Watch the video above to learn more about our self-directed course.

This self-directed course features content from the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas' massive open online course (MOOC) titled “Newsletter strategies for journalists: How to create, grow & monetize newsletters.” The four-week course took place from February 22 to March 21, 2021. We are now making the content free and available to students who took the course and anyone else who’s interested in learning the fundamental skills required to launch and maintain a newsletter through a standard product life cycle and how a newsletter can fit into your work product and serve your audience.

Thanks to support from:

The course was taught by Joseph Lichterman, Emily Roseman, and Caroline Porter. They created and curated the content for the course, which includes video classes, readings, exercises, and more.

 The course materials are broken into four modules, along with an introductory module:

• Intro Module: Course description
• Module 1: Choosing the right newsletter: What is important for your audience—and you
• Module 2: Launching a newsletter: What you need to know to get your newsletter off the ground
• Module 3: Growing your readership: How to build an engaged subscriber list that generates revenue
• Module 4: Improving your newsletter: How to optimize your newsletter for the long haul

We encourage you to watch the videos, review the readings, and complete the exercises as time allows. The course materials build off each other, but the videos and readings also act as standalone resources that you can return to over time.

We hope you enjoy the materials. If you have any questions, please contact us at journalismcourses@austin.utexas.edu.

Meet the Instructors

Joseph Lichterman leads editorial and digital strategy for The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. He writes Solution Set, a weekly-ish newsletter on innovation in journalism. Prior to joining the Institute, he was a staff writer at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. He also previously reported for Reuters in its Detroit bureau. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his dog Charley and cat Fred. You can find him on Twitter at @ylichterman.

Caroline Porter is a media strategist and researcher. Her work largely focuses on business models for journalism, working with media companies, academic institutions and others. Caroline worked as a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal in the Chicago and Los Angeles bureaus and served as an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University’s Medill School. She loves writing Unpacking, a weekly newsletter with co-author Emily Roseman, aspires to have both dogs and cats, and has enjoyed being a neighbor to chickens in Los Angeles. You can find her on Twitter at @carolineporter.

Emily Roseman is the Research Director for the Institute for Nonprofit News. Previously, she served as research project manager for a study at the Shorenstein Center that analyzed how single-topic newsrooms can grow audiences (a key finding – newsletters!). She writes a weekly newsletter with co-author Caroline Porter called Unpacking and lives in Alexandria, VA with her crazy dog, Hazel. You can find her on Twitter at @emilyroseman1.

Course description

 Introduction

  Materials

1. Top Seven Reasons Why Newsletters Are Important by Emily Roseman

This handout provides a thorough overview of the necessity and power of newsletters in newsrooms today. With ample evidence and links, it’s an excellent place to either start or brush up on your newsletter know-how.

2. Montana Free Press experiments with newsletters for local COVID-19 coverage [Medium]

This Q&A offers journalists a first-hand look at how newsletters can be implemented in newsrooms. In this case, a local, digital news site sees success with its new COVID-19 newsletter.

3. Why journalists are flocking to newsletters [Medium]

Need any more reminders why newsletters are critical to journalism strategy? This write-up provides examples and reasons.

4. BONUS: “E-mail: Sign your own name:” by Kelly Nuxoll

Looking for some bedtime reading? We’ll admit this is a bit of a curveball, but this essay by a Howard Dean campaign worker who helped pioneer email strategy remains salient today.

Choosing the right newsletter: What is important for your audience—and you

Instructor: Emily Roseman

One should never start a newsletter just to check a box.

Newsletter format, tone, content and overall strategy should be rooted in what works best for your audiences and your own workflow and bandwidth. Module 1 will introduce key concepts around audience research, product thinking and prioritization that will help you decide what you can do to best serve your audience’s needs.

 In this module you will learn:

• Defining your audience
• Strategies for audience research
• Synthesizing audience research
• Considering bandwidth
• Choosing newsletter structure

 Video Classes

 Readings

Launching a newsletter: What you need to know to get your newsletter off the ground

Instructor: Joseph Lichterman

Now that you’ve done your initial audience research and have an idea for a newsletter, we’ll get into the nitty-gritty logistics of actually launching a newsletter and getting it off the ground. This module will focus on the key infrastructure needed to launch an email newsletter and how to test your ideas.

During this week we’ll identify the most important questions you should ask when choosing an email service provider, essential privacy and data security considerations such as Europe’s GDPR and California’s CCPA, and the process for launching a minimally viable product.

 In this module you will learn:

• Key infrastructure
• Privacy and data security
• Creating a minimally viable product

 Video Classes

 Readings

Growing your readership: How to build an engaged subscriber list that generates revenue

Instructor: Caroline Porter

Once you’ve launched your newsletter, you can focus more on strategies to grow your audience in organic ways and ways to generate revenue through your newsletter product.

This module will review healthy habits for nurturing an engaged subscriber base, as well as the pathways to making money through the newsletter. We’ll review examples of profitable newsletters as well as interviews with newsletter pioneers who have augmented their reach and capital through newsletters.

 In this module you will learn:

• Various routes to build an audience
• Key clues for assessing engagement levels
• Methods for monetization
• How-to examples with newsletter creators

 Video Classes

 Readings

Improving your newsletter: How to optimize your newsletter for the long haul 

Instructor: Joseph Lichterman

Like a garden, newsletters need constant care and tending. This module will focus on strategies for continuing to maintain and optimize your workflows, how to keep your lists fresh and clean, and how to know when it’s time to wind down a newsletter.

We’ll discuss critical strategies for audience retention, which begin as soon as you get a new subscriber to your email list. We’ll also share tips for re-engaging lapsed subscribers and discuss how to keep your subscriber list up-to-date.

 In this module you will learn:

• How to retain your audience
• Segmenting your list
• Technical considerations
• How to end a newsletter

 Video Classes

 Readings