6 Core Components of a Sustainable Newsletter Engine

2024 unexpectedly turned into the year I wanted to learn how newsletters really work ... here's what I uncovered

Actual picture of where I write this newsletter every day.

This year, I set out to answer a question that has lingered in my mind: How do newsletters work?

Not just how they technically function, but what it takes to grow a newsletter when you have serious writing chops and ambition in the mix.

I reached back into my files and started trying to figure out if the tools I’d used outside Substack could be adapted on the inside — without changing too much about what made publishing here quite wonderful when I first began writing here a few years ago. After reimagining a few bits and bobs and testing a few best practices from marketing, ecommerce and just general audience nurturing ideas, I recognized an undoubtable momentum showing up in my newsletter.

Since then, I’ve made a lot of strategic decisions for my work with various tools in the mix. Bit by bit, I tested inside my newsletter and shared insights with my paid members and a small group of clients. And six clear components rose to the surface again and again. They were so consistent that I decided to share them with you today and build my publishing plan around them in the new year.

The 6 Components of a Newsletter Engine

But before we dive in, it’s important to acknowledge that I’m not sure I’ve met a writer who was outright eager to think about marketing their work. Even with my professional experience, I, too, feel hesitant to mix business principles in with my writing darlings.

But the reality I come up against over and over again is that if any of us want to grow our newsletter on our own terms, paying attention to how newsletters function would be wise to do. And if you keep reading, I think you’ll discover there’s a way to do that work with the right strategic pieces in place while still holding onto a broad spectrum of creative leverage.

1. Understanding Your Audience

Learning about your readers gets a bad reputation. And it’s true that without proper guardrails, anyone can become borderline obsessed with appeasing them. But that’s not how I’d like to relate to audience knowledge at all.

At the heart of authentic audience knowledge is an earnest desire to understand and connect with them. When done well and sustainably, it can be rooted in a lot of relational principles and authentic connection. When you do this work, everything about how you present your newsletter to the world becomes easier.

For me, this work began with the Substack survey this summer. I asked a lot of questions: When does a subscription start to feel pricey to you? What makes you feel valued by a creator when you upgrade? How often do you like hearing from newsletters you love?

The responses, from a large sample size, no less, provided clarity about how to adjust subscription pricing (I was in a building year), how to press the limits of my publishing cadence and when and how often to try inviting readers to upgrade. I discovered that most of my readers valued what they received, and when invited authentically to upgrade, were happy to do so.

Action Step: If you don’t know what’s drawing readers to your newsletter, you should consider asking them. It doesn’t have to be a 30-question survey — a few thoughtful questions can reveal patterns and opportunities you might not have seen. And if you’re nervous about writing polls and surveys? Stay tuned. January is all about audience knowledge and the art of asking your readers questions so that you learn something and they have a good time along the way. 💻 Subscribe here.

2. Delivering Quality Writing In a Cadence Readers Enjoy

One of the first things almost every writer wants to know when they start publishing a newsletter is: “How often should I publish?”

And the answer, of course, is: It depends.

You’ll discover over time (if you’re paying attention to this newsletter engine stuff) what feels right for you and readers.

But even as I say that, I’m also deeply familiar with how helpful even a little bit of context can be, so let’s look at a bit of data.

I can tell you that 55% of Substack readers who took my survey said that hearing once a week from a newsletter was all they could keep up with. But 31% also said multiple times a week was fine as long as what they receive is “top notch.”

→ Those results tell me it’s probably best to start slow and that there’s room for iteration. Newsletter quality, style, format and cadence really do come down to you and what you learn over time about your work and readers.

Just remember that for every absolutist recommendation (“never publish more than once a week” or “don’t write more than 500 words in an essay”), there’s an example of someone who works inside the exact opposite framework and also has a flourishing newsletter.

Action Step: Don’t let perfection be the enemy of published. Set a standard publishing rhythm and test, test, test. This newsletter business leans a lot on quality writing and clarity of purpose. Pay attention to what feels energizing and sustainable, and adapt as needed.

3. Engaging and Building Reader Experiences

There are a lot of writers (myself included) who find the concept of maintaining reader relationships to be a tenuous proposition. I’ve discovered after working inside this core component that the less pressure you put on yourself to “perform” and rest naturally into how you like to engage with others, the easier this part of the engine becomes.

How you engage with your readers doesn’t have to mean chasing endless comments or replies. It can be about how you establish a flow of connection and awareness of what your readers contribute just by opening, liking your essay and moving on.

Action Step: Consider how your readers naturally engage with your work. The other day I encouraged someone to imagine if his digital newsletter were in a brick-and-mortar store. What kind of live event would his readers sign up for in a heartbeat? Sometimes building a case for what might compel a person to leave their home also holds clues about what inspires them to keep reading a newsletter. Give it a try and let me know what you find.

4. Getting Comfortable with Promotions

Growth, whether that’s growing free readers or trying to get them to support your work, involves reminding them of how to offer that support in the first place.

In the early days of Substack, one-time promotional emails didn’t feel necessary. But as the platform evolved, so did the need to share our work more intentionally — and in more focused contexts than the “subscribe now” pop-up screen that Substack generates.

Promotions don’t have to mean being “salesy.” If you believe in the gift of your writing, the community you’ve built or the vision you have for your newsletter, somewhere inside, there is a medicine that people truly need in their lives. When promotions are rooted in something you earnestly need your readers to know about, all sorts of creative and authentic promotional doors can open up.

Action Step: When writing a promotional email, I find a lot of writers do best casting a vision of what they dream of, rather than listing bullet points of features (those rarely work in inboxes, anyways). See what happens if you send a promo email that paints a picture of where you hope you’ll all be in five years. Lean into your storytelling chops, have a little fun, be facetious, be serious, be downright audacious — paint a picture and invite readers in. Remember: You’re trying to get them to pay attention and take action inside their inboxes. This is competitive ground, but not as much as if you have a relationship with your readers and you have a little fun.

5. Using Data Meaningfully

Data is also another area where writers tend to get squeamish. And I don’t blame anyone for wanting to avoid their dashboard. Real-time, daily data tracking is wholly unproductive for the creative writer or entrepreneur. That’s why I like to set my dashboard to this view, keep writing and check in once a month.

Analytics can be sobering, but they can also be a powerful counterpoint to the emotional digging most writers do on a daily basis. Data points like clicks, shares and post views summarize what’s moving readers to action. While anecdotal feedback is certainly valuable, data provides a broader picture of what’s working at scale. It’s a powerful mechanism when you’re at a crossroads. And it’s the first place I turn when someone says their newsletter feels stuck.

Action Step: If you feel queasy about dashboards, start by keeping an eye on a measurement that I use to gauge the overall health of any newsletter: total views per month. Because as long as this number keeps trending upward, you’re probably doing OK. Just be sure your ecosystem is set up well and that you’re publishing the writing you do best. As long as total views per month keep increasing, the other mechanisms inside your newsletter should be working well, too.

6. Delivering Value & Understanding Monetization

Although delivering value and monetization aren’t always directly linked, it’s important to recognize that even free readers need to be shown (and reminded of) the value of subscribing. On Wednesday I’ll be sharing a 2025 Newsletter Forecast where we’ll explore more deeply what it means to provide tangibility to your newsletter product.

How you create a valuable experience has to extend beyond listing the ingredients inside your newsletter. These things might be endlessly fascinating to you, but listing them like a nutritional ingredients label is usually a hard sell.

→ What do you deliver beyond the standard phrases like “great writing,” “engaged community” and so on? Anyone can offer that. Readers are looking to you to answer the question, “Why should I care?”

Of course, once you bring monetization into the mix, delivering on your promise doesn’t necessarily become more complex (caring for free readers is an important part of this work!). But it’s important to understand the psychological and economic factors at play when asking someone to purchase a digital product. As a baseline point of guidance, I always like to remind creators to think of their newsletter as if they’re on a digital shelf — and to charge for the newsletter product they offer today (not the one they aspire to).

Action Step: Reflect on your newsletter’s purpose. How does it serve both your readers and yourself? If paid upgrades are stalled, the best place to look is at where you’re making your first impressions. Because this is also where you’re making your first promises to readers and setting the stage for whether they will be confident in upgrading after spending some time reading along.

What’s Next?

These six components — your audience, creative rhythm, reader experience, promotions, data and value — are the heart of what makes a newsletter work. But that doesn’t mean everything is now simplified and straightforward. In fact, the entire reason we’ll be spending 2025 working systemically through these core newsletter components is because, inevitably, the most challenging part of growing a newsletter is knowing how to pivot, when to do so and what tools you need along the way.

I know firsthand how overwhelming all this can feel. In the beginning, pulling tools out of my professional treasure chest often felt like choosing whether to tackle a crocodile, a freight train or a tsunami. And the truth is, growing a newsletter can be messy. Some seasons will demand prioritizing consistency over creativity; others might ask you to lean into audience nurturing or experiment with something entirely new.

But here’s what I’ve learned: You don’t have to get it all buttoned up at once, and there’s no such thing as finished. The tools we’ll explore together aren’t about replicating the complexity of a media empire — they’re about helping you decide what’s worth nurturing in your own newsletter and setting boundaries that feel sustainable.

Wherever you are in your journey, I hope you’ll come along and see what happens when you nurture your newsletter. And if something from this resonates, I’d love to hear about it.

What’s one idea, insight or shift you’re excited to try? Tell us in the comments below — I’d love to know what spoke to you and how you see it fitting into your newsletter engine.

A Bit of Housekeeping 💵

My newsletter is $75 a year until January.

Then it’ll cost $99 a year.

When you sign up for The Editing Spectrum, you don’t have to wait for my next essay to start nurturing your newsletter engine. You get instant access to an organized archive of resources, built around the six main newsletter components that help newsletter creators iterate with more confidence and build momentum.

Coming Wednesday…

Publishing here on Wednesday.