Ask HN: What's the best place to start a newsletter?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37464463

by penaazv • 3 years ago

9 12 3 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Is Substack a good option? Is it Beehiiv? Something else?

If you're aware of the pros-cons, it'd be super helpful. Thanks!

ogarten5• 3 years ago

What's you goal with the newsletter? Talk about cool things? Make Money?

As a reader I hate substack because it's so damn pushy about signing up and paying for subscription. As a creator, I guess that drives your revenue.

Imho, everyone is doing newsletters now and it's a completely overcrowded field. I recently unsubscribed from almost all newsletters, because most provided little to no value for me. Sure, having 10k subscribers is fine but how many of them actually read it?

penaazv3• 3 years ago

Talking about cool things in a little more depth than social posts.

And yes, I agree; it is getting too crowded :(

ogarten5• 3 years ago

Mh substack, medium, hackernoon. Many places, all sinilar and all not that great for that :/

rozenmd• 3 years ago

Everyone is writing software too, but that doesn't stop us from making money :)

ogarten5• 3 years ago

Not denying that ;) and i am sure there is still money to be made and that‘s why I was asking for the reason ;)

d4rkp4ttern2• 3 years ago

I just recently went through this decision process. My aim is to write code and math oriented posts so I need good support for nice syntax highlighting (at least colored) and mathjax (preferable) or katex. Substack is the most popular newsletter platform but fails at these two criteria. I love how math and syntax highlighting (plus numerous other features) work in MkDocs Material, which recently added a Blog plugin.

I wanted to combine the best of both: Substack as an amazing email social network, and MkDocs Material’s awesome look. So I’ve gone with using Substack as the core platform which I use to manage subscribers, and use it to post either math/code-free posts or a short teasers pointing to my main blog site on MkDocs Material when I need to show math/code

https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/

d4rkp4ttern2• 3 years ago

Hugo and Ghost are good possibilities for math/code oriented blogs but nowhere close to Substack for email newsletters and subscription management

ezedv• 3 years ago

Consider starting on platforms like Substack or Mailchimp for user-friendly interfaces and tools. Additionally, building an audience through social media or your website can help kickstart your newsletter's growth.

Remember, content is key, so focus on delivering value and engaging your readers to keep them coming back for more. If you some guidance on how to use it, you can check ours! https://www.ratherlabs.com/newsletter

Ask HN: What's the best place to start a newsletter?

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