The Creator Economy around Newsletters

Marketplaces and Creator Communities facilitate our growth.

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Hey Everyone,

So in 2023 the Creator Economy around Newsletters is finally taking shape. Marketplaces to bid on recommended readers have now gone live including now Refind. Refind calls these “Conversion Ads”.

Top Recommendation channels

1. Substack

2. SparkLoop (paid)

3. beehiiv

4. ConvertKit (called Creator Network)

5. Refind

6. I’m sure there are others I’m not aware of, or in stealth mode.

So these peer recommendations channels have both freemium and paid (bidding) versions or both (like behiiv). So just as top Newsletter do paid acquisitions (ads) to gain traffic, a new Newsletter in 2023 can pay to win (P2W) their way up to relevance. So like a Media startup, it’s not crazy to think that you can invest in the business to make it profitable later. Many big Newsletters actually do this via grants. What was Substack Pro but a grant in the end? They gave creators $100,000 in their first year while taking 85% of their paid revenue, and many failed.

So the magic imho happens, when you start to combine these different networks and even paid acquisitions if you are super sweaty about subscriber growth. Doing one obviously is not enough if you want to build a viable business.

My Glimpse into ConvertKit Community

In private invite-only Beta, I have a good impression of how ConvertKit is rolling out recommendations in their community.

Newsletters to read on Creator Economy

• Who Sponsors Stuff

• Newsletter Operator

• Chenell Basilio (archives)

• Frootful Creator (archives)

• These are among the best I have found for Newsletter building.

What do you think of Substack Badges?