📧 Automate to save money

👋 Hey!

Ready to level up your newsletter game this week? This week brought major consolidation moves, beehiiv's fresh integrations, and creators banking serious cash with smart automation workflows. Plus, we're dissecting how newsletters are pivoting to premium positioning and why self-hosted solutions are making a comeback.

Let's dive in! 👇

Beehiiv launches quarterly payments and Discord integration. More subscription flexibility and native community tools mean easier monetization and engagement for newsletter operators.

Should you start a Substack or newsletter in 2025? Email remains the most reliable way to build a loyal, owned audience. Critical as social platforms keep getting more fragmented and unpredictable.

Media products must deliver transformation, not just information. Courses and products that create real outcomes sell more and get rave testimonials.

Go easy on images in newsletters, says Buttondown. Large or excessive images hurt deliverability, accessibility, and engagement. Smart creators keep images small, relevant, and under 25% of content.

How: Partner with 3-5 newsletters in complementary niches for monthly cross-promotion swaps. Create a simple one-liner about each other's newsletters and include it in your "recommended reading" section.

Why: Tap into engaged audiences that already love newsletters but haven't discovered yours yet. Cross-promo converts 3-5x better than cold ads.

Expected Result: 100+ new subscribers monthly with zero ad spend. One creator gained 2,000 subscribers in 3 months through strategic cross-promotion partnerships.

Pro Tip: Focus on newsletters with similar open rates, not just subscriber counts. Engagement quality matters more than size!

Spotlight: Simple Business Bulletin

What Works:

Creator Quote:
"I built this newsletter to help online business owners simplify and automate their businesses so they can get their time back and make money while they’re away from their desk. It’s about creating systems that support your life - not the other way around."

Flodesk Checkout

Why You'll Love It: Flodesk's newest 2025 feature lets newsletter creators sell digital products, services, or subscriptions directly through beautifully designed sales pages, no separate e-commerce platform needed. Plus, no transaction fees beyond Stripe processing costs.

Best For: Newsletter creators who want to monetize their content with stunning, on-brand checkout experiences and don't need complex e-commerce features, perfect for digital products, memberships, and premium newsletters.

Test: Centered vs. left-aligned email text (HubSpot case study)

Result: Contrary to expectations, emails with left-aligned text performed worse than centered text, with less than 25% of left-justified variants outperforming the control group.

Takeaway: Don't assume readability best practices from long-form text apply to newsletters. Test even the smallest formatting details—audience preferences can defy conventional wisdom.

Before: Stuck paying monthly fees for platforms like Mailchimp or ConvertKit, and worried about data privacy.

After: Instantly deploy Listmonk using Coolify. No coding required. You control your data, customize everything, and avoid recurring costs.

Result: Save $948–$1,188 per year for 10,000 subscribers versus paid tools. Full privacy control and feature-rich campaign management, setup takes just 30 minutes!

Get the step-by-step guide here to launch your own automated platform today.

Newsletter creator: "I'll just quickly automate my entire workflow this weekend."

Also newsletter creator Monday morning: "Why am I getting 47 Zapier error emails and my subscribers are receiving test messages with 'LOREM IPSUM' in the subject line?"

Thanks for reading,

Eren Daskesen

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