How to Get Medium Publication Newsletter Information

Using Javascript

Medium publications often feature newsletters that help reach a broader audience with curated content, insights, and updates. Knowing how to fetch newsletter details for a publication can be useful for developers creating reporting tools, analytics dashboards, or simply exploring publication data.

This article explains how to retrieve Medium publication newsletter information using the Medium API JS package.

By the end of this guide, you will understand how to fetch and interpret a publication’s newsletter details, including its name, description, creator ID, and more.

Prerequisites

To get started, ensure the following prerequisites are met:

• Install Node.js and npm: Make sure Node.js (with npm) is installed on your machine.
• API Key: Obtain a valid API key for the Medium API.
How to Subscribe to Medium API and Get Your API Key from RapidAPI Platform
• Install Required Packages: You’ll need the medium-api-js and dotenv packages. Install them by running:

  npm install medium-api-js dotenv

• Setup Environment Variables: Create a .env file in your project directory and add your RapidAPI key:

  RAPIDAPI_KEY=your-rapidapi-key-here

Code Explanation

Step 1: Import Dependencies

import Medium from 'medium-api-js';
import dotenv from 'dotenv';
dotenv.config();

• medium-api-js: This is the Medium API wrapper that simplifies API interactions.
• dotenv: Used to load environment variables from the .env file.
• dotenv.config(): Ensures the environment variables are loaded into the application.

Step 2: Initialize the Medium API Client

const medium = new Medium(process.env.RAPIDAPI_KEY);

• process.env.RAPIDAPI_KEY: Retrieves the API key from the .env file.
• new Medium(): Creates an instance of the Medium API client using the provided API key.

Step 3: Define the Publication ID

const publicationId = '98111c9905da';

• The publicationId is a unique identifier for the Medium publication. Replace this with the ID of the publication you’re querying.

Step 4: Fetch Newsletter Details

medium.getPublicationNewsletter(publicationId)
    .then(data => {
        console.log('Publication Newsletter:', data);
    });

• medium.getPublicationNewsletter(publicationId): Sends a request to fetch newsletter details for the specified publication.
• .then(data => {...}): Handles the resolved promise and logs the returned data to the console.

Running the Code

Save the code in a file named getPublicationNewsletter.js. Open your terminal and run:

node getPublicationNewsletter.js

Output and Explanation

The output displays detailed information about the publication’s newsletter. For example:

Explanation of Fields:

• id: Unique identifier for the newsletter.
• name: Name of the newsletter.
• description: A brief description or update about the newsletter.
• slug: URL-friendly identifier for the newsletter.
• creator_id: ID of the user or entity that created the newsletter.
• image: URL of the newsletter’s image.
• subscribers: Total number of subscribers to the newsletter.

Potential Use Cases

• Subscriber Growth Tracking: For your own publication, you can monitor the number of subscribers over time.
• Cross-Publication Analysis: Compare newsletter metrics across multiple publications to identify best practices or audience trends.

Summary

You can fetch Medium publication newsletter details using the Medium API JS package. This data can be leveraged for a variety of applications, from analytics to marketing.

By following the steps outlined above, you can quickly access and utilize valuable newsletter information.

If you have any questions about the Medium API or need further assistance, feel free to reach out at nishu@mediumapi.com.