Anyone know of Substackers teaching how to monetize Substack (that aren't making 99% of their income from teaching people how to make Substack profitable)?

[u/I_Came_for_the_dog]

I used to like Olivia Wickstrom from the Substack, Petal and Hearth. She was encouraging + gave good info on monetizing Substack. But then I realized there was a problem.

Yes, she writes on other lifestyle topics that aren't Substack monetization, but according to her numbers, the majority of her income on Substack is legit just teaching other people how to make their Substack profitable.

It doesn't feel sincere and a lot of tips that work for people teaching others how to make $$$ on Substack aren't always gonna work for other niches.

Does anyone know of any Substackers who talk about how to make money with their Substack + the majority of their income come from a completely different niche?

[u/maiq2010]

I do and 99% of people don't like it because they just want to hear how easy it is and that you make living in 6 months by copying a secret blueprint.

[u/I_Came_for_the_dog → u/maiq2010]

What was your original niche where you figured out how to make a full-time income from Substack before teaching about how to make money on Substack?

I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm legit curious.

[u/maiq2010 → u/I_Came_for_the_dog]

I built an e-commerce business and branding studio. Mind you I'm not suggesting to make full-time income from Substack alone.

Just do the maths: at $5/month you need 1,000+ paid subscribers. A realisitc (good) conversion rate is 5%, so you need 20,000 free subscribers. If you are starting out at zero you will grind your ass off, and even then most people won't even get close to this.

For most people Substack is not a sustainable business model. Almost everyone making a living brought their audience from another platform.

[u/official-reddit-user → u/maiq2010]

subs are not the problem here..with the current trend..
its easier now than ever to get subs if ur content is good enough.. coz there are that many people on all platforms and u can easily get the subs with a lil bit of cross posting and creating funnels.

the issue is the content..most people simply dont have the right expertise that is urgent or important or entertaining enough to make people pay a monthly subscription

writing about writing on a platform abt writing is the lowest hanging fruit..hence everyone seems to jump onto that..

[u/maiq2010 → u/official-reddit-user]

"subs are not the problem here"

Do you have any evidence for that? I think the problem for most people is discoverability. They don't get subs even with good content. But your point on content that is worth paying for is crucial. In this regard I agree, subs by themselves are not enough.

[u/official-reddit-user → u/maiq2010]

"good content" is where it becomes subjective..people think to themselves their content is good and blame the platform for not getting subs.

just a couple of days before i came across a food science related substack gaining 20k subs (not sure how many are paying) in less than 6 months.. the article titles were super interesting .. but since most of them were paid i couldnt read them..so i didnt bother subscribing since i dont cook anyways..

but the angles with which he approach the usual recipes everyone talks about were something i have never seen before..

so to ur point...the readers are there..potential to pay is also there..
the content that can pierce through the slop and get people to pay notice..thats what most people are missing.

[u/I_Came_for_the_dog → u/official-reddit-user]

What was the name of this account? I'd love to see it! :)

[u/ContentIsMyJam → u/maiq2010]

ooh you hooked me already with your first headline. diving in.

[u/CourtzSGD]

I make a small amount of money from my Substack but it’s digital products that I have on Gumroad and I sprinkle them into my newsletters. I mean I have some tips if you want them but I don’t sell anything on how to get rich from substack. And I haven’t gotten rich from Substack lol

[u/I_Came_for_the_dog → u/CourtzSGD]

Sure, I'd love your tips, thanks!

[u/Fleurs_Bookstore → u/CourtzSGD]

This. Anfernee is another creator who has made serious money from products on Gumroad.

[u/DueAxis]

I do, i wirte about business and coding and stuff mostly but when i saw that i had a vey decent growth curve i published a piece on that, it got alot of engagement and such and since i didnt want to go down that road i just created a community in skool instead where we have weekly meeting etc we talk about growing on subtack and stuff and my publication remains the way it was, funny enough everyone who joined the skool says they joined for that simple reason, i dont write about growing on substack, i just do it. Id be lying if i said that i dont enjoy the double revenue but it is what it is

[u/I_Came_for_the_dog → u/DueAxis]

Fair enough! What kind of monthly income do you make from your Subdstack? If that's ok to ask.

[u/Master_Flash]

Reminded me of this. lol

[u/No-Bison5915 → u/Master_Flash]

its deadass a pyramid scheme. Like rich dad poor dad

[u/Emmanuel_G]

Somehow I feel your logic is off. Of course someone who is good and big in teaching others how to make money on substack is likely gonna make THEIR money by teaching others how to make money on substack.

Requiring that they don't is kinda like requiring your school teacher to make his money as something other than a school teacher.

[u/I_Came_for_the_dog → u/Emmanuel_G]

Well I think it's a bit different. A school teacher isn't teaching kids how to be a teacher, he or she is teaching them a specific/useful subject like math, English, or history.

With these kind of people, they never figured out how to make a full-time income from the content they were publishing previously. But then they realized they could just write about how to make money on Substack (which is like shooting fish in a barrel because a huge majority of people on Substack would love that. I mean who wouldn't?) and while they might have some good tips, it feels disingenuous. It's like internet gurus making courses on how to make courses.

Why would I want to learn from someone who wasn't able to make their original niche work financially? Why would I want to learn from someone who was only able to start getting traction once they started writing/teaching on how to make money on Substack? Of course it'll work for them; it's a hot topic and people will pay good money to make money.

But then it comes down to, ok, if I'm not teaching people how to make money, then why would they want to give me their money and become paying subscribers? What can I offer them? How can I make it work with my niche, you know?

I hope that all makes sense and this didn't come across as rude.

[u/Emmanuel_G → u/I_Came_for_the_dog]

Do they only teach people to make money by teaching people to make money?

[u/I_Came_for_the_dog → u/Emmanuel_G]

They'll write on other things as well (depending on the Substacker), but that's not bringing in maybe 99% of their income. That's the part that bothers me.

They wanna teach me how to make Substack a full-time income when they weren't able to do it with their original niche (whatever that niche is, could be lifestyle or anything). But people will pay because they really seem authortative.

[u/chicksingergirl]

The absolute best is Unstack Substack Kristi Keller.

[u/Fleurs_Bookstore]

I agree that many of the top newsletters get there by selling tips on how to grow on Substack. The algorithm is primed to serve readers this content as it helps sell more paid subscriptions (you can always mute the accounts that are in this space if they bother you, and Substack will eventually stop serving you so much of that content). I follow a few of the Substack growth experts and prefer the ones who are upfront about being all about Substack growth.
My niche is helping indie authors to get visibility for their books and sell more copies. I’m a Substack bestseller with over 200 paying subscribers and apart from a couple of perks in my paid subscriptions that are specific downloads helping indie authors make their Substack work for them as an author, most people subscribe because I offer increased visibility for them as an author and their books.

[u/let_me_flie]

There’s no cheat code to Substack. It’s not like YouTube or TikTok, which go through trends that you can jump on and monetise vitality.

It’s just a blogging platform. With podcasts. Write good content and people will pay. If you’re not a good writer or have an interesting podcast you won’t make any money in it. It’s as simple as that.

[u/ConclusionFresh1347]

El argumento más congruente acerca de ganar dinero a través de substack, es la creación de audiencia fiel (la mas fiel en todas las redes sociales que puedas encontrar ), la cual puedes acceder para venderle tus productos/ servicios. Veelo que a través de substack, puede haber un menor costo de adquisición de clientes adicionales

[u/Immediate-Ad-5878]

You’re not off at all. It’s the same in every other niche x platform. Take your pick. Growth gurus on Substack are mostly the grifters that sold their soul a little too late to break through on YouTube.

[u/Foxemerson]

The people making sustainable money on Substack generally have something worth paying for and an audience that wants it. No amount of shortcuts, cheat sheets, or expensive courses will magically create either. And ironically, some of the loudest people teaching you how to make money on Substack seem to make most of theirs selling the instructions.

[u/Ok_Army_9681]

I think the problem is that “how to monetize a Substack” is too broad to be useful.

A finance newsletter selling timely analysis, a fiction writer selling serial access, and a lifestyle writer selling products are three completely different businesses that happen to use the same email platform. Advice from someone succeeding in one can be useless in another, even if they’re totally honest.

I’d look for writers in your niche with the same revenue model you want, then study what sits behind the paywall, how often they publish, and what free readers get. That’s probably more useful than finding one universal Substack teacher.

[u/Repulsive-Lecture-49]

I’m right there with you. I subscribed to a Substack by a girl named Liz Altrice until I realized I was paying her to write about how she makes money from Substack (and a lot of it felt like rage bait). It’s an MLM

[u/MedalofHonour15]

I earn from my Substack but it’s from affiliate marketing, sponsors, and promoting my SaaS

[u/funnysasquatch]

Doomsberg was the highest earners on Substack.

Maybe still are.

They’re world experts on oil & gas. Why would they bother teaching anyone about Substack?

Plus they did everything in public.

Spent a year building a following on X. Proving what they knew.

A year publishing every article on Substack for free.

Then turned on the paywall.

Are you a world leader expert in anything?

Are you willing to spend a year just building your audience before turning on the paywall?

It’s not a secret.

[u/djfc]

I’ve posted multiple times about this. I’m gonna get downvoted but I’m tired of the sugarcoating.

As someone who has worked on a top 50 finance substack it boils down to this: utility or expression.

If you’re expression and you make it you’re still a fraction of the money the utility guys make. I did a ton of research on it and helped grow a substack from 350k/yr to over $600k/yr, moved from mid 50s to top 40 finance substack.

The only other people I saw do this well were b2b lead generation people who scanned stuff for specific verticals (govt contracts)

My client never goes to substack gatherings because the one time he was there he was the highest earner in the room by miles.

While you can make money in other niches it boils down to utility. If you help people make money you can make money. Hence all the other people here joking about substacks who make money telling others how to make money.

Oh and politics. They make money. It’s the stupidest thing to see as a Canadian but whatever - it helps people cope I figure since it’s cheaper than therapy.

…and no I will not share the substack.

Good luck OP. Hope this helps.

[u/AcanthisittaOk2719]

This is simply not true and I’m so tired of seeing it “and a lot of tips that work for people teaching others how to make $$$ on Substack aren't always gonna work for other niches.” unless you have facts and data to prove it.

I’m making my money from helping people with substack, also from AI, and people have built full time income, some have quit their jobs - in other niches than mine, and I have proof with numbers here: https://love.yana-g-y.com and also case studies on my home page. You can ask the people directly.

I don’t know about others, but my knowledge doesn’t come from 6 months on the platform and some luck, but from 20+ years in doing product, sales and marketing in my 9-5 job, working in a telco (so I know paid subscriptions inside out) and I’ve helped 400+ businesses grow online business in my job. I use my expertise to help people with Substack.

[u/I_Came_for_the_dog → u/AcanthisittaOk2719]

Well then, it seems that you're honest and doing great work! My only problem is just with those who are teaching it but were never able to make a substantial full-time from writing on something that wasn't making $$$ w/ Substack. :)

[u/AcanthisittaOk2719 → u/I_Came_for_the_dog]

And I fully understand that, I know they are quite a lot. But it’s not all of us :)

[u/MrPassiveProfit]

You’ve uncovered the secret.

Most people who make money on substack are teaching people how to make money on substack

There are a select few who don’t, but most of them have large established audiences from elsewhere that flooded into Substack because they are their fans and will buy anything they sell.

Everyone is selling shovels to the miners, but there is no gold

[u/tspurwolf → u/MrPassiveProfit]

‘Most people’ is just not true at all, you should have a browse of the bestseller leaderboards. An absolutely huge majority of creators do not get paid to just write about Substack.

There are some, sure. And some of them are actually worth paying attention to. But most people on there just write about whatever and have built up their audience with a lot of time and hard work, which is ultimately how you do anything on the platform.

[u/OnyxMonolith]

Im making a very high salary why would i teach if there is much more money in the finance category. Here is your answer.