39 Comments

I turned on the pay button early for both of my Substacks. However, I'm not hiding any of my work behind paywalls as a consequence because that's not fair. Consequently, I view any paid subscription I'm given as a vote of confidence in my writing I'm glad to have, just like I feel I give to other writers I trust when I give them one.

Expand full comment

That's good to hear. I expect I'll follow the same model.

Expand full comment

Great post! I actually took the plunge at 180 subscribers, and I think you should do it sooner rather than later. Why not now?? You already have so much to offer. :) I have 13 paid subscribers currently, and I’m so grateful I did it because I know I offer more value now, I pay more attention to details and strive to be better.

Expand full comment

Thank you Maya, that's very helpful advice! This was kind of a "thinking out loud" post, so it's wonderful to get the positive feedback. I've been really enjoying my time on Substack because your insights and Kristina's have opened my eyes to a lot of exciting possibilities. It's also been fascinating to me to see how Medium is viewed by writers who have achieved great success on other platforms. So much to think about!

Expand full comment

It’s good to hear what’s working for people and sharing ideas. Personally I don’t like the ones where I get to read an opening paragraph which I’m interested in and then find out that to read the rest I must pay for it. I prefer to be given the choice to pay or not rather than this tactic which feels a bit tacky to me ! Maybe it’s just me ?

Expand full comment

I like getting feedback like that. I'll keep that in mind! Thank you!

Expand full comment

Great post! I've got one paid subscriber, but hoping to get more, soon!

Expand full comment

Thank you! I think the first step is just enabling the paid subscriptions, then I'll have to come up with more marketing tactics. It's one baby step after another!

Expand full comment

I actually really like that idea of not paywalling any of the content itself. Similar to a "pay what you feel is right" restaurant.

Expand full comment

Thought-provoking post!

I've only been on Substack about a month and have 35 free subscriptions. I thought it made some sense to have a fair amount of material posted so people would have some idea of what they were getting.

Being 67 and less energetic than in my younger days, I was also a little bit worried about committing myself to a publishing schedule I might have difficulty adhering to, particularly if that meant providing some posts for free subscribers and another group for paid. Consequently, I read with interest David's suggestion and your reaction about having the same content for both. I also noticed comments about possibly offering paid subscribers some other kind of bonus (like a free book). I've seen a few authors do something similar. I think you may have inspired me to try that.

Expand full comment

Good! Make sure to stop back in and let us know how it works for you!

Expand full comment

Interesting read Walter, Derek Hughes actually recommended your work (on Medium) but I have found you on Substack as well :)

I enabled the paid feature last week with less then a 100 subs. But for now I'm not putting anything behind the paywall. It's more to give people who wants to support, the option to support!

Curious what you think about that!

Expand full comment

Yes, that's probably what I will do as well. I'm going to wait until I'm at 500 subs, so it will probably take another month. I know Derek! I'm glad you found me through him!

Expand full comment

I am also learning from Kristina. One other thing I read was the suggestion to import an existing email lists. I did that shortly after setting up teh paid option even though I don't really have any extra content in paid versus free. Guess what, one of my uploaded folks decided to subscribe on the lowest option for 1 years. I was shocked. Now my team and I are working to offer something extra for paid subscribers. You never know...

Expand full comment

I have blown it with importing existing email lists in the past, so I thought to grow organically this time around. I'm glad to hear it worked for you. All my old email lists weren't really suited to what I wanted to do here anyway.

Expand full comment

This may be the appropriate point to raise a question I've been curious about ever since I saw the recommendation to import an existing email list.

Doesn't a practice like that violate GDPR? I know that's only applicable to EU citizens, but I don't have locations for everyone on the old list. I'm pretty sure that a person consenting to one list doesn't entitle you to subscribe that person to additional lists, each of which would require separate consent.

Or am I just crazy?

Expand full comment

That's a good point and since I'm not a lawyer, I hesitate to add a response. My personal preference is to not import lists. However, if people have voluntarily subscribed on another list, it is perfectly acceptable to publish an announcement on that list that you're moving elsewhere. In that scenario, it would be up to them to subscribe to the new list.

Expand full comment

That's a really good suggestion. My experience serves as a cautionary tale.

I did exactly that in my last newsletter--an above-the-fold invitation to Substack. 834 opens as of now, 233 clicks, of which 14 were clicks on the Substack link.

I certainly lost nothing by making the attempt, but that's an illustration of how people willing to sign up for one list won't necessarily jump at signing up for another. (Probably, they'll become more eager if they learn more about Substack.)

That's also why I'm keeping my other newsletter for the moment. It's a good vehicle for announcements, like new releases. Many of my subscribers are probably more interested in novels than they are in short stories. I think Substack caters to a different kind of reader, and its newsletter serves a different purpose.

Expand full comment

Yes, I've been dabbling on Substack for about a year, and it's only in the last month that I'm getting a decent idea as to what it's all about.

Expand full comment

It’s an interesting question! I’m wondering about maybe keeping everything free but having one (low) paid subscription option if people feel like supporting me. Maybe a discount on services for paid subscribers to add extra value to that. Tough to decide what to do!

Expand full comment

That's essentially the approach I've considered adopting. I think, like with anything, the important part is to take the plunge and then see what happens. The good news is that we can always change the subscription tiers later right?

Expand full comment

Exactly! I guess it's a relatively low risk to just go ahead and trial it

Expand full comment

Hi Walter. I looked at payment options for Substack and it looks like the minimum payment meant tier is $50 per year. I would like to offer my newsletter for much less, but I cannot see a way to do that.

Thanks for this very informative post.

Expand full comment

I knew that somebody would know more about it than I did! $50 per year seems like a reasonable amount, but I'll have to rethink my tiers. I guess anyone who is likely to pay $25 is likely to pay $50. Maybe I can make up the difference by offering to send a book or something? Once I really sit down and learn about it enough to set it up, I imagine my whole plan will change. Thanks for the comment!

Expand full comment

I think you can offer a discount on the $50/yr and essentially make it $25/yr with a never-ending discount. I could be wrong, though, so don't quote me.

Expand full comment

I don't publish often or on any kind of a regular schedule, so I doubt I could get paid subscribers, but I've considered maybe taking this more seriously at some point. What that point is, I haven't figured out.

Expand full comment

I'm still new here, only four posts so far and a handful of free subscribers, but I have activated paid subs. None of the articles I've posted so far are paywalled, however, and I have no plans to change that right now. I just see it as an option for readers who feel generous.

As someone else here said: You never know whether it might happen, but it sure won't if you don't give them the option.

One thing I'd really like to do (but don't expect to be feasible) is to offer free access to future paywalled content to anyone who purchases one of my books. My theory is that if they like my writing they'll also enjoy my books. That way they get not just access but a book as well. I get a sale, which will boost (slightly, I know) my sales ranking. Win, win. Everybody grin.

Does anybody know if this would be doable?

Expand full comment

there's nothing harder than selling books. I run a small publication dedicated to reviewing independently published books. Even there, it's hard to get writers to get involved.

Yup! I'm going to be enabling paid subscriptions next week.

https://medium.com/write-and-review

Expand full comment

Thank you for tackling the issue so openly. I'm still hesitant about opening the Paid Subscription Gates... My private consultant, the inner critic, says it's too early with less than 50 subscribers and I'm still not sure what more I could offer

Expand full comment

People are saying that you should enable subscriptions from day one. I'm going to enable mine on the 23rd of April, and I sent an email to all my pledges advising them it was going to happen. I'll have more information once I see it go live :)

Expand full comment

I will tell anyone that listens that the best time to "go paid" here is on Day 1. The second best time is right now. 1 reader...500...1000...doesn't matter, IMO.

I say that because on Medium, people are paying for a buffet of options, whereas here they are looking more to either support a specific project/author, or for direct access to the author or community. And tbh, sometimes, they just want to support the author themselves.

You might not get any piad supporters early on...but you also just might. And it'll change everything.

Expand full comment

That's useful to know. I hit my 500 number so I'll be doing it next week. Thanks for the comment!

Expand full comment

I activated "paid subscriptions" like you after reading Kristina Gad, even though I do not have many subscriptions at the moment. I have the lowest subscription rates selected and I do not "ask" people for a paid subscription. If they did that would be great, if not that would be great too. I have not turned on the "pay to read" function on any of my newsletters but will eventually when i grow some. Like you I am mainly a medium writer trying to build on Substack and LinkedIn. Good luck to you Walter hope it works out for you, nice article.

Expand full comment

Cool! I just followed you on Medium too!

Expand full comment

Thank you sir, have a good one.

Expand full comment

Your article is excellent - thank you for your composition and effort.

+

I am patiently awaiting for substack to enable paid subcsription via crypto currency.

+

I do plan yours and a few more subscriptions,

+ As soon as substack enables payments not using a "blood and violence" currency.

Expand full comment