Backend SQL and PHP developer with an infusion of technical writing and entrepreneurial dreams. Working towards paving my own way in the creator economy with lessons learned and more importantly, those yet still to come.
Paying attention to the newsletter space
I've noticed an interesting metric that I believe deserves some attention (from me at least).
In 4+ years of weekly blogging on my Digital Owl's Prose developer blog, I have approximately 180 readers who receive an email every time I publish an article. To be fair, this isn't necessarily the same thing as an email list but, is instead a WordPress(dot)com thing.
However, in 6+ months of publishing my weekly OpenLampTech Substack newsletter, I have amassed approximately 132 (at the time of writing) subscribers who have subscribed to the newsletter by allowing me the privilege of their email address.
Let that sink in.
Yes, those are small numbers. But look at these trends (perhaps a bad choice of word here, but we will go with it):
The numbers
- Blog: 4+ years -> 180 readers
- Newsletter: 6+ months -> 132 email subscribers
The content
- Blog: Original content, mostly niche-specific to SQL databases.
- Newsletter: Mostly curated content (with some original) on MySQL, PHP, and the LAMP stack ecosystem.
The platform and growth channels
- Blog: WordPress(dot)com / SEO (which I suck at) / Social media shares
- Newsletter: Substack / Email / Public page / Social media shares.
Is all of this nonsense garbage and vanity metrics?
Or is this asking me, "Why the hell are you wasting time on anything other than the newsletter?"
Something I am definitely thinking about.
I don’t have all of May’s earning numbers yet but, hopefully I will be able to share them with you in next week’s issue.
I enjoyed these reads this week and think you will too:
- Merchants and creators shift the internet landscape
- StackHacks: Get More Readers - part 3
- A day in the life of a newsletter writer
(Cover picture credits: Image by Tumisu, please consider ☕ Thank you! 🤗 from Pixabay)
Hi! I'm Joshua Otwell.
Backend SQL and PHP developer with an infusion of technical writing and entrepreneurial dreams. Working towards paving my own way in the creator economy with lessons learned and more importantly, those yet still to come.
Some housekeeping. I originally had 2 different forms for this email list before re-branding it to the current iteration. If you signed up here or here and no longer wish to receive these emails, please opt out at the bottom of this newsletter. No hard feelings at all. Read in browser I notice 2 specific skills that have stuck with me over the last couple of years that are intertwined together: Writing Programming and Code Writing about programming and code Oops. Yeah, I know. That's 3...
Some housekeeping. I originally had 2 different forms for this email list before re-branding it to the current iteration. If you signed up here or here and no longer wish to receive these emails, please opt out at the bottom of this newsletter. No hard feelings at all. I believe goal setting is essential in order to track progress or regression. My short-term goal is to consistently make $50/month combined from any of my side hustles. Seems reasonable right? Not too overly ambitious. I'll...
Some housekeeping. I originally had 2 different forms for this email list before re-branding it to the current iteration. If you signed up here or here and no longer wish to receive these emails, please opt out at the bottom of this newsletter. No hard feelings at all. "Skills pay the bills…" That is the jest of it at least. However, are self-taught or self-realized skills also valuable? Sometimes I feel I need some form of validation for the skills I've learned on my own as a self-starter or...