How to start a local newsletter for your town
Last checked October 27, 2026.
A local newsletter is two jobs: finding and writing the news, and finding the readers and advertisers who keep it going. The software is the easy part. This page walks through the steps in order, with the costs and the rules that apply, and ends with a way to skip the writing.
The short answer
- Pick one town and a schedule you can keep. A small issue every weekday beats a long one that comes out when you have time.
- Choose an email platform. Several have free plans, such as beehiiv up to 2,500 subscribers.
- Follow the email rules: a postal address in every issue, a working unsubscribe, opt-outs honored within 10 business days.
- Find your first readers where your town already talks, and your first advertisers among the businesses those readers use.
- Or lease a town on MailerDot, which writes and sends the daily newsletter for you.
1. Pick the town and the schedule
Start with one place whose name people put in their address, not a region. Readers search and subscribe by town, and local businesses buy ads to reach their own customers, not a county’s.
Then decide how often. A daily email builds the habit that makes a newsletter worth advertising in, but it means finding something worth reading every morning: council agendas, school news, road work, openings and closings, and the weekend’s events. Write down where each of those comes from in your town before you send the first issue.
2. Choose the tools
You need a platform that hosts the signup page and sends the email. Free plans are enough to start: beehiiv’s free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers at $0. Substack and Ghost are the other common choices. Compare what each charges once you grow, and whether it takes a share of any paid subscriptions.
| Do it yourself | MailerDot town lease | |
|---|---|---|
| Who writes it | You, every issue | MailerDot, every day |
| Software | Free to start, more as the list grows | Included |
| Monthly cost | Your platform’s price | $10.00 a month for a town’s first 1,000 subscribers, plus $5.00 a month for each additional 1,000 |
| Readers pay | Your choice | Never |
| Ads and listings | You sell and place them | MailerDot sells listings; you receive 50% of each, after fees |
3. Follow the email rules
Commercial email in the U.S. falls under the CAN-SPAM Act, and a newsletter that carries ads should follow it. The FTC’s guide for business sets out what each message needs:
- Your valid physical postal address. A registered post office box or private mailbox counts.
- A clear, conspicuous way to opt out.
- Opt-outs honored within 10 business days.
- Honest sender details and subject lines, and ads identified as ads.
Each email that breaks the law can draw a penalty of up to $53,088, so set this up before the first send. Email only people who signed up, too: a bought list is the quickest way to land in spam folders.
4. Find the first readers
- Post the signup link where your town already talks: the community Facebook group, Nextdoor, school and church bulletins.
- Ask the library, the chamber of commerce and the coffee shop to put up a flyer with a QR code.
- Put a forward-to-a-neighbor line at the bottom of every issue. Local news travels by word of mouth.
- Cover something nobody else does, such as the planning board agenda in plain English, and say so in the signup pitch.
5. Pay for it
Most local newsletters are paid for by local businesses: a sponsor slot in the email, and flat-price event and business listings. Some add paid memberships. Our guide to how much local newsletters make sets out each model with published prices, and what other publishers report, as their own numbers.
Starting one without writing it
Writing every day is where most local newsletters stall. MailerDot already writes and sends a free daily newsletter for every U.S. town. Anyone can lease a town for $10.00 a month for a town’s first 1,000 subscribers, plus $5.00 a month for each additional 1,000. The operator’s business leads every edition, the town’s address and inbox are theirs to answer, and the operator receives 50% of each listing MailerDot sells in the town, after fees. Readers never pay, and subscribers stay with the town if a lease ends.
A MailerDot town lease is a software subscription, not a franchise or a business opportunity. MailerDot makes no claim, promise or projection about what a town will earn — the listing share is a percentage of sales MailerDot makes, and a town may sell none.
See whether your town is available →