Newsletter

How Much Money Do Newsletters Make? (2024)

Pat Walls

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Updated: June 23rd, 2024

TL;DR:

Based on our data, newsletters can make between $160-$4,100,000 per month.
The average revenue for a successful newsletter is $221K per month.
The highest grossing newsletter in our records makes over $49,200,000 per year.
Newsletter owners salaries can vary wildly depending on industry, niche, and size of the business

So you're thinking about starting a newsletter?

And now you're wondering how much newsletter owners actually make...

Well, let’s dive in!

Here are example of real newsletters and how much money they make - as reported by the founders themselves:

1. Morning Brew ($49.2M/year)

Back in 2014, Alex noticed that his college peers lacked knowledge about current business news while he was helping them prepare for interviews. In response, he decided to create a valuable resource for them and launched a daily newsletter called The Market Corner.

Initially, it was in PDF format, but it later evolved into what we now know as Morning Brew.

How much money it makes: $49.2M/year

2. MarketBeat ($36M/year)

Matt Paulson, the founder of MarketBeat, came up with the idea for his business while working as a freelance writer in college. He discovered that stock investors were eager for real-time information and news about their investments, leading him to create a newsletter that provided convenient and timely updates. Over time, MarketBeat evolved into a financial media company, generating $8 million in revenue in 2019 and boasting 1.3 million email subscribers.

How much money it makes: $36M/year

3. Prime Publishing LLC ($7.2M/year)

Stuart Hochwert, founder of Prime Publishing LLC, came up with the idea for his business while noticing that traditional print publishers in the Arts and Crafts space were experiencing circulation declines. Seeing the shift of "eyeballs" moving online, he developed a plan to create a free website focused on Arts and Crafts, leading to the launch of FaveCrafts.com. This decision, along with strategic marketing efforts and the addition of premium content, has contributed to Prime Publishing's success, generating over $10 million in advertising revenues and diversifying their revenue streams.

How much money it makes: $7.2M/year

Dan was a stock trader in NYC after his education, but his interest in software and engineering led him to create Scraper API, a tool for developers to extract data from web pages.

After running the business for a few years and scaling it to six figures in revenue, he decided to start a newsletter due to his growing fascination with technology and current news.

How much money it makes: $5M/year

5. The Pomp Letter ($4.2M/year)

Pompliano started The Pomp Letter because he loved writing and wanted to share his analysis his quickly growing Twitter audience.

I started writing because it helped me to formulate my thoughts each day. You can’t write clearly if your thinking is messy. — Anthony Pompliano (Source)

From the onset, Pomp loved writing because it helped him to formulate his thoughts each day. He is a serial entrepreneur and an investor who loves sharing his analysis on the latest in business, finance, the economy, and Bitcoin.

His audience includes everyone from legendary Wall Street investors to CEOs of publicly traded companies to the average retail investor trying to get started.

How much money it makes: $4.2M/year

6. Not Boring ($3M/year)

Packy's idea to start the Not Boring newsletter originated from his previous experiences and circumstances. After leaving his role as a VP of Experience, he had been nurturing his writing skills and interest by working on an email newsletter called "Per my last email," a project he started during David Perell’s "Write of Passage" course.

During the same time, in January 2020, he also launched the Not Boring Social Club, which aimed to organize social dinners and trivia nights. However, the club's activities were significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a result, he decided to rebrand his newsletter to Not Boring, using his passion and talent for writing to officially launch his newsletter.

How much money it makes: $3M/year

7. Contrarian Thinking ($3M/year)

Codie Sanchez, the founder of Contrarian Thinking, came up with the idea for her business after experiencing numerous career changes and realizing that money was the key to solving problems. After working in finance and investing, she decided to blend her love for writing, investing, and teaching others to create a company that helps people achieve financial freedom. Through her premium membership community, Contrarian Cashflow, she teaches members how to add more cash-flowing income streams to their portfolios and build the life they have always dreamed of. With over 100,000 newsletter subscribers, a community of 1.5 million people, and a run rate of $3 million this year, Contrarian Thinking is empowering individuals to challenge the status quo and shape their own destinies.

How much money it makes: $3M/year

8. Stacked Marketer ($2.5M/year)

Emanuel Cinca came up with the idea for Stacked Marketer while working as an affiliate marketer. In 2018, seeking to create his own product and control the entire customer journey, he experimented with various ideas. During this period, he discovered Morning Brew, a finance-focused newsletter.

This inspired him to wonder if a similar newsletter existed for affiliate marketing, and finding that there wasn't one, he decided to create Stacked Marketer to fill that gap.

How much money it makes: $2.5M/year

9. Pragmatic Engineer ($1.5M/year)

After leaving his engineering manager position at Uber, Gergely Orosz planned to spend a few months writing books and then start a startup related to platform engineering or developer tools later in the year.

He started writing online and self-published three books, which unexpectedly generated significant income.

Recognizing the potential for a profitable solo venture, Orosz decided against starting a traditional startup. Instead, he launched The Pragmatic Engineer newsletter, aiming to write a publication that he wished he had access to when he worked at Uber.

How much money it makes: $1.5M/year

10. The Milk Road ($1.5M/year)

Shaan Puri and Ben Levy were friends. While working on Shaan’s brand, they delved deep into the crypto ecosystem. Since they were talented writers, they decided to turn their hobby and interests into a full-time gig.

embed:tweet

Shaan's Tweet explaining how they started Milk Road

How much money it makes: $1.5M/year