🔶 #47: "How Uusi Juttu added 10,000 paying members in three weeks"
Hello and welcome back to the News Alchemists newsletter!
I'm feeling a little nervous writing this email, because what comes next is new territory for me: 300 days and 40 emails after the first edition, I want to ask if you'd consider donating to support this work.
The last ten months have been such a great experience. Not just because I enjoyed writing the newsletter, but because of the conversations with readers like you who've told me how valuable this newsletter is for them:
"I read it every week and often use it as inspiration and material to prepare my journalism classes."
"My organisation has an opening for a community editor position and I'm preparing my application. Thanks for sending your newsletter, it will be helpful while I prep!"
"Your newsletter is one of my personal sources of optimism that there is still potential for societal value in digital media."
"If you read one journalism newsletter each week, make it Mattia Peretti's News Alchemists. He brings you a delightful buffet of links for a people-centric vision of journalism, and isn't afraid to share what he's learning as he experiments along the way."
Every one of these messages and shout-outs is incredibly rewarding. And I want to continue providing that value to you in 2026.
Don't worry, this is NOT leading to a paywall. I want this newsletter to remain free and accessible for everyone.
But on average I spend one day per week on this – between researching, writing, planning, promoting, admin-ing, talking with readers, etc. – and that's time I don't spend on other types of paid work.
And I would be a little fraud advocating for the idea that creating value for people through journalism can lead to financial sustainability if I didn't at least test that proposition myself, right?
My goal is to get to 25 supporters by the end of the year. That's about 5% of readers who opened last week's newsletter. Will you be one of them?
Once you click on the orange button, you won't find membership tiers or suggested amounts. It's a one-time donation, pay-what-you-want. If you can only pitch in with £10, that's great. If you have leftover professional budget to spend by the end of the year, and you want to donate £100 or more, that's also ok 🙃
If this newsletter has been valuable to you this year, and you can afford to support it, you can do it here:
And now it's time for the links 📚