Horus 3 min read
How to find the right newsletters, podcasts, and Substacks
A useful media list can include a national newspaper, a trade publication, a specialist newsletter, and a podcast host. For a developer-tools launch, all four might belong on the same list.
Start with the audience. A newsletter read by infrastructure buyers may be a better home for a technical case study than a general business outlet with a much larger readership.
Follow the topic into smaller publications
Search for the problem your client solves, the organizations involved, and the questions customers ask. Read the bylines and follow links to independent work. A reporter may also publish a newsletter; a specialist author may regularly appear on podcasts.
Keep separate notes for the publication, the person, and the format. A good article target is not automatically a good interview target.
For a podcast, listen to recent episodes. Does the host interview operators, cover breaking news, or debate industry trends? A founder who can explain a difficult decision has a different offer from one who wants to announce a feature.
Alex Konrad · Upstarts. A funding-story prospect. His Lightfield report pairs the round with a founder’s pivot and customer traction. Offer founder access, named customers, and the numbers that explain why investors backed you.
Gergely Orosz · The Pragmatic Engineer. A prospect for the engineering story. His September 10 newsletter includes engineers losing touch with systems when AI handles incidents. Bring a customer engineering team and evidence of how the tool changes their work; funding alone is a weaker hook.
Check the editorial fit
For each target, record a recent example, the audience it serves, and the kind of contribution it accepts. Check the publication's own submission or contact guidance.
A newsletter may welcome a useful chart but never interview founders. A podcast may book guests months ahead. A Substack may publish essays by a single writer and have no guest-contribution program. Paid sponsorship is a separate decision from editorial coverage.
Avoid guessing audience size. If a publisher does not disclose it, say so. Topic fit and a visible publishing record are more useful than an invented subscriber count.
Add missing sources to Horus
Horus lets workspace owners and admins add publications by domain and supply feed URLs when needed. That helps you follow a niche source without waiting for it to appear in a large vendor's directory.
Check the first imported items: are the dates, links, and bylines useful? A feed may expose full articles, short descriptions, or episode notes. Private newsletters, paywalled material, and inaccessible archives can limit the evidence available. Adding a podcast feed does not transcribe its audio.
Use the coverage Horus has as a starting point, then visit the source or listen when the pitch depends on details outside that record.
Keep the list small enough to maintain
Choose targets your team can follow. Record why each one fits and what you could offer: a dataset, a technical explanation, a customer, or an informed guest.
Review those reasons before the next campaign. A publication's name can stay the same while its subject, format, or author changes. Keep a recent example beside each name. It makes the next round of research much easier.
Before outreach, research the person behind the publication and write down the reason your story fits.