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👋 Hey!
This week's issue is packed with proof that the old rules are broken. A politics newsletter hits $4.15M by giving most content away free. The Spectator cuts checkout time from 7 minutes to 1 minute with a custom platform. And Substack just launched a full recording studio, no Zoom required.
Plus: the AI trust gap that's changing how your readers search, and why major tech publishers are losing 90%+ of their traffic to Google's AI.
Ready to level up? Let's dive in! 👇
You Can't Automate Good Judgement
AI promises speed and efficiency, but it’s leaving many leaders feeling more overwhelmed than ever.
The real problem isn’t technology.
It’s the pressure to do more with less — without losing what makes your leadership effective.
BELAY created the free resource 5 Traits AI Can’t Replace & Why They Matter More Than Ever to help leaders pinpoint where AI can help and where human judgment is still essential.
At BELAY, we help leaders accomplish more by matching them with top-tier, U.S.-based Executive Assistants who bring the discernment, foresight, and relational intelligence that AI can’t replicate.
That way, you can focus on vision. Not systems.
😂 Meme of the Week
🔥 This Week's Hot Takes
Substack launches a built-in recording studio for multi-guest video. Record solo or with up to two guests, get AI-generated clips and thumbnails, no third-party tools needed. Internal data shows creators using video grow revenue 50% faster.
Buttondown adds passkey support for two-factor authentication. Subscribers can log in with Touch ID, Face ID, or a security key instead of typing a code. Supports up to 10 passkeys alongside existing authenticator apps and recovery codes.
Politics newsletter Tangle hits $4.15M revenue with 16% conversion rate. Isaac Saul keeps 85% of content free while 71,000 paid subscribers drive the business. The "inverted freemium" model proves accessibility and monetization aren't mutually exclusive: it's about value density, not paywalls.
Global news subscriptions hit 54 million as 59 publishers top 100K milestone. Up from 24 titles in 2020. NYT leads with 12.21M, WSJ at 4.29M. The kicker: podcast producer Goalhanger made the list: proof that audio-first can absolutely compete with legacy publishers.
Major tech publishers face 90%+ traffic drops from Google AI Overviews. Ziff Davis affiliate revenue fell from $130.9M to $108.9M year-over-year. The Verge and Wired are pivoting to direct reader revenue. If your growth strategy depends on Google, this is your wake-up call to own your audience.
Klaviyo finds 60% of consumers use AI weekly but only 13% fully trust it. Heavy AI users are the most likely to criticize generic AI-generated content. Translation: readers can smell lazy automation. Use AI to enhance your voice, not replace it.
💡 Growth Hack of the Week
The 7-Minute to 1-Minute Checkout Optimization
The Spectator's £1M platform investment revealed something any newsletter can steal: friction kills conversions. They reduced checkout time by 85% and saw 4.3% growth in digital subscriptions.
How:
Audit your current signup flow. Time yourself going from the landing page to a confirmed subscriber.
Remove every non-essential field (you probably don't need phone number, company, or "how did you hear about us").
Enable social login options (Google, Apple) for one-click signups.
Pre-fill country/timezone data using IP detection.
Move "optional" profile questions to post-signup onboarding.
Test mobile flow separately. 60%+ of signups happen on phones.
Why: Every additional second in checkout increases abandonment exponentially. The Spectator's data shows most people won't wait 7 minutes, but nearly everyone will wait 1 minute.
Expected Result: 15-30% lift in conversion rate from the same traffic. The Spectator's approach also reduced customer service load by automating common friction points.
Pro Tip: Set up a screen recording tool like Hotjar on your signup page for one week. Watch 10 real user sessions, and you'll spot the friction points immediately.
Spotlight: Naptown Scoop
Ryan Sneddon built Naptown Scoop to 23,000 subscribers in Annapolis, Maryland: a city of 40,000. That's 57% market penetration. He runs it with open rates between 50–70% and earns roughly $300K per year entirely from local business ads.
What Works:
Hyperlocal and nonpolitical by design. Events, openings, and things to do around Annapolis. No political takes. Nearly everyone in the city is a potential subscriber because the content offends no one and helps almost everyone.
Consistency is the moat. The never-miss cadence is what makes Sneddon's open rates credible to local sponsors. A 50–70% open rate in a small market makes each ad spot high-value and repeatable, which is why advertisers renew.
Ad economics that work on a small scale. Local business ads at $10–$12 per subscriber per year with a CAC under $1. No complex ad stack, no big team. Just a tight feedback loop between quality content and reliable reach.
Creator quote: "I treat the newsletter like the town square — consistent, useful, and friendly. That keeps opens high and advertisers renewing."
Your takeaway: You don't need a national audience to build a real revenue stream. Find a tight community, pick a clear editorial lane, and show up without fail. In a small, underserved market, showing up every single day is genuinely hard to compete with.
🛠️ Tool of the Week
CrossLetter: A newsletter growth platform for finding the right swap partners
Why You'll Love It: CrossLetter lets you browse newsletters sorted by category so you can find publications whose audiences genuinely match yours before you send a cold pitch. Instead of manually hunting through Substack and beehiiv directories, you get a searchable index of newsletters that are openly interested in connecting with others. Less guesswork, fewer awkward outreach emails going nowhere.
Best For: Newsletter creators who want to run cross-promotions but find the partner-finding step tedious. If the growth hack above got you interested in swaps and finding the right people feels like the hard part, CrossLetter cuts that down significantly.
🧪 A/B Test of the Week
What it is: Instead of sending your regular welcome email the moment someone subscribes, you send a single plain-text, one-line message first: something like "Quick hello" or "Are you here?" with one low-friction action (tap to reply or click one link). If they engage, they move into your main welcome sequence, tagged as engaged. If they don't, a short follow-up goes out three days later, then they're suppressed from promotional sends until they re-engage.
Why it works: Short, low-effort messages lower the barrier to a first interaction. Early clicks and replies signal to inbox providers that your subscribers want your emails, which improves deliverability and open rates for everyone on your list, not just the new arrivals.
Expected result: A 5–15% open lift on welcome sends and a 3–7% sustained open-rate increase across the full list within 2–4 weeks, depending on list quality and niche.
Takeaway: Before your next batch of new subscribers enters your welcome sequence, set up a one-line trigger email that fires 24 hours after signup. Track opens and clicks for two weeks. That engagement signal alone is worth the setup time.
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🔗 Quick Links
Questions? Just write a comment below. I read all the comments and respond to them.
Thanks for reading,
Eren Daskesen