Paid newsletters and writing as product

Via

The Times recently announced a slew of newsletters limited to paid subscribers. They’re converting existing newsletters to paid and creating new offerings explicitly for this push.

This effort drives home the heart of newsletters’ success — they’re a pure distillation of writing into a digital product. Micropayments are too clunky. Wide-ranging subscriptions rely on heavy usage, while most news consumers are casual browsers. Newsletters circumvent these issues with a few key qualities:

Proactive delivery

All attention markets are saturated, on both ends. Open publishing channels flood platforms with more content than anyone could ever consume. Cheap and easy access to this content leaves people with almost no extra time. There’s no room to expand.

In such a tight market, access is key. Nothing beats directly reaching an audience, without needing them to come find you. Games and streaming services work hard for dedicated real estate on your devices, or in your home. News tries to adapt this strategy (push notifications), but these efforts are limited. Publishers still largely rely on you clicking a link and going to a webpage.

Newsletters give outlets a footing with their audience. They combine notification, dedicated real estate, and a discrete piece of content…