Most guides on how to create a newsletter show you how to drag a template around in Canva. That is not a newsletter. That is a poster. I have published 280+ editions on Substack and 156+ editions of my LinkedIn newsletter, and I send roughly 85,000 emails a day from another list I have run across 20+ years in marketing automation. So I am going to skip the template tour and show you the actual thing: how to build an email newsletter people open, that grows on its own, and that becomes an asset you own for the rest of your working life.
Key takeaway
Start a newsletter on Substack because it is free and comes with built-in discovery, then move to Kit the moment you have something to sell. The five elements that matter are a human sender name, a specific subject line, a strong first line, one idea per edition, and a single clear action. Send weekly. A focused list of 1,000 real subscribers can already support a product.
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This is the operator version. The system, the platform choice, the five parts that decide whether anyone reads it, and the mistakes that quietly kill most newsletters in the first three months.
- What Creating a Newsletter Actually Means in 2026
- Pick Your Platform Before You Write a Word
- The 5 Elements of a Newsletter People Actually Open
- How to Create Your Newsletter, Step by Step
- How to Get Your First 100 Subscribers
- What to Actually Write, and How Often
- How to Create a Newsletter for Free
- How to Know If It Is Working
- Automate the Delivery So It Runs Without You
- The Mistakes That Kill Newsletters
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Creating a Newsletter Actually Means in 2026
A newsletter is a regular email you send to people who asked to hear from you. That is the whole definition. Not a PDF. Not a designed document. An email that lands in an inbox on a schedule.
There is a fork here, and picking the wrong path wastes months. One path is the design-doc newsletter: a pretty layout you build in Word or Canva and attach or paste somewhere. Schools and HOAs send these. They look nice and nobody remembers them. The other path is the audience newsletter: plain, personal, sent from a real email platform, built to be read and replied to. That second one is the asset. It compounds.
Here is why the difference matters. A designed document is a one-time artifact. An audience newsletter is a channel you own. Nobody can deplatform your email list. Google cannot change an algorithm and cut your reach in half. When I want to sell something, I do not buy ads. I email my list. That is the entire point of building one.
So when this guide says newsletter, it means the audience version. The one that earns. When you learn how to create a newsletter that people actually want, you are not making a document. You are building a channel you control.
Pick Your Platform Before You Write a Word
The biggest mistake beginners make is writing first and choosing a tool later. Do it backwards. The platform decides your ceiling, your costs, and how easily people can find you. Pick it in an hour, then never think about it again.
Here is the honest trade-off between the five options I actually recommend, based on running most of them myself.
| Platform | Best for | Free tier | You own the list? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Substack | Starting fast, built-in discovery | Free forever to send (10% when you charge) | Partly |
| Beehiiv | Treating it as a business, growth + sponsorships | Free under 2,500 subscribers | Yes |
| Kit (ConvertKit) | Selling products, automation + tags | Free under 10,000 subscribers | Yes |
| LinkedIn newsletter | Borrowing an existing follower base | Free | No (LinkedIn owns it) |
| Mailchimp | The default I would skip for Kit | Stingy free tier, scales fast | Yes |
Substack is where I would start almost everyone. It is free, it takes ten minutes to set up, and it has a built-in discovery network that sends you subscribers you did not earn. The catch: they take 10% the day you charge for it, and you do not fully own the relationship. For your first 1,000 subscribers, that trade is worth it. I have published 280+ editions there.
Beehiiv is the serious creator's pick. Better growth tools, referral programs built in, a cleaner path to sponsorship revenue. Free under 2,500 subscribers. If you are treating the newsletter as a business from day one, start here instead of Substack.
Kit, formerly ConvertKit, is the tool for people who sell things. It is an email platform first, a newsletter second. Free under 10,000 subscribers, deep automation, tags, and sequences. This is what I recommend the moment you have a product to sell, because the newsletter and the sales machine live in the same place.
LinkedIn newsletters are the strange free lunch. You publish inside LinkedIn, and every edition notifies your entire follower base. No list to build from scratch. I run one there, The Diary of a Virtual CEO, at 156+ editions. The catch is obvious: you own nothing. LinkedIn owns the audience. Use it as a feeder, not a foundation.
Mailchimp is the default most beginners reach for and the one I would skip. It is fine, but the free tier is stingy and the pricing scales fast. If you are choosing between Mailchimp and Kit at the same price, Kit wins on every axis that matters.
For most people reading this: Substack to start, Beehiiv if it is a business, Kit the day you have something to sell.
The 5 Elements of a Newsletter People Actually Open
People ask what makes a newsletter effective. After 280+ editions, I can tell you it comes down to five parts. Get these right and open rates take care of themselves. Get them wrong and no design template will save you.
| # | Element | Why it decides opens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Human sender name | People open emails from people, not from “The Team” |
| 2 | Specific subject line | Promises one concrete thing, not “this week's update” |
| 3 | Strong first line | The inbox preview is half your open rate; do not waste it |
| 4 | One idea per edition | Reader can say what it was about in one sentence |
| 5 | One clear action | Every extra choice lowers the odds anyone acts |
One, a sender name that is a human. Emails from “The Team” get ignored. Emails from a person get opened. My newsletters come from my name, not a brand. People open emails from people.
Two, a subject line that promises one specific thing. Not clever. Specific. “The 3-email sequence that recovered $34K” beats “This week's update” every single time. The subject line is 80% of whether the email gets opened at all.
Three, a strong first line. Most email previews show the first sentence next to the subject. Waste it on “Hi everyone, hope you had a great week” and you have thrown away half your open rate. Open with the payoff.
Four, one idea per edition. The newsletters that fail try to cover five things. The ones that work teach one thing well and stop. A reader should be able to say what your last email was about in one sentence.
Five, a single clear action at the end. Reply, click, buy, share. One. Every extra choice you add lowers the odds anyone does anything. I end every edition with exactly one ask.
That is it. Sender, subject, first line, one idea, one action. No template does this for you. It is writing, and it is learnable.
How to Create Your Newsletter, Step by Step
Here is exactly how to create a newsletter from scratch, the sequence I would follow if I were starting a new one tomorrow. Six steps, and you can be live today.
Step one: pick the platform from the table above. Do not overthink it. Substack if unsure.
Step two: name it after the promise, not after yourself. “Diary of a Virtual CEO” tells you what you get. “Martin's Newsletter” tells you nothing. The name is a promise about what lands in the inbox.
Step three: write your welcome email before your first edition. This is the one email every new subscriber reads, because they just signed up and you are top of mind. Tell them what to expect, how often, and give them one quick win immediately. Most people skip this. It is the highest-open email you will ever send.
Step four: set your cadence and put it in writing on the signup page. Weekly, twice a month, monthly. Pick one you can sustain for a year, not one that sounds impressive. Consistency beats frequency.
Step five: write edition one and send it to yourself first. Read it on your phone. If the first line does not make you want to keep reading, rewrite it. Then send it to your list of five, or fifty, or zero. Sending to a tiny list is not embarrassing. It is how everyone starts.
Step six: repeat next week. That is the whole job. The newsletter that wins is not the best-written one. It is the one that still exists in month six.
How to Get Your First 100 Subscribers
An empty newsletter is the norm at the start. Everyone begins at zero. The first 100 subscribers are the hardest, and there is a system for it that does not involve going viral.
Start with the people who already know you. Email your contacts, personally, one at a time, and tell them you started a newsletter. Not a broadcast. A real message. This gets most people to their first 20 to 50.
Then add a reason to subscribe that is better than “get my emails.” Nobody wants more email. They want a specific thing. Offer a lead magnet that people actually want: a checklist, a template, a short guide that solves one problem your audience has. Put it behind the signup. This is the single biggest lever on signup rate, and I have broken down which lead magnets convert in a separate piece.
Then borrow other people's audiences. Guest posts, podcast appearances, a comment that adds real value on a big creator's post. Every place your ideal reader already gathers is a place to point at your newsletter. I added over 8,000 emails to one list from a single free template that other creators shared for me across 18 months.
The pattern is always the same. Known contacts first, a real incentive second, borrowed audiences third. No ads required.
What to Actually Write, and How Often
The blank page kills more newsletters than anything else. Here is how I never run out of things to send.
Write what you already know that your reader does not. You do not need to be the world expert. You need to be one step ahead of your reader and honest about what worked. Every problem you have solved is an edition. Every mistake you made is an edition. Every tool you use is an edition.
Keep the format simple and repeatable. Mine is almost always: one idea, why it matters, a real example with a number, and one thing to do about it. That structure means I never stare at a blank page. I just fill in the four parts.
On frequency, sustainable beats impressive. Weekly is the sweet spot for most people because it keeps you top of mind without burning you out. If weekly feels impossible, go twice a month. A newsletter that arrives every two weeks for two years beats a daily one that dies in a month. Pick the pace you can hold when you are tired and busy, because you will be both.
How to Create a Newsletter for Free
You do not need to spend a dollar to start. Learning how to create a newsletter for free is the default in 2026, because every platform I recommend has a real free tier that carries you well past your first subscribers.
Substack is free forever for sending. They only make money when you charge your readers and take a cut. Beehiiv is free under 2,500 subscribers. Kit is free under 10,000. LinkedIn newsletters cost nothing at all. So the honest answer to “how do I create a newsletter for free” is: pick any of those, and you are creating a newsletter for free in ten minutes.
The only thing you should never do for free is use your personal Gmail to send to a list. Gmail was not built for bulk sending. You will hit sending limits, land in spam, and have no way to manage unsubscribes legally. Use a real newsletter platform even at zero cost. The free tiers exist precisely so you have no excuse.
How to Know If It Is Working
Most beginners obsess over subscriber count. That is the vanity number. The number that actually tells you if your newsletter is alive is the open rate.
Here is the benchmark. Across all industries, Mailchimp's data puts the average email open rate at 35.63% and the average click rate at 2.62%. That is your baseline. If your opens are well above that, your subject lines and your relationship with the list are strong. If they are far below, you have a trust problem or a subject-line problem, not a growth problem.
The second number that matters is what the newsletter earns per subscriber. Email is still the highest-return channel in marketing. HubSpot's 2026 data puts email ROI between 10 and 36 dollars back for every dollar spent, with the best programs clearing 50 to 1. That is why I treat my list as the most valuable asset I own. No other channel returns like it.
Watch two numbers. Open rate tells you if people care. Revenue per subscriber tells you if the list is a business. Subscriber count is a distant third.
Automate the Delivery So It Runs Without You
Once the newsletter works, the goal is to make it run with as little of your time as possible. This is where most creators leave hours on the table.
The writing stays yours. Nobody should ghost-write the voice your readers subscribed for. But everything around the writing gets automated. The welcome sequence that greets new subscribers, the tagging that sorts them by interest, the follow-up that goes out when someone clicks a specific link. All of that fires on its own. I built the email automation workflow that sends the newsletter for me so that a new subscriber gets a five-email welcome journey without me touching anything.
This is standard marketing automation, not rocket science. I have built 1,500+ workflows over the years, for Fortune 500 clients like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and eBay and for 2,000+ students, and the newsletter delivery system is one of the simplest of them. If you have ever wondered what these systems look like in practice, I documented the marketing automation examples I run across my businesses, and the newsletter sits at the center of most of them. The rule is simple. You write the ideas. The system handles the delivery, the sorting, and the follow-up.
The payoff is real. My newsletters go out, welcome new readers, and sort subscribers while I am asleep in Bali. That is the difference between a newsletter that is a chore and one that is an engine.
The Mistakes That Kill Newsletters
Three mistakes end most newsletters before they ever compound. I have watched all three happen to smart people.
Mistake one: sending only when you have something to sell. Readers can smell it. If the only time they hear from you is a pitch, they unsubscribe. Give value in most editions and sell in a few. The trust you build in the free ones is what makes the paid ask work.
Mistake two: chasing the perfect design instead of shipping. The best newsletters in my inbox are plain text. A person writing to a person. If you are spending your newsletter time in a design tool, you are avoiding the actual work, which is writing something worth reading.
Mistake three: quitting in month two. Newsletters compound slowly. The first ten editions feel like shouting into a void because they are. Around edition twenty, replies start. Around edition fifty, people quote you back to yourself. The creators who win are not more talented. They just did not quit before the compounding started.
So the real answer to how to create a newsletter that lasts is not a tool or a template. Build the habit, keep the format simple, and give more than you take. Do that for a year and you will own something no platform can take from you.
Is Your Newsletter Actually Working?
Answer yes or no. Three or more “no” answers means the newsletter is a chore, not an asset.
1. Is your open rate above 35%? If no, the problem is your subject lines and sender trust, not your subscriber count.
2. Does every edition teach one clear idea? If no, you are covering too much and readers remember nothing.
3. Do new subscribers get an automatic welcome email? If no, you are wasting your highest-open moment.
4. Can you name the single action each edition asks for? If no, you are giving readers too many choices and getting none taken.
5. Have you sent on schedule for the last eight weeks straight? If no, consistency, not talent, is your real gap.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best program to create a newsletter?
For most people, Substack is the best place to start because it is free, fast, and comes with built-in discovery. If you are building a business, Beehiiv has stronger growth and sponsorship tools. If you sell products, use Kit for its automation. Skip Mailchimp and never use plain Gmail for a list. The best program is the one that matches your goal, not the one with the fanciest templates.
What are the 5 elements of an effective newsletter?
A human sender name, a specific subject line that promises one thing, a strong first line that does not waste the preview, one idea per edition, and a single clear action at the end. Those five decide whether people open and read. Design and layout matter far less than most beginners think. Nail these five and open rates take care of themselves.
How do I create a newsletter for free?
Sign up for Substack, Beehiiv, or Kit and use the free tier. Substack is free forever for sending, Beehiiv is free under 2,500 subscribers, and Kit is free under 10,000. LinkedIn newsletters cost nothing. All you need is an email, a name for the newsletter, and your first edition. You can be live in about ten minutes without spending a dollar.
Should I use Substack or an email tool like Mailchimp?
Start with Substack if you are new, because it is simpler and brings you subscribers through its network. Move to a dedicated email tool like Kit the moment you have something to sell, because a real email platform gives you tags, automation, and full ownership of the list. I would choose Kit over Mailchimp at every tier. Substack for starting, Kit for selling.
How do I create a newsletter on LinkedIn?
If your LinkedIn account has creator mode on and enough followers, LinkedIn offers a newsletter feature directly in the publishing tools. You name it, set the cadence, and publish editions the same way you write a post. Every edition notifies your whole follower base, which is the appeal. The downside is you do not own the audience, so treat a LinkedIn newsletter as a feeder into an email list you control, not as your main home.
How often should I send a newsletter?
Weekly is the sweet spot for most creators. It keeps you in the reader's mind without exhausting you. If weekly is not sustainable, send twice a month or monthly instead. The rule that matters is consistency, not frequency. A newsletter that arrives on schedule for two years beats a daily one that burns out in a month. Pick a pace you can hold on your busiest week.
How many subscribers do I need before a newsletter makes money?
Fewer than people think. A focused list of 1,000 real subscribers can support a small product or sponsorship. Because email returns 10 to 36 dollars for every dollar spent, a small engaged list often out-earns a large disengaged one. The number that matters is engagement, not size. A thousand people who open and trust you beats ten thousand who forgot they signed up.
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About the Author
Martin Ebongue is the founder of martinebongue.com, an online business and lifestyle design blog focused on helping aspiring entrepreneurs build location-independent businesses. Since 2014, he has been creating and scaling online ventures across multiple niches, from digital products and affiliate marketing to SaaS and content platforms, while traveling the world. He shares the real-world strategies, tools, and systems that work, with a particular focus on AI-powered automation for solopreneurs. Follow him on YouTube, X (Twitter), and Instagram.
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