Marketing
Why Your Newsletter Isn’t Growing (and What the Pros Do Differently)
, Community Leader
Aug 8, 2025
4 minutes
Newsletters are easy to start and hard to grow. A creator writes a few issues, sends them out, and waits for traction. But after some initial excitement, numbers stall. Open rates drop. Replies stop coming. The list grows colder. For small businesses, solo creators, and influencers, this is a common path. Yet some newsletters keep growing, day after day. What are they doing differently?
The Trap of Writing Alone
Most newsletters begin as solo efforts. One person writes, edits, formats, and sends. It works for a while. But the lack of collaboration often leads to tunnel vision. Feedback loops disappear. In contrast, successful teams work differently. Morning Brew, for example, assigns a dedicated team to each of its verticals. Marketing Brew and Tech Brew do not share writers. Each team brings domain expertise and a sharp editorial voice.
Even some independent Substack authors now operate in small teams, hiring editors or collaborating with researchers. Growth tends to follow structure. Creators who stay isolated often stall early.
Process Beats Inspiration
Waiting for inspiration is one of the most common mistakes among new writers. It leads to irregular publishing and scattered quality. Experienced teams rely on systems. At Morning Brew, the day starts with a news meeting. Writers choose what is most relevant for their readers and build the issue quickly, often within a few hours. They work inside a Sanity CMS built for publishing, not formatting emails.
Smaller newsletters often use Google Docs or write directly in email platforms. That might seem efficient, but it creates friction and inconsistency. A repeatable process, not inspiration, is what drives long-term output.
Tone That Earns Trust
New creators often overthink tone. Some write like marketing brochures. Others imitate corporate blogs. But readers connect with a specific voice, not a generic one. The most successful newsletters use a tone that feels human, clear, and consistent. At Morning Brew, the writing feels like a sharp colleague explaining the news over coffee. Humor is used sparingly. Clarity comes first.
Many solo newsletters try to sound impressive but end up sounding artificial. The best creators develop a voice over time and refine it with feedback, not just by mimicking others.
Tools Are Not Strategy
Some creators automate early, using AI to summarize news or generate copy. Others stick with default tools and never optimize delivery. But tools alone do not drive growth. They support it. Morning Brew writes all content by hand. Their editors work in Sanity, and the copy is reviewed by humans before reaching the reader.
By contrast, some solo newsletters rely too much on AI or templates. The result is often mechanical. Readers notice. Tools can help you scale, but they cannot replace voice or judgment.
Value, Not Volume
Another mistake is publishing too much with too little to say. More issues, more links, more noise. But attention is not earned through volume. It is earned through relevance. Successful newsletters write with purpose. Each edition solves a problem, delivers insight, or saves time. Morning Brew, for example, filters the news for busy professionals. Some Substack authors focus on deep dives once a week and still grow faster than daily writers.
Small creators often chase output instead of outcome. They confuse frequency with value. But readers open what helps them, not what fills their inbox.
Habit Wins
A newsletter is not just content. It is rhythm. Readers expect it at a certain time, in a familiar format, with a tone they trust. Successful newsletters build that habit intentionally. Morning Brew arrives each weekday morning. The format does not change. Sections appear in the same order. Readers know what to expect and where to find what they want.
Creators who change tone or schedule too often break the habit. Growth fades quietly. Readers stop noticing when the issue arrives, then stop opening it at all.
What Growth Actually Looks Like
The difference between a newsletter that grows and one that stalls is often invisible. It is in the workflow, the tone, the systems behind the scenes. It is in editorial judgment and consistency over time.
Morning Brew is one model. Substack creators who focus on narrow topics and publish regularly are another. There is no one formula. But the pros share common traits: structured teams or systems, a clear voice, and content that serves the reader.
If your newsletter is not growing, the problem might not be the idea or effort. It might be the absence of structure. The kind that makes one email worth opening, and the next one too.
