The questions I'm taking into this research

July 2026 · I'm deliberately publishing my questions, not my guesses — the full findings go to everyone who participates.

Two established creators have already been generous with their time — Stacie Vaughan of Simply Stacie and William Tang of Going Awesome Places — and those conversations convinced me of one thing: I understand far less about how newsletter businesses actually run than I thought. So I'm doing this properly, interviewing around twenty food and travel creators before drawing any conclusions.

Here's what I'm honestly unsure about. If you run a newsletter, you already know the answers for your own business — which is exactly why I want to talk to you.

Where does the time actually go?

Between the first idea for an issue and hitting send, how do the hours really break down? I suspect every creator's answer is different — writing, research, curation, formatting, admin — and I don't want to guess.

What are the real top problems?

Not the problems outsiders assume creators have — the ones creators would actually name, unprompted, if you asked what's hardest about the business right now. I expect to be surprised.

How do creators decide what to recommend to their audience?

A newsletter's recommendations carry the creator's name and years of trust. How does that judgment actually work — and what would a creator never delegate?

How does the money actually work?

Every newsletter earns its living differently, and the mix seems to shape everything else about how the business runs. I want the real picture, not the conference-stage version — including the parts that turned out not to be worth the effort.

Why do good weeks and bad weeks happen?

Same quality, same audience, different results — every creator I've met knows the feeling. I'm curious what explanations creators themselves find convincing.