2020: The COVID Newsletter Boom: Everyone Became a Writer

In March 2020, the world went indoors. COVID-19 lockdowns closed offices, restaurants, schools, and social venues. Millions of people suddenly had something they hadn’t had in years: time. And a remarkable number of them used that time to do something that would have seemed improbable just months earlier — they started writing email newsletters.

The COVID newsletter boom was one of the most significant moments in email’s cultural history. It wasn’t driven by a new technology or a platform launch. It was driven by a pandemic that stripped away distractions, created information hunger, and reminded people that the most reliable way to reach an audience was still the oldest digital communication channel.

The Perfect Storm

Several forces converged to create the newsletter boom of 2020.

Information demand was unprecedented. People were desperate for trustworthy, comprehensible information about a rapidly evolving pandemic. Mainstream media was overwhelmed, social media was awash with misinformation, and the fragmentation of the information landscape made it hard to find reliable sources. Email newsletters — curated, written by identifiable authors, delivered directly to inboxes — offered something that social media feeds could not: a trusted voice cutting through the noise.

Media industry disruption accelerated. The pandemic devastated advertising revenue, triggering layoffs at news organizations, digital media companies, and magazines. Experienced journalists who lost their jobs — or who were furloughed, or who simply saw the writing on the wall — turned to newsletter platforms as a way to continue their work independently. Substack, ConvertKit, Ghost, and Mailchimp all reported surges in new creator sign-ups.

Time and attention were newly available. With commutes eliminated, social events cancelled, and entertainment options limited, both writers and readers had more time. Writers could dedicate evenings and weekends to newsletter content. Readers, freed from the busy-ness of pre-pandemic life, had attention to give.

The economic shock also motivated newsletter creation. People who lost income saw newsletters as a potential revenue stream. The promise of paid subscriptions — even modest ones — was appealing to anyone with expertise and a keyboard. Subject matter experts in health, education, parenting, cooking, and dozens of other fields launched newsletters to share knowledge and generate income.

The Numbers

The growth was dramatic across every newsletter platform. Substack reported that its paid subscriber base grew by over 200% during 2020. The number of publications on the platform multiplied. Revenue to writers increased substantially. Substack went from being a niche platform known mainly in media circles to a mainstream publishing tool.

Mailchimp reported record numbers of new accounts during 2020, with small businesses and individuals creating newsletters to maintain customer relationships when physical interactions were impossible. Restaurants sent menus for takeout. Yoga studios sent workout videos. Local shops sent inventory updates. Email became the lifeline connecting shuttered businesses to their customers.

ConvertKit saw growth exceeding 50% in creator accounts. Ghost, the open-source publishing platform, reported similar acceleration. Revue, a newsletter platform later acquired by Twitter, saw a significant uptick before the acquisition. Beehiiv, launched in 2021, was founded specifically to serve the wave of newsletter creators who emerged during the pandemic.

Even traditional media companies launched newsletters aggressively during this period. The New York Times expanded its newsletter portfolio. The Washington Post added new newsletter products. The Atlantic, Vox, and other outlets recognized that email newsletters were a crucial subscriber acquisition and retention tool.

What People Wrote About

The pandemic newsletters covered an extraordinary range of topics. Health and science newsletters surged as people sought expert analysis of COVID data, vaccine development, and public health guidance. Epidemiologists, virologists, and healthcare workers who had previously published in academic journals found massive audiences through email.

Cooking newsletters boomed as people stuck at home rediscovered their kitchens. Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen, already popular, saw subscriber growth accelerate. New food newsletters launched weekly, offering recipes, cooking tips, and the comfort of shared domestic experience.

Parenting newsletters addressed the crisis of working parents managing remote school, childcare, and jobs simultaneously. Newsletters about homeschooling, children’s activities, and parental mental health found eager audiences.

Local newsletters became essential community infrastructure. When newspapers had laid off local reporters (a trend predating the pandemic), email newsletters filled the gap, providing neighborhood-level information about COVID testing sites, business closures, mutual aid networks, and local government decisions.

Financial newsletters proliferated as economic uncertainty drove people to seek guidance. Newsletters about unemployment benefits, stimulus checks, personal finance during a crisis, and market analysis all found audiences.

The Cultural Shift

The newsletter boom represented a broader cultural shift in how people related to media and information. The pandemic exposed the limitations of social media as an information source. Facebook and Twitter were optimized for engagement, not accuracy. Their algorithms amplified sensational and divisive content. In a crisis where accurate information was literally a matter of life and death, algorithmic feeds proved unreliable.

Email newsletters offered an alternative: curated information from a specific person, delivered without algorithmic interference. You chose whose newsletter to subscribe to based on their expertise and trustworthiness. You received exactly what they sent, in the order they sent it. The relationship was direct and accountable.

This shift toward direct, person-to-person media via email was not entirely new — bloggers had been building email lists for years, and newsletters had existed since the earliest days of email. But the pandemic accelerated the trend dramatically and brought it to a mainstream audience that had never considered newsletters as a primary information source.

The Hangover

As the acute phase of the pandemic eased, the newsletter landscape normalized. Some pandemic-era newsletters thrived and became permanent fixtures. Others, written in a burst of lockdown energy, went dormant as normal life resumed and the time available for writing contracted.

The most common outcome was the “newsletter gap” — a period where enthusiastic early publishing gave way to irregular posting and eventual silence. Writing a regular newsletter is genuine labor, and many pandemic-era creators discovered that maintaining a publishing schedule was harder than starting one.

The newsletter economy also matured, becoming more competitive. Where the pandemic had created a temporarily receptive audience willing to subscribe to many newsletters, the post-pandemic audience became more selective. Inbox fatigue set in. Subscribers began culling their newsletter lists. The easy growth of 2020 gave way to the harder work of retention and engagement.

The Lasting Impact

Despite the normalization, the pandemic newsletter boom had permanent effects. It established newsletters as a mainstream content format, not just a niche publishing vehicle. It demonstrated that email remained the most reliable distribution channel for independent writers. It accelerated the creator economy’s growth and proved that audiences would pay for quality content delivered by email.

The infrastructure built during the boom — the platforms, the tools, the business models, the audience habits — persisted after the pandemic ended. Email newsletters are now a standard component of media strategy for organizations and individuals alike. The pandemic didn’t invent the newsletter, but it proved its value to millions of people who hadn’t considered it before.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why did newsletters boom during COVID?

Several factors converged during the pandemic. People had more time at home to both write and read. Media layoffs pushed journalists to independent publishing. Audiences craved trusted, curated information during a crisis. Social media felt chaotic and unreliable. Email newsletters offered a direct, calm, ad-free alternative for both creators and readers.

How much did newsletter subscriptions grow during COVID?

Newsletter platforms reported massive growth during 2020-2021. Substack's paid subscriber count grew over 200% in 2020. Mailchimp reported record new account creation. ConvertKit saw 50%+ growth in creator accounts. Overall, newsletter readership grew by an estimated 40-50% during the pandemic period, with many platforms hitting all-time highs.

Did the newsletter boom last after COVID?

The boom moderated but didn't collapse. While the explosive growth of 2020-2021 slowed, newsletter readership and creation remained well above pre-pandemic levels. The pandemic permanently expanded the audience for email newsletters and established independent newsletter publishing as a viable career path for writers, journalists, and subject-matter experts.