What did you learn in your first six months of running local newsletters?
Short answer
Building a local audience is easy if you pay for it: about 50 cents to $1 a subscriber on Meta. Six months in, my first two newsletters had about 14,000 subscribers. They also had zero ad revenue, because I hadn't put much effort into sales. Don't copy that part. And think of it as a local media company, not a newsletter.
We started Leander Scoop in early October 2024. By early March 2025, here's where things stood.
| Newsletter | Subscribers, March 2025 |
|---|---|
| Round Rock | Over 7,000 |
| Leander Scoop | About 6,700 |
| Total | About 14,000 |
| Ad revenue | $0 |
"We have 14,000 subscribers and zero ad revenue. I haven't put much effort into this at all. I do not recommend you get to 14,000 without advertising. I'm just telling you the truth of where we're at."
Why start a local newsletter at all?
I'd seen how hard it is to build an audience in crypto or AI. Being a local influencer is the opposite: the target is small and almost nobody is doing it. You basically pay for the audience, on average 50 cents to a dollar per person.
It also felt low risk. You build an audience in your own community, people know who you are, and there's probably value in that even if you bail.
Why did one newsletter grow faster?
Round Rock grew a lot faster with the exact same ad, because our ad cost there was consistently lower. My guess is that's because Round Rock is a bigger city.
What was the biggest mindset shift?
Thinking of this as a local newsletter business is a mistake. Think local media company. The newsletter can be the foundation, but if it's the only thing you do, it's hard to make money. Morning Brew and B2B newsletters can earn a ton from the newsletter alone because each reader is so valuable. A local reader isn't worth nearly as much, so you add social, a podcast, a website, events or products. That's the idea behind why a local newsletter should become a local media brand.
How did it grow to more towns?
Next I looked at a wealthy area near Austin, because real estate is such a key value there, with $20 million and $30 million homes. Then came partners. The first four outside my own were people who lived in their communities, saw the value, had some money and paid me to do it for them.
That left me running two paths: partnering with people who just want a newsletter in their town, and a grow-fast-and-exit play. For where I'd focus now, see why I'd concentrate in one metro.
What would I do differently?
Start selling ads much earlier. Getting to 14,000 with no advertising isn't something I recommend. The audience was never the hard part.
Answered by TJ Larkin. From Local Media HQ podcast conversations, client and partner calls, and my own notes, 2025-2026. Last updated .