How to Make Money From Every Newsletter You Send
A newsletter makes money when every issue points to something, whether that's your own offer, a sponsor or a tool you recommend. Use the same sections every week so readers know what's coming, teach something useful and then point to the one thing that's the natural next step from what you taught. Plan what each issue points to before you write it.
A lot of creators send a newsletter every week for a year and can't point to a single sale that came from one. They put the time in, people open the emails and the money still doesn't show up.
When I look at newsletters like that, the issue usually doesn't point to anything. There's a good article, maybe a few links and a sign-off, and nothing that gives the reader a next step.
You can fix this without writing more. Decide, before you write, what each issue is going to point to.
The three parts of a newsletter that makes money
The structure I teach came out of a six month study of newsletters. It has three parts, and they work together.
The Mini Magazine Method
Your newsletter has the same three to five sections every issue, like a small magazine. Readers know what's coming, it's faster for you to write and you always know which section the offer goes in.
The Teach & Pitch Method
You teach something useful first, then you point to one thing that's the next step from what you taught.
The newsletter as its own product
Each issue is worth reading on its own, with its own job. An offer only gets seen by the people who open the email, so every issue should be worth opening.
Teaching first gets the clicks
I looked at this on my HobbyScool list. Our Sunday newsletter, The Creative Corner, starts with a teaching section about crafting and then points to one of our offers.
Over 90 days, those Sunday newsletters averaged a 3.24% click rate. The promotional emails for our membership averaged 1.09%. So the emails that taught something got about three times the clicks of the emails that only sold something.
Promotional emails still have their place. The teaching newsletter is where a lot of the clicks came from, so each one should point somewhere.
How every one of my editions points somewhere
My Creator's MBA newsletter goes out four times a week, and each edition has a set place where it points to something.
- Sunday teaches one thing in the Deep Dive, features one offer in a box near the top and ends with a short list of my programs. Newsletter Profit Club and the Creator's MBA Mastermind each have a two minute quiz link under them for people who aren't sure yet.
- Saturday is the Event Edition. The headline event is always one of my own events or offers, other people's events go in The Lineup and the P.S. tells readers they can sponsor the newsletter.
- Wednesday is about AI and it's built around something I actually built or used that week. Friday is the Flywheel Edition. This month both of them point to the AI Newsletter Summit.
None of these are long sales pitches. Most of the time it's one box or one paragraph, and it's in the same place every week.
Three things an issue can point to
When people hear "make money from your newsletter," they usually think of their own products. That's one option, and there are two more.
Your own offers, like a course, a membership, a workshop or a template. Sponsors, who pay for a spot in your newsletter. And affiliate income from the tools you already use and recommend.
Your own offers fit best in the issues where the teaching leads right into them. A post about planning your promos can point to a planning workshop. A post about writing faster can point to a skill that helps.
Sponsors work even when you don't have a product that fits that week's topic. I wrote a whole post on how to get paid by sponsors even with a small list, with my actual rate card.
Affiliate income comes from the tools you're already talking about. If you mention a tool you use every week, like the page builder you build your sales pages in, say why you use it and include your link. The disclosure lives in my email footer, so it's there on every send.
If you don't have a paid offer yet
A lot of people on my list don't have a product to sell yet, and that's fine. Your newsletter can still point somewhere every week.
Point to a free resource that leads into something small and paid. Here's how one of mine works. My free 3 Claude Skills freebie leads into the $37 Mini Magazine Method, and the Mini Magazine Method leads into Newsletter Profit Club. Each step is a small yes, and the newsletter can point to the first one any week it fits.
You can also point to a sponsor or a tool you use while you build your first offer. That way your readers get used to seeing a next step in every issue, and when your offer is ready, it goes in the same spot.
Plan what each issue points to first
What makes this work is doing it before you write. I plan what each Sunday issue points to from my promo calendar, so the offer is picked first and the teaching topic is chosen to lead into it.
- List what you can point to, including your own offers, any sponsor spots you have open and the tools you recommend.
- Look at the next four weeks and decide what each issue will point to, based on what you're selling that month.
- Pick a teaching topic that leads into it, so the next step feels natural to the reader.
- Put the offer in the same section every week, so you're never deciding where it goes at the last minute.
If you send one newsletter a week, that's four decisions a month, and you can make all four in one short planning session.
Where I'm teaching this at the summit
The AI Newsletter Summit runs October 27 to 29 and it's free. On Thursday, October 29 from 11:30am to 1pm ET, I'm teaching live: Get Paid: How to Make Money From Every Newsletter You Send. Everyone who attends the summit gets the Newsletter Profit Calculator, which estimates how much your newsletter could earn each month from sponsors, affiliates and your own offers.
A few of the Get Paid workshops to watch before Thursday:
- Jillian Leslie, Your Freebie Should Pay You: The AI System That Turns New Subscribers Into Buyers
- Jess Chan, The Lifecycle Map: How Newsletter Operators Turn Attention Into a Business That Scales
- Brittany Long, How I Used a Scheduled Task to Write My Money-Making Newsletter Each Week
- Destini Copp, Get Paid by Sponsors Even With a Small List
- Destini Copp, Earn From the Tools You Already Recommend
Make money from every newsletter you send
Join me live on Thursday, October 29 at 11:30am ET. The whole AI Newsletter Summit is free, October 27 to 29.
Save your free seat →Frequently asked.
How do I make money from my newsletter?
Make sure every issue points to something. That can be your own offer, a sponsor spot or a tool you recommend with an affiliate link. Teach something useful first, then point to the one thing that's the next step.
What is the Mini Magazine Method?
It's a way of setting up your newsletter so it has the same three to five sections every issue, like a small magazine. Readers know what's coming and you always know where your offer goes.
What is the Teach and Pitch Method?
You teach something useful in the issue, then point to one offer that's the natural next step from what you taught.
Should every newsletter include an offer?
Every issue should point somewhere, and it doesn't have to be a big pitch. One box or one paragraph in the same place every week is enough, and it can be your offer, a sponsor or a tool you recommend.
How do I plan what my newsletter promotes?
List what you can point to, look at the next four weeks, decide what each issue points to based on what you're selling that month and pick a teaching topic that leads into it.
Dr. Destini Copp helps digital product creators build sustainable, systems-based businesses through the Creator Growth Flywheel framework. She's the founder of Creator's MBA and HobbyScool, and has been teaching online business strategy for over a decade. Learn more →
