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Hacker Newsletter (http://hackernewsletter.com http://hackernewsletter.com) makes a few thousand a month from sponsors. It could easily make more if I were more

by duck 9y ago

Hacker Newsletter (http://hackernewsletter.com http://hackernewsletter.com) makes a few thousand a month from sponsors. It could easily make more if I were more of a salesperson, but I'm happy with it as is. Just to be clear though, it took some time to get to that. I'm actually about to hit the seven year mark and issue #357. Speaking of... I'm working on tomorrow's issue as I type this!

cronjobma 9y ago
That's super interesting! What do you charge?
- duck 9y ago
  Depends on quantity, but $850 to $1000 an issue. I use to do CPM pricing, but now at almost 50k subscribers I just stick with a flat rate.
  - hueving 9y ago
    I was horrified at first reading your comment because I thought it was the price to subscribe. :)
fairpx 9y ago
You should submit your newsletter to http://upstart.me http://upstart.me (which was recently posted here on HN)
- duck 9y ago
  Yeah, Upstart.me looks like a great resource. These days I don't have a problem finding sponsors (they'll reach out to you at a certain point), but by sales I meant maximizing everything and doing more with it.
- garysieling 9y ago
  I got my first sponsor for https://www.findlectures.com https://www.findlectures.com from this!
soheil 9y ago
How does it provide any more value than https://news.ycombinator.com/best https://news.ycombinator.com/best
- duck 9y ago
  I guess it just depends on the person, but I don't equate "votes" to always mean the best. For HNL I look for for a mix of these along along with the ones that don't make the front-page for long. The biggest value is that I send all of those to people's inbox -- they seem to like that part the most.
  - tertius 9y ago
    Love the newsletter. Saves me from midweek FOMO and helps me be more productive. I know that all the best stuff is waiting for chill time on Sunday...
    - duck 9y ago
      Awesome, glad to hear!
    - renesd 9y ago
      I'd probably have subscribed earlier if I'd read this. Thanks.
- jschulenklopper 9y ago
  As a subscriber on the list, "more value" (to me) is provided in a couple of ways: - I seem to like the weekly selection; the editorial choices on which articles are likely to be of interest of the group. - Kale includes older posts, sometimes from months back, sometimes more obscure or funny, that are still interesting to read now. - I get the top stories in a weekly email that I can process weekly. If I feel I've kept myself reasonably up to date with current news, that means a quick scan. But after a couple of weeks of vacation, processing just three issues of Hacker Newsletter is sufficient to catch up. By the way, http://www.daemonology.net/hn-daily/ http://www.daemonology.net/hn-daily/ is also convenient to catch up after a long time.
calebsurfs 9y ago
I'd really like something like this in podcast form. Summarize the best links and maybe invite some highly rated commenters on for discussion.
- owenwil 9y ago
  We do that for tech on Charged podcast, and phone people in the industry for comment (recent guests include Keen.io, CEO of DigitalOcean etc). Try it out? https://char.gd/podcast https://char.gd/podcast
  - j_s 9y ago
    The podcast appears to be hosts discussing their life in tech along with some current tech topics instead of focusing on summaries of specific content -- very reminiscent of TechZingLive. John definitely has a lot of connections in the valley!
- atmosx 9y ago
  Me too. Weekly. Preferably, by someone with British accent. I noticed that British in the US talk slower and their vocabulary tends to be more succinct, while using less slang and less "mmm, eee, oooh, etc." There is a cultural difference that makes British speakers way more appealing to me I guess. I tried "this week in tech" but it was too much "headlines" talk. Also I totally dislike the style compared BBC podcasts for example. I can listen to BBC podcasts while I work without getting tired or distracted.
mitul_45 9y ago
Your newsletter is great! Thanks for compiling. Just curious, how much time you spend daily on HN for this?
tixocloud 9y ago
That's amazing. Just curious - what made you want to start a newsletter? Were you always interested in writing?
- duck 9y ago
  Thanks! It wasn't my first idea, but after another side-project failed due to not having enough time to work on it between a full-time job and kiddos, I wanted to start something smaller. I basically came up with the idea one weekend as I thought it would be a great way to keep up with the great reads on HN and more importantly, something that I could "finish" in the same weekend. Emailed some friends and went from there.
sh87 9y ago
I'm a regular reader and Really like your newsletter. Thank you for this !!! Can you talk about your way of picking what gets included ?

by duck 9y ago

cronjobma 9y ago

That's super interesting! What do you charge?

duck 9y ago
Depends on quantity, but $850 to $1000 an issue. I use to do CPM pricing, but now at almost 50k subscribers I just stick with a flat rate.
- hueving 9y ago
  I was horrified at first reading your comment because I thought it was the price to subscribe. :)

fairpx 9y ago

You should submit your newsletter to http://upstart.me http://upstart.me (which was recently posted here on HN)

duck 9y ago
Yeah, Upstart.me looks like a great resource. These days I don't have a problem finding sponsors (they'll reach out to you at a certain point), but by sales I meant maximizing everything and doing more with it.
garysieling 9y ago
I got my first sponsor for https://www.findlectures.com https://www.findlectures.com from this!

soheil 9y ago

How does it provide any more value than https://news.ycombinator.com/best https://news.ycombinator.com/best

duck 9y ago
I guess it just depends on the person, but I don't equate "votes" to always mean the best. For HNL I look for for a mix of these along along with the ones that don't make the front-page for long. The biggest value is that I send all of those to people's inbox -- they seem to like that part the most.
- tertius 9y ago
  Love the newsletter. Saves me from midweek FOMO and helps me be more productive. I know that all the best stuff is waiting for chill time on Sunday...
  - duck 9y ago
    Awesome, glad to hear!
  - renesd 9y ago
    I'd probably have subscribed earlier if I'd read this. Thanks.
jschulenklopper 9y ago
As a subscriber on the list, "more value" (to me) is provided in a couple of ways: - I seem to like the weekly selection; the editorial choices on which articles are likely to be of interest of the group. - Kale includes older posts, sometimes from months back, sometimes more obscure or funny, that are still interesting to read now. - I get the top stories in a weekly email that I can process weekly. If I feel I've kept myself reasonably up to date with current news, that means a quick scan. But after a couple of weeks of vacation, processing just three issues of Hacker Newsletter is sufficient to catch up. By the way, http://www.daemonology.net/hn-daily/ http://www.daemonology.net/hn-daily/ is also convenient to catch up after a long time.

calebsurfs 9y ago

I'd really like something like this in podcast form. Summarize the best links and maybe invite some highly rated commenters on for discussion.

owenwil 9y ago
We do that for tech on Charged podcast, and phone people in the industry for comment (recent guests include Keen.io, CEO of DigitalOcean etc). Try it out? https://char.gd/podcast https://char.gd/podcast
- j_s 9y ago
  The podcast appears to be hosts discussing their life in tech along with some current tech topics instead of focusing on summaries of specific content -- very reminiscent of TechZingLive. John definitely has a lot of connections in the valley!
atmosx 9y ago
Me too. Weekly. Preferably, by someone with British accent. I noticed that British in the US talk slower and their vocabulary tends to be more succinct, while using less slang and less "mmm, eee, oooh, etc." There is a cultural difference that makes British speakers way more appealing to me I guess. I tried "this week in tech" but it was too much "headlines" talk. Also I totally dislike the style compared BBC podcasts for example. I can listen to BBC podcasts while I work without getting tired or distracted.

mitul_45 9y ago

Your newsletter is great! Thanks for compiling. Just curious, how much time you spend daily on HN for this?

tixocloud 9y ago

That's amazing. Just curious - what made you want to start a newsletter? Were you always interested in writing?

duck 9y ago
Thanks! It wasn't my first idea, but after another side-project failed due to not having enough time to work on it between a full-time job and kiddos, I wanted to start something smaller. I basically came up with the idea one weekend as I thought it would be a great way to keep up with the great reads on HN and more importantly, something that I could "finish" in the same weekend. Emailed some friends and went from there.

sh87 9y ago

I'm a regular reader and Really like your newsletter. Thank you for this !!! Can you talk about your way of picking what gets included ?