Newsletter Snowball: 4-Phase Growth Playbook

Last week, I showed you how I turned one YouTube video into an infographic in a couple of minutes.

But there’s also a way to turn dozens of resources into a custom learning roadmap—and then turn that into a shareable infographic.

All in a couple minutes.

And all free inside Google's ecosystem.

I'm obsessed with newsletter growth.

I run this newsletter. I manage multiple newsletters for clients. I've been thinking about this topic for years.

But I also don't have unlimited time.

So instead of trying to consume everything at once, I started curating as I went.

I created a Google NotebookLM workspace called "Newsletter Growth."

Whenever I saw a good YouTube video from a top newsletter operator, I pasted it in.

Whenever I found an ebook, lead magnet, or guide about growing a newsletter from a quality source, I added it.

Stuff like:

Over time, I;ve built up 42 sources.

Once you have your sources in NotebookLM, you can start chatting with them, drawing out insights, developing roadmaps, getting data, creating learning plans.

Realy whatever you want.

For example, I asked NotebookLM to:

"Create a step-by-step plan to go from zero to 1,000 subscribers."

What it gave me

NotebookLM analyzed all 42 sources and created a 4-phase plan. Below is word-for-word what it created (this alone is hugely valuable):

To begin, you must focus on solving a specific problem for a "market of one" rather than picking a broad, generic niche. Your newsletter should have a concrete "job to be done" that provides a clear, tangible benefit to the reader. Simultaneously, you need to optimize your social media profiles to function as high-converting landing pages where every element—bio, header, and link—points directly to your sign-up form. For the technical setup, use an all-in-one tool like Beehiiv to create a dead simple landing page that prioritizes the value proposition over complex branding or logos.

The initial growth phase relies on unscalable, personal effort to build momentum. Start by sending one-on-one text or WhatsApp messages to your inner circle of friends, family, and colleagues to explain what you are building and why. Next, export your existing phone and email contacts to send a "warm email" invitation, followed by a brief nudge 3–5 days later for those who missed the first note. Finally, make a formal social media announcement and ask your personal network to like and comment on the post to signal the algorithm that your content is worth promoting to a wider audience.

Consistent growth is driven by focusing your energy on one discovery platform, such as LinkedIn or Instagram, to build a predictable audience funnel. Your daily routine should include publishing one value-based post and leaving 5–10 thoughtful, non-generic comments on larger accounts within your niche. A high-converting tactic is to send a "warm DM" to every new follower, politely inviting them to join the newsletter; this can convert up to 50% of new connections into subscribers. Weekly, you should publish "pre-CTA" teaser posts to create curiosity 24 hours before a send and use "Comment to Get" (CTG) giveaways to offer lead magnets that trigger viral engagement loops.

Once you have a small base, transition into "multiplayer mode" by partnering with other creators to cross-promote each other’s lead magnets or newsletters. These lead magnet swaps allow you to borrow high-quality, pre-warmed audiences from congruent niches for free. You must also obsess over tracking subscriber sources using UTM parameters to identify who is sharing your work. When you discover an outside source referring readers, send a personalized thank-you note to build the long-term relationships that lead to more significant growth opportunities.

Growing a newsletter is like building a snowball: packing the first few handfuls together by hand requires the most effort, but once the core is solid and you start rolling it down a discovery platform, the momentum of the content flywheel helps it grow exponentially with less manual intervention.

This wasn't generic advice.

This was a synthesis of what actually worked for the 42 creators whose content I'd saved.

Next, because I’m on an infographic kick, I used the infographic maker feature inside NotebookLM to create an infographic of it.

I just said “create an infographic based on this:” and then copied the text from above.

A couple minutes later, it gave me this:

There are a few mistakes in, which I could fix with additional prompting, or by taking this to Gemini. But since this was just for me, it’s good enough as is.

(And probably if I didn’t tell you it had a few mistakes, you might not have even noticed, so it might be good enough for posting too.)

This is one of those things that works whether you're learning or creating.

If you're trying to get better at something:

Build a NotebookLM workspace. Add resources as you find them. Ask it to create a roadmap.

If you're trying to create content:

Do the exact same thing—but share the roadmap. Turn it into posts, videos, a lead magnet, an infographic, a workshop.

The line between learning and teaching just got a lot thinner.

You can do both at the same time now.

👉 Last week's issue: How to turn one YouTube video into an infographic in 2 minutes

👉 Try NotebookLM

Thanks for reading!

Nathan Rodgers

👋 Say hello on Substack and LinkedIn

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