adly.news platform help — two-sided newsletter advertising marketplace connecting publishers with advertisers, featuring verified ESP metrics, in-app negotiation, ad slot management, and Stripe payments. Use when you want to list your newsletter on adly.news to attract sponsors, need help setting up ad slots with pricing and availability, want to browse and buy newsletter ad placements as an advertiser, trying to decide between adly.news and alternatives like Hecto or Paved for newsletter sponsorship, or wondering how to negotiate ad pricing with publishers on adly.news. Do NOT use for general newsletter monetization strategy (use /sales-newsletter) or sponsor intelligence and prospecting databases (use /sales-sponsorgap or /sales-whosponsorsstuff).
adly.news platform help — two-sided newsletter advertising marketplace connecting publishers with advertisers, featuring verified ESP metrics, in-app negotiation, ad slot management, and Stripe payments. Use when you want to list your newsletter on adly.news to attract sponsors, need help setting up ad slots with pricing and availability, want to browse and buy newsletter ad placements as an advertiser, trying to decide between adly.news and alternatives like Hecto or Paved for newsletter sponsorship, or wondering how to negotiate ad pricing with publishers on adly.news. Do NOT use for general newsletter monetization strategy (use /sales-newsletter) or sponsor intelligence and prospecting databases (use /sales-sponsorgap or /sales-whosponsorsstuff).
argument-hint
[describe your adly.news question or newsletter advertising goal]
If the question is adly.news-specific, continue to Step 3.
Step 3 — adly.news platform reference
Read references/platform-guide.md for the full platform reference — capabilities, comparison with alternatives, workflows for publishers and advertisers.
Answer the user's question using only the relevant section. Don't dump the full reference.
Step 4 — Actionable guidance
Focus on the user's specific situation:
Publisher getting started: Create your adly.news listing, set up ad slots with pricing based on CPM, write descriptions that highlight audience demographics. The verified metrics feature pulls data from your ESP automatically.
Advertiser finding newsletters: Browse listings with verified metrics, use campaigns to attract newsletters to you, or book ad slots directly. Start with small test placements before committing to packages.
Choosing adly.news vs alternatives: adly.news is best for indie publishers wanting a simple marketplace with verified metrics and negotiation. For larger operations, Paved (programmatic + 3,000+ publishers) may be better. For prospecting sponsor contacts without a marketplace, use SponsorGap or Who Sponsors Stuff.
If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not covered in references/learnings.md, append it there.
Gotchas
Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about plan-gated features and integration gotchas that may be outdated.
No API, no webhooks, no Zapier/Make: All operations are through the web interface only. No programmatic access to listings, campaigns, or data.
Commission rate not publicly disclosed: adly.news takes a cut of transactions but the exact percentage is not stated. Ask before listing.
Small/new marketplace: Newer than Paved or Hecto. Inventory may be limited in certain niches — supplement with direct outreach or other marketplaces.
Verified metrics depend on ESP integration: Metrics are pulled from ESPs like Beehiiv and Kit. If your ESP isn't supported, metrics may not be auto-verified.
Stripe-only payments: No alternative payment methods. Both publishers and advertisers need Stripe accounts.
/sales-openrates — Open Rates sponsor prospecting database (10,000+ active sponsors, decision-maker contacts)
/sales-sponsy — Sponsy sponsorship operations (ad inventory calendar, sponsor CRM, customer portals, reporting)
/sales-buysellads — BuySellAds contextual advertising marketplace (managed ad sales, Carbon Ads, Ad Serving API)
/sales-socialpresence — Social Presence AI-powered newsletter advertising marketplace (discovery dashboard, Ad Library, managed sales)
/sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do
Examples
Example 1: Publisher listing their newsletter
User says: "I have a 3,000-subscriber tech newsletter with 38% open rate. How do I get sponsors through adly.news?"
Skill does: Walks through creating an adly.news listing, setting up ad slot types and pricing based on CPM benchmarks, writing audience descriptions, and enabling verified metrics from their ESP
Result: User has a live adly.news listing with verified metrics attracting self-serve sponsor bookings
Example 2: Advertiser creating a campaign
User says: "I want to advertise my developer tool in newsletters. Can I create a campaign on adly.news to attract publishers?"
Skill does: Explains the campaign feature where advertisers describe their target audience and budget, newsletters browse and apply to campaigns, and the advertiser selects the best fits
Result: User has an active campaign attracting relevant newsletter publishers
Example 3: Comparing adly.news to alternatives
User says: "Should I use adly.news or Hecto to sell newsletter sponsorships?"
Skill does: Compares both marketplaces — adly.news has verified ESP metrics and bidding/negotiation vs Hecto's transparent upfront pricing and date-specific inventory. Both are UI-only with no API. Recommends based on publisher's needs.
Result: User picks the right marketplace for their situation
Troubleshooting
Not enough advertisers finding my newsletter
Symptom: Listed on adly.news but no sponsor inquiries
Cause: Small marketplace, weak listing description, or pricing misaligned with audience size
Solution: Supplement with direct outreach using SponsorGap or Who Sponsors Stuff to find active sponsors. Also list on Paved (3,000+ publishers) for more visibility. Improve your listing with specific audience demographics and engagement proof.
Unsure about ad slot pricing
Symptom: Don't know what to charge for ad placements
Cause: No benchmark data available on the platform
Solution: Calculate using CPM: subscribers x open rate x CPM / 1000. Start at $25-$50 CPM for general interest, $50-$100+ for B2B/finance niches. See /sales-newsletter for detailed pricing guidance.
Can't automate sponsor workflows
Symptom: Want to sync sponsor data to CRM or automate reporting
Cause: adly.news has no API, webhooks, or integration support
Solution: For automated sponsor operations, use Sponsy (Zapier integration, sponsor CRM, automated reporting). For API-accessible sponsor data, use SponsorGap.
