Rise of Versatile Publishers, Newsletter Wars, Notion Enters the Room

Welcome to this week's issue of the Niche Media Publishing Newsletter.

I’m rolling out a dedicated newsletter JUST for covering Reddit (it deserves it’s own limelight).

If you’d like to get this niched down platform newsletter, sign up for the ReddVisible:

This will likely be a biweekly newsletter for general news for Reddit curious hustlers, creators, and markets… and also where I’ll break out some of the tactics I discuss in my course.

I’m going to keep Niche Media Publishing more broadly focused on the publisher market.

Let’s get started with this week’s topics.

The Rise of Default Versatile Publishers

Platforms are shifting under our feet.

Google’s shake-up.

AI on the rise.

Is TikTok banned yet?

And new strategies emerge…

Facebook turns into a viral story factory.

Newsletters re-invent themselves.

Reddit 7X in 6 months.

Forums are back.

Community is the new trend.

The age of the mono-channel publisher is over.

It’s walled gardens, diversification, or bust!

Ok, now that we have the scare-fest over with, what does this all mean?

As difficult as this transition is, it’s probably a good thing. It’s forcing indie publishers to create BETTER businesses (dare I say, “real”?).

The reality is that many of the “old” Google-reliant publishers - even the largest pubs with millions of monthly users - were just Google-satellites.

Glorified growth hacks. This, in spite of many publishers and creators actually producing phenomenal content.

Fact: growing distribution on Pinterest, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, is actually EASIER than Google was. At least from a cold start.

There’s no sandbox. No impossibly opaque “rules” that are intentional misdirection.

The trouble is, small and large legacy media operators have become very good at playing the old game of Google SEO…

A game that up - until last year - was simultaneously incredibly difficult for newcomers.

Incumbents, even small ones, had a massive advantage over the last 4+ years.

This is the real pain we are feeling. Google changed their rules and the informal contract.

Once I moved past this (and the phases of denial), I could appreciate the incredible opportunities provided by this disruption.

The good news is that it is HARD to produce quality content. If you have that down, distribution and repurposing is easier than ever (thanks to AI tools).

Newsletter Wars: Beehiiv Acquires a CMS

Big news from Beehiiv this week as they’ve acquired an AI-enabled website builder Typedream:

This is another escalation in the “newsletter wars” as I’ve reported on before. ConvertKit recently launched a completely free newsletter tier up to 10,000 subs (Beehiiv is only 1,000).

This is much needed for Beehiiv as their initial attempts at offering “website” features was definitely underwhelming.

It’s also another reminder that the lines between platforms and business models are more fluid & perhaps easier than ever to navigate across.

Reddit Course Updates & Last Week for Discounts

I’m “all in” on Reddit right now as the fastest way to acquire users and build community.

As such, my course is a fluid, evolving project. I’m adding new modules weekly!

Course Updates I’ve Added:

• Added a demo case study on how one Redditor is leveraging high value landing pages + useful comments / engagement around credit card offers, walk in tubs, and more… to drive lead gen sales.

• Added more Reddit alternatives for UGC traffic to our Notion spreadsheet (included in course).

As a reminder, NMP readers (that’s you) are eligible for a limited time 40% off lifetime discount (this is the last week before prices reset), including all future updates and price increases.

Notion Launches a Website Builder

I’m eager to try this out. I guess all those Notion site builder platforms may no longer be necessary…

This is an interesting development, similar Beehiiv’s move. A signal that platforms are blending.

With WordPress feeling like a down and out platform for SEO, giving Notion a shot for your next website might be worth a shot.  

Other Things I Read Recently

These are some articles I enjoyed, but don’t really have anything to add to!

Other Newsletters Worth Following

Here are some other publications I subscribe to, author, or co-sign.

If you are operating a newsletter (or even just interested), this next one is one of my “must opens” every week:

We also cover the latest MarTech trends and deep dives with a monthly (soon to be weekly) newsletter for B2B operators:

OK, that's it for this week...

Please do reply to this email with any feedback or suggestions.

Ewen