DispatchA Monthly Peer Advisory Board
Every Writer Here Publishes Weekly. None of Them Do It Alone.
Independent newsletter writers — paid Substacks, niche Beehiiv digests, LinkedIn newsletters — sitting across from each other once a month.
Priya Nair
The Margin Note
8,400 readers
Writes about the business of independent media. Grew 0→8K in 14 months.
"The session where someone asked "what's your churn rate" changed how I write subject lines forever."
— Marcus Webb
Field Notes Weekly
Newsletter writer. Dispatch member.
The Dispatch Digest
Beehiiv · 12,200
A weekly digest of what solo operators are building.
Tomás Reyes
Compounding Slowly
Finance writer. Joined when he had 800 subscribers.
"Nobody else in my life cares that I shipped every Tuesday for 52 weeks. This room does."
— Adaeze Okafor
The Long Read Lagos
Newsletter writer. Dispatch member.
Claire Fontaine
Slow Mornings
19,600 readers
Lifestyle + essays. The most-read member at the table.
Operator Brief
LinkedIn · 6,800
B2B newsletter for startup operators. Every Friday.
Jin-ho Park
Product Surface
Product strategy for builders. Turned his newsletter into a consulting pipeline.
"I raised my paid subscription price after one conversation here. Best decision I made all year."
— Saoirse Brennan
The Dublin Draft
Newsletter writer. Dispatch member.
Darius Coleman
The Infrastructure Letter
7,200 readers
Tech policy and infrastructure. Went from 0 to 7K in 18 months.
Backchannel
Substack · 2,900
Media criticism and newsletter industry meta-commentary.
Mei-Ling Torres
The Craft Room
Creativity + process writing. Hit 10K before joining.
The Problems That Fill the Room
What I Brought to the Table
Real questions from real sessions. The kind you can only ask in a room full of people who understand exactly what you're dealing with.
"My open rates dropped 11 points after I switched to a weekly cadence from twice-weekly. I didn't know if it was the frequency change or the content shift."
Priya Nair
The Margin Note · 8,400
February session
Substack
"I'd been sitting on a paid tier for six months. Every time I was about to launch it I talked myself out of it. I brought my pricing anxiety to the table."
Marcus Webb
Field Notes Weekly · 2,200
January session
Beehiiv
"At 19K subscribers I was making less per reader than someone with 3K. I didn't understand why my conversion rate was so low and I was embarrassed to say it out loud anywhere else."
Claire Fontaine
Slow Mornings · 19,600
March session
Substack
"A brand approached me with a sponsorship that felt too big — $4,500 for three issues. I had no idea if that was a good rate or if I was being undersold."
Tomás Reyes
Compounding Slowly · 3,100
November session
Substack
"My list had stalled at 5,600 for four months. I'd tried referral programs, cross-promotions, a lead magnet. Nothing moved. I needed someone to tell me what I was missing."
Adaeze Okafor
The Long Read Lagos · 5,600
October session
Beehiiv
"I was getting consulting inquiries from readers but I had no system for converting them. I was leaving money on the table and I knew it."
Jin-ho Park
Product Surface · 4,400
December session
Beehiiv
"My unsubscribe rate spiked after I published a piece that did really well on social. More readers came in but they weren't the right ones. I needed help defining who I'm actually writing for."
Saoirse Brennan
The Dublin Draft · 1,800
January session
Substack
"I got a cease-and-desist from a company I'd written critically about. I had no idea what my actual exposure was as a solo operator with no legal team."
Darius Coleman
The Infrastructure Letter · 7,200
September session
Beehiiv
"I'd been writing for three years and felt close to burnout. I wanted to talk about sustainability — not growth, not revenue — just how to keep going without losing the reason I started."
Mei-Ling Torres
The Craft Room · 11,000
February session
Substack
After the Session Ends
What I Took Home
The specific shift — tactic, reframe, or experiment — that came from one conversation at the table.
Launched a founding member tier at $8/month with a hard cap of 200 spots and a 72-hour window. Framed it as "you're funding the next year of this newsletter."
The result
Sold 147 spots in the first window. First $1,176 in recurring revenue.
Marcus Webb
Field Notes Weekly
3 weeks after the session
Ran a re-engagement sequence targeting 90-day non-openers: one honest email asking if they still wanted to hear from me, with an easy one-click opt-out.
The result
Removed 1,100 cold subscribers. Open rate went from 31% to 44% in two sends.
Priya Nair
The Margin Note
6 weeks after the session
Added a single upgrade prompt inside every 4th free issue — not a pop-up, not a banner, just one paragraph in my voice explaining what paid members get.
The result
Conversion rate from free to paid went from 0.8% to 2.3% over 90 days.
Claire Fontaine
Slow Mornings
3 months after the session
Built a simple rate card using CPM benchmarks from other members. Learned I was charging $800 for placements that should have been $2,200.
The result
Next three sponsorships averaged $2,400. Annual revenue projection up by $9,600.
Tomás Reyes
Compounding Slowly
Immediately after the session
Stopped chasing broad growth and ran a targeted cross-promotion with two newsletters in adjacent niches — each with under 8K subscribers but strong overlap.
The result
Gained 640 new subscribers in 10 days. 71% still active 60 days later.
Adaeze Okafor
The Long Read Lagos
2 weeks after the session
Added a simple "I work with companies on [X]" line to my bio and a link to a one-page consulting brief. No sales page, no funnel.
The result
Three inbound consulting inquiries in 30 days. Closed one at $6,500.
Jin-ho Park
Product Surface
1 month after the session
Wrote a "who this newsletter is for" page and linked it in every welcome email. Explicit about who it's not for.
The result
Unsubscribe rate dropped 60%. Replies per issue doubled. Smaller list, better room.
Saoirse Brennan
The Dublin Draft
6 weeks after the session
Moved from weekly to every-other-week for 60 days as an experiment, told readers exactly why, and tracked every metric.
The result
Open rates held steady. Paid churn dropped. She stayed at biweekly permanently.
Mei-Ling Torres
The Craft Room
2 months after the session
Coming Up
Upcoming Sessions
Each session runs 90 minutes. One topic, 14 members maximum, everyone comes prepared.
MAR 2026
Thursday
12:00 PM ET
The Paid Tier Playbook
When to launch it, how to price it, and how to talk about it without feeling like you're selling.
APR 2026
Thursday
12:00 PM ET
Subject Lines That Actually Work
Members share their best-performing subject lines with open rates attached. No theory — just data from real newsletters.
MAY 2026
Thursday
12:00 PM ET
Sponsorship Rates & Negotiation
Bring your rate card. We'll benchmark together — what everyone is actually charging per thousand readers.
JUN 2026
Thursday
12:00 PM ET
The Slow Growth Audit
For writers whose lists have plateaued. We'll look at growth channels, retention, and what's actually worth your time.
Not Ready to Commit?
Sit In and Listen First
We recorded a 28-minute highlight reel from a past session — the part where four members compared their open rates and one person realized they'd been writing for the wrong audience for two years.
Leave your email. We'll send it over. No pitch, no sequence, just the recording.
Session Highlight Reel
November 2025 · Open Rates Roundtable · 28 min
The Next Table
Reserve Your Seat at the Next Table
14 seats per session. One topic. Every member comes with a real number and a real question. The conversation starts ten minutes before you expect it to.
One session per month
90 minutes, video, 14 members max
Open books policy
Members share real open rates, revenue, and subscriber counts
Private by default
What happens at the table stays at the table. No screenshots, no threads.
Curated cohort
We read every application. The room only works if the people in it do.
"I've been writing for three years. This is the first room where I don't have to explain what a paid tier is before I ask my actual question."
— Mei-Ling Torres, The Craft Room · 11,000 readers
Your application
Takes about 3 minutes. We read every one.