Despite a decade of social media dominance, email newsletters remain the most powerful tool in a writer's platform-building arsenal. Yet in the Substack era, many writers approach newsletters with confusion, reluctance, or half-hearted commitmentâmissing their true potential while chasing trends.
A common question in writing classes these days is some version of: âShould I start a Substack?â But that's the wrong place to start. Before any writer can answer it, they need to get clear on what their newsletter is actually forâreaching people who already know and appreciate their work, or reaching total strangers to grow a readership from scratch. These are two different goals that call for two different strategies, and conflating them is the reason so many newsletters end up serving no one well, including the writer sending them.
This live webinar cuts through the hype to reveal what actually works for writers at any stage of their careers. You'll learn why most newsletters fail, and it's rarely about algorithms, platforms, or design. You'll learn how to build content that comes from your genuine creative obsessions instead of a marketing formula, because the newsletters that succeed are the ones with a clear, specific point of view. And you'll get an honest look at the monetization landscape, from leaky paywalls to patronage models, so you can decide if and how charging for your newsletter makes sense.
Jane will also walk through the platform question directly, including when Substack's network effects are genuinely worth using and when they're not, and why still have your own website matters no matter which tools you use to reach readers.
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Meet the instructor
Jane Friedman
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. She has been sending email newsletters since 2009, including a free newsletter that reaches more than 30,000 subscribers and a paid newsletter that generates six figures annually. In 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World. Jane's expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Today Show, Wired, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU's Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
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