$18K/Month From a Local Newsletter (Selling His Own Ads)

Most newsletter owners plug into an ad network and get paid by the view. Michael Kauffman does it differently.

He runs Catskill Crew, a weekly newsletter covering New York’s Catskills.

He has 42,000 subscribers and makes $18K/month in ad revenue alone 🤑 – by selling directly to local businesses rather than through an ad network.

📝 From a recent interview…

I’m a dude that lives in the middle of the Catskill Forest who had an existential crisis, and after 15 years of running startups I wanted to build something that lit me up.

He’d never written for a publication before. Didn’t matter.

He started charging $100–250 per placement with just 500 subscribers. When he switched on Meta ads at $35/day in 2024 👇

It was just rocket fuel. I mean, the number just went straight up into the right.

He hit 12,000 subscribers by year-end, then turned the ads off in November. Hit 42K anyway.

Beyond ads, the revenue stacks up. He sold out 40 happy hour tickets at $25 each. Dinner clubs via the DNNR app bring in around $11 per ticket 👀

His advice: don’t build a media kit first. He didn’t have one for his first year. Just start sending.

Pick a local area you know and pitch your first sponsor before you hit 1,000 subscribers 😎

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