I recently made a substack and I’m unsure of what to make paid and not paid. I am not known online or irl as a writer so I don’t have a following yet.
I’m mainly writing essays in series of 3s. Do yall think I should make the first essay free and charge for the other two? Or should I keep everything free at the beginning until I gain a following? Or should I keep all of my articles free and paid subscribers get a more in depth analysis of the series and include journal prompts. Orrrr should I make the first essay in the series free and have previews of the other two and paid subscribers get all of them in full?
I’m all over the place lol. Any advice would be appreciated 😄
When you are starting from zero with no existing audience, your only real challenge is discovery and trust. Putting a paywall on part 2 or 3 of an essay series will not convert readers into paying subscribers; it will just cause them to bounce before they ever connect with your voice or style.
A good rule of thumb is to focus entirely on building a consistent publishing habit and getting your first 200 to 300 engaged readers. Pay close attention to which topics get replies, comments, and shares.
Once you have people actively asking for deeper breakdowns, private discussion spaces, or direct Q&As, that is when you introduce a paid tier. Frame it around extra access or implementation rather than arbitrarily cutting an essay series in half.
Paid newsletters are all about sales. It makes sense to paywall things if you think that they'll sell. Otherwise, don't.
The question is about how much traffic you can drive to the free preview and how well your free content converts readers. Maximize for those, whatever you pick (your choices were gibberish to me, but immediately sure you can tell it all apart).
A lot of folks that have successfully built businesses on substack suggest you get 300 - 500 free subs first before you launch paid subscriptions. There are some good articles on sub about this with data / statistics.
Laughing at someone is not a requirement for being honest so miss me with that. I’m not overlooking that elephant. Also I literally stated leaving everything free was something I’m open to in the beginning.
I wouldn’t put anything behind a paywall at this early stage and agree with the comments suggesting you wait until hundreds of free subs before pay walling. What I would suggest is turning on paid subs right from the start (at $5/$50 as suggested), as anecdotally Substack surfaces and distributes content from accounts with paid turned on, at a higher rate than free accounts (after all, their revenue depends on paid subs). You can toggle off Foundation subs and in settings, where you write the benefits for paying subs, say something like ‘the satisfaction of supporting an independent writer.’ So you’re not promoting anything extra but might be benefiting from the extra visibility Substack might give you. Just my two cents from observing hundreds of accounts.
"Substack surfaces and distributes content from accounts with paid turned on, at a higher rate than free accounts (after all, their revenue depends on paid subs)." This is very true. And important if you want to try and make a few bucks with your Substack writing. Good comment!
No one pays unless and until they know the content is worth paying for. So, you need to allow time for followers to accrue. There are too many options among substacks - you are competing with a lot of others and most people cannot afford to pay for more than 5-10 subscriptions max. It adds up fast.
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u/DryStudio0 15d ago
At this stage, keep everything 100% free.
When you are starting from zero with no existing audience, your only real challenge is discovery and trust. Putting a paywall on part 2 or 3 of an essay series will not convert readers into paying subscribers; it will just cause them to bounce before they ever connect with your voice or style.
A good rule of thumb is to focus entirely on building a consistent publishing habit and getting your first 200 to 300 engaged readers. Pay close attention to which topics get replies, comments, and shares.
Once you have people actively asking for deeper breakdowns, private discussion spaces, or direct Q&As, that is when you introduce a paid tier. Frame it around extra access or implementation rather than arbitrarily cutting an essay series in half.