[IanOzsvald]

I author a Python data science focused newsletter https://buttondown.email/NotANumber , I've built it up over 4 or so years to a couple of thousand readers. I don't use automatic link gathering but hand-write advice in each newsletter (and yes, this can take some time). I've started to interview respected people which offers a nice chunk of value for my readers.

For promotion I've found that sharing appropriate ideas in a private community (e.g. data science slacks) where I'm known & trusted can be a good lead source. Tweets on particular topics help. LinkedIn helps with specific advice. Linking to relevant articles in another newsletter and getting a reciprocal mention helps (but the link has to be useful to the readers and the other audience has to care about my newsletter, else no point), that only works if you know the other author.

In each of my strategic client sessions I mention the newsletter. One chunk of value I offer is to do job listings - having your job in front of my curated audience who trust me offers much more value than e.g. LinkedIn (and a _much_ smaller reach).

In short I think try to find relevant communities, do not spam (obv.), share relevant links, offer to share something cool from someone else with no requirement for reciprocation (if it is good - share it anyway) and maybe they'll reciprocate in some way. It takes a lot of effort but is a sure fire way to build up an engaged audience who trust you.