Find the perfect digital asset to acquire. 🌍 Website | 🗞️ Newsletter | 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Community | 🎧 Podcast | 📱 Application

We’ve rolled out a few updates to make LetterTrader clearer, smarter, and easier to use:

Even more updates are on the way 🚀
Have ideas or feedback? Email us anytime at [email protected]

Otherwise, check out the marketplace if you haven’t today ;)

This week, Apple acquired the Israeli AI startup Q.ai in a deal valued at nearly $2 billion. The startup’s technology, which analyzes subtle facial movements and “silent speech” to interact with AI could help Apple evolve how users communicate with features like Siri across future devices.

I am not sure if it means that if you make an angry face at your iPhone, you’re locked out of your phone for the rest of the day, or if your phone will soon read your mind, but technology never ceases to surprise us.

I hope it’s for the best!

Congratulations to all parties involved!

Buying a newsletter is one thing, but running and growing it is another. 

A solid transition plan is essential for maintaining the value of your new asset.

1. Knowledge transfer document

Ask the seller for a complete walkthrough: how email campaigns are managed, content schedule, sponsor relations, tools and logins, analytics setup, payment processing, content archives, etc. This knowledge makes your takeover process smoother.

2. Audience communication

Plan how you’ll tell the audience about the change in ownership. Transparency tends to build trust, so ask the seller to write an introductory email introducing you. This helps reduce your churn risk post handover.

3. Maintain engagement

Keep publishing on schedule, even if you’re still learning the systems. Readers value consistency, and early silence can hurt retention. Once the audience adapts and feels comfortable with your ownership, gradually introduce your own voice or improvements to the letter.

Buyers aren't just interested in your subscriber count. Often they're searching for access to a specific audience that's hard to find anywhere else.

Start by creating a clear profile of your readers:

The more niche and well-defined your audience, the more valuable you become. A newsletter for “startup founders” is broad, but a newsletter for “bootstrapped founders trying to reach their first $1M in ARR without paid ads” makes the reader’s priorities obvious.

Collect proof of your impact. Save your testimonials, reader replies, case studies, or examples of actions your content has influenced. If sponsors have told you they can't reach this audience elsewhere, document that too.

When you clearly articulate your niche value, serious buyers will pay attention.

2 weeks ago, I shared one way to monetize the first-party data you collect from your newsletter.

Ryan asked for more (thanks, and sorry for the late reply), so here's another idea to leverage your data.

You're missing out on extra revenue by charging sponsors flat CPM rates across your entire list. A better approach is to create tiered sponsorship packages based on your engagement data.

Start by segmenting your subscribers into three tiers using your email platform's analytics. Your "super readers" (top 10-15%) who open every email and consistently click links are worth 3-4x more to sponsors than passive subscribers. 

Instead of offering a sponsor 10,000 subscribers at $25 CPM ($250), offer them access to your full list PLUS a premium placement to your 1,000 super readers at $35 CPM. That's $250 for the base sponsorship + $350 for the premium segment = $600 total.

The key is to track your engagement using 30 or 60-day windows to identify consistent behavior. Export this data monthly and update your sponsor deck with real numbers: "Our top-tier averages 75% open rates and 12% click rates versus industry standards of 40% and 2%."

Sponsors care about conversions, so they want access to buyers, not browsers.

Bottom line: When you increase your sponsors' ROI, you get to charge more.