Extra Points is moving to Beehiiv and other big updates:

Good morning, and thanks for your continued support of Extra Points.

I've been working behind the scenes for a good three months on some pretty substantial changes to Extra Points. We're now close enough to launch that I'd like to share them with you. That way, you're not totally caught off guard, can understand why we're making some of these changes, and what it means for you.

What is Beehiiv and why should I care about it?

Beehiiv is a newsletter CMS delivery platform, like Substack and Ghost, which I currently use. Beehiiv supports some of the larger college sports-related newsletters right now (like the Solid Verbal, the Field of 68, or Overtime), and offers some features that I believe are better aligned with what Extra Points is trying to do right now.

Okay, so what sort of new features are we talking about here? What's in this for me, the reader?

One feature that I am particularly excited about is the ability to launch a reader referral rewards program, one that should be ready to go live right at launch. I want to reward people who help share Extra Points with their friends, since word of mouth is still one of the biggest ways this newsletter grows. Referral rewards will include stuff I think you'll actually want, like one on one Zoom calls, bonus material from my book (and the one I'm currently writing), $100 gift cards for Homefield Apparel, and more.

Beehiiv also makes it easy to add newsletter recommendation systems, which I hope will help you find other newsletters you'd legitimately enjoy, and serve better-targeted ad experiences. I don't like ads any more than the rest of you, but they're a necessary evil, which means I want the best possible ads I can get.

There are a few other doodads, like polls and a slightly more powerful text editor, that you might enjoy. If you're interested, I'll address some of the Inside Media Business Nerd Stuff Reasons at the end.

Okay, sounds cool. What do I need to know in the meantime? What does this mean for me?

The important news is that your subscription does not change. You do not need to re-enter any credit card information, sign up for anything else...you shouldn't have to do anything.

The www.extrapointsmb.com domain will briefly go dark this week, as we port the domain from Ghost to Beehiiv, although you'll still be able to read the emails in your inbox. I don't know exactly when this will happen, but I imagine it won't take very long.

However, I've moved newsletter platforms before, and I know that despite all of our best efforts, hiccups happen. If you have any billing or deliverability questions, please let me know at matt@extrapointsmb.com and I will get your concerns addressed ASAP. I am not foreseeing any issues, but I am a tech idiot, and I know we are porting over some systems and accounts that were started back in 2020, before D1.ticker and before Ghost. As Kevin Garnett said, anything is possible.

There will be a few features that the site currently has that will not immediately be functional on Beehiiv, such as the search function on the front page. There aren't many of these, and I don't think any are mission-critical, but I will be here to answer your questions and figure out solutions over the next few days. If I need to duct tape something to the website for a few weeks, well, that's what we'll do.

So, TL;DR, we're moving to a brand new tech platform. I think you're going to really like it, but please, pardon our dust over the next few days while we finish our remodeling. As always, I'm happy to help you at matt@extrapointsmb.com.

Okay, so lay it on me, give me that media nerd talk. Why are you doing this? Didn't you just change newsletter platforms?

Guilty as charged. I started Extra Points on Substack back in 2019. I moved to Ghost in April 2021. I hope this is my last move.

Substack, Ghost and Beehiiv are now the three big newsletter platforms, although other tools are used by plenty of other publishers. My personal opinion is that all three platforms are good, but they excel at different things and are best for certain kinds of publishers.

One thing I've learned over the last year is that I don't quite need the customizability that I thought that I did...that writing 7,000+ words a week, plus D1.classroom questions, radio hits, classroom discussions, and even the occasional stupid computer game is quite a lot of work already. I simply do not have the mental energy to fiddle with optimizing my newsletter tech, even if doing so would make me money. My eyes glaze over when I have to paste in even relatively simple code plugins.

My hope is that once Beehiiv is configured the way I want it and working correctly, I can spend less time on tech this year, more time on D1.classroom and more time on reporting, researching and writing stuff that you'll actually want to read every morning.

There's also a financial component. Beehiiv is cheaper than what we were paying for Ghost and a few add-ons to our Ghost stack. We also believe that their referral program, recommendations engine, and ad network will make it easier for us to grow Extra Points and find better ways to monetize the audience outside just subscriptions and D1.classroom. I want to reinvest those savings and new revenues into our freelance budget, our travel budget, and our marketing budget....but that means I gotta find the money.

This doesn't mean that Ghost (or Substack) are bad...and quite frankly, I'd still happily recommend either of them to another publisher, depending on their budget and goals. Right now, based on our goals for Extra Points this year, we think this is going to be the best move for us and our readers.

Thanks for reading and sticking with us. I'll try to make this move as quick and painless as possible, so I can get back to writing.

-Matt