Someone Wants to Buy My Newsletter for 5K – Need Advice!

[limaraph]

Hey everyone,​

I run a niche newsletter that's been steadily growing over the past year. Recently, I received an unexpected email from a company offering to buy my newsletter.

When I saw the price offered, I couldn't believe it – it was way too high.

To give you some context:

• My newsletter has about 2.000 subscribers.
• It generates about 200 bugs a month in ads.
• I recently pivoted the content from covering AI research to covering tech trends and giving away business ideas that I see while working with successful startups.

Here are a few specific questions I have:

1. Has anyone been offered money for their audience? What did you do?
2. One can acquire subscribers in the tech/startup space for $1.8-$2 using paid ads. Why should they pay $2.5?
3. Am I valuing my audience the wrong way? Could I not just sell and dump the money back into paid ads? That would mean 25% free growth.

I love writing and already met amazing founders and investors through the content.

I'm feeling a bit unsure of what to do. The whole thing makes no sense to me.

Why should anyone offer more than replacement cost?

Thanks in advance!

 

[bariki]

@limaraph Get 5k USD and start from zero? Nah seems like a distraction rather than opportunity

 

[limaraph]

@bariki Thanks, brother! I agree. However, why would they pay up by 25%?

 

[monjess]

@limaraph Well I assume they are on to something. Maybe in rush to monetise something e.g product or perhaps combine multiple newsletter audience into one and then flip. Who knows nowadays. So many unique business models out there.

5k might not be much for them if they are in desperate need.

 

[torie]

@limaraph If i wanted to own a newsletter I would def 100% choose to pay a premium for an existing newsletter with existing subscribers rather than start from scratch and hope that I can get a lower CAC with ads. It is like that with any business.

Do you rather buy an existing saas with 1000 users or start from scratch and hope to get customers with ads?

 

[mcoop]

@limaraph I would take the money and stop arguing with them

 

[bariki]

@limaraph Off-topic: You are very active on Reddit. Is it the major source of growth for your newsletter?

 

[limaraph]

@bariki Yes and no. Today, the changes to Reddit make it very hard.

What I did back then was to just publish the entire post on Reddit. Like this one:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GPT3/comments/10fw2a2/gpt4_will_be_500x_smaller_than_people_think_here

However, I always work with a ton of references and link out to the places where I found the info.

I think this is just good style and makes the content more useful to readers.

Many of the most popular subs will automatically remove your content, whenever you include a single link.

I simply don't have the time to rewrite the posts.

Today, most growth comes from referrals, ads, and social.

Hope this helps. Are you trying to grow on Reddit?

If yes, what is it you are working on?

 

[bariki]

@limaraph I’ve tried to validate a product on Reddit (Dungeons and dragons AI generative cards).

Needed to prepare an excel sheet with subs that allows, disallows, allows with tag, etc. This type of content.

Got banned anyway TikTok and YT are better

 

[limaraph]

@bariki Haha

It happens.

You can use this tool there to find the subs your audience is hanging out in:

https://anvaka.github.io/sayit/?query=indiehackers

 

[bariki]

@limaraph Thanks, didn’t know this

 

[limaraph]

@bariki It's an amazing tool!

 

[gregoir]

@limaraph If you’re confident you could rebuild another audience, I would be tempted to sell. How long would it take you to earn $5k from your email list?
Plus, if you’ve pivoted, there’s a chance that not all of your subscribers are that into your new niche. A new list could have a more focused audience.

 

[limaraph]

@gregoir Yeah. I am too. I could just put the 5K into Beehiiv boosts and be done with it.

The way I look at it though is through the lense of compounding. Sure, the NL makes close to no revenue now. However, the growth rate is 10-20% a month.

But the point on the audience mismatch is great! Thanks!

 

[613jono]

@limaraph How do you monetize the newsletter?

 

[limaraph]

@613jono Currently, I am getting sponsors through the Beehiiv Ad Network.

Tbh. I only do it because the small audience doesn't justify the time to sell ads. But CPMs are super low and recently the amount of sponsorships has slowed significantly.

In my opinion, the best way is to go either with paid content or sell some high-ticket product to the audience.

 

[limaraph]

Well, of course. You could also go the sponsorship route. Then, I would wait until you have around 20K subs.

Before, the time investment to sell ads yourself is just not worth it.

Hope this helps.