The New Yorker has refocused its newsletter strategy in an effort to retain its cohort of 1.2 million paid subscribers and grow its audience beyond that — by sending fewer emails.

Last August, The New Yorker began sending newsletters less frequently and giving paid subscribers early access to content in their inboxes. As a result, onsite page views and time spent from newsletter users has gone up, as has the percentage of newsletter subscribers who are also paying New Yorker subscribers, according to Jessanne Collins, The New Yorker’s director of newsletters. 

The New Yorker expanded the early access part of this strategy to its non-paid reader cohort by relaunching its Books & Fiction newsletter on May 12. People who get the free-to-read newsletter are the first to receive a new story on Sunday mornings from the latest magazine issue, which doesn’t go on sale until the following Monday — and paid subscribers will also get interviews with the author of the week.

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