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.
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.
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 ?
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.
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!
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...
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ?
Great post! I've got one paid subscriber, but hoping to get more, soon!
I actually really like that idea of not paywalling any of the content itself. Similar to a "pay what you feel is right" restaurant.
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.
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!
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...
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!
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.
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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.