Where to promote a newsletter?

I started a newsletter a few months ago, and I mostly promote it on Twitter which gave me 600 subs.

I now want to grow it, and started to list the strategies to do so.

Here is what I found:

• Post your newsletter on niche forums/communities (IH, HackerNews, Reddit…)
• Try cross-promotions. See the list built by @jakobgreenfeld
• Try newsletter directories like InboxStash, InboxReads, LetterList, Rad letters, Newsletterco, …
• Launch it on ProductHunt
• Invite guests (they will most likely share your issue)

And obvious stuff like SEO or ads.

I tried a few of them, I need to do the work. I'd like to hit the 1k target before 2023

I've grown my newsletter to a couple hundred at thefullstackdev.net.

Almost all of it has come through posting my content to dozens of other communities. Harry Dry has a great example on how he does this - https://marketingexamples.com/content/sharing.

Below is my personal list of where I post. I tweak my content based on the platform.

Long form

Indiehackers

https://hackernoon.com/

https://hashnode.com/

https://community.codenewbie.org/

https://dev.to/

https://twitter.com

Mid Form (no images)

https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev

https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/

Link Form

https://news.ycombinator.com/

Social Media Form

https://www.facebook.com/groups/fullstackdevelopersnetwork/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/JoinProgrammersWebDeveloperDesigner

https://www.facebook.com/groups/751502804986801/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/selftaughtprogrammers/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/programmers.dev/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/learanHTMLandCSS/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/jsdev

Not a newsletter writer but been impressed by Substack's recommendation feature - perhaps recommending some of your related + favourite writers may get a recommendation in return. Good luck!

Depends on what the newsletter is about. Who it's for. What it does for them. Post that in the relevant groups. It's not self promotion if you're helping others.

I think this is what you're writing about: Game development. Short stories. Serialized fiction. Spooky things.
but that's a lot of things... Perhaps putting the fiction in one substack and your game dev in another.

or else every send is a craps shoot about who will unsubscribe.

Not sure where on indiehackers people will care about pulpy fiction breakdowns. If you broke down writing, and helped people write better perhaps in the substack group. If you have stuff on Game Dev then might work well here.

Perhaps subreddits are going to be more fun, or wattpad.
As others mentioned, I'd get in the habit of recommending substacks in yours, and making sure you get recommended in other substacks that you think are relevant.

Consider also publishing serialzed fiction on Gumroad, there might be some crossover on Gumroad's Discover.

It's easy to recommend anything based on helping out devs here, but not so much in the fiction realm.

Twitter seems to be the major player here. I write a blog and I've gotten a steady pool of readers from just twitter alone.

I've seen a lot of other blogs or successful newsletters advertise this way and then have their newsletter sent out on a subscription based service. Seems to be working well as long as the content is useful.

Hi Nathan, I write Philoinvestor on Substack. I think there are two main channels that can help you get traction in the early days. First, Twitter. Second, existing channels that you have set up.

That can either be your personal network and your contact list. Those are the lowest hanging fruit when you start writing online. But this also includes forums that you already have a presence on. Just think: Where do people know me?

These two are the main staples IMHO.

That is how I started Philoinvestor. First, personal network and a forum I already wrote in about investing. Then, I created a Twitter account and started creating content there. It's been a year and I am approaching 2,000 followers.

Don't look for quick solutions, "consistency over time" is the only solution you need!

https://twitter.com/philoinvestor

First of all, congratulations on your initiative.
For promoting your newsletter, one must always look forward to updating the existing email listing. With a platform like reddit, medium, you can get many people who would appreciate and help you to grow.

Where is your ideal audience? Which social platforms or forums? Then start posting there. Don’t spam. Make sure your bios point to your newsletter.

If you can identify individuals who would be a good fit, reach out to them. It’s time consuming but you’ll also get useful feedback about your newsletter.

Once you get a a few hundred subs, try some cross promotions with other newsletters.

Newsletter directories won’t give you lots of subs but it’s low effort to list and you’ll pick up a few.

If you have budget, you could do some ads in other newsletters.

Lots you can do. Really depends where your audience is.

I’m doing a follow along and will share what I’m doing to get subs.

Also check out this resource (not mine)