Guides
Newsletter content ideas that hold up beyond the first week
Seventeen newsletter formats that survive past week one, with the reporting, sourcing, editing and production workflow each recurring format demands.
What to take away
- A format survives week one when you can name its source, its per-issue cost in hours, and the person who files it.
- Recurring formats built on public records, filings and calendars are the cheapest to keep running.
- Formats that need interviews, original data or photography cost the most and stall first.
- Run a new format four times before you sell a sponsorship against it.
- Every issue needs a named owner and a review date, or it quietly stops.
The 17 newsletter content ideas, and what each one costs you
Every format below already runs somewhere, and each one is paired with a named publication you can read before you commit your own list to it. Hours are illustrative, not benchmarks: time one issue end to end and substitute your own.
Format load per issue
Format
- Industry briefing
- Trade press
- Curated links
- Feeds, alerts
- Deep-dive analysis
- Filings, dockets
- Expert interview
- Booked calls
- Case-study teardown
- One customer
- Data chart edition
- Your data
Source
- Industry briefing
- 2-3 hours
- Curated links
- 1-2 hours
- Deep-dive analysis
- 6-10 hours
- Expert interview
- 4-6 hours
- Case-study teardown
- 5-8 hours
- Data chart edition
- 3-5 hours
Load
- Industry briefing
- Curated links
- Deep-dive analysis
- Expert interview
- Case-study teardown
- Data chart edition
| # | Format and named example | Source | Load per issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Industry briefing: Punchbowl News | Trade press and regulator notices; the Washington title launched in 2021 with three Politico veterans | 2 to 3 hours |
| 2 | Curated link edition: Dense Discovery | Saved feeds and Google Alerts; Kai Brach sends it every Tuesday, free with a paid membership | 1 to 2 hours |
| 3 | Deep-dive analysis: The Information | Filings, permits, court dockets; Jessica Lessin's subscription title costs about $400 a year | 6 to 10 hours |
| 4 | Expert interview: Stratechery | Two booked calls and transcription; Ben Thompson's paid tier of about $15 a month carries the Thursday interview | 4 to 6 hours |
| 5 | Case-study teardown: Marketing Examples | One cooperative customer; Harry Dry's free short write-ups of real campaigns | 5 to 8 hours |
| 6 | Data chart edition: Chartr | Your own list or sales data; the daily letter builds each issue around one chart | 3 to 5 hours |
| 7 | Reader Q&A: Ask a Manager | Inbox submissions; Alison Green answers workplace questions sent in by readers | 2 to 3 hours |
| 8 | Tools roundup: Ben's Bites | Hands-on use of each tool; Ben Tossell's daily AI letter covers new tools and launches | 4 to 6 hours |
| 9 | Local events guide: Axios Local | City calendar and venue listings; free city editions such as Axios Charlotte and Axios Denver | 1 to 2 hours |
| 10 | Jobs edition: Climatebase | Employer postings and the state job board; the climate jobs board sends a weekly digest | 1 to 2 hours |
| 11 | Founder diary: The Bootstrapped Founder | The owner's own week; Arvid Kahl writes weekly about building small software businesses | 1 hour |
| 12 | Behind-the-scenes issue: Milk Street | Your own shop or office; Christopher Kimball's Boston test kitchen and cooking school | 2 to 3 hours |
| 13 | Research survey: Morning Consult | A list-wide poll, then tabulation; the Washington research firm publishes daily poll results | 8 to 12 hours |
| 14 | Predictions issue: The World Ahead | Last year's issue, plus 12 months of hindsight; The Economist publishes this edition each November | 3 to 4 hours |
| 15 | Myth-check issue: PolitiFact | Reader claims you can verify; the Poynter Institute runs it and rates claims on the Truth-O-Meter | 3 to 5 hours |
| 16 | Template issue: Lenny's Newsletter | A document you already use; Lenny Rachitsky keeps a free public template library | 2 to 3 hours |
| 17 | Annual benchmark report: State of the Cloud | A year of your own numbers; Bessemer Venture Partners publishes the cloud report yearly | 20 hours or more |
Three of these are nearly free. The events guide, the jobs edition and the founder diary draw on material that already crosses your desk, which is why they are the ones to start with when the list is small.
The annual benchmark report is the opposite. It is the format sponsors pay most for and the one most likely to be abandoned in month nine, because it needs twelve months of consistent collection before it can be written at all.
What makes a format last past week one
A format holds when the source is outside your head. Regulator notices, permit filings, city calendars and job boards publish on their own schedule whether or not you feel inspired.
Will this format survive?
Does the source publish on its own schedule?
Format holds past week one
Format slips when a guest cancels
A format dies when it depends on a person agreeing to talk. Interviews and case studies are the strongest issues you will publish and the first to slip, because a cancelled call becomes a missed issue.
Punchbowl News files its briefing off a published calendar. A Stratechery interview waits on a guest saying yes. Count the hours before you commit: if a format takes six hours and you have three, you will publish it twice and then quietly stop.
Sourcing rules that keep you out of trouble
Quote public records and say which record. "The county issued 41 permits in March" is checkable; "permits are up" is not.
Sourcing rules before you publish
- Quote the public record and name it
- Link the study, not a summary
- Cite what a competitor published
- Disclose paid placements and affiliate links
- Apply FTC claim and endorsement rules
When you cite a study, link the study, not a summary of it. When you cite a competitor, cite something they published.
Paid placements and affiliate links inside a roundup need disclosure. The FTC advertising guide for small business covers claim substantiation and endorsement disclosure, and it applies to a two-hundred-subscriber list the same as a national one.
Getting consent and opt-outs right
Every commercial issue needs accurate sender identification, a truthful subject line, a physical postal address and a working opt-out. The CAN-SPAM compliance guide sets those out, including the ten-business-day suppression window and your responsibility for a vendor sending on your behalf.
Commercial issue compliance
- Accurate sender identification
- Truthful subject line
- Physical postal address
- Working opt-out
- Ten-business-day suppression window
- Vendor sending on your behalf
If a format sells a paid subscription or a free trial that converts, the signup flow is a separate compliance question. The FTC's recap of negative-option rules explains that material terms must be disclosed before billing details are collected and that cancelling must be as easy as signing up.
State privacy statutes add duties on top. Confirm with a licensed attorney which apply to your subscribers before you change a signup form.
Selling a format before it is proven
Do not put a new format on a rate card until you have published it four times. Four issues is enough to know the real hours, and enough for a sponsor to see the thing exists.
When to sell a format
- 4issues published before a rate card
- 8hours a format can take
- $400example sponsorship rate
- $50effective hourly rate
Price the slot against the hours, not against what a larger list charges. If a format takes eight hours and your rate is $400, you are working for $50 an hour before platform fees and payment processing.
Put a cancellation term in every sponsorship agreement and have a licensed attorney review the contract before you sign it.
Common questions
How many formats should a small list run at once?
Two or three. One anchor format that publishes every week, plus one or two that rotate. More than that and the calendar becomes the constraint rather than the reporting.
Which format is easiest to start this week?
The founder diary. It needs no sourcing, no permissions and no scheduling, and it is the one readers reply to most. Move to the events guide once the diary is running on time.
When should a format be retired?
When it has missed three scheduled issues, or when the source it depends on stops publishing. Retire it in the issue itself and tell readers what replaces it.
Do these formats work for a paid list?
Yes, with one change: paid readers expect the deep-dive and the benchmark report, which are the two most expensive formats. Model the hours against subscription revenue before you promise them. See the content and production guide for the full production calendar.
