62,000 subscribers and what the sponsors actually pay

People ask what a newsletter this size earns, so here it is.

• 62,400 subscribers, 47% open rate
• One primary sponsor per issue: $2,400
• One secondary: $900
• 4 issues a month, about 85% sold
• So roughly $11,000 a month gross, $9,400 after the writer I pay and the platform

It took four years. The first two paid nothing.

Selling the slots is a sales job. I spend one full day a week on it and no tool has reduced that.

At 9,000 subscribers I get offered $150 and a free trial of something. This is useful and also depressing.

At 9,000 I was offered a tote bag. It gets better around 20,000, when they stop asking for your media kit and start asking for dates.

Same curve for podcasts. Nothing, nothing, nothing, then someone asks for dates.

How did you find the first paying sponsor? I am at 3,100 and every "how to get sponsors" post assumes you already have ten.

I emailed the companies my readers already replied to me about. "Twelve of my readers mentioned you this year" was the whole pitch. The first one paid $200.