Why Most Creators Fail to Monetize Their Email List

9 out of 10 newsletters never cross $10K/mo in revenue because of these 4 avoidable mistakes: 1. They pick the wrong niche Some niches are just hard to monetize or too commoditized. You can write a killer newsletter on AI trends or self-improvement, but if your readers don’t have a budget or urgency, you’ll struggle. You need an audience with money and motivation. So, before you commit, ask: • Does the end reader have a lot of purchasing power? • Are companies spending serious money here? • Are other creators monetizing in this space? • Is this market saturated or underserved? • What can I sell beyond sponsorships? If the answers are weak, pivot. 2. They try to monetize with sponsorships too early Sponsorships feel like the obvious path. But they’re the hardest way to make your first dollar. Why? Because to land sponsors, you need: • A big list (usually >5K subs in B2B, 10k+ in B2C, just for a shot at tiny deals) • Strong open & click rates • A clean media kit • Time-consuming negotiations, invoices, and payment follow-ups Even then? You might close one $300 deal. It’s a slow, sales-heavy grind. Instead: Start by selling your time. Offer a high-ticket service like coaching, consulting, or done-for-you work. It’s fast. It’s profitable. And it only takes 1–2 clients to make real money. 3. They wait 6 months to sell anything Growing your list feels productive. But without monetization, it’s a vanity metric. I’ve seen creators build to 10K subs… and still have no clue if anyone will pay them. So don’t wait. Validate your monetization potential in the first 90 days. You’re not trying to make big money right away. You’re just trying to answer: “Will anyone pull out their wallet for this?” Once you get a yes, you can scale with confidence. 4. They cold email sponsors (like everyone else) When people do chase sponsorships, they all do the same thing: Cold email marketing directors… and get buried in a pile of 47 similar pitches. Here’s a better approach: • List your dream 100 clients • Find 2nd/3rd-degree LinkedIn connections • Be shocked at how many mutuals you have • Spend 1 hour a day reaching out to these people and asking for a warm introduction • Send forwardable emails that require 0 work for your mutual to make the intro • Hop on calls and watch your close rate 2-3x vs. cold outreach If you don’t have any mutual connections in your market, you should spend every Friday meeting 2-3 new people. There’s doing things right and then there’s doing the right things. Spend less time slinging $300 ad deals and more time aggressively building your network. Use a low volume of high-ticket sales to fund your growth to 50k subscribers. And if you feel like you’ve been running uphill in your niche for 6-9 months with no traction and not getting enough energy to write about it for free, pivot.

You don't need a million subscribers. You need the right 10,000. That shift changes how you grow—and how you monetize. I was catching up with with Alex Lieberman (Co-Founder of Morning Brew) a couple weeks ago. We swapped stories about media and creators, and he mentioned he was heading on My First Million to talk newsletter growth with Sam. That episode stuck with me. There are really two ways to grow a newsletter: 1️⃣ Grow fast. Sell ads. 2️⃣ Grow smart. Acquire customers. Both can work. But if your newsletter supports a B2B product or startup, volume isn't the goal. Intent is. If your goal is to drive customer acquisition for a B2B solution, those high-volume subscriber buys simply don't hold up. Last year, we chased subscriber counts, but the metrics that mattered weren't moving. We tested channels like TikTok, DMI, and co-reg. While you can generate subscribers for $1.50-$2.00, the results were terrible. High churn. Low open rates. Almost zero conversions. We paused those campaigns. Instead, we shifted to channels that bring in quality: ✅ Meta + LinkedIn ads with clear value props ✅ Sparkloop and swaps with aligned partners ✅ Organic referrals through social + built-in programs After some list clean up, we've seen newsletter open rates jump as high as 8%. A meaningful lift at scale. Once you're growing with focus, the next step is monetization. That means placing conversion points where they'll actually perform. We've seen strong results with two placements: ➡️ Subscription Thank-You Page Lead magnet > sign-up > premium content offer We use progressive forms to capture additional info (domain, industry, company size). This cuts the time from subscriber to lead from weeks to minutes. ➡️ Curated Text-Based Ads Text-based, contextual, and skimmable. They blend in, don't interrupt the reader, and consistently drive more clicks than native banner ads. Building newsletters this way takes time. It's hard to scale. But it supports a healthier business. This approach isn't right for every newsletter. But if your goal is customer acquisition, intentional growth is worth the effort.

I just chatted with a LinkedIn creator who has: • A 15k email list • A 200k LI following • And handful of different offers The problem? He’s not making as much money as he’d like from his email list. But after chatting with him for 30 minutes, I could see why. Here’s the 2 biggest mistakes he’s making (and the advice I shared with him): 1/ Prioritize your lead magnet Unlike most creators I talk to, this guy actually has a solid lead magnet. And he’s set it up so he can pitch folks on his offer after a series of nurturing emails. It’s great stuff. But here’s the catch: He’s not doing a great job of promoting it and getting more people into that funnel. For example: On his profile, he’s promoting his paid product instead of his lead magnet. But that’s like asking someone to marry you on the first date. Most people will say “no.” And in this case, you will lose on the opportunity to capture their email too. So instead of doing that, I told him he should *only* use LinkedIn to promote his lead magnet. That way, he can: • Get more people into his freebie funnel • Educate them and provide tons of value • And pitch them on buying once they’re more likely to buy 2/ Extend LTV Another mistake this guy is making: Prioritizing new over existing customers. He’s had hundreds of people buy some of his courses and digital products. However, he is not putting enough effort into nurturing those customers after they buy something from him. And as a result, he’s missing out on cross-selling and upselling opportunities. So, instead here’s what I recommended: Setting up a Post-Purchase Sequence for his flagship product. Using the first 5-6 emails to: • Nurture people • Gather feedback • And ask for testimonials After that initial nurturing, he can introduce another offer to help his customers solve their *next* problem. One of the biggest marketing lessons I’ve learned over the past 3 years: It’s 10x easier to sell something to one of your existing customers than to acquire a new one. So, keep that in mind as you build out your funnels & value ladder. And that’s it! If you found this helpful, gimme a follow → Daniel Bustamante 🥷🏻. Every day I share actionable frameworks to help you make more 💰 from your email list.

30 million monthly readers couldn't save my startup from failing. After selling Bleacher Report for $200M, I built Inverse and learned the hardest lesson. Scale without monetization is a death trap: Those 30 million readers were daily viral hits... reaching more people than most major newspapers. But we were bleeding cash faster than we could monetize. Every month, our burn rate increased, while revenue lagged behind. We'd built a rocket ship with no fuel tank. The vanity metric trap completely seduced us. Investors loved our hockey stick charts, TechCrunch celebrated our numbers, and our egos fed on the millions. None of it paid the bills. At Bleacher Report, we got lucky with timing... scaled fast enough to sell before the market shifted. With Inverse, the music stopped. Our fatal playbook: • Monetize "later" • Chase viral traffic at all costs • Burn capital to beat competitors This worked in 2012. By 2016, it was suicide. Programmatic ads collapsed. Facebook changed its algorithms overnight. We'd built on someone else's foundation. Our burn rate reached unprecedented levels - a large editorial team, expensive video production, and multiple verticals spread us thin. Meanwhile, smarter founders went niche. Newsletter writers built $500K businesses with 10,000 subscribers. We had 30 million readers and couldn't break even. They owned their audience. We rented ours. What works in 2025: Start with revenue day 1 - Build pricing before product. Morning Brew validated sponsorships before hiring writers. Build for 1,000 true fans - Stratechery charges $120/year and has built an empire focusing on readers who pay. Own your channels - Email lists, SMS, and owned platforms. Never let platforms control your destiny. Stay lean until revenue justifies growth. Profitable newsletters typically run with 2-3 people, whereas we tried to scale with 30. These Inverse lessons transformed how I advise media founders today. Building a content startup? Let's map out your monetization-first growth plan.