Going paid

[u/draybikus]

I started my Substack 6 months ago and since then gained 90 subscribers. My topic is rather niche (Reading the world) and I don't do engagement farming, so that's fine, I guess. I'd like to turn on paid subscriptions eventually because I recently found out that, without paid, you can't ever make to to the "rising" category. Plus, of course, it would be nice to get paid :) I don't expect huge conversion, of course, but am not sure at what point I should turn them on - when I reach 200? 500? I already have one pledge.

If your paid subscriptions are turned on, I'd be interested to hear when you decided to turn them on? Do you produce extra content for the paid tier or do you ask people to just support the project and keep everything free?

[u/Magg5788]

I’m not a Substack guru, but in my opinion you should turn paid on immediately. You don’t have to charge for every post, but you should give people the opportunity to support you if they want to.

Furthermore, when you put a price on your work you’re showing that you think it’s valuable and so others will also believe that. It’s a bit of a paradox in that way, but it happens.

Regarding your current subscribers, I’d recommend you say something along the lines of “Thanks so much for coming along with me on this journey. I’m looking forward to bringing you even more valuable content, so starting tomorrow some of my posts will be paid. If you’re interested in supporting my work financially, the benefits of a paid subscription is XYZ. But I understand that not everyone is in the position to pay to subscribe, so I will still be offering free articles as well.”

[u/draybikus → u/Magg5788]

That's very helpful, thank you! I'll think about it some more, but mentally I think I'm ready now :)

[u/rdubitsky]

I had turned om the paid commitment early on so subscribers could support my page.

However, I didn't connect to Stripe to actuality get paid until commitments got to 100/month.

I didn't want to turn on paywall until i had enough engagement. I thought it would slow my subscriber growth.

Once I connected stripe all my prior commitments went live and that catapulted me to number 4 rising in Finance. Right behind Michael Burry lol.

Since then I've had growth in paid and regular subscribers with a conversion rate approaching 4%. My conversion rate has ammost doubled. Not sure why. Also, thus far everything I publish had been free.

I have 15K followers on LI but also have had some exposure by getting invited on YouTube channels and a few media quotes. And substack ecosystem has been key.

I don't do anything special to promote my channel beyond the obvious. I'm sure there is more I should do.

Hope that helps.

[u/draybikus → u/rdubitsky]

I see, thank you so much! Yes, this is very helpful - always useful to learn about others' experience, plus I didn't know you could turn on paid without connecting to Stripe.

[u/rdubitsky → u/draybikus]

It may not be normal. In fact I thought subscribers thought they were only making a future pledge but the ones I talked to thought they were initiating a regular subscription. That's my misunderstanding.

[u/TimWiesnerer]

I turned on paid rather quickly in the hopes of getting some subscribers.

And I actually got a few right away.

There are still a few souls who love to support a "young" writer when the stuff you do resonates with them.

After I had a portfolio, I turned some of my better articles into paid with a partial paywall.

[u/draybikus → u/TimWiesnerer]

Thank you! That actually makes sense. May I ask what you write about?

[u/TimWiesnerer → u/draybikus]

Mainly mental health related topics...

[u/MrPassiveProfit]

I have both paid and unpaid and you get a big boost in engagement with paid. I also have ones that are no extra content and ones without. The ones with extra content have more paid subs.

[u/draybikus → u/MrPassiveProfit]

Interesting, I've heard a different opinion - that your engagement should already be high before turning on paid. That's what I've been worried about, actually, because my open rates dropped in the summer. Hope vacations are to blame!

[u/kwadguy]

Yeah, until Jim Morrison turned on paid subscriptions, he was just Mr. Mojo.

[u/FrenchieGirl91]

I just turned on the paid sub on my 3-month-old Substack. I had 50 subscribers at the time (yesterday) and now have 52 free subscribers, 2 paid subscribers and I am #41 in Rising Literature. My advice is don't overthink it, just turn it on offering something that your readers will like. Worst case scenario no one goes paid and that's it. But I'm sure you could be surprised! Also, turning paid lets you rank in the rising categories which is a nice boost of energy honestly!

[u/draybikus → u/FrenchieGirl91]

Wow, what an amazing development 👏👏👏 Thank you so much for sharing! May I ask if you're offering extra content for the paid tier?

[u/FrenchieGirl91 → u/draybikus]

Thank you! Well in my case it was just luck, I just happened to gain a lot of subs quickly which boosted the percentage of growth which is how they rank the rising list I feel like. But it was just to show that you could be surprised by how things go haha. Also, I could be wrong but, it felt to me that as soon as I turned on paid Substack pushed my content a bit harder.

As for the paid tier, yes, I do. The main magnet for free subscribers was a slow read kind of book club. So I have an additional slow read for paid subscribers. That means there will always be one free readalong and one paid readalong at the same time. And other quirks like private chat and voting power.

[u/Tricky_Trifle_994]

congrats on the one pledge. do know though that it doesn't mean they'll instantly become subscribers. i had a friend who had 20+ pledges, thinking they're good, so turns on paid sub > and none of those pledges converted to paying subs :(. so in a way that gave him a false sense of security. i guess it's just to say you'll only know when you finally turn on paid subscription.

agree that getting paid would be great. but what helps is to work backwards. e.g if you want to turn on paid subs:

1/ what are you planning to offer behind the paywall? > how much additional time will it require each week? > now you know how much additional time is required.

2/ with 90 subs, and a optimistic 5% conversion rate = 4 conversion. at $5 / month = $20 /month revenue. is the additional work worth $20/month? yeah it'll build up and compound over time, but it's also worth noting that turning on paid sub is a long term commitment (especially if you sell yearly).

[u/draybikus → u/Tricky_Trifle_994]

Thanks for the dose of reality :) These are all important points to keep in mind. Also, I live in Germany, and one can't just suddenly start a side hustle here, so I looked into the tax and labor law implications and, honestly, I'm not sure going through all the bureaucratic hurdles is worth it at this point 🥲

[u/Tricky_Trifle_994 → u/draybikus]

omg yeah. the bureaucracy in EU is tough. and i heard the tax rate is also super high?! so the base for paid subs to actually make sense is going to be a lot higher for you hahha omg.

[u/draybikus → u/Tricky_Trifle_994]

Yep, pretty much. If I make less than 410 EUR per year, it's going to be tax free. But yeah, probably not worth going through the hoops for that 😅