S-Tier to F-Tier: The Only 4 Newsletter Growth Channels Worth Your Time (And Money)

I've spent thousands of dollars on list building, so you don't have to waste money on the WRONG newsletter growth channels.

Save this email for when you need it down the line.

Last week, I released a free 33+ page ebook exclusively for my list (you guys and gals), funded entirely by my invite-only Merchants Guild, my private paid copywriting community.

(Don't worry, these emails will always stay free.)

Guilds, if you don't know, were historically where skilled craftsmen and merchants gathered to use their collective power to protect economic interests, cross-pollinate ideas, and just plain old find work.

I stole the idea from some YouTuber who also had a community named "The merchants guild." I figured why not name my community the same thing but with a different panache?

The ebook has everything you need to start an email copywriting business from scratch and make a fortune with email.

But you have to put in the work.

You see, I have an issue with the online copywriting community overall.

99% of "copywriters" end up doing bullsh*t busywork, then quit the craft entirely because they lack direction and systems.

It’s the blind leading the blind.

There's no single study pinpointing this (believe me, I'd find it), but it's true. All of the aggregate data and just common sense will tell you that.

Freelancers are broke.

Payoneer estimated a global average of just $15–16/hour. Even among U.S.-based writers, Make a Living Writing's 2023 survey found only a fraction broke past $60k per year. Most hover far lower, especially in their first 18 months.

Without savings or a part-time cushion, they burn out financially before they stabilize.

Here's the fix:

Learn the foundations of copywriting. Skip the shiny object of aimless freelancing. Direct all that piss and vinegar energy toward email, one of the highest ROI skills you can master for clients and yourself

Email marketing lets you:

Demand higher rates from Upwork/Fiverr clients (you'll have proof and experience)
Stand out from every Tom, Dick, and Harry calling themselves a "copywriter"
Build a small, hyper-niche paid personal brand in health, wealth, or relationships

But this week's email isn't about building your list, it's about discovery. What channels actually grow your email fortune?

The ranking below comes from growing my own list to 3k+ subscribers from zero, learning from millionaire coaches, and plain research anyone can verify.

Here's What Actually Works (And What Doesn't):

S-TIER (Start here):

YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok for organic growth

I don't have a YouTube channel yet, but video platforms generate the best organic subscribers with high LTV (lifetime value).

Remember Dan Kennedy's quote? "He who pays the most for a subscriber, wins."

Well, the best subscribers are actually free and organic. People who swim upstream to find you. Who wade through the internet's trash pile just to discover your work.

Despite the ad, despite any resistance.

They tend to stay for a looong time. Long enough to be closed. Ideally, repeatedly.

Meta ads

The only paid ads worth your money. If you have disposable income to grow your list, Facebook ads should take all of it.

The Andromeda update is crushing some ecomm guys, but static ads still generate extremely high-quality subscribers.

My first 15 subscribers came from Meta ads. All of them are still on my list. (Shout out to you guys, lol.)

A-TIER (Solid options):

SEO and organic search traffic

I'm a big proponent of building your own site and hosting your newsletter there.

Reason #1: You build an asset 100% in your control, no platform censorship, no algorithm bullsh*t. It’s yours forever so long as you pay your cheap domain fee every year.

Reason #2: SEO done right = free traffic = free subscribers who also swam against the current to find you.

Build as many assets on the internet as possible. Have them cross-pollinate and cross-reference each other.

Remember the Walt Disney flywheel? Google it. Flywheel your business assets.

Social media channels (X, Substack, Bluesky, Threads)

Severely underrated. Done right, you can net a few hundred organic subs per month, or at minimum, a dozen or two. Add this to your flywheel and you’ll be swimming in subscribers.

F-TIER (Actively harmful):

Paid recommendations (Sparkloop, Beehive Boost, etc.)
Cold newsletters / list buying
Anonymous website traffic tools
PR and press coverage (sounds cool, drives nothing)

F-tier = genuine waste of time.

Paid recommendations suck. Low LTV, disengaged readers. It's why I ultimately went with Kit to build my list, Beehiiv/sparkloops ad/boost network was never designed to work for beginners who don't want to over-invest.

They’re for hyper-scale brands already doing millions.

List buying can harm more than help. I've tried affiliate stuff myself, and won't put more money into it. Cost-benefit is too low.

Traffic tools and PR? Too finicky. Extreme waste of energy.

Look, most content creators obsess over hitting 100,000 subscribers.

I'd rather have 10,000 quality organic subscribers who actually open, click, and buy, than 100,000 freebie-seekers who ignore everything I send.

Your email list size is a vanity metric.

What actually matters:

Conversion rate from free to paid
Customer acquisition cost
Actual revenue per subscriber

I've deleted thousands of inactive subscribers from low-quality sources. My deliverability improved overnight. My revenue didn't drop, it went up because engaged subscribers see more of my emails.

Don't chase list size. Chase quality.

Focus on:

ONE video discovery channel (YouTube/LinkedIn/Instagram/TikTok)
ONE written channel (X, Substack, etc)
ONE partnership strategy (guest posts/podcasts)
ONE paid channel (Meta ads)

That's it. That's the whole strategy.

Till next week,

Fathi