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Welcome to The Niche Fix. Each week, we will share insights from experts and professionals in the niche publishing industry. Have questions or thoughts about the industry? Reply to this email, and let’s chat!

But first…

Are you including Niche Media Events in your budget for 2026? We can’t wait to see you at our events next year, which we’re currently in the process of making bigger and better.

Here’s our 2026 schedule:

• Niche Media Conference - April 8-10 - Orlando, Florida

• Niche Leadership Summit - September 2-4 - New Orleans, Louisiana

Looking forward to seeing you next year!

Ryan Dohrn’s Sales Corner: The Three Keys to a Successful Sales Plan

In his latest lesson, Ryan Dohrn focused on what separates top-performing sellers from the rest. After coaching hundreds of reps each year, he’s noticed that the most successful all share three habits in common:

1. Time Blocking
The best sellers don’t just “hope” to prospect or update their CRM — they carve out specific blocks of time for it. Ryan himself schedules two 45-minute prospecting sessions every day, one mid-morning and one mid-afternoon. The key, he emphasizes, is respecting those blocks. If you constantly ignore them, you’re disrespecting your own priorities.

2. Task Apps, Not To-Do Lists
Ryan has ditched the handwritten list in favor of digital task apps like Google Tasks (for G Suite users) or Microsoft To Do. Why? Because apps travel everywhere with you — and they buzz, ping, and remind you of what matters. Letting your inbox dictate your day is a recipe for distraction. A task app ensures that you set the agenda.

3. Retention Over Prospecting
While prospecting is vital, Ryan stresses that retention often carries more weight. You’re 60–70% more likely to re-sign a past client than close a new one. Serious sellers focus on relationship-building: remembering birthdays, following up on personal interests, and staying connected outside of holiday greetings. Happy customers renew — and spend more.

Ryan’s bottom line: serious sellers always have a plan. A sales plan isn’t just a document, it’s a system of habits. Time blocking, digital task management, and retention-focused outreach form the foundation. Without a plan, sales days spiral into chaos. With one, the path to success is clear.

As Ryan puts it, “Any plan is better than no plan. And the sellers who stick to theirs are the ones who win.”

Now, let’s talk paywalls…

Why Most Paywalls Fail

By Zach O’Brien

Ah, the paywall. The supposed silver bullet of publishing. Put one on your site, sit back, and wait for the subscription money to flow, right?

Not exactly. For every New York Times success story, there are plenty of publishers who end up with little more than frustrated readers and an empty revenue column.

So why do most paywalls flop?

Built on Hope, Not Proof

Too many publishers launch a paywall because they hope their content is worth paying for. But hope isn’t a strategy. Before you put anything behind a wall, test your audience’s appetite. Float a low-cost offer to your email list, survey your readers, or release a special report as a paid product. If nobody bites, better to know early.

The Value Proposition is Weak

“Support local journalism.” “Exclusive stories.” “Quality you can trust.”

Those sound noble, but they’re vague. A subscription isn’t a donation jar. Readers need to know exactly what they’ll gain when they pay. Successful publishers spell it out: daily industry data, exclusive interviews, archives, or tools that make life easier. The clearer the offer, the better the conversion.

No On-Ramp

Dropping a casual reader into a paywall is like proposing marriage on the first date. Subscriptions almost always come after a relationship is built. Readers find you on social, sign up for your newsletter, and get consistent value. Then, when the paywall appears, they’re ready to commit. Without that on-ramp, your paywall is just a barrier.

Friction Everywhere

Even when a reader wants to pay, clunky systems get in the way. Too many checkout steps. Pages that don’t load on mobile. Surprise renewals that feel sneaky. If Amazon can sell socks in one click, your subscription process shouldn’t take a reader through hoops.

The Bottom Line

Paywalls don’t fail because people won’t pay for content. They fail because publishers treat the wall as the product, when in reality it’s just one piece of the experience.

Make sure you have proof your audience values what you offer. Spell out the benefits clearly. Build a path that nurtures trust before you ask for money. And when they’re ready to subscribe, make it fast and frictionless.

The wall itself isn’t what matters. The system around it does.

Want to become a marketing GURU?

What do Nicole Kidman, Amy Porterfield & the Guinness Book of World Records have in common? They’ll all be at GURU Conference 2025.

If you're obsessed with marketing like we're obsessed with marketing, Guru is the must-attend conference of the year. We'll be covering all things email marketing: B2B, B2C, newsletters, email design, AI & more.

You can expect to walk away with new email strategies, the very latest digital trends, and how to step up your email performance. But don’t worry, we also like to have fun (dance contests, anyone?)

Don’t miss out. Join us on Nov 6th & 7th for the largest virtual & free email marketing conference.

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