded definition posts — Offer insight into a topic you know well.
Listicles, aka list posts — Give your readers an easy way to see lots of ideas in one place.
Expanded list posts — Similar to the one above, except take your time explaining each one and give lots of examples.
News — If you don't normally cover news-related subjects, try experimenting with a time-sensitive topic and see how your readership responds.
Data studies — What research can you conduct and share that would be helpful for others in your niche?
Case studies — Share one of your success stories in a way that helps others who are after the same goal.
Cheat sheets and checklists — Take a complicated task you've mastered and give step-by-step directions for beginners.
Templates — Is there something you use in your business regularly? Find a way to make a version of it public. This is a great way to build trust.

☠️ What is toxic productivity? And 5 tips to overcome it

Being a creator can be one of the most intensive career pursuits, especially when things are just getting started.

Although it's important to work hard on what matters, you also need to know where that line of too much is so that you steer clear of it and avoid falling into burnout.

Writer Dave Schafer offers the following perspective.

Toxic productivity is a mindset that manifests as the need to constantly “do.” You may feel that you can’t rest or take any downtime. And when you’re forced to, you can’t turn your mind off and enjoy it—you’re too busy worrying about what else you “should” do.

A few of their recommended remedies include using the Eisenhower Matrix to let go of unimportant urgent tasks, block out time daily for walks and meditation, and establish boundaries with consequences when they're not followed.

Remember, creativity is a long game so stack the cards in your favor by crafting a sustainable path forward.

👀 Curators pick

Forward to a friend and let them know where they can subscribe (hint: it's here).

Anything else? Hit reply to send us feedback or say hello.

Join an invite-only community! Connect with like-minded people who create content professionally — apply here.

How to support your members as an independent creator

Kym Ellis — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 10:00:30 GMT

Offering a great customer experience as an independent publishing business is important. Investing your time in delivering great customer support helps you meet your goals, since it helps attract customers, keeps them around for longer, and gives you valuable insights that help you improve your product.

These best practices and tools will help you shape and refine customer support for your growing publishing business.

Provide a contact email address

Most online subscription businesses handle their customer support entirely by email. This is a sustainable way to prioritize and handle issues, and gives customers anywhere in the world an accessible way to contact you directly.

When using email as your primary support channel, the most important thing to do is make sure your customers know how to contact you.

In Ghost, your support email address can be entered in Portal Settings, which can be accessed in the members Portal window. You can also include contact information anywhere on your site, such as a contact page, or in members-only protected content.

Set your terms

Running any type of online business comes with legal responsibilities. Since you’re taking payments from customers, there are some key pieces of information that you’ll need to put together.

Terms and conditions

Most online businesses present their terms and conditions on a page on the website, with a link in the footer. It is always recommended to consult a legal professional to help create terms and conditions that are suitable for your business.

Refund policy

Your refund policy should be clearly stated on your website (the terms and conditions page is a good place for this) and outline clearly what your refund policy is. Having a clear refund policy on your website gives you something to point towards when handling refund requests with customers.

Support expectations

It’s best practice to let customers know when they can expect a response from you to manage their expectations. This is something that you can state on your website, or include in an auto-response email each time a customer contacts you. Be realistic when setting these expectations. For example, if you don’t cover support tickets on weekends, be upfront about that fact.

Internal policies

As your business grows, and especially if you hire a team who help manage your customer support, it becomes increasingly important to have well-documented internal processes and policies about how you choose to deal with customer issues. An internal knowledgebase about how to deal with the most common support requests helps ensure you are providing great customer support.

As your business grows, and especially if you hire a team to help manage customer support, it becomes increasingly important to have well-documented internal processes and policies about how to deal with customer issues. An internal knowledgebase of the most common support requests and responses helps ensure you are providing great customer support consistently.

Get familiar with common billing tasks

Managing billing issues can feel daunting at first.

The good news is, you already have all the tools at your disposal thanks to powerful platforms like Stripe. By logging in to your Stripe dashboard directly, you’ll find a useful billing dashboard to help you manage all types of scenarios as a business owner. Whether it’s applying refunds and discounts or setting up automatic billing emails.

Check out these 7 tips for getting the most out of your Stripe account:

7 tips for managing your Stripe account as a creator

Keep your business running smoothly with these Stripe management tips.

Ghost NewsletterKym Ellis

Use helpdesk software

There are plenty of comparable helpdesk tools out there that can help you provide efficient customer support, such as Helpscout, Kayako, Crisp, Front, LiveAgent and many more.

An example of a shared inbox on Helpscout

There are many benefits of investing in helpdesk software, including:

Keeps all customer emails in one place and makes it easier to search and find past support tickets when required.
Makes it much easier for more than one person to work on customer support collaboratively.
The ability to create draft response templates or “canned replies” to speed up your level of service.
Optional tools such as livechat or a popup helpdesk to help customers answer questions before they contact you.
Useful metrics to help you understand trends over time, your most common support requests, and more.

A good sign that it might be time to invest in helpdesk software is when your support volumes are increasing, and using a regular inbox or email client is starting to feel overwhelming. We recommend doing some thorough research into different helpdesk software to find something that suits your requirements and budget.

Get comfortable with the uncomfortable

Customer support isn’t always easy. At some point, all businesses have to resolve difficult customer problems and complaints.

”83% of consumers agree that they feel more loyal to brands that respond and resolve their complaints” — Khoros

The key is to get comfortable with handling all types of situations. If your customers can count on you to solve their problems, they’re much more likely to remain customers, and to say good things about you to others.

Working with customers directly requires patience and empathy — it requires putting people first. The core needs of a customer can be summarized as follows:

Friendliness — Customers seek friendly, human interactions.
Empathy — Customers need to know you understand and appreciate them.
Fairness — Customers want to feel like they’re getting fair and reasonable answers.
Time — Customers want to hear from you within a reasonable timeframe.
Information — Customers want direct and relevant information about their queries.

Hire help

Many independent publishers and creators do their own customer support as a solo business owner, especially when starting out. This is a great way to get closer to your customers and provides many valuable insights. However, being so close to customer support can also feel like a double-edged sword, since it can be hard to separate your emotions from the issues at hand when you’re so close to the business.

Doing customer support can also be time-consuming. So as your business grows, you may consider hiring someone to help with, or lead your customer support efforts.

Read more about how to approach making your first hires as a growing publishing business:

Hiring for creators: What to know before growing your team

Your first hire is a big deal. Here’s how to get it right.

Ghost NewsletterDavid Ramos

Providing great customer support is a crucial aspect of running a business. Without it, you risk lower retention rates or damaging your brand reputation. Investing in the tools and techniques highlighted above are the first steps toward providing a great customer experience.

🔋 The power of first principles publishing

Team Ghost — Sun, 12 Jun 2022 10:00:14 GMT

Sometimes it can feel like you need to get everything right in order for your business or project to work at all. Thankfully, you don't. When you're first getting started, very few things really matter — and here's a peek at what those are.

💬 In this week's issue:

SEO principles. What does Google look for when deciding to rank your content?
Positive escapism. Why the internet might finally be changing for the better.
Diversification. How creating a "web of value" could save your business.

🔍 How to reliably create Google-friendly content

How do you make sure your pages are seen and ranked online?

Search engines like Google can be a creator's best friend. Once you learn how to make your free content SEO-friendly, every article you write can become a source for new readers and subscribers.

But, a lot more goes into SEO than simply not hiding your writing behind a paywall. One of the best places to start is by learning what Google is looking for in the first place.

EAT. When deciding whether or not to rank your article, search engines evaluate the expertise (E), authoritativeness (A), and trustworthiness (T) of your content.
YMYL. Some subjects can have a more drastic impact on readers than others. Sites that cover news, legal, financial, or health information fall under a category called "your money or your life." Google holds this content to a much higher standard.
Search Intent. Every search has two elements: the what (keyword, question, term, etc.), and the why (the goal of the user — search intent). There are 4 types to be aware of: informational, navigational, transactional, and commercial.

Now, you definitely don't need to become an SEO expert to build a successful newsletter or blog. Instead, commit yourself to learning and applying one new SEO or digital marketing principle per week. If you're consistent, you'll be amazed by how quickly these add up and lead to incredible results.

🗞 Latest tips & stories

Six newsletter frameworks worth copying
How to achieve a more transparent social media
Where the creator economy and web3 overlap
A look at how TikTok's algorithm works
Tips for getting started with video content

🐦 Does the rise in demand for positive content threaten Twitter?

Consumers are increasingly leaning towards positive, feel-good content.

For a long-time, negative content drove the most interactions online. This is one of the reasons why platforms like Twitter and Facebook became breeding grounds for misinformation and arguments.

But now, that's changing.

Consumers are increasingly searching for and interacting with feel-good, light-hearted content. Nicknamed "positive escapism," places like TikTok and Pinterest "have seen record growth" for being hubs for this type of material.

So, what's the takeaway here?

Build for the long-term. What drives clicks (i.e., short-term growth) will always be in flux. Instead, focus on building relationships with an audience you care about and who will stick with you.
Make great work. Unless you're publishing an anonymous newsletter, your name will be on everything you produce. Make sure you stand by what you send out.

The best thing you can do for your audience is to create what you want to see exist in the world.

🍿 Why Netflix should sell ads

Netflix is, incredibly enough, 24 years old, and a subscription model has served the company well.

Netflix is a model for the power and sustainability of subscription-based businesses. It's grown consistently for over two decades while increasing the quality and quantity of content produced.

But as they reach the upper limits of the number of subscribers they can attract, and how much they charge those customers, it may be a time for a shift in their business model.

Writer Ben Thompson argues that diversification would allow them to gain all the benefits of subscriptions, while also leveraging their audiences, attention, and resources to monetize in other ways.

For independent creators, this strategy looks like forming a web of value where the recurring revenue of memberships act as its center, and complimentary offers (e.g., product sales, sponsors, affiliate recommendations, etc.) branch out — simultaneously giving your readers more value and your business more income.

Although this is more of an advanced strategy, it's also a reminder to every beginner that there are no limits to what you can build.

👀 Curators pick

Forward to a friend and let them know where they can subscribe (hint: it's here).

Anything else? Hit reply to send us feedback or say hello.

Join an invite-only community! Connect with like-minded people who create content professionally — apply here.

5 tips on transitioning from career to creator with Matt Brown

David Ramos — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 10:00:49 GMT

When Matt Brown started Extra Points, a newsletter focused on the inner workings of college sports, they never thought it would become more than a passion project. Fast-forward three years and a layoff, Extra Points now boasts a subscriber base of over 10,000 readers, six-figure annual revenue, and big goals for the future.

So, how did Extra Points evolve from a nights-and-weekends side hustle into a full-fledged business, and why did leveraging past experience supercharge its success? In this resource, you’ll discover the answer to those questions and more as we discover the 5 lessons Matt Brown has for aspiring newsletter creators.

Lesson #1: Experience is an unfair advantage

Many people pursue creative projects as an alternative to their day jobs: doctors moonlighting as novelists or lawyers painting their weekends away. But some have found a way to join the two and allow the skills, experience, and network they’ve built in their career to bolster their move towards independence.

Matt’s route into journalism was a winding one, “I didn’t go to journalism school. I taught elementary school, worked as a political organizer, and even spent time as a Mormon missionary.”

Eventually, Matt found his way into sports journalism at SB Nation and spent years honing the craft, learning the industry, and identifying the untapped opportunities only practiced journalists could see.

“I figured out what kinds of unique stories I could tell. This was a combination of my education world, my sports world, my political science world, and so when I had to go into business for myself, I knew I could just focus on this one area (behind the scenes of college sports) which made the transition much easier.”

EP’s homepage presents a clear explanation of what its content is about and who it’s for.

💡

As you think through the subjects you're interested in writing about, consider how your background could offer a leg up over your competition. What knowledge, connections, or resources do you have that most people don't? How can your history shape your future?

Lesson #2: Lean into limitations

Every limitation is an opportunity in disguise. For example, many foods that are beloved favorites today only came about through happy accidents (i.e., chocolate chip cookies resulted from a baker running out of nuts).

In a similar way, independent creators who don’t necessarily have the funds, teams, or equipment of larger organizations can succeed by being distinctive. In the early days of a sports journalism career at SB Nation, Matt worked in a department going head-to-head against the biggest names in the industry. To win, they had to get creative.

“We couldn't compete on access. We didn't have broadcast rights like the larger publishers, so we had to figure out what we could do that was different from everybody else. We did that with voice, perspective, history, and records research.”

Public records requests became their secret weapon — a segment out of reach for small publishers and not valued enough by big ones.

Matt also owes the success of Extra Points to a layoff that occurred near the beginning of 2020. This introduced a limitation of time and resources which pushed Matt to go all-in on their newsletter. If necessity is the mother of invention, then it might also be said that desperation is the father of creativity.

The EP podcast is another example of this principle. Matt got specific about what was needed to expand into a new format and found a partner who was a perfect fit. The limitation was eliminated through teamwork.

💡

If you find yourself feeling stuck, get specific about what you cannot do, then find a way around it.

Lesson #3: Pursue audiences that will pay

One of the most common mistakes new publishers make is to go after the widest possible audience. Just because you have a large audience, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will be willing to pay. Often, it's the smallest segments that have the highest reason and ability to pay.

Matt Brown describes the Extra Points readership as follows:

“My typical subscriber falls into one of three buckets: college athletic professionals, giant sports nerds (I mean this with great affection because these people love the minutia), and college students and professors.”

Although there are a massive number of sports fans, Matt found that most paying subscribers came from two smaller categories: athletic department staff and sports management professors. With this information in hand, Matt can focus monetization efforts on better serving these specific groups and has seen tremendous growth as a result.

“The people who are your audience will evolve as you and your content evolve. If you think about this as a business, don't only think about who wants what you make but what audiences will be most likely to pay.”

EP added a dedicated pricing section for institutions. This is one example of how they are better serving a very specific segment of their audience.

💡

As you build your audience, it's important to not treat them as one homogenous block. Understand the specifics of who your readers are and use that information to build a profitable business.

Lesson #4: Starting a business is a different kind of challenge

The classic book, The E-Myth Revisited, explains a dilemma that most creators don’t realize until they’ve been in the trenches a while: being good at what you do does not mean you will (or even should) turn that skill into a business.

There's a lot more to running a company than just being great at your craft. If you want to build a sustainable, scalable machine that enables you to do your best work without constantly battling burnout, you need systems. Processes. And usually, help.

“I built this company during the pandemic working 80+ hour weeks. To be an effective small businessperson, which is what you’re doing when you make money with a newsletter, you have to be willing to work hard at everything. The biggest misconception online is that if you make great content, nothing else matters. But that’s a lie. The internet is full of successful content that sucks. You have to care a lot about how people find it and how it’s going to make money.”

When Extra Points was acquired by a larger publisher in November of 2021, it enabled Matt to take a step back, shed the tasks they didn’t enjoy or weren’t as good at, and refocus on their core expertise.

💡

As you strategize, plan for the long-term. What do you want your business to look like 1, 3, or 5 years down the road? And what can you do today to ensure you’ll get there?

Lesson #5: Be data-informed, not data-obsessed

Finally, Matt has some advice for those creators who feel themselves on the edge of burnout, constantly refreshing their analytics to see if they've reached their latest goal.

“You can’t let your personal wellbeing be dictated by your graphs. This journey is not one of linear growth. I've had months where my revenue grew 10% and months where it contracted by that much. It's a zigzag. You want to be data-informed, but not data-obsessed.”

Matt went on to explain that data-informed means to be aware of what's working, what's not, and to constantly iterate towards improvement. Data-obsessed is a less healthy version where the focus on numbers, traffic, and conversion chip away at your creativity and hinder you from doing your best work.

Data is not the end-all, be-all of your success, especially if you’re creating an email newsletter that's not subject to the volatile algorithms of social media and search engines. In the end, the best creators learn to trust themselves. They listen, watch, build, fix, and try. They don't always get it right, and that's okay because no audience expects perfection.

💡

Gathering good data takes time. So the more sustainable your work becomes, the more likely you'll be able to make the decisions that matter.

Nothing is wasted

As you decide what next steps to take on your creator journey, learn to value the assets you already have: professional experiences, personal victories, long-lived interests, and human connections. These are what make you a unique person and what could turn your newsletter idea into an extraordinary business.

⚙️ Why you already have the leverage you need

Team Ghost — Sun, 05 Jun 2022 10:00:41 GMT

Many creators view leverage as an external instrument: relationships, funding, etc. But that's only one type. Leverage is anything that gives you an advantage — any tool, opportunity, or skill that multiplies what you do and its impact on others. Sometimes we just need a little help identifying what those are.

💬 In this week's issue:

Content machine. Discover how one team turned their bursts of creativity into a reliable process.
Local growth. As smaller-scale news publications prosper, they have some advice for those on a similar path.
Podcasts galore. See how anticipating a platform's move could open up entirely new audiences.

How to generate stellar content ideas

When your business relies on content, ideas are your most valuable asset. So, what systems and habits can you build now to ensure your idea flywheel never stops turning?

The team at Ahrefs, known for their consistently high-quality articles, shared 16 strategies they use to stay ahead of the game. Below are a few of the best ones.

Find trending topics. Also called "trendjacking," this technique allows you to take something everyone's already talking about and shape it to fit your topic or audience.
Take a contrarian stance. Opinions drive attention. Part of the reason we gravitate towards certain writers and influencers is that our values align with theirs. The clearer you are about what you stand for, the easier it will be for you to find people to stand with.
Talk to your customers, partners, and coworkers. Great content is a social sport. The more you can borrow from the experiences and expertise of others, the better things you'll be able to produce.
Revisit and update old material. Ideas are like seeds that sprout and grow rapidly when well-taken care of. Going back to see your old thoughts can recharge the vision of where you want to go next.

🗞 Latest tips & stories

How to find the overlap that leads to your niche
Tips for battling YouTube burnout
Tricks for balancing a consistent email and social strategy
What happens when a local newspaper hits too close to home
Why old copyright laws could stunt the creator economy's growth

How four start-ups are figuring out the business of local news

One of the most promising trends to come out of the publishing industry in recent years is the resurgence of interest in local news. As trust in national entities declines, people around the globe are finding reliable alternatives in smaller-scale operations.

This article presents four US examples: The Mendocino Voice, Santa Cruz Local, Borderless, and San Jose Spotlight. Each began with a unique purpose and audience in mind, but have found their challenges to be quite similar.

For those of you who may be working on locally-focused publications, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Have a realistic timeline. Most of these newsletters took 2-3 years before they were financially self-sustaining. Make sure to account for this transitioning period by setting aside funds, pursuing the project part-time, or finding a patron who can provide a monetary runway.
Mixed revenue is key. Every outlet interviewed spoke to the power of multiple income streams. Although subscriptions tend to be the most lucrative and reliable, they require time to grow. The teams have found that ads, sponsorships, and merchandise are great supplements for a local audience.
Leverage an ungated content strategy. Finally, the publications cited that keeping their reporting open and accessible to everyone was a major factor in their growth. Hyperlocal content can often provide help for serious issues (related to health and safety), so keeping that information public is essential to building trust.

YouTube may be getting into podcasts

TechCrunch spotted signals that YouTube is making heavy investments into the podcasting arena.

Why would a video-focused platform want more audio content? And won't this just put more pressure on creatives to do more work?

It's hard to answer these questions or call out YouTube's true reasoning as an outsider. But what you, as an independent creator, can do is make sure content repurposing is a key part of your strategy.

No matter what you make, or how excellent it is, there are people who will never see it unless you deliver it to them in a different way. That could mean recording yourself reading your articles aloud, transcribing video content, or hiring a designer to turn your ideas into visuals.

Look for the easy wins so that every item you publish accomplishes more.

👀 Curators pick

Forward to a friend and let them know where they can subscribe (hint: it's here).

Anything else? Hit reply to send us feedback or say hello.

Join an invite-only community! Connect with like-minded people who create content professionally — apply here.

💻 The next generation of technology for indie publishers

Team Ghost — Sun, 29 May 2022 10:05:43 GMT

It was an exciting week here at the Ghost HQ (just kidding, we don't have an office) — because on Monday we launched the latest major version of the product after more than a year of working on new features. To celebrate, we're sharing some of the highlights along with ideas about how you can use the latest tools!

💬 In this week's issue:

ICYMI: Ghost 5.0 and all of the exciting stuff we launched this week
Multiple newsletters: Discover how publishers are building out their newsletter strategy using multiple newsletters
Tutorials: Find out how to do more with a Ghost publication with our brand new developer tutorials

✨ Ghost 5.0

The new dashboard ✨

Ghost's mission from the start has been to create a focused platform for professional publishers. Today, that mission is as strong as it's ever been. In fact, publishers and creators using Ghost are growing faster than ever before.

From world-famous publishers like David Sirota, to YouTubers with millions of subscribers like Ali Abdaal, to forward-thinking startups like Buffer who specialize in incredible brand journalism.

To support this growing demand we announced the latest major version, Ghost 5.0, along with a reel of powerful new features to help publishers and creators build healthy, sustainable businesses around their audience.

If you missed it, you can get the scoop on everything that's new right here:

Ghost 5.0

The next generation of powerful technology for independent publishers.

ChangelogJohn O’Nolan

🗞 Latest tips & stories

8 questions every creative entrepreneur should ask themselves
How to rewrite your backstory to attract an audience
Why every big thing requires tiny goals
100 trending topics to help you spark new content ideas
The reverse logic of trying too hard

📮 Multiple newsletters

One of the new features that landed in Ghost 5.0 that we're really excited about is multiple newsletters — giving you the ability to create multiple different newsletters for a single site.

Publishers such as The Lever and The Browser are already using this feature to level-up their newsletter strategies, by giving readers the option to subscribe to different types of content, including daily newsletters, weekly roundups, deep-dives, podcast episodes, events, announcements, and much more.

What's more, you can customize the design and branding for each newsletter, individually, to make each newsletter stand out.

Giving your audience the choice of what emails they want to read helps keep them engaged while giving you the opportunity to deliver different types of content without overwhelming their inboxes.

👩‍💻 Tutorials

We also launched a brand new home for Ghost tutorials, to help you create beautiful custom publications.

This is the go-to place when you're looking to customize your site and take advantage of the more advanced tools Ghost has to offer. These tutorials cover everything from the basics required to make small theme customizations (no coding experience required), to advanced level tutorials for experienced developers.

We're just getting started with this new resource and have lots of new content planned. If you're interested in joining the Ghost developer community and getting the latest features, tools and tutorials in your inbox, subscribe here.

Tutorials

A library of resources to help you to customize, build, and create beautiful Ghost sites

Tutorials

👀 Curators pick

Forward to a friend and let them know where they can subscribe (hint: it's here).

Anything else? Hit reply to send us feedback or say hello.

Join an invite-only community! Connect with like-minded people who create content professionally — apply here.

Ghost Newsletter

⚡️ Where to focus your creator energy next

💸 Recession planning 101 for creators

🗞 Latest tips & stories

🔑 Why ownership is the future

🐢 The slow and steady strategy

👀 Curators pick

❤️ Enjoy this newsletter?

🌁 Why there's no shortcut to great work

🚶‍♀️ What makes a curator worth following?

🗞 Latest tips & stories

🖋 How to streamline your newsletter process

🌱 A counter-intuitive method to growing your list

👀 Curators pick

❤️ Enjoy this newsletter?

⚖️ How to keep your creative projects legal

📝 Privacy policies, terms and conditions, and more

🗞 Latest tips & stories

👵 How long do creators last?

🎓 Smart ways to make unique content

👀 Curators pick

❤️ Enjoy this newsletter?

🥇 Who should be your first "true fan"?

💎 Why trying to be original is holding you back

🗞 Latest tips & stories

💬 Lost for words? A new, free resource offers guidance on thorny topics

🎶 How one YouTube channel became the 24/7 music hub for students worldwide

👀 Curators pick

❤️ Enjoy this newsletter?

🌱 How to tell if you're on the right track as a creator

⏳ A 15-year-long YouTube journey

🗞 Latest tips & stories

💭 Rethinking the creator economy

🏘 How journalism can help our polarized world

👀 Curators pick

❤️ Enjoy this newsletter?

🛣 Where does the road less traveled lead

🕊 The pattern and the battle for the soul of the internet

🗞 Latest tips & stories

💵 Budgeting for small and solo businesses

📚 A list of platform resources for creators

👀 Curators pick

❤️ Enjoy this newsletter?

How the political newsletter Tangle is getting industry-leading conversion rates

Lesson #1: Know your numbers

Lesson #2: Study your audience

Lesson #3: Clarify the problem you solve

Lesson #4: Do your best work

Lesson #5: Ask with intention

Create your way to conversion success

🧗 How to climb the ladder of creator success

🪜 The ladders of wealth creation

🗞 Latest tips & stories

🔥 Why obsession can be a good thing

💌 Publishing requires bravery

👀 Curators pick

❤️ Enjoy this newsletter?

How to leverage SEO as a new creator with François Douville

Tip #1: Use your interests to your advantage

Tip #2: Prioritize content production

Tip #3: Utilize templates to simplify

Tip #4: Build backlinks through relationships

Tip #5: Follow SEO best practices

Long-term growth starts today

🧊 The iceberg illusion of creative work

🪓 Why every niche should be a wedge

🗞 Latest tips & stories

📄 10 types of articles and how to use them effectively

☠️ What is toxic productivity? And 5 tips to overcome it

👀 Curators pick

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