Most of what I see around newsletters right now is focused on growth.
How fast to grow…
Which platform to use….
How often to send…
How to land sponsors…
And so on.
All of that matters, to a point.
But after watching a lot of newsletters come and go, and after running my own for years, I think the real difference in 2026 comes down to something much simpler.
What does your newsletter turn into?
Because most newsletters don’t fail because they can’t grow.
They fade away because nothing solid comes out of them.
They get written, sent, opened… and then disappear into inbox history.
The newsletters that last – and the ones that actually make money – tend to treat the newsletter as raw material, not the finished product.
They’re a place to test ideas, to notice what people reply to, what gets forwarded and what sparks emails back asking for more.
Responses like that are a golden opportunity but most people waste it.
In 2026, email still matters for one very boring but very powerful reason – you own it. Algorithms change. Platforms wobble and reach disappears overnight but your list stays put.
What’s changed is how smart creators use that list.
Instead of asking, “How do I grow a newsletter faster?”
Ask yourself, “What does this become next?”
For some people, that’s a short book.
For others, a paid guide, a companion resource, a bonus or something that keeps earning for them in the background.
The newsletter isn’t the business.
It’s the engine.
And engines are only useful if they’re connected to something solid.
If you want to go deeper into this way of thinking, here are a few things I’ve found useful – not because they’re shiny, but because they’re grounded and practical:
Kit has some great examples of newsletter success stories:
https://kit.com/resources/creator-stories/danny-gregory
https://kit.com/resources/creator-stories/anne-laure-le-cunff
As well as some good advice on newsletter best practices:
https://kit.com/resources/blog/email-newsletter-best-practices
Beehiiv’s 20 ways to monetise your newsletter is helpful even if you don’t use their platform:
https://www.beehiiv.com/blog/20-ways-to-monetize-your-newsletter
And their report on the state of newsletters in 2026 is essential reading:
https://www.beehiiv.com/blog/the-state-of-newsletters-2026
Jane Friedman consistently writes well about audience-first publishing without hype:
Kindlepreneur is useful if you’re curious about short Kindle books and categories:
Nathan Barry has long talked about building once and reusing properly, especially in this podcast on how to scale to 10M:
And if you have 15 minutes, this TED talk by Seth Godin is a good reminder that most people optimise the wrong thing:
All of this is really just a longer way of saying…
If you’re already writing, or thinking about writing, a newsletter then it’s worth deciding early what job you want it to do.
That’s exactly why I put Newsletter to Bestseller together – to make sure you keep earning from it and turn it into something that lasts.
Not as a grow a newsletter course but as a way to stop good writing from disappearing and turn it into something finished and useful.
And if you’re writing a newsletter this week…send it. Even if it’s imperfect. Especially if it’s imperfect.
That’s usually where the good stuff starts.
