Quick note before we dive in: If you’ve been meaning to start a profitable newsletter, you should check out Category Newsletter Creator by my friends, Dickie Bush & Nicolas Cole.

This product has everything you can possibly need to create a Category Newsletter with the potential to reach 6 (maybe even 7) figures in annual revenue in 2025—and it’s going live on Monday, November 25th. Click here to join the waitlist.

Cole has helped me more than anybody else when it comes to turning this newsletter into a business, so I’m very happy to recommend his work.

I watched the subscriber count for this newsletter I started on a whim in a tiny Madrid apartment tick over 90k subscribers last week. Not only that, but thanks to some of you, I got connected with folks across the publishing industry for the novel I’m working on. It’s not hyperbole to say starting this newsletter has been a career-altering decision.

So, today’s letter is different than usual. I hope you find this look behind how newsletters work interesting and, if you have one or want to start one, find something helpful. If that’s you, I’m also happy to answer any questions you might have. Just reply with whatever it is.

9 Reflections on 90k Subscribers

1. Expert vs Guide

It’s not about being an expert, it’s about sharing the “hey, this is working for me” OR, “I found this idea helpful, here’s why, hopefully you do too.”

Story is what we explore here, and that’s a large, complicated topic. Meaning there’s a ton of ways to go about it. Some methods and ideas will work better for me, some will work better for you, and ideally I find that overlap in these newsletters. But it won’t always happen, and that’s okay.

My recent goal when writing is for your takeaway to be along the lines of, “That was cool, I’ll give it a try and see if it works for me, too.”

2. The Growth That Matters Most

There are two types of growth – new subscribers and retained subscribers. Retaining subscribers measures the health of a newsletter far better than top of the line growth numbers.

3. Quality > Consistency

So, this will be considered a hot take in internet writer world. But I’ve found only sending a newsletter when I have something good to be quite freeing. Instead of making sure I have something, anything, to send you, I only hit that button if I think it’ll be worth your time.

I could be wrong, but I think this is a reason engagement rates (measured by opens, clicks, and replies) have stayed strong even as the number of readers has grown.

4. Flywheels, Flywheels, Flywheels

The beautiful thing about a newsletter is that I spend the same amount of time per week on it now than I did when I had less than 300 subscribers.

But I’ve done a bad job of building “Flywheels” for it. How can I turn each letter into a few twitter and linkedin posts? Could they be the basis for a youtube script? That kind of thing will be a project for 2025.

5. More Personal

I’m a private person. People ask how my day is and I say, “Good.” No explanation, no elaboration, nada.

Recently, I’ve found it more enjoyable to include tidbits about what I’m working on in these newsletters instead of making the entire thing about a storytelling principal I’ve been looking into. This makes the letters framed more around “How I” instead of “How to.”

6. Ask More

I hate asking for things. But whenever I do, good things tend to happen. Last week, asking for publishing industry connections, for example.

If you have a newsletter, ask for more.

7. Go Big

My new professional goal is “Write and sell many books while building the best education platform in the world to help more people write, publish, and make money from crafting great stories.”

That’ll have buckets from short-form non-fiction (essays, scripts, etc) to long-form fiction (novels, etc). As usual, the products will only come after doing the thing myself. That’s the goal and it’s a big one. But that makes it fun. The more great stories in the world the better.

8. Don’t Be Afraid to Change

Until a year ago, most of what I wrote about came from working with startups on their content marketing. I looked at everything from a story perspective. How could this be more compelling? Where’s the conflict? What’s the thread that needs to tie all of this together? Most clients actually came from newsletter readers.

But now all the writing here comes from what I’m thinking about when writing or editing the novel. I expected engagement to plummet and for many of you to unsubscribe. Thankfully, that didn’t happen.

Instead, many of you said that these same ideas apply way more to what you do professionally than you would’ve guessed. That’s so cool.

9. Meet More Readers

One thing I’ve done a poor job of is actually meeting the people who read the newsletter. I’m going to post some calendly links after Thanksgiving to rectify that with quick 15 minute calls. I think they’ll be fun.

Two quick things before you go:

1. What topic would you most like me to write about next? Reply and let me know.

2. Keep an eye out next week for those Calendly links. I'm excited to meet more of you.

Have an awesome week.
Nathan

P.S. - As a reminder: Category Newsletter Creator is going live on Monday, November 25th.

This product, from my friends, Dickie Bush & Nicolas Cole, has everything you can possibly need to create a Category Newsletter with the potential to reach 6 (maybe even 7) figures in annual revenue in 2025.

So if you’ve been meaning to start a category-defining newsletter, you should definitely check it out. There’ll be early-bird bonuses for anyone on the waitlist.

Trivia — A Sentence I Wish I Wrote

A great one-liner. What book does it come from? I’m hoping the success rate on this one’s pretty high…