Why You Should Turn on Paid Subscriptions

and keep it on

I’ve mentioned a few times, here and there, within comments in Notes, how I have chosen to use the Paid feature of Substack. And in those discussions I’m asked to elaborate or told it’s a great idea that they might use as well. So, I figured I’d share it here in case anyone else is curious as to what I’m doing, why, and how easy and painless it can be for you to do it too!

Now, let me start by saying this isn’t some new trick I’ve uncovered. I’m sure there are plenty of other Substacks out there that are doing something similar. It’s just that not everyone is talking about it or making a point to share whether it’s worked for them or not. Another preface I want to make is that as of writing this I am only on month number two of implementing my paid subscription idea and have yielded zero paid subscribers. This is to be expected. I am going to test this for at least the next 3 - 5 years straight before I can say with certainty whether it worked or not. So, if after knowing all that you’re willing to hear me out, here’s my idea for turning on Paid Subscription on Substack.

MAKE IT ALL “FREE”

Sometimes I feel like even saying the word “free” is a dirty word filled with negative connotations no matter how you may feel about it. So, let us dispense with the niceties here and go into the truth no one wants to say or admit (be warned there will be many of these “truths” shared throughout): Free is not a devaluation of your work! There, I said it and I meant it.

When I share my work to everyone who is subscribed and those who aren’t yet but who happen upon my homepage, it isn’t because I expect nothing in return. On the contrary, I expect to earn a living from my work. But what good is a beautiful garden if I put a privacy fence up before I started planting? That is to say, would you believe me if I told you, “behind these doors is the most beautiful garden you’ve ever seen. Oh, and that’ll be $24.95 admission before you can see it for yourself.” You would have no way of knowing if I am a skilled gardener. You have not seen my plants nor do you know what I’ve been growing behind those doors. You know nothing about me. Now, would you pay for entry?

Taking a different approach, what if, instead of an 8’ tall privacy fence I put up bars that you could easily see through. You walk by every day on your way to the coffee shop down the street and every time you do you see me in there working away, sweat stains and all. I’ve got dirt everywhere, pots, garden boxes, a whole layout that is near completion. One day you walk by and there’s a HUGE “Open” sign and through the bars you can see all the flowers and colors in full bloom. How do you feel about paying for entry now?

This is how I’m treating my Substack and the idea behind turning on the paywall. Everything I share via email is free. None of it is behind that paywall that so many of us cringe to even think about. No hidden tricks where you start reading an email and halfway through there’s a line that says you must pay up to keep reading (or to leave a comment). That’s not my style

THE ARCHIVE APPROACH

I’m treating my paid subscription like (and be prepared for another analogy here…) a streaming subscription (sort of…). Say I have an entire season of a show that I released over the course of an entire month. Let’s use June as an example as it’s a clean 30 days. So, I’ve got 30 days worth of stories. In the case of a streaming service when they drop a season it’s all of the episodes at once and then you can go ahead and binge them all in one sitting. Like any streaming service this is a good business model because people are coming and going, signing up and canceling, on a regular basis. Instead of trying to overwhelm someone to think they have to “catch up” if it’s the middle of June and they are released one day at a time, all 30 days are there on day one. You decide the pace you want to go. So many advantages in this model.

Now, I’m not releasing my 100 Word Stories all at once per month. Are you crazy?! No, I am releasing one per day, but the way I equate that to a streaming service has more to do with the person who is subscribing in the middle of a month. Or even the next month and they want to go back to the “beginning” to read the others cause they enjoyed my stories so much. This is where being a paid subscriber comes in. To go backwards requires access to my archive. That level of access requires a paid subscription.

To explain it in another way, on July 1st I will have everything written from June 2nd - June 30th archived and accessible to paid subscribers only. However, for those who were subscribed from the beginning, they saw and read my stories on the days they were sent.

HOW IS AN ARCHIVE DIFFERENT OR BETTER?

The difference between archiving a month later is all in how it makes me feel to do it. I feel just as icky as I’m sure you do to either make my stories paid to begin with or share part of it and then put up a paywall. In both instances it severs the connection between myself and the community I’m trying to build. And if you’ll notice, I’m not archiving the June 1st story. My idea is to leave the story written on the 1st of each month open to all so I can continue to at least share past stories with newcomers.

Is my way better? Depends on what your needs and expectations are for your Substack. Also depends heavily on the type of content you’re delivering. Some might feel this content I write in my Editorials should go behind a paywall or be for paid only. I might consider it if everyone who needed to read this were paid subscribers. But I know the majority who get anything out of these are writers (just like me) and can’t afford to pay me for the knowledge I impart, so I share it freely. It’s what I wish would’ve been done for me when I was desperately searching for answers.

WHEN CAN I START?

Now if you like. You can easily go back to old stuff and just edit the post and make it for Paid Only. And once you do, let your subscribers know. Maybe link to some of them in your welcome email or about page as a small nudge to get them to upgrade to paid.

To me, what’s more important than when you start is being consistent and intentional in what you decide to archive. Don’t be wishy washy about it. If you say you’re going to put all of your X in the archive after a set amount of time, be sure and do it otherwise no one will take you seriously and your idea to convert free to paid will likely backfire.