Ask HN: Are we idiots for launching a travel newsletter?
It fits squarely within pg's "broad but shallow" crater - ie, the opposite market demand shape from "nearly all good startup ideas".
As part of our market research we've put out a survey. If you're interested in travel, and can spare 10-15 minutes, all of the questions are at surveymonkey.com/s/TravelNewsletter
The key question that the HN audience may be better qualified to answer is #11 - "Are we idiots for launching a travel newsletter?" More tactfully, based on your experience, what traps can we avoid / opportunities can we embrace to support early traction.
Or hit us with your "middlebrow dismissal", we're grown-ups. (Despite the similarities, we're not related to hackertourism.com or peteford's current front page post.)
Background - this is being built by me and kerno, two Aussies who met in London while spending a few years travelling. My background is more business than coder, kerno is better balanced, and while I'm experienced with email newsletters and sales neither of us has specific travel industry background.
[Edit: We're about the drop off the New Page, and it doesn't look like we'll make the front page. So I wanted to say thanks for everyone who read this, whether you checked out the survey, left a comment, or not.]
However, saying "I'm making a travel newsletter" is ridiculously broad. If you could elaborate a bit more on what you want to do, then I might be able to give more concrete advice than a handwaving "yes it's possible."
> Think a travel article that discusses how to spend a weekend visiting the Christmas Markets in Vienna
> We would have that as the sole newsletter content - ie, not one of a dozen stories in the newsletter
> It would also fit within a larger narrative - the previous day would end with a flight from Rome to Vienna; the next day starts with a flight from Vienna to Oman
> Where possible, we would tell the story of a local giving us the experience
> Links from the newsletter would come back to our website, but also onwards to more information about the destination or itinerary specifics (some affiliate links).
> Definitely not a daily deals type newsletter - there's a market for that, but we are content people
So user acquisition and monetization are the keys, as you point out. We have some early thoughts (social media, especially building reputations in travel forums, and SEO for the former; advertising, affiliate or most likely direct, for the latter). But launch early and learn has taken the place of "first research for months".
Your description about "escapist entertainment" (rather than a pure travel guide) focuses the solution. Picture importance is also a good tip - not my forte, so kerno has been slowly explaining it to me!
If you're focused mostly on email, then make sure you have archived newsletters online. Good for SEO, another point of engagement, and conversion source.
Best of luck.