August Round-Up: Results So Far

The results so far, my thoughts on each platform, and focus for the month ahead.

Lisa Slater
August 29, 2025

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August Results

Platform: Beehiiv

Publication: My Content Marketing Experiment

This is a weekly email (the one you are reading right now) that goes out every Friday. I share my thoughts, findings and learnings each week, with a results update at the end of each month.

The updates take around 90 minutes, and any additional guides or articles take around two to three hours, so I spend roughly eight to ten hours creating content for this publication each month.

Results this month:

Total subscribers: 56 (up 3 since last month)
Average open rate: 45.79% (down from 48.34% last month)
Financial investment this month: £37.32
Earnings (as a direct result of the publication): $2.80

Thoughts:

A couple of new subs this month (hello there 🙋‍♀️), but nothing out of the ordinary. As I mentioned in last week’s post about analytics, the data shows my feature comparison and setting up Susbtack posts are the most popular, so next month I’m going to be looking at creating another guide on a similar topic.

I also want to set up a page for my 12-week marketing mentoring programme. I have one on my main site, but I want to create one for this site too.

I might also revisit an old email sequence I had called Better Blogging. I had completely forgotten about it, but I think with a revamp, it could be a nice little freebie.

And as always, I’ll be looking for ways to grow my membership. The next lunch and learn is all about social media, and October’s will be focusing on website copy.

Platform: Ghost

Publication: The Freelance Fairytale Newsletter (TFF)

This is a monthly newsletter that goes out every Monday. It has replaced my old daily emails and my LinkedIn newsletter.

I create one weekly email which includes a ten-minute task and some anagrams. The tasks and anagrams have all been pre-written for the year, so just need pasting in each week. The body of the email takes me around 30 minutes to write. I also write a weekly web-only post, which takes around 60-90 minutes. Altogether, I spend around six to eight hours per month on content for this publication.

Results this month:

Total subscribers: 35 (up 2 from last month)
Paid subscribers: 1 (no change from last month)
Average open rate (this month): 61.02% (up from 53.4% last month)
Financial investment (this month): £0
Stripe fees: £0
Earnings this month (as a direct result of the publication): £0

Thoughts:

I’m currently in the process of moving my in-depth guides from LS Mentoring to this site, so that all my blog posts and articles are in one place. I’m also making PDF versions of some of my most popular guides, which I’ll be giving away to anyone who subscribes.

The big project for September is a new freebie I’m putting together that will be going live in a few weeks. I’m not going to reveal too much just yet, but it will be for anyone looking to start 2026 with a bang and a plan. I’ll be sharing the details in this newsletter too, so make sure you check my weekly updates for the big launch.

Platform: Substack

Publication: Write With Lisa (WWL)

This publication is all about writing, whether it’s for business, money or pleasure. I add one blog post per month (free to view) and write one free email that goes to all subscribers. I also create an audio post and email each month for paid subs only. So I probably spend around five to six hours a month on content creation.

Results so far:

Total subscribers: 20 (up 2 from last month)
Paid subscribers: 4 (no change)
Average open rate (last 30 days): 51.8% (up from 50% last month)
Financial investment: £0
Commission and fees: £4.26
Earnings this month: £30

Thoughts:

I’ll be honest, I have been neglecting this publication slightly this month as I’ve been super busy with client projects, and something had to give, so it’s been a bare minimum approach.

I have made a few tweaks to the custom pages, and I’m working on next month’s content, but I need to up my game if I want to get any traction.

Summary (for the year)

Totals for 2025	Beehiiv (MYCC)	Ghost (TFF)	Substack (WWL)	Medium	All
Free subs	56	35	20	146
Paid subs	0	1	4	N/A
Average open rate	53%	63%	60%	N/A
Costs & fees	£187.54	£137.48	£53.24	£39.67	£417.93
Earnings	£0	£200	£281.07	£563.96	£617.90
Profit					£199.97

As I mentioned in last week’s post about analytics, I’m encouraged by the fact that my unsubscribe rates are remaining so low on all publications. It means readers are sticking with me, which tells me I’m doing something right.

But I’m still frustrated by how slowly my lists are growing. And I have so far made very little from my Beehiiv publication (this one), despite this platform now being the most costly.

The zero figure shown for Beehiiv earnings is not quite accurate, as I have accumulated $11 in ad revenue. The reason I haven’t added it to the table is that I haven’t withdrawn it yet, so I’m not sure what it is in £ (and I’m not counting money that hasn’t made it into my bank account). But still, $11 doesn’t even cover one month’s fees.

All that aside, I am still optimistic. I never saw this experiment as a short-term thing, and I’m pretty confident all the work I am putting in now will pay off in the next 12 months.

Doing this experiment has allowed me to give my content shape and structure. I am in a good routine (I used to blog once a month, now I’m writing at least two a week). It has also helped me bring back my co-working events (which I love) and develop a cost-effective membership so I can help more people.

So even if I never get to 1000 subs, I don’t care. My content gets read, my business makes money, and I enjoy what I do. That’s good enough for me.

I’d love to hear from you

Thank you for following my progress so far. I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to email me letting me know whether you find this content useful and what else you’d like to see.

And if you’d like some help with your marketing strategy, you can book 90 minutes with me for only £150.

That’s it for this week and the month. I’ll be back next week with more updates. Don’t forget to let me know your thoughts - I reply personally to every response.

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August Round-Up: Results So Far

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