The Creator Spotlight Podcast

How to build a local newsletter people actually read ft. Tomo Chien

The Creator Spotlight Podcast

Show Notes

This week on Creator Spotlight we’re joined by Tomo Chien, the founder and editor of ‘Morning, Trojan’, a newsletter aimed at engaging USC students with local news. He highlights the competitive landscape of student publications, the importance of original reporting, and the strategies used to grow the audience. Read the newsletter __ Earn with Google AdSense: https://goo.gle/earnwithadsense __ Tomo Chien Morning, Trojan LinkedIn Twitter/X Francis Zierer LinkedIn Twitter/X __ Timestamps 00:00 Introducing Tomo Chien 01:08 Disrupting the local media scene 05:10 The freedom to be controversial 08:57 The one change that brought 10k subscribers 14:30 Finding the stories people want to read 20:02 How long does aggregating content take? 25:02 Tomo’s high school news project 28:55 Why he’s shutting down the newsletter 32:22 Future plans after the newsletter 37:28 Defining creator journalism

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