Don’t pay for newsletter subscribers until you do this.

3 key factors to consider before diving into paid newsletter growth.

I recently wrote about the rise of newsletter recommendations. But something I didn’t cover in depth was the paid growth opportunity.

When that article was published, SparkLoop’s Partner Program was the only method available to indie newsletter publishers to pay for newsletter recommendations in the sign-up flow. Since, beehiiv has launched its Boosts feature which offers the same paid recommendation capability within their beehiiv network.

SparkLoop launched its Partner Network in 2022, along with its Upscribe recommendation widget allowing newsletter publishers with Partner Programs to pay other newsletters in their partner network for qualified, approved subscribers.

Beehiiv just launched its Boosts feature to do the same in its network. One would imagine it’s only a matter of time before Substack (and others?) follow suit.

These platforms are trying to solve the “big problem” for newsletter publishers: newsletters are notoriously hard to grow. So, the temptation to jump in and start blowing budgets to get new subscribers is real.