Reader-funded journalists making good money

A growing list of newsletter writers and journalist run newsrooms relying primarily on reader funding (or at least making a good chunk of change from their reader base)

✏️ This is a living blog post. Updated regularly!

So much of making money is about our mindset.

Can anyone do this? Can I do this? Is this even a possible route?

Invasive doubts like that are why so many entrepreneurs quit a year or two into their ventures.

That’s why it helps to see relatable success stories. Get to know who else has been on the path you’re on. Understand a bit about what has worked for them and ramp up fast on what could work for you too.

That’s what this whole newsletter project is about, and this list is a running summary of reader-funded journalists who are paving the way.

Updated regularly as new info emerges!

Independent journalists

Publication name

Monthly pricing tiers

# of paid subscribers

Read Max (Max Read)

$5/mo

2,600 (as of Oct 2024)

Popular Information (Judd Legum)

$6/mo

Unknown—Free subs 349k+

Torched (Alissa Walker)

$5/mo, $10/mo, $100/mo

Unknown—Torched is new and fast growing

Caitlin Johnstone

$8/mo

“100% reader-funded”
$5,149/month on Patreon (as of Sept 2024)

Notes on the Crises (Nathan Tankus)

$10/mo, $25/mo, $75/mo, $100/mo

Was 13th highest paid Substack in 2020 (migrated off Substack in 2021)

The Atlanta Objective (George Chidi)

$99.99/yr

Unknown—Free subs 10k+

What the Fuck Just Happened Today (Matt Kiser)

$5/mo (and $50/yr and $100/yr)

Unknown—Matt is fully reader-funded and full time on project (Free subs 250k+, 2% are paid, operating budget is 200k/yr)

READ MY ISSUE ON MATT

Links I Would Gchat You if We Were Friends (Caitlin Dewey)

$7/mo

Unknown—Free subs 22k+

How Things Work (Hamilton Nolan)

$6/mo

1500 (ESTIMATED—based on 8% paid and 19k total as of Nov 24)

Ed Zitron’s Where’s Your Ed At?

$7/mo

Unknown

User Mag (Taylor Lorenz)

$7/mo

(BRAND NEW)

Journalist-owned newsrooms

Publication name

Monthly pricing tiers

# of paid subscribers

404 Media

$10/mo and $100/mo

6,000 (as of Sept 2024)

Hell Gate

$6.99/mo, $9.99/mo, $19.99/mo

2,500 (as of July 2023)—this number is much higher now but I don’t have exact count

RANGE

$10/mo, $25/mo, $50/mo

600 (as of Sept 2024)

READ MY ISSUE ON RANGE

Aftermath

$7/mo, $10/mo, $99/mo

3,700 (as of Sept 2024)

The 51st

$9.99/mo, $24.99/mo, $51/mo

(BRAND NEW) - Raised $275k+ in reader funding pre-launch (as of Sept 2024)

Rascal

$5/mo, $12/mo, $75/mo

Unknown (4 full time worker-owners)

Racket

$5/mo, $10/mo, $99/mo

4000 (Very old figure, July 2023)- 80% reader-funded

Discourse Blog

$8/mo

Flaming Hydra

$3/mo

Hearing Things

$7/mo, $12/mo, $100/m

(BRAND NEW)

Defector

$8/mo, $12/mo, $100/mo

The Lost Ogle

$5.99/mo, $9.99/mo, $19.99/mo, $99.99/mo

The Appeal

$8/$15/$25/$50 (Donation tiers)

The Lever

$8/mo $30/mo

Colorado Sun

$11.99/mo $21.99/mo $100/mo

The Flytrap (pre-launch)

Raising money on Kickstarter - 975 backers as of Oct 16, 2024