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Ryan Sneddon
- Naptown Scoop Newsletter Founder
We featured Ryan Sneddon and his Naptown Scoop newsletter last year when he was earning ~$200K/year.
Quick refresher: Ryan writes a free local newsletter for Annapolis, Maryland. No politics, no crime – just events, restaurant openings, things to do. He has no journalism background.
📈 Updated numbers from a recent thread on X…
- 23,000 subscribers (in a city of 40,000 – that’s 57% penetration 🤯)
- ~$300,000 in revenue last year
- Open rates of 50–70% (industry average is under 20%)
The economics 👇
- Costs $0.50–$1.00 to acquire a subscriber
- Each subscriber generates $10–$12 per year in ad revenue
- That’s a 10–20x return on acquisition
Revenue comes entirely from local business ads – restaurants, events, shops. If you run a business in Annapolis, the Scoop is probably the best way to reach locals 🔥
From $200K to $300K in roughly a year. And this is in a small city.
Could you start a local newsletter for your area? Ryan’s advice from our original feature still holds – just commit, don’t miss editions, and don’t quit after three issues 😎
Related: $2400/Month From an AI Local Newsletter (30 Mins a Day)