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Some thoughts: 1. Jason Hirschorn's email list Media ReDEFined (http://twitter.com/mediaredef http://twitter.com/mediaredef) does exactly what you are trying t

Some thoughts: 1. Jason Hirschorn's email list Media ReDEFined (http://twitter.com/mediaredef http://twitter.com/mediaredef) does exactly what you are trying to do, and it is free and curated by someone who is fairly well-known in the tech world. I read it every single day. He does weekends too. 2. $0.50 a day is WAY too expensive. 3. Is your goal to be a curator or a creator? This seems like you want to be a curator, but what makes you so sure that your newsletter is going to be so much better than my hand-picked group of people on Twitter that I would pay $15/month for it? That is more expensive than Netflix, Rdio, Pandora, Dropbox, etc. not to mention free curation services like Flipboard, news.me (recently made free), etc. 4. What I found - people don't want to pay for content. Period. I had, over the course of 6 months, around 100 people subscribe to my paid letter.ly newsletter ($2/month, btw), while around 30,000 people visit my blog. It made me realize that it's more important to have an audience than it is to have some short-term cash. That said, I am not sure if the same necessarily applies to curators. 5. IMO, the rewards are much better if you are "known" as a curator vs. "paid" to be a curator. Best of luck, though. Interested to see what happens! Background: I had a paid email newsletter through the service letter.ly for around 6 months from July-December 2010. I have also had an on-and-off blog since March 2009.

bigohms 15y ago
On #4, I gladly (along with apparently nearly 4,000 others) have paid $2,500 a year in subscription fees to an investing newsletter done by a heavyweight in the industry. Knowledge gained has more than made up for the high cost. The question is: what is the relevant value and utility of said content?
freshfey 15y ago
following pivoting offer: newsletter free, but three ad-links (startup related though, can be for upcoming startups!). thoughts? I'm trying to maneuver to good content, nothing more.
- zacharycohn 15y ago
  You should check out HARO (help a reporter out). That's a 3ish times a day newsletter that goes out. Reporters who need quotes, information, contacts, etc list the stories they're working on and what they need, and then it goes out to x00,000 people. Their newsletter is free, but at the top is a sponsored paragraph/text blurb about a product/services/etc. I think that is a much better monetization strategy than getting people to pay $15/m.
- inmygarage 15y ago
  Yes, yes and yes. If you do that, I am signing up tomorrow. I love consuming content via email, especially if it's curated. Bonus points for an "export all to Instapaper" button. Another tip: sign up for Charlie O'Donnell's NYC Tech Events newsletter for a good model on this. I also have another friend who is also obsessive about curation - email me off list (email in profile) for more ideas.
rokhayakebe 15y ago
What I found - people don't want to pay for content. Period. But they would pay for curated content. I don't want to pay for the news. There is lots of great news written by great journalists for free. However I want to pay for someone to take the time to sort through it and give me the best of it daily. I just wouldn't pay $15 bucks. $5/month, yes. I remember signing up for Kevin Rose's video newsletter for $5/month without thinking. I cancelled the subscription after 2 months because I found the videos were available later for free anyways.

bigohms 15y ago

On #4, I gladly (along with apparently nearly 4,000 others) have paid $2,500 a year in subscription fees to an investing newsletter done by a heavyweight in the industry. Knowledge gained has more than made up for the high cost. The question is: what is the relevant value and utility of said content?

freshfey 15y ago

following pivoting offer: newsletter free, but three ad-links (startup related though, can be for upcoming startups!). thoughts? I'm trying to maneuver to good content, nothing more.

zacharycohn 15y ago
You should check out HARO (help a reporter out). That's a 3ish times a day newsletter that goes out. Reporters who need quotes, information, contacts, etc list the stories they're working on and what they need, and then it goes out to x00,000 people. Their newsletter is free, but at the top is a sponsored paragraph/text blurb about a product/services/etc. I think that is a much better monetization strategy than getting people to pay $15/m.
inmygarage 15y ago
Yes, yes and yes. If you do that, I am signing up tomorrow. I love consuming content via email, especially if it's curated. Bonus points for an "export all to Instapaper" button. Another tip: sign up for Charlie O'Donnell's NYC Tech Events newsletter for a good model on this. I also have another friend who is also obsessive about curation - email me off list (email in profile) for more ideas.

rokhayakebe 15y ago

What I found - people don't want to pay for content. Period. But they would pay for curated content. I don't want to pay for the news. There is lots of great news written by great journalists for free. However I want to pay for someone to take the time to sort through it and give me the best of it daily. I just wouldn't pay $15 bucks. $5/month, yes. I remember signing up for Kevin Rose's video newsletter for $5/month without thinking. I cancelled the subscription after 2 months because I found the videos were available later for free anyways.