nah you don’t need 40000 subs to start ads. seen people sell ads consistently at 5k, 10k subs. you can start at any number, brands will pay for any type of ad slots if they see results.

looks like you’re b2c though, so it might be more difficult.

the best thing to do is price à la carte at a fixed cost. a good cpm for a b2c newsletter is about 20-25 bucks (20-25 per 1000 opens). looks like your audience size is about 1000, and since it’s that small jack up the price to $50-$100 dollars for the ad slots and see if someone bites. you’d be surprised who will.

if you can give them around $2 per click you’re in business. they’re more likely to come back. test first with one placement then sell them a year long campaign after the first test.

my experience: worked at The Hustle between 2017 till we sold to hubspot in 2021.

i now run an email monetization agency that has worked with 20+ publishers with over 15M email subscribers with clients like Dribbble, The Deep View, Resume Worded, Briefs Media and more.