If you don't count the time to learn and the time to set it up, how do you get to $100-$150 a month to self-host for a tiny website like that? I mean 25,000 people or 20,000 members is literally nothing for a text only website like a blog unless they all arrive in the same few minutes.
It's not a website, it's spam services that stay legit enough to not be blocked by email hosts.
I've never known anyone who has wanted an emailed newsletter. They're always hidden in signups and online purchases. They hang around because people are too lazy to look for the 2 point font that says "unsubscribe".
I agree that 99.9% of newsletters are just spam, but in this very specific instance she’s discussing the pricing of using publishing/newsletter services vs self hosting. Pretty much no spammer will go through the effort of self hosting
There's a couple bands I like that do email for updates and such. I think the one from Worriers uses Ghost, based on the fine print at the bottom of the page ( https://getittogether.laurendenitzio.com/ )
Personally I like it a lot more than social media. I think moving everything to Facebook et al was a mistake