How to start a newsletter in 2025

This post is about the importance of newsletters for the creatives, intellectuals, and entrepreneurs.

Don’t think of this post as an “ultimate guide,” but think of it as a launchpad on how to get started and harness the power of newsletters in ways that feel authentic and aligned with your long-term goals.

Building a successful newsletter isn’t easy. You’ll make a ton of mistakes along the way — I most definitely did. But the process of publishing your ideas and building an audience is one of the most fulfilling and expansive acts of service there is.

This is the article I wish existed when I first started building my newsletter. My hope is that by the end of it, you’ll have a clear plan of action on how to start and grow a newsletter successfully in 2025 (and for many years to come!).

Is starting a newsletter worth it?

The honest answer is … it depends.

If you hate writing and have no interest in sharing your ideas, building an audience, or starting a business, I wouldn’t recommend starting one. Keep doing what you’re doing. Optimize for your own joy.

But if you enjoy (or are curious about) writing and want a creative outlet without the pressure of monetizing it, a newsletter can be a great way to keep you consistent and accountable with your writing. And if you do it right, this new creative venture can open up opportunities for connection, personal and creative growth, and who knows? Maybe you’ll get to make a few bucks along the way.

Now, if your goal is to turn your writing and ideas into a source of income or if you have (or want to have) a successful business, building a newsletter is a must.

I can’t tell you whether starting a newsletter is for you or not. But what I can tell you is that if you’re seeing a gap in the market with content that will bring value to others, and you believe you have the knowledge, passion, and care — emphasis on care — to deliver that value better than anyone else, then starting a newsletter is 1000% worth it. I would even go as far as saying that it is your duty to share your knowledge and fill that gap.

How to start a newsletter in 2025

Even though building a successful newsletter isn’t easy, starting one has never been easier. I’ve started a handful of newsletters and have gone from idea to launch in a couple of days. Platforms like Substack, Beehiiv, and Kit make the process frictionless. But with so many options and tools available, it can feel overwhelming.

The key is to keep it simple, focus on high-quality content, and stay consistent. If you do that and follow the steps below, you’ll be well on your way to creating a newsletter people love.

1. Have a damn good idea

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Having a good idea is key for the success of your newsletter. If people don’t find your newsletter informative, inspiring, or entertaining, they’re not going to stay subscribed for a long time or worst, they won’t subscribe at all.

Retention is the name of the game. The longer someone stays a subscriber, the more likely they are to share your emails to their friends and colleagues. This is not only a good indicator that you’re producing something of value, but it also creates a powerful growth loop for your newsletter — word of mouth.

Your newsletter should be a gift to your audience. It should also be a gift to yourself.

That’s precisely what my newsletter (and this blog) is. It’s for me. It’s my “diary” of my favorite thing — writing, creativity, marketing, psychology. It’s what’s kept me going. It’s what I love. And because of that, it’s a joy to make.

The best advice I can give your for coming up with a damn good idea for your newsletter is: find a content topic or idea YOU would subscribe to. Be it cat memes, curated content (from business to entertainment to food), educational insights from your career, news about topics that are important to you, and so on. If there’s something you wish was out there, it means there’s a gap somewhere in the market. And you have an opportunity to fill that gap and give your gift to others.

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. — Pablo Picasso

Mark Manson wrote “The Subtle Art of Not Giving an F*uck” for himself. He thought most self-help books were shit so he wrote the book he had to read. That book went on to sell over 15 million copies and spent 307 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list.

Moral of the story? Create something you want to subscribe to.

2. Choose a platform

It doesn’t have to be for life. That’s the beauty of newsletters. Unlike social media platforms, if you get sick of one platform, you can pick up your list and move it somewhere else.

Start with a user-friendly tool like Kit (which is what I use), Beehiiv, or Substack. Don’t overthink it. The goal is to get it up and running as quickly as possible. Once you have your platform, create a simple landing page to make it easy for people to subscribe with a short description of what they’ll get. You can always change all of this later.

3. Commit to a publishing cadence

Burnout from the content hamster wheel is a real thing. I’ve come close to it and I’ve seen dozens of creators quit because of it. So it’s important to create a publishing cadence you can keep up with.

If you’ve never started a newsletter before, I would not recommend sending emails daily. Commit to sending out emails monthly but push yourself to a bi-weekly cadence (twice a month). I think weekly emails is the sweet spot, though. It doesn’t overwhelm your audience, gives you enough time to produce quality, and keeps you front of mind.

From the beginning, I started with weekly — and it’s been a cadence I’ve been able to keep up with. The ultimate goal is to publish regularly and stay consistent.

4. Write to one reader

Crowds are not gathering around a single screen to read your email. A newsletter isn’t a one to many communication medium. It’s one to one. That’s why I love them. In a disconnected world, they’re intimate.

Write to one reader. This will make your tone more conversational and engaging. It will help you develop your personal voice. And guess what? There’s no competition for your personal voice. ⁠⁠It’s easy to copy a newsletter model. It’s impossible to replicate a personality.

Also, encourage feedback by asking your readers to reply, share, or suggest topics — it builds trust, connection, and helps you improve. Two birds, one stone.

5. Make a mess

You won’t know what you like if you don’t experiment and get messy. Your newsletter is more than a platform for self-expression; it’s also a platform for self-discovery. Mix in personal stories, practical tips, curated resources, or interviews and see what you like writing that resonates with your readers. I like to call that sweet spot between what you like writing about and what your audience enjoys reading Content-Market Fit. When you achieve content-market fit, your newsletter will grow organically and steadily. Plus, it’ll be a joy to write. And you know what they say, if it was fun to write, it’ll be fun to read.

As you send more emails, over time you’ll start to gain an intuition for what your audience cares about. Two years in, and I know what topics do the best, what times are the best to send my newsletter, and what types of subject lines get the best open rates.

But this information doesn’t always translate to a framework others can follow. You need to develop your own intuition and framework for success, and this only happens by sending a lot of emails, trying new thing, making a mess.

Whether you write 25 or 250 editions, writing online has the power to change your life. It sharpens your thinking, builds meaningful connections, and creates a lasting impact that grows over time.

The tools and technology you use matter little when creating newsletters. What matters most is the ideas you’re writing about and the love and care behind those ideas. Your guiding question should always be: Am I writing emails that I would want to open and read? When the answer is no longer “yes,” that’s your sign to pivot, get curious, and make another mess.

If you’re serious about sharing your ideas, building a media company, or making money from writing online, starting a newsletter is one of the best things you can do for yourself and the people you’re dying to help.

I hope you found this article helpful. If you’re starting (or already started) your newsletter, I’m sending you the best vibes for your newsletter!

If you have any lingering or specific questions feel free to shoot me an email. Or if you already have a newsletter, I’d love to check it out!

Now go out there and write the newsletter you want to see in the world!