How Exploding Ideas is driving organic growth to paid subscriptions.

We’re diving into a newsletter that’s not even 6 months old—and has 7k subscribers from organic traffic.

And it’s making thousands per month. 

Eric Lam started Exploding Ideas in Spring 2023. But since starting, he’s figured out how to drive predictable organic growth and create multiple revenue streams—including converting 500+ subscribers to his paid content. 

Damn 🤯 

In this Friday Feature, you’ll learn how Eric’s been able to grow his newsletter organically at lightning speed, along with his smart monetization philosophy and strategy— and how you can steal them. 

Dive in to learn…

• Organic growth with an under-utilized channel
• Unlocking $thousands from new subscribers
• Driving paid subscriptions with free content

#1 - Organic growth with Reddit

Exploding Ideas grew to 1,000 subscribers in the first two weeks (now 7k+) —and it was all thanks to the unique way he’s using Reddit to grow for free.

Eric isn’t sure the Reddit strategy will get him to 100k subscribers, but he’s confident it will get him to 10k—and fast.

Keep reading to see his strategy in action.

🧐 Why it’s awesome

What Eric has done with his Reddit growth is super smart because…

→ The process is repeatable. Figure out what works, iterate, improve, repeat. 

→ Growth is predictable. Eric knows time spent with this strategy will yield results. 

→ Top comments are evergreen. Unlike social media feeds, a popular comment in Reddit can bring new subscribers for months or even years to come. 

🙋 How Exploding Ideas does it

So all you have to do is post on Reddit, right? 

Wrong. 

“Posts don’t work well anymore, it’s all about the comments,” Eric told us in our recent chat. 

So he’s created a structured process for writing and formatting comments in Reddit to strategically share his newsletter. 

👀 See for yourself: Check out this example of Eric responding to a Reddit post. See how he passively links to his website without “self-promoting”.

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✏️Steal this for your newsletter

​Will this work for you?

The Reddit growth strategy can be extremely effective for newsletters in…

→ focused niches with vibrant & passionate subreddit communities.

(This strategy might not be a good fit for news-focused newsletters, or the reader demographic is much older—and less likely to be on Reddit.)

Assuming your newsletter fits the bill, how should you effectively implement this strategy?

Let's break Eric's strategy down into actionable steps:

#1: Find Your Subreddits. Start by identifying popular subreddits relevant to your newsletter's topic. These are the communities where your target audience is likely to be engaged. For example, if your newsletter is about business, you’ll see the most popular communities in the right-side column.

#2: Follow the rules. Make sure you’re allowed to include links or to self-promote as some communities don’t allow it.

#3: Engage authentically. Trust is built with authenticity. Answer questions, help others, ask questions, provide feedback or insights. Not every comment should be promotional or include a link to your newsletter.

#4. Self-promote strategically. Follow Eric’s lead: tell a story, keep it concise-yet-helpful (around 100 words), and don't gatekeep. Make sure your comment provides standalone value even if the reader doesn't click on your newsletter link.

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👉 Bonus: Listen to Eric explain the Reddit Growth Strategy in more detail during our recent chat with him → 

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#2 - Unlocking $thousands from new subscribers

With paid recommendation tools like SparkLoop’s Upscribe, you can turn new traffic & subscribers into new revenue. 

Eric has monetized his Reddit traffic, so can you. 

🧐 Why it’s awesome

Paid recommendations with Upscribe is awesome—especially for smaller, fast-growing newsletters like Exploding Ideas—because you can unlock huge amounts of revenue very early on with very little work.

Upscribe only takes a few mins to install. And with $2-3 per new subscriber earned, it’s a no-brainer.

Eric started using Upscribe in June, but if he’d implemented it from Day 1…

→ he could have earned an extra $10,000-20,000 ($2-3/sub x 7k subs). 

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✏️ Steal this for your newsletter

Bottom Line: Upscribe is the easiest way to unlock extra newsletter revenue and have your subscribers loving the recommendations. 

We’ve seen newsletters in all shapes and sizes and niches unlocking meaningful revenue with Upscribe. 

One partner has already earned nearly $100k in a single month making paid recommendations via Upscribe.

Get started by first applying to the SparkLoop Partner Network to get access to Upscribe.

💰 How much could you earn with Uspcribe? Find out in 30 seconds with our Upscribe Growth & Earnings calculator →

​#3 - Driving paid subscriptions with quality free content

Smart newsletter operators don’t put all their content behind a paywall. They keep some of it free — and use it to drive FOMO for the gated content.

And it’s precisely how Eric created an additional, lucrative revenue stream with Exploding Ideas. 

There are TWO weekly editions of the Exploding Ideas newsletter. One is free. The other isn’t. 

Here’s why and how it works.

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🧐 Why it’s awesome

Trying to convert free subscribers to paid newsletter subscriptions isn’t easy.

But Eric’s managed to convert over 500 subscribers to a paid subscription.

That's nearly $50k ARR.

→ A paid subscription is $20/month or $99 annually
→ He has 500+ paying subscribers, according to the sign-up page.

Quick napkin math checks out: that’s ~$50k ARR for 500 subscribers on an annual plan.

Eric also monetizes the free Sunday edition with ads & sponsorships, and referral links. We love seeing those diversified revenue streams

The best part about this Free-to-Paid strategy is that it’s a win-win…

→ Something for everyone. Users get access to valuable, free content. Most are satisfied, but 5-10% may be willing to pay for more.

→ “Free” newsletters still make money. You can still monetize your free content with ads, affiliates, product & service sales, etc.

→ Quality wins. This is 100% in your control. Nailing the quality component builds the know-like-trust factor—making the pitch for your paid subscription an obvious next step.

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🙋 How Exploding Ideas does it‍

First Eric decides what’s going into the free Sunday edition of his newsletter: the “Exploding Idea” edition. This is the teaser edition.  

“You get the high level of what the idea is,” Eric tells us. But even for a “high level” idea, Eric includes incredible value. 

Then he puts the Tuesday Deep Dive behind a paid subscription.

‍Here’s an example of how much “high level” value Eric puts into a free Sunday edition:

1 - First he shares the “exploding” Google Trends data for the keyword.

2 - Then he shares 3 businesses you can build based on that keyword—including the…

• Business name
• Industry
• Problem
• Solution 
• Competitive Advantage

3 - Two days later, all subscribers receive the Tuesday Deep Dive—but only paying subscribers get the goods.

Because they’ve been primed and have seen the value, close to 10% of his free subscribers have converted and bought a paid subscription. 

In addition… Eric monetizes the free Sunday edition with ads & sponsorships, and referral links. 

We love seeing those diversified revenue streams 💪

✏️ Steal this for your newsletter

Your newsletter probably has a different format than Exploding Ideas. 

But smart newsletter operators looking to drive paid subscriptions from a free newsletter can use these tactics to increase paid conversions, just like Exploding Ideas is doing:

1. Determine what you can give away for free that will make going paid irresistible.
   
   
2. Use the free content to engage and tease readers.
   
   
3. Send them a snippet of the paid content they need to pay to unlock the rest

The main point? 

Use the free edition as bait—then hook readers with the paid content they need to have.

Figure that out and a $50k ARR newsletter (or more!) could be in your immediate future.

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Adding it up…

Exploding Ideas has managed to grow quickly with organic traffic, while monetizing that traffic and driving paid subscriptions through their free newsletter offering. 

It’s a recipe for success that many newsletter operators can incorporate today. 

Here’s what to check out next:

1. Check out Exploding Ideas if you haven’t already →
2. My favorite Exploding Ideas edition →
3. ‍Question: what newsletter is doing something different and innovative we should feature next? Email me or DM us and let me know!