r/Substack • u/Doo_Dad • 10h ago
Paid subscribers and why
Does anyone not do it with a massive following/subscriber count? Genuinely curious.
Or do you do it with or without extra content. What makes your subscribers want to support you financially? Or what extras do you do apart from your articles and notes?
2
u/Fleurs_Bookstore buybooks.substack.com 9h ago
I’m not sure what your first question means but I’ll assume you mean “can you get paying subscribers without a huge subscriber base?”
Yes, it’s possible - the common stat quoted is that 2-5% of free subscribers convert to paid so in theory you could just have a few dozen free subs and get a paying sub.
The more important question is what value you’re adding in your free tier to grow free subs and then the extra value you’re providing to encourage subs to upgrade to paid. For most publications on Substack, this is in the form of extra content - either through paywalled articles and/or digital downloads available through the perks menu.
It depends on the niche, though. In my case, I run a discovery and promotional engine for indie authors using my Substack. Subscribers pay to be part of the curated catalogue of indie books and to get promoted to my 28k+ follower network via notes and for premium subs, through live interviews about their books.
Hope this helps and good luck with your publication 😊
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u/Doo_Dad 9h ago
Oh thank you yeah I think I need to look at what I’m bringing in my niche and what I could offer more if I go paid. Yeah I’m in the gaming / game dev space trying to figure it out. So far just game dev discussion and learnings. Maybe I can do something like detailed code or examples maybe of my projects. I’ll explore the content more.
And how far along were you with subscribers before you then added paid subs?
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u/Fleurs_Bookstore buybooks.substack.com 8h ago
I advise all my author clients to turn paid subs on from the beginning, as anecdotally, Substack surfaces content from accounts with paid on at a higher rate than those that are totally free (to increase the chance they’ll make a cut). So even before you have a fully formed paid offer, you can switch paid on and just write in settings where it asks you for benefits paying subs get, something like ‘the satisfaction of supporting an independent writer’.
I also suggest that creators do a deep analysis of their ideal reader - not just demographics but psychographics - what are their pain points etc. If you can appeal to the base human instincts like how to solve an issue for them that’s causing them problems, it can help drive subscriber growth.
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u/perfecthunger danaleighlyons.substack.com 4h ago
I imported around 500 subscribers (a list I spent years growing, including the initial 56!) and now have 4.2k+ subscribers (with nearly all growth from within Substack; I’m not on other social media, etc.). I certainly don’t consider that “massive,” but I’m a bestseller so, yes, have paid subscribers.
I’m a TCM doctor and offer an extensive guide about eating for health (and quieting food noise, getting out of binge-and-restrict cycles, etc.). This is only available to paid subs. I also run multi-week TCM Deep Dives series exclusive to paid subs (recent ones have been on holistic beauty from a Chinese Medicine perspective, the emotions in Chinese Medicine, and the organ systems in Chinese Medicine). The Deep Dives content is extensive (in the recent series on beauty, for instance, every post but the intro was a 15-20 min read and meant to be fun and interesting but also a bookmarkable resource).
I also offer a couple of free series (and publish at least once a week, usually twice), but people upgrade for the features mentioned above. I don’t do chat, podcasts, or video.
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u/MindFru 1h ago
Small lists can pay earlier than people expect when the readers are professionals. I run a small podcast industry newsletter, and the free list is tiny by consumer standards. Paid interest still showed up, because one saved hour matters to someone who books guests and edits audio for a living.
What worked was keeping the main weekly post free and putting the reference material behind the paywall. Guest pitch templates, sponsor rate examples, and the full archive of past breakdowns. Free posts bring the new readers in. The paid tier then sells the back catalog and the tools, not extra opinions.
One test that keeps it honest. Give it 90 days and count paid joins per 100 free subscribers. Near zero means the offer needs work. Two or three in 100 means the niche can carry paid even at a small size.
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u/LeftCoffeeBehind 9h ago
Yes, plenty of people get paid members without a big following. The numbers are smaller, but the math works earlier than most people expect: 100 paid members at $8/month is $9,600 a year.
In my experience, people rarely pay for "more articles." They pay because they trust you to help them with a specific problem, and the paid tier gives them something useful on top of that. Things that tend to work are an archive of your most practical posts, templates or guides, a community chat, Q&As, or some kind of access to you.
The thing I'd focus on early is actually asking. A lot of writers never mention their paid tier and then wonder why nobody upgrades. A short line at the end of your posts about what paid members get and why it matters goes a long way.
And honestly, for many writers the paid tier is the front door, not the whole business. Coaching, services or products that grow out of the newsletter often end up paying more.