📧 Add 10K Subscribers Without Burning Out

👋 Hey!

This week brought serious platform momentum and some eye-popping funding news. Substack's feed just hit 32 million free subscribers (yes, million), Buttondown keeps rolling out creator-friendly features, and Letterhead just secured $34M to shake up the newsletter business model. Plus, we're diving into how AI can write your entire newsletter on autopilot and why referral programs might be your fastest path to 10K subscribers. Ready to level up?

Let's dive in! 👇

Substack Feed drives 32M+ free subs and 500K paid in 3 months. The Substack feed isn't just a feature; it's a subscriber engine. Creators leveraging it can reach new audiences and rapidly grow both free and paid lists without relying on external traffic sources.

Buttondown launches self-service subscriber portal. Subscribers can now manage their own subscriptions, saving creators time and boosting reader satisfaction. Less admin work, happier readers.

Letterhead secures $34M Series A to fuel newsletter growth. Major investment signals rising confidence in newsletters as scalable, venture-worthy platforms for independent publishers. Big money is betting on email.

Beehiiv website builder is available to all paid users. Newsletter websites are now essential for audience trust, discoverability, and monetization, not just a "nice-to-have." Build conversion-optimized landing pages in minutes.

Kit lets you downgrade your subscriber tier. Newsletter operators can cut monthly costs by cleaning their list; every cleaned subscriber could mean savings. Smart list management pays off.

How: Launch a referral program using beehiiv's built-in tools, offer perks like exclusive guides, merch, or premium access for sharing your newsletter. Make it easy for readers with share buttons and pre-written tweets in every issue.

Why: Social proof and personal recommendations drive trust and viral growth. Incentivized sharing taps into your audience's natural networks.

Expected Result: Referral programs boost subscriber growth by an average of 17%. Newsletters like Enjoy Basketball scaled to millions using this exact tactic.

Check out the full guide.

What Works:

Creator’s Quote:

"We aim to be indispensable for any professional who must stay ahead in international relations or defense."

Check out Voltaire's approach.

Amplifykit

Why You'll Love It: Visual campaign planning, instant insights, and powerful link analytics right inside Kit.

Best For: Newsletter creators who crave organization, actionable metrics, and a streamlined workflow.

Test: Daily posting for 30 days vs. 2-3 posts per week (Twitter/X growth strategy)

Result: Creators who posted daily for 30 days saw dramatically higher follower growth and newsletter conversion rates compared to sporadic posting. Consistency compounds, daily posting turned casual followers into email subscribers at 3X the rate of irregular schedules.

Takeaway: Frequency beats perfection when building newsletter momentum. Test committing to daily social posts for one month to drive subscriber growth, then track your conversion rate from social to email. The consistency builds trust and keeps you top-of-mind.

Before: You manually wrote, formatted, scheduled, and sent every newsletter, with copy-paste headaches and forgotten sends included.

After: AI (like ChatGPT or Gemini) drafts your content, Zapier automates scheduling from sources like Medium or Hashnode, and SendLume (or Brevo/Resend) delivers and tracks emails, zero manual steps required.

Result: Creators save 5-10 hours weekly, reduce errors, and boost consistency by turning newsletter creation into a low-touch, always-on workflow.

Dive deeper into an interesting AI-powered automation case.

Newsletter creator Monday morning: "I'll just automate everything this week." 🤖

Newsletter creator Friday night: "Why am I manually copying subscriber emails into a spreadsheet at 11 pm? 🤦‍♂️

Thanks for reading,

Eren Daskesen

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