I’ve invented a way to time travel!

Now bear with me, because it won’t work for everyone.

All I need to do is buy a PINK SHRIMP and eat it.

Remember those sweets?

They’re soft, chewy raspberry-tasting (well, kind of) things in the shape of prawns that have been around since the 1940s.

The fake flavouring is so distinctive that, as soon as I put one in my mouth, I’m 6 or 7 years old, going into Bromsgrove with my mum, and getting a pick ‘n’ mix as a reward for being good.

Ever get that experience with a taste, or a smell… maybe even a sound?

It’s like a portal to the past!

This happens a lot with me.

Sometimes I flick through TV channels and – suddenly – I hear a theme tune from an old show like Tales of the Unexpected, The Six Million Dollar Man, or Parkinson, and I’m teleported back to being an early teen, sitting with my parents in a lounge full of brown furniture.

The music alone brings back details in my memory that I didn’t even know were still lodged in my brain.

I know I’m not alone in this…

There is a huge appetite for nostalgia online.

For example, there’s a hugely popular social media account called ‘Scarred for Life’ that gathers and shares content about the dark, scary, and weird pop culture of the 70s and 80s.

These include public information films, adverts, cult TV shows, comics, toys, playground crazes..

It has built up a massive following… with over 60,000 followers on X, over 32,000 on Instagram, and also sparked a successful podcast.

Now it’s a trilogy of books, like this one:

This appeals hugely to anyone born in those two decades between 1960 and 1980.

There are other examples too….

Michael Johnston is a curator of British nostalgia who runs a website and creates bestselling books like this one, which has over 1000 Amazon reviews and is still selling well despite being almost 15 years old.

His blurb says: “Do you remember trying to solve the Rubik’s cube whilst dressed in your He-Man pyjamas? Did you try to make ‘cool’ sound effects with your mouth like Jones from Police Academy?”

These are such ultra-specific terms that they would be baffling to anyone NOT from that time.

Yet to someone who did have an 80s childhood, they’re like catnip, and they’ll pay money for these memory prompts that take them back in time…

Or they’ll happily subscribe to a service that delivers them regular nostalgia triggers, like this blog called Curious British Telly.

It’s been going since 2012 and – tellingly – it is now on Substack too, and already has over 1000 subscribers.

This kind of information business is what I call…

NOSTALGIA PUBLISHING

It takes the sights, sounds, products, places and culture of the past… and packages them into engaging content that triggers memories, emotions and a sense of connection.

That could include (I’m using the 70s and 80s, but you might go back to the 50s or 60s)…

• Childhood sweets, comic books, magazines, food brands…. (think Spangles, Flying Saucers, Melody Maker, Smash Hits, The Beano!)
• Toys and video games like Subbuteo, space invaders, Pac Man and Donkey Kong, Street Fighter…
• Adverts, radio jingles, TV series and films from a certain era… (The Man From UNCLE… the Prisoner… Radio Luxembourg…. “For Mash Get Smash”… the Pink Panther…)
• Fashion and music… (like punk, mod clothing or disco).

Or it could be anything that takes people back to experiences in their past, that they share with others from the same era.

For example, 1970s school days, British seaside holidays, steam trains, hovercraft ports, old motorway service stations…

Some of the items that I’ve just mentioned above might give you an instant jolt of recognition…

They might trigger smells, sounds, or physical sensations.

They might make you think of certain people, places or times in your life.

And they might even give you a deep feeling of longing…. like you want to reach out and grab the past, or somehow get back there, even if for a moment.

This is such a strong emotion that many people are willing to pay for products and services that deliver it for them.

So today I want to show you how to start your own curated memory publishing business.

The Profit Potential In Taking People Back to the Past

Most information businesses focus on helping people solve a problem or achieve a goal.

For instance, making money… easing pain… getting a job… reducing clutter… or becoming more productive.

But there’s another kind of publishing that delivers a different kind of outcome.

It helps people revisit the past.

People aged 50 and over – in particular – love to revisit the experiences that shaped their lives…

Research shows that as we age, we place greater value on memories because they help reinforce identity, meaning and continuity in our lives.

Studies have found that nostalgia can improve well-being, reduce loneliness and increase life satisfaction.

Better still, an older audience tends to be loyal and willing to spend money on subjects they care about.

So there’s an opportunity for you to become a curator who organises and presents memories in a way that delights a particular audience.

Picking Your Time-Frame and Subject

First, you need to choose a target time period…

People tend to recall far more memories from roughly ages 10-30 than from any other period of life.

Those years contain many of the experiences that shape our identity… school, first jobs, first relationships, music, television, fashion obsessions and holidays.

So for someone aged 65 today, that means memories from the 1970s and early 1980s can feel surprisingly vivid.

But rather than purely recall a period of time, I’d recommend you focus on a specific form of culture or experience as a subject.

I’m 58, so for me it would be the 1970s:

• TV and advertising (Tiswas vs Swap Shop… the test card girl… “Shake n’ Vac” )
• Toys and games (the Chopper bike… Space Hoppers… Stylophones)
• Comics and magazines (Jackie, Shoot! the Doctor Who Christmas annual)
• Fashion and style (flares, tank tops. platform shoes, snorkel parkas)
• Food and drink (Frey Bentos pies, Angel Delight, pink custard at school)
• Travel and transport (the Ford Cortina, package holidays to Spain, seaside trips to Margate)
• Architecture and geography (Woolworths pick’n’mix · the red phone boxes, lidos)
• Sport (Grandstand. Dad doing the pools, Ski Sunday)
• Home life (newspaper rounds, power cuts and candles, the milkman)

To stand out, consider going for a subculture or niche interest.

Drilling-down a bit will give you a more unique angle.

For example, ‘70s nostalgia’ is very broad, but ‘the dark side of 70s children’s telly’ is something that turned Scarred for Life into a hit.

So you might look at it as a specific subculture like Northern Soul, rockabilly, CB radio, heavy metal, or the rave scene.

Or you could focus on a region – for instance, the northeast, coastal towns of the south coast or London.

Or it could be a specific object like bus stops, arcades, motorways, or old shop fronts.

The key is to make it narrow enough to stand out – but to have enough of an audience who share those memories, with the potential for sharing plenty of content over a long period of time.

What to Share and How to Share It

The aim is to regularly share content that triggers memories, including photographs, illustrations, clips, YouTube videos, and audio recordings.

These could include anything – even the most mundane objects – as long as they are specific to a time, place or cultural tribe.

Sweet wrappers and crisp packets… television listings.. bus tickets…. playground slang words… crazy hairstyles… advertising jingles and slogans… weird phrases people used to say… urban legends and myths that did the rounds.

You should add your own commentary to give it your individual stamp. These could include your own recollections and experiences, or your humorous comments about the content.

To deliver it, there are a number of options:

• A free email newsletter that people sign up to via a ‘squeeze’ page that offers something for free.
• A Substack which combines blog, email newsletter and short form ‘notes’
• A social media account on Instagram or TikTok, where it’s easy to share videos and photos.
• A Facebook Group or private forum where your audience can connect and share their own memories.
• A podcast or webinar where you talk to your audience (or interview people)

You could, of course, combine all of these to give you maximum reach and exposure to your target audience.

Whatever you do, it’s vital to spark conversation and get responses from your followers as this will give you plenty of shareable content for free AND create a sense of community.

So always encourage readers or viewers to contribute their own memories.

When you do this, you’ll find that your subscribers become fiercely loyal, open your emails and share your stuff with their friends.

Monetising Memories

As your audience grows you can monetise it via:

• Premium content behind a paywall (Substack is ideal for this)
• Subscription or membership service with additional benefits, exclusive community access, online events.
• eBooks and PDF reports (you can also sell these on Gumroad)
• Physical zines and books (you could also sell these on Amazon and Etsy)

Advertisers are often keen to reach the 55+ market too, which creates opportunities for sponsorship and advertising revenue.

An example might be that you have a Substack newsletter with both free content and premium content behind a paywall.

You can find new readers by using Substack notes (the social media wing of Substack that takes all the best bits of social media and none of the negatives!) to attract users of the platform.

Outside of that you could use a social media channel like Instagram.

Paying subscribers could get access to a private Facebook Group where they can share memories – and you could also offer online meetups, webinars or events.

Plus you could package your content and turn it into an eBook or physical Print-on-Demand book that you sell to subscribers AND sell on Amazon.

Eventually, the most engaged subscribers could be invited into a ‘curated nostalgia subscription club’, receiving themed monthly packs featuring photographs, postcards, memorabilia and other carefully selected memory triggers.

So what starts as a simple newsletter could evolve into a multi-income publishing business!

Will This Suit You?

If you love old films, TV, music, fashion or culture, then this could be a really fun side business.

• You don’t need to be a writer – a lot of what you share will be images and clips that exist online, and you can use AI to tidy up your written commentary.
• You don’t need to be techy – setting up on Substack, for example, is super easy and everything is already designed and set-up to go,
• You don’t need a lot of spare time – this could be run in around an hour a day, at whatever time you choose.
• You don’t need a lot of investment – a free Substack or social account costs you precisely £0 and there aren’t really any running costs.

You could get started on this very quickly too…

Setting up a free Substack or an Instagram account takes no more than a few hours, and your first post could be a single photo and the line, “does anyone else remember…”

However building an audience will take time, so you’ll need to be patient.

Expect to spend a few months posting regularly before you’ve got a following worth speaking of, and longer still before the money starts trickling in.

If you can handle that, you could end up with a rewarding side income that makes you – and people like you – feel very warm inside.