Behind-the-scenes stories from across the creator economy.
This podcast is part of our newsletter, Creator Spotlight.
Every week, as part of the process of writing our newsletter, we spend an hour in conversation with a notable creator. Only a few parts of that conversation can make it into the newsletter — now you can liste ...
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Today's guest is Tyler O’Shea, creator of Joker Mag, a website and newsletter about sports underdogs. He started the project in that “what am I gonna do with my life” period after graduating college. Nearly 7 years of posting later, he’s still doing it as a side project, but it’s also led him to a career in SEO (search engine optimization). In this episode, we talk about: 🐶 Learning how to write for the internet 🌟 What writing and posting content online can do for you 🔎 How posting led Tyler to discover and start working in SEO 📱 How to figure out which social media platform is most useful for you Note: Yes, Francis' sound is slightly off in this episode. Good thing Tyler does most of the talking! 00:00 Tyler’s motivation and the mentality of a creator 05:37 The inspiration to start writing 08:40 Is Google’s AI killing SEO ? 11:36 The average Joker Mag reader 14:44 Finding amazing sports stories 18:37 How to grow a loyal audience 23:25 How much time does it take to grow a newsletter? 27:38 The different monetization channels 32:03 Hiring other writers 37:21 SEO tips: How to make your website the best 39:06 Advice for creators 43:40 Future goals 49:30 Quick Q&A Intro music produced by J. & Doug Organ.
Today's guest is Kate Samuelson, co-creator of Cheapskate London. Every Monday, they send out a newsletter built around free events, two for each day of the coming week. Over the last five years they’ve built an audience of over 19k, winning praise from longstanding media institutions in the process. All the while, Cheapskate is a side project; during the day, Kate works as a journalist. She specializes in newsletters. In this issue: 🍸️ Giving subscribers a free bottle of gin as a referral reward 📰 Operating a newsletter while working full-time in journalism 💷 Running paid ads for your newsletter is easier than it sounds 00:00 What is Cheapskate London? 06:10 Who is the average reader? 10:03 Choosing what content to include — curation 17:36 Kate’s career as a journalist 30:45 The stats — how to grow an audience 38:42 Kate’s unique referral program — giveaways! 41:58 Monetization 52:49 Advice for newsletter creators Intro music produced by J. & Doug Organ.
Today's guest is Haya Kaylani, creator of a curation-style newsletter called The Deep Dive. What does she curate? YouTube video essays, five of them every Wednesday. She’s built an audience of 92k TikTok followers and 13.5k newsletter subscribers in just 15 months — pure organic growth, with almost all of her newsletter subscribers coming over from TikTok. In this issue, we discuss: 🎨 Curating, gatekeeping, and gatecreating 📺️ Why writing about YouTube is a huge opportunity 📢 Applying lessons from a career in PR to indie creator work 🤳 Building a newsletter audience by building a TikTok audience 00:00 What is The Deep Dive 02:30 Being a curator 06:23 What is a video essay? 14:26 Going viral on TikTok 19:04 Why start a newsletter? 24:21 Why we need curators and gate-creators 28:22 The stats - How to grow subscribers 33:32 Haya’s premium newsletter, The Rabbit Hole 37:27 Monetisation and referrals 41:47 Advice for creators and lessons learned Intro music produced by J. & Doug Organ.
Today's guest is PJ Milani, a high school animation teacher recently turned social media star. He’s known for his “visual metaphors” — single-panel illustrations featuring lessons about life and creativity. Across his socials he has over 200k followers, his newsletter has 16k subscribers, and he teaches a perennially sold-out cohort course about visual thinking on Maven. In this issue, we discuss: 🌱 Organic growth 🔜 Trusting the process, every day 🎨 What it means to live a creative life 🤝 Working in community with other creators 00:00 Who is PJ Milani 01:25 Why PJ started creating — Getting on social media 09:04 How to gain 200k followers 14:48 Relationship between writing and drawing 19:39 Which social media platform is best — Twitter vs Instagram vs LinkedIn 23:57 How to convert social media followers into newsletter subs? 30:56 How PJ monetises his content 42:23 The long term plan Intro music produced by J. & Doug Organ.
Ryan Broderick is the creator of Garbage Day, “A newsletter about having fun online.” He’s among the most popular journalists-turned-newsletter-creators out there. It’s clear by the numbers (68k subscribers, 3k of whom pay for premium content), praise from other creators, and the nearly 200 press clippings on his About page. In this episode we discuss: 📰 There’s (almost) no difference between journalists and creators 🛋️ Why you need a Simpsons couch gag in your newsletter 🫵 Every American is a journalist (if they want to be) 🚖 Creators are Uber drivers for content 🧑🎓 Garbage Day is on the syllabus Intro music produced by J. & Doug Organ.