How much do newsletter writers make?

How much do newsletter writers make?

No platform publishes a median income, so the best evidence is the totals they do report. Substack said in June 2026 that more than 100,000 publishers make money on it through subscriptions. It added that its top 10 publications together make more than $100 million a year. The money sits at the top.

Other platforms report totals, not medians. Ghost's homepage says publications on Ghost earn more than $100 million a year. beehiiv's Ad Network page said on October 21, 2026 that it had paid creators $37,872,727, and beehiiv's October 1, 2026 pricing post says the network pays out more than $1 million a month.

None of these numbers tell you what a typical writer earns. Treat any average newsletter income you see quoted as an estimate unless it names who measured it and when.

What each platform keeps from paid subscriptions

Substack takes a percentage and charges nothing up front. beehiiv and Ghost take 0% and charge a monthly plan price instead. Kit charges a flat per-sale fee that already covers card processing.

The take-home column below is a single $10 monthly payment from a US card. It leaves out the plan price, which is where beehiiv and Ghost make their money.

• Substack's minimum price is $5 a month or $30 a year for US accounts, and payouts usually reach your bank within 48 hours of each payment, per its help center.
• beehiiv's free plan, which covers up to 2,500 subscribers, does not include paid subscriptions. You need Lite or higher.
• Ghost's Starter plan, $18 a month on monthly billing, does not include paid subscriptions either. Ghost charges 0% on payments from Publisher up.
• Kit says its 3.5% plus 30 cents is the only cost of selling in USD and that it pays out weekly, on Fridays.

Substack, beehiiv or Ghost for a paid newsletter?

Start on Substack if you have no audience yet, because its network finds readers for you. Substack said in February 2024 that recommendations and its app drove 50% of new subscriptions and 25% of new paid subscriptions. In August 2025 it said the app alone drove more than 30% of all paid subscriptions.

Move to beehiiv once the 10% starts to sting. At 10,000 subscribers beehiiv Lite costs $139 a month on monthly billing. Say 300 of those readers pay $10 a month. Substack keeps $300 of the $3,000, while beehiiv charges its $139 plan and nothing per sale. Every extra paid reader widens that gap.

Pick Ghost if you want your own site and a flat bill. Its Publisher plan costs $35 a month on monthly billing, or $29 a month billed yearly, for up to 1,000 members. Ghost's software is open source and its pricing page says it adds no transaction fees.

beehiiv changed its plans on October 1, 2026. Launch became Free, Scale became Lite and Max became Pro, and existing customers move to the new prices at their first renewal on or after November 1, 2026. Check the current price for your list size before you switch.

Substack added Apple in-app purchases in August 2025. Apple takes 30% in a subscription's first year and 15% after that, according to Substack's FAQ. Substack still takes 10% of your web price, and you choose whether in-app prices rise to cover Apple's cut.

How much newsletter sponsorships pay

Sponsors usually pay a flat fee per placement, priced from your list size or your opens. Paved, a newsletter ad marketplace, suggested in July 2026 that new publishers charge 2.5% to 5% of their subscriber count per placement. That works out to $125 to $250 at 5,000 subscribers and $250 to $500 at 10,000.

Once you have performance data, price per thousand subscribers or opens, known as CPM. Paved's 2024 pricing guide put a healthy newsletter's CPM at $10 to $30 and typical cost per click at $1 to $5. Its July 2026 example has a 20,000-subscriber marketing newsletter with a 60% open rate charging a $35 to $40 CPM, about $700 to $800 for the top slot.

Audience matters more than size. Paved's July 2026 post says newsletters for HR, career and B2B readers earn the most per subscriber on its marketplace, and some of its biggest lists rank near the bottom. Paved also says newsletter earnings on Paved grew 30% in 2025 over the year before.

Substack sells no ads, but its help center says you may host sponsored content. It says it announced a native sponsorships program in June 2026, and in October 2026 it named Balenciaga, Uber and T-Mobile among the brands it has tested ideas with. Only Bestseller publications or those with at least 100 paid subscribers can build the Creator Kit that signals interest, and Substack has not said what the program pays.

Label every sponsored placement. Our FTC disclosure guide covers how, and how much to charge for sponsored posts covers pricing across platforms.

• Charge your full rate for the top slot.
• Price a mid-newsletter slot at about 50% to 65% of the top slot, per Paved.
• Price a footer or classified link at about 25% to 35% of the top slot.
• Price a dedicated email at 2 to 5 times the top slot.

Newsletter ad networks: beehiiv, Kit and Paved

An ad network fills your sponsor slot without you pitching anyone. The trade is control. The network picks the advertisers and keeps a cut. Kit publishes its cut, beehiiv does not, and we could not confirm Paved's.

The beehiiv Ad Network pays per 1,000 unique opens or per verified click, depending on the offer. It is open to publishers on Lite or above who send through beehiiv, and you choose which offers to run. Payouts land in your beehiiv wallet on the 20th of each month for the prior month, and withdrawals are free.

beehiiv's own calculator estimates $3,840 a month for a 50,000-subscriber list. That assumes a 60% open rate, a 0.4% click rate, 8 sends a month, 2 ads per send and a $2 cost per click. Read it as beehiiv's marketing estimate, not a forecast.

Kit Ads places CPC newsletter sponsorships and programmatic ads in Kit emails. Kit keeps 23.5% of ad revenue and pays out 45 days after the end of the month the ad ran, with no minimum. Its help center says it is not accepting new applications for programmatic ads, and only paid-plan users can ask to join sponsorship campaigns.

Paved runs a marketplace where advertisers book your slots at the price you list. Its Smart Pricing tool lets you set a minimum and a maximum and moves your rate with demand. Paved's 2024 guide also gives $0.05 per open as a benchmark for an average audience.

Getting paid to recommend other newsletters

Paid recommendations pay you a fixed fee for each new subscriber you send to another newsletter. The offer usually appears right after a reader signs up to yours. It is the easiest newsletter money to switch on, and it grows with your sign-ups, not your opens.

• beehiiv's help center, updated October 20, 2026, says Boosts are now called paid recommendations and that Email Boosts and Direct Links are retired.
• beehiiv's FAQ gives the example of a $2.50 offer that shows as $2.00 to the recommending newsletter after its 20% fee.
• Paid recommendations need a paid beehiiv plan. Free recommendations work on every plan.
• SparkLoop sets no subscriber minimum but suggests waiting until you have 500 to 1,000 subscribers before joining.

Which income stream to start with

Under 1,000 subscribers, turn on paid recommendations and a paid tier, and skip sponsors for now. Paved's 2.5% to 5% rule puts a 1,000-subscriber placement at $25 to $50, which rarely repays the time spent pitching.

From about 5,000 subscribers, sell direct sponsorships and let an ad network fill the weeks you cannot sell. Keep the paid tier. Subscription revenue does not disappear when an advertiser cuts its budget.

Writers whose readers pay for analysis, like finance, politics or industry news, should lean on subscriptions. Writers with big, broad lists and readers who will not pay should lean on ads and recommendations. If you also sell products or courses to the same readers, compare checkout fees in how to sell to your fans, and see affiliate marketing for influencers for commission income.