Most people who start a local newsletter copy Naptown Scoop and call it a day. That's not the worst instinct in the world. Ryan Sneddon basically wrote the playbook, and Kyra from the Chino Chew straight up told me she saw Naptown Scoop and thought, "Oh, I feel like I could actually do this one."
But copying the format isn't the same as understanding why it works. And the operators actually making money in local media, the ones getting on this podcast three times because they keep hitting new milestones, they understand something most new writers don't.
Let's get into it.
Start With Why the Format Exists
Miko from Cincy Scoop moved back to Cincinnati after seven years of traveling full-time. He was hungry for community. He and his wife started Googling around to figure out what was happening in the city, and there was nobody doing it in what he called "the new age media format" he was used to.
That's the gap. That's the whole business.
Legacy outlets write for advertisers and archives. New age local writes for the person drinking coffee on a Tuesday morning who wants to know what's happening in their town this weekend. Keith Pepper, who bought Rough Draft Atlanta in 2020, runs both sides of this. Monthly print papers that go to people's doors via direct mail, plus hyperlocal newsletters. He gets that the formats are different because the readers are in different moments.
When you sit down to write, you're not writing an article. You're writing a text to a friend who just moved to town.
The Core Format That Works
If you're starting from scratch, here's the structure that works across nearly every successful local newsletter I've come across:
1. A short personal opener. One or two paragraphs in your voice. Weather, a weekend observation, something you noticed at the grocery store. This is the handshake.
2. The local news block. 3 to 5 short hits. Two or three sentences each. Development news, restaurant openings, city council decisions, stuff people actually talk about at dinner.
3. Things to do. Events this week. Keep it scannable. Name, date, one-line description, link.
4. A food or business spotlight. New opening, under-the-radar spot, a place worth knowing about.
5. A closer. Could be a poll, a reader question, a meme, a "reply and tell me" prompt.
That's it. You don't need more. You need that done well, five days a week or three days a week, depending on what you can actually sustain.
Write Like You Talk
The operators who break out all sound like themselves on the page. Kyra is a scientist by trade, running the Chino Chew as a side hustle, and her voice is still her voice. Miko sounds like a guy who's traveled the world and cares about his hometown. Justin Gordon at the LA Grind sounds like someone who actually goes to the events he's writing about.
If you try to sound like a newspaper, you'll lose. Newspapers already exist and they're not winning. Your advantage is that you're a person writing to other people.
Read your draft out loud. If you wouldn't say it that way to a friend at a coffee shop, rewrite it.
Short Paragraphs. Always.
Your reader is on their phone. They're half-awake. They're between meetings.
Walls of text kill open rates on the next issue because they kill engagement on this one. One to three sentences per paragraph. Break up lists. Bold the thing that matters. Let white space do work.
This isn't dumbing it down. It's respecting the reader's time.
Lead With What's Actually Happening
The biggest rookie mistake is burying the thing people want to know.
If a beloved restaurant is closing, that's the top story. If a new coffee shop opened in a neighborhood people care about, that's the top story. If the city just voted on something that changes how a park gets used, that's the top story.
Don't lead with your personal essay about fall weather when the reader opened the email because they want to know what's happening. Give them the goods first, then earn the right to be personal once they trust you're going to deliver value every time.
Be Specific or Don't Write It
"A new restaurant opened downtown" is nothing. "A new Thai spot called Som Tum opened on Main Street next to the old hardware store. Lunch specials are $12 and the pad see ew is the move" is a newsletter item.
Specificity is what makes local work. You're not competing with CNN. You're competing with the group text. Your sentences need to have the texture of someone who actually lives there.
If you haven't been there, say you haven't been there. If a reader tipped you off, mention them. Local is a trust business, and specificity is how you bank that trust.
Build the Sections Your Readers Open For
Every strong local newsletter has recurring anchors. Stuff readers come to expect.
Justin Gordon has done over 50 events between LA and SF in about 9 months. That means the LA Grind has a constant drumbeat of "here's what we're doing, here's what we did, here's what's coming." Events became an anchor his audience looks for, which is part of how he crossed $100K in revenue in his first nine months in LA alone and got 70 people paying over $50 a month for a membership.
Ray Lambert's Dinner platform plugs into this same instinct. Creators use it to send their audience out to dinners with strangers, and the top creator is earning about $4,500 a month running two dinners a month plus a sponsor. That only works because the newsletter has a predictable slot where readers expect to hear about it.
Give your readers anchors. A weekly "what's opening" section. A Friday weekend guide. A Monday "what I noticed this weekend." Repetition builds habit, and habit is what gets you a 45% open rate.
Subject Lines Matter More Than You Think
A great newsletter with a bad subject line is an unread newsletter.
The pattern that works for local: specific, a little mysterious, and human. "A new brewery is coming to [neighborhood]" beats "Your Tuesday Update." "The weirdest thing happened at city council last night" beats "Local News Roundup."
If your subject line could belong to any newsletter in any city, rewrite it.
Write the First Sentence Like It's the Only Sentence
Most people who open your email decide within one sentence whether to keep reading or swipe. The preview text is real estate. The opener is a job interview.
Don't waste it on "Happy Tuesday!" Get into something interesting. A detail, a tease, a piece of news, a question. If your first sentence is generic, assume half your readers bailed.
Length: Shorter Than You Think
New writers pad. They think more equals more value. It doesn't.
The job is to be the fastest, clearest, most useful read in someone's inbox. If you can say it in 400 words, don't stretch it to 900. You're not getting paid by the word. You're getting paid by the relationship.
A tight issue that a reader finishes beats a long issue they abandon. Every time.
Where Opinions Actually Help
Local newsletters that try to be perfectly neutral read like press releases. Boring.
You're a local. You have opinions about the new development, the parking situation, the restaurant that everyone loves but is actually mid. Share them, tastefully. Not every time, not on everything, but enough that readers feel like there's a human with taste on the other end.
This is also how you stand out from legacy media that literally cannot do this because of their structure. Your voice is a feature they can't copy.
Build in the Hooks for Future Revenue
Writing well isn't just about this issue. It's about setting up the business.
Kyra went upmarket on her events, charging $50 a ticket, and actually sold more than when prices were lower. She also got in with her local chamber of commerce and turned them into an advocate. That's because her newsletter established her as a real media brand, not a hobby blog.
Justin hosted a 250-person event with a large company. Ray's top Dinner creator is pulling $4,500 a month. Keith bought a legacy business in 2020 and made it work because he understood both direct mail and digital.
None of those revenue moves happen if the newsletter itself is sloppy. Great writing is the foundation. Every issue you send is either building that foundation or chipping at it.
The Mistake That Kills Most Local Newsletters
Inconsistency.
You can have a slightly mid newsletter that goes out every Tuesday and Thursday without fail, and you'll beat a beautifully crafted newsletter that shows up whenever the writer feels like it. Readers build their habits around you. Break that habit and they're gone.
Pick a cadence you can actually hit. Two days a week is fine. Three is great. Five is for people who have this as a full-time job. Don't promise five and deliver two.
What High Open Rates Actually Come From
A 45% open rate isn't a trick. It's an output.
It comes from subject lines that match what's in the email. It comes from readers learning that every issue delivers something useful. It comes from list hygiene so you're not emailing dead addresses. It comes from a voice people actually want to hear from.
If you write well, consistently, with specificity and personality, the open rate takes care of itself. If your open rate is in the 20s, the newsletter itself is the problem. Not your subject lines, not the send time. The product.
Fix the product first.
TL;DR
- Copy the proven format: personal opener, local news block, things to do, a spotlight, a closer. Don't reinvent the wheel.
- Write like you talk. If you wouldn't say it to a friend at a coffee shop, rewrite it.
- Short paragraphs, always. Your reader is on their phone. Respect it.
- Lead with what's actually happening. Don't bury the thing people opened the email to read.
- Specificity beats generality. Names, streets, prices, details. That's the whole game.
- Build recurring anchors so readers know what to expect. Habit equals open rates.
- Subject lines are real estate. If yours could belong to any newsletter in any city, rewrite it.
- Shorter than you think. A tight issue people finish beats a long one they abandon.
- Have opinions. Your voice is the thing legacy media cannot copy.
- Consistency beats brilliance. Pick a cadence you can hit and hit it every single time.
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