Take a read of our key takeaways from SparkLoop’s Send and Grow podcast episode featuring Anthony Castrio of Bot Eat Brain, titled, “Building a profitable newsletter side hustle to over $50k“. We highly recommend listening to the entire episode.
The Genesis of Bot Eat Brain
- Launch and Early Success: Bot Eat Brain, an AI-focused newsletter, was launched in September 2022. Within a year-or-so , it amassed over 20,000 subscribers and generated $50,000 in revenue.
- Initial Concept and Motivation: Anthony Castrio, the founder, aimed to build a business in the AI space amidst growing hype. His approach was to turn his process of learning about AI into a productized newsletter, creating a business out of his learning journey.
Building the Subscriber Base
- MVP and Initial Strategy: The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) involved repackaging AI news found on Twitter. The first issue was sent to 50-100 subscribers, primarily friends from Twitter with significant followings (10,000+), to gain feedback on audience building.
- Early Subscriber Acquisition: The first 1,000 subscribers were reached in about three months, with a large proportion of these coming from a newsletter-growth challenge that he ran on Twitter.
Overcoming Challenges and Growth Strategies
- Motivation and Revival: After a period of low motivation and halted publishing, the release of ChatGPT reinvigorated Castrio’s efforts, leading to a focused newsletter growth challenge (mentioned above).
- Sustainable Writing and Monetization: The main challenge became the daily writing of the newsletter. To maintain consistency, Castrio pre-sold ad spaces at a reduced rate (going as low as just $5 per inclusion), which quickly sold out. This strategy allowed for gradual price increases up to a point he was charging the equivalent of $20 CPM, and later the hiring of a writer.
Rapid Expansion and Audience Engagement
- Utilizing SparkLoop Upscribe: A significant shift in audience building occurred with the use of SparkLoop Upscribe, enhancing the referral process (more on this below).
- Accelerated Growth: The subscriber count grew from 1,000 to 20,000 in just four months, with ongoing maintenance around 20,000 through list pruning.
Marketing and Monetization Techniques
- Effective Funnel Creation: Castrio implemented a funnel using a simple landing page on Beehiv, Facebook ads, and the Sparkloop Upscribe widget. The revenue generated via Upscribe covered the cost of enough Facebook ads ($5000-$10,000 per month) to grow to 20,000 subscribers
- Revenue and Sponsorship Strategy: With 21,000 readers and a 40% open rate, the newsletter offers cost-effective CPC rates to clients (less than $2 per click). Regular sponsors are encouraged through discounts and performance guarantees, leading to approximately $5,000 monthly revenue. Many clients are return clients.
- Ad Structure: Clients generally purchase 3+ inclusions. This means if one of the newsletters doesn’t perform very well, the other two likely will, so the client is still satisfied with performance. This provides more predictable and favorable results than selling a more expensive dedicated newsletter to clients.
Operational Efficiency and Future Plans
- Time Management and Community Involvement: Running the newsletter takes a few hours per week. Castrio also manages the Indie-Worldwide community.
- Hiring and Training Writers: To maintain quality, Castrio hired and trained writers to match the newsletter’s tone and content style. Funding for writers was secured by selling a stake in the newsletter (20% for $10,000)
- Content Strategy and Structure: The newsletter follows a consistent structure with a focus on simplicity and relevance, using a question-based approach for main articles (“explain this to me like I’m a 5 year old, and why should I care?”). Much of the template is based on a “fill-in-the-gaps” structure.
- Advice for Aspiring Newsletter Publishers: Castrio advises having a clear, compelling offer for the newsletter, understanding the economics of subscriber acquisition and revenue, and maintaining consistency. Decide whether you’re building a productized newsletter, or just a personal outlet for your thoughts.
- Looking Ahead to 2024: Plans include automating content with AI, focusing on marketing, exploring new monetization methods beyond ads, and venturing into generative social media content and video.
Dig Deeper
- Find links to listen to the full episode on SparkLoop
- Sign up to Bot Eat Brain
- Follow Anthony Castrio on X
