DECEMBER 27, 2024

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Welcome to The Tilt, the newsletter for content entrepreneurs from Tilt Publishing. Together, we're redefining what it means to be a publisher.

Last days to get the 2024 rate for Content Entrepreneur Expo 2025. Best deal available expires 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31.

23+ Great Ideas for Your 2025 Playbook

Be brave, but be smart. Think big, but stay focused. Listen, but take action.

Those overarching (and sometimes seemingly dichotomous) lessons came from the content entrepreneurs profiled in The Tilt newsletter this year.

But as a content entrepreneur, you’ll likely need more to go on to grow (or launch) your content business in 2025. So, we’ve compiled some of our favorite ideas to help, from starting and building the business to marketing, product development, and revenue.

Starting

• Visualize your goals: Joe used his three-hour train commute to a job he hated to envision and plan what he wanted to achieve. Years later, when burned out on his “dream” entrepreneurial business, he created a new life as a content entrepreneur. [Joe DiSanto, Play Louder]
• Keep working and earning elsewhere: Lindsey spent 20 to 24 hours a week on his content business while working a full-time job. The two worked well together, elevating Lindsey as a thought leader in the creator economy. [Lindsey Gamble, Lindsey Gamble’s Newsletter]
• Tap into your unique experiences: Justin gained experience negotiating deals with his wife April's YouTube channel. As an agency owner, he did deals on behalf of the brands. Working both sides of sponsor deals led him to realize his content tilt, and Creator Wizard was born. [Justin Moore, Creator Wizard]
• Create your opportunities: From almost her first day as an office manager at a magazine, Erika Heald started freelance writing to grow her skills. Her stints at full-time jobs over the next 10-plus years gave her the expertise to launch her multiple content businesses. [Erika Heald, Erika Heald Marketing Consulting]

Building

• Find your people: Gather a sounding board. Find five or six people you can ask for advice or help with something you are struggling with, and they will get back to you quickly and honestly. Find an SEO expert, business expert, and/or people running a business like yours. [Michelle Martello, Minima Designs]
• Know things don’t always work: As you build the business, some things you invest your time and energy in will not work out. And that’s OK. Don’t look at other people 10 years in and compare yourself to them. Perfectionists don’t last as content entrepreneurs. [Rachel Smith, Rachel’s English]
• Keep your purpose: Anne received two offers to join podcast networks but declined both because she thought they viewed her podcast in dollar signs, not for its core mission of helping people in business. [Anne McGinty, How I Build My Small Business]
• Make tough decisions: Latasha shut down her free community to focus on her paid community. And she wanted to return to the freedom of a solo business, so she didn’t renew her team members’ contracts. [Latasha James]

Marketing

• Use free content to attract leads: From her first free YouTube course, Caroline adopted the strategy of giving away content to get people into her database and eventually convert them into customers. [Caroline Gunter, The Swedish Organizer]
• See social media for what it is: It’s OK to go to social media because that’s where your audience is, but make sure to drive them to a place where you have unrestricted access to them, such as a newsletter list. [LeQwane Lynch, Reach agency and formerly Alerts Daily]
• Start with an audience: Before Carl launched the I Used To Be Somebody podcast, he and his wife Diana launched a newsletter to ensure they could reach their audience directly. [Carl Landau, I Used To Be Somebody and Pickleball for Dummies]
• Waitlists work: Myles used a waitlist to generate buzz before launching his online course. He provided free, valuable content for those who signed up. About 90 of the 2K who signed up for the waitlist converted into paying customers. [Myles Cohen, formerly of The Gauntlet]
• Appreciate what you have: Growth is necessary, but if you don’t care for the existing audience, you will lose their trust and engagement. [Scott Martin, Groundswell Origins]

Developing products and services

• Use what you have: Jay developed his content products based on what he was already doing with his clients. And he now plans to add online courses derived from his one-on-one coaching sessions. [Jay Melone, Profit Ladder]
• Validate your content product: Russell used Kickstarter to raise money for his work, but it also allowed him to know when he stumbled onto a good idea. [Russell Nohelty]
• Recognize the real value of a book: Claire wrote her book to position herself as an expert, not to earn a lot of revenue. [Claire Bartholic, Planted Runner]
• Give your audience what they want: Adam started with a $79-a-month membership program for Podcasting Business School. In response to audience requests, he’s added higher-priced online courses, short-term consulting programs, and more. [Adam Schaeuble, Podcasting Business School]

Making money

• Get personal: Simon hosts a 30-minute call with every new paid subscriber to learn more about his audience and personalize the experience. It’s reduced churn and increased conversions. [Simon Owens, Simon Owens’s Tech and Media Newsletter]
• Look for unexpected opportunities: Book coaching as a service line came about through unsolicited referrals. Cat’s success led her to make it her primary offering. [Cat Margulis, Passion Project]
• Add revenue stream quickly: After two months in business, Hanna added content behind a paywall for subscribers – $9 a month or $99 a year. Later, she reduced the price to $5 a month and added a “thrift shop” option, charging $4 for a collection of six to eight evergreen stories. [Hanna Raskin, The Food Section]
• Charge for value: Price your content products based on the value they are designed to provide. Define what that value is. [Josh Spector, For The Interested]
• Do your homework before asking for partnerships: Molly partners with brands that sell products she uses and loves. She also participates in their communities and writes about their products before she asks them to partner with her. [Molly Mahoney, The Prepared Performer]
• Work with sponsors who don’t question your rates. People who understand and value your content and business will return and give you more business. People who question your rates or try to negotiate are likely not people you want to work with. [Vanessa Gordon, East End Taste and Hamptons Interactive Brunch]

– Ann Gynn

What’s your best advice for content entrepreneurs at any stage? Tag us on LinkedIn (@TiltPublishing).

• Don’t buy in yet … Think twice before paying for a publishing trade show. [Jane Friedman]
• Cover to cover … Your manuscript isn’t the only writing to do. You’ve got to do the front and back matters, too. [Lulu]
• More in 2025 and beyond … The book publishing industry is projected to grow at an annual rate of 2.9% through 2028, and self-publishing trends, subscription models, and podcast market are some of the reasons. [TBRC Business Research]
• Options are good … Don't know what book variants are? Bet you do. [Lulu]

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