June Round-Up: Results So Far

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

Lisa Slater
June 27, 2025

June 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: 51 (up 1 since last month)
Average open rate: 53.09% (up from 52.44% last month)
Financial investment this month: £37.29
Earnings (as a direct result of the publication): $2 + £5

Thoughts:

Only one new subscriber this month, which is disappointing, but I have to admit I haven’t been great at promoting this newsletter because I’ve been pushing my events.

Open rate has remained pretty stable, but I’ve had an issue with the domain since mid-May, whereby my emails have been showing as unverified (or going into junk). I think I’ve managed to resolve this issue, but I won’t know until this email goes out, so please do let me know if it’s showing as unverified or ends up in your junk folder.

As I mentioned last week, I have updated the site using their new website builder. I haven’t had chance to do much with it since my last update, but it’s not in bad shape.

I haven’t had any paid members and ad revenue is still minimal ($2). But someone did buy me a beer last week after I mentioned my birthday (which is on Monday so there’s still time for you to treat me if you like my content 😉).

Focus for July:

I’ve updated a lot of the content so it translates better on social media. Going forward, I’m going to be focusing more on content marketing in general, with weekly updates about my experiment only visible to my email subscribers. I also want to put together an in-depth piece about my journey so far.

My main focus, as always, will be on trying to grow my subscriber numbers and get more members.

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: 32 (up 2 from last month)
Paid subscribers: 1 (no change from last month)
Average open rate (this month): 61.75% (up from 56.75% last month)
Financial investment (this month): £0
Stripe fees: £0
Earnings this month (as a direct result of the publication): £0

Thoughts:

Not much to report on this newsletter for June. It’s been ticking along nicely, although I haven’t had many new subs. Open rate is up slightly. No new income, but also no new costs.

Focus for July:

My plan is to turn some of the guides from my LS Mentoring site into PDFs so I can use them as lead magnets. I also want to create video versions so I can push more people towards them. Not sure when I’ll get chance to do all the work I need to do, but hopefully it will be in the next few months.

Platform: Substack

Publication 1: New Brew Thursday UK (NBT)

This is a monthly newsletter where I share my most recent blog posts and dates for the upcoming New Brew Networking events.

I write a top five post and a monthly roundup newsletter every month. I also add between one and three additional posts per month, depending on what we’ve been up to. So I spend anywhere between three and eight hours per month on content.

Results this month:

Total subscribers: 25 (up 1 from last month)
Average open rate (last 30 days): 55.1% (down from 58.57% last month)
Financial investment: £0
Earnings (as a direct result of the publication): £0

Thoughts:

Not much activity with this publication, but it is still only a passion project right now. I did manage to get two free beers from a brewery founder when I was talking to him about it at a networking event so that was a nice bonus!

Open rates are skewed slightly as I’ve sent a couple of event reminders as emails. The June newsletter hasn’t gone out yet but May’s was 61% open rate (versus 67% for April’s).

Focus for July:

I am hosting my first in-person New Brew Networking event in a couple of weeks, which I’m looking forward to. If you’re Leeds-based and you fancy meeting me for a beer, register here with the time you are most likely to arrive and I’ll send you venue details once I’ve confirmed (it will be somewhere with good beer and within walking distance of Leeds train station).

Platform: Substack

Publication 2: Write With Lisa (WWL)

This is my most recent publication, with the free version going live at the start of March. The paid membership went live on April 1st.

I write one blog post (available to anyone) each month, and I write and record one member-only audio post each month. I also write two emails per month - one for free subs and one for paid. So I probably spend around eight to ten hours a month on content creation.

Results so far:

Total subscribers: 18 (up 2 from last month)
Paid subscribers: 4 (no change)
Average open rate (last 30 days): 50% (down from 68.75% last month)
Financial investment: £0
Commission and fees: £4.26
Earnings this month: £30

Thoughts:

Again, the open rates are slightly skewed because I do a monthly email for all subs and monthly member-only email, but I’ve also been sending event reminders (and these sometimes only go to free subs and sometimes to all).

The open rate for the newsletter was 44% and the member-only open rate was 50%. But some people read the content in the app rather than opening the emails so it’s hard to get accurate figures.

Focus for June:

I’m trying to be more consistent with notes as this seems to be the best way to get new subs on Substack. And as with all publications, the focus is on growing.

Summary (for the year)

Totals for 2025	Beehiiv (this newsletter)	Ghost (TFF)	Substack (NBT)	Substack (WWL)	Medium	All
Free subs	51	32	25	18	115
Paid subs	0	1	N/A	4	N/A
Average open rate	56%	62%	72%	66%	N/A
Costs & fees	£75.18	£137.48	£0	£44.72	£39.67	£334.34
Earnings	£	£200	£0	£281.07	£55.79	£537.16
Profit						£202.82

£202 profit isn’t exactly impressive or bragworthy for six months’ worth of effort. I always knew it was going to take time, but I thought I’d be slightly further along by now, so the second half of the year is definitely going to be focused on growth and ROI.

On the plus side, I am still enjoying it, and even though the financial rewards haven’t been great, I’ve learned loads, and I have some new knowledge and skills to share. I’m feeling positive and optimistic about the next six months (and beyond).

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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June Round-Up: Results So Far

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