I'll have to follow The Trace and Inquest. I usually don't like The Guardian's appeals but their story quality + frequency of ask is clearly working for them.

I'm a huge fan of what The 51st does with their appeals and I loved COYOTE's appeal this month

it's better if they're better, hence my little breakdown of the good ones. I loved your “If I were in prison, I’d want my voice heard.” email!

Yes, I make this point in my story. Sending a bunch of emails works period. The Intercept is shameless about that. Their messages SUCK from my POV, but they clearly resonate enough to hit their goals.

The takeaway for me is send way more emails than you think you need and also

I help small business owners. This post was about small business owners who are getting stolen from. Not about who shops on Amazon

your appeals are always TOP NOTCH Maddie. Real hall of fame shit.

Don't see how at all this addresses the problem of Amazon stealing products from indie sellers but thanks for your useless comment

Going into 2026, I'm prioritizing Facebook ads + creator ads. I'm also thinking about getting into Pinterest, both organic and paid bc I hear good things from bloggers.

What kinds of paid ads have worked for you?

Creator ads are the most fun and they pay off in ways that are untrackable. Often creators will run more ads than you paid for or they will organically promote you. The cost per sub is higher than the others but these subs are more likely to buy, click and take action on your newsletter.

Google ads have been the hardest for me to figure out so I haven’t tested them much. They work for other publishers though.

YouTube ads are the easiest to manage but hard to track when it comes to list growth. I do see the YouTube -> paid subscriber path already paying off and it seems like having videos that get seen and show up in search could help juice this.

Facebook ads are the cheapest but don't be fooled by the low cost per sub. You'll want to test targeting to make sure you get the right people on your list and that can make your cost per sub go up.