This post will guide you through the tactics available for converting free readers to paid subscriptions, including how to craft your pitch and an overview of how different publications define their free vs. paid tiers.
Honestly, I think writers could use two more options: Bundling subscriptions and a "donate" button.
In bundling, a reader could pre-load their Substack account with $50, for example, and pay either for individual posts or to support/subscribe to up to 10 newsletters of their choosing. This way the writers of the newsletters get some monetary support, and the readers can have access to the full Substack catalog for one low price.
An additional option is the "donate" button on all posts, so that readers can easily just pay per post.
While we're here, a better discovery system, like a "Hacker News" style front page that has text links of all the recent individual posts being published on Substack, plus a tag system per post so that readers can search Substack based on a category or topic, e.g. "humor" "comic strip" "movie recommendations" "life hacks" etc.—would also help.
Here is an article that makes the argument for micro-payments as an addition to subscription payments:
"A person who wants one day’s edition of a newspaper or is enticed by a link to an interesting article is rarely going to go through the cost and hassle of signing up for a subscription under today’s clunky payment systems.
The key to attracting online revenue, I think, is to come up with an iTunes-easy method of micropayment. We need something like digital coins or an E-ZPass digital wallet–a one-click system with a really simple interface that will permit impulse purchases of a newspaper, magazine, article, blog or video for a penny, nickel, dime or whatever the creator chooses to charge."
If Substack implemented "Substack bucks" to allow payment of individual posts rather than only having the option of annual subscriptions, I think more people would be willing to pay.
"In addition, our two most creative digital innovators have shown that a pay-per-drink model can work when it’s made easy enough: Steve Jobs got music consumers (of all people) comfortable with the concept of paying 99¢ for a tune instead of Napsterizing an entire industry, and Jeff Bezos with his Kindle showed that consumers would buy electronic versions of books, magazines and newspapers if purchases could be done simply."
I've often thought about this, Katie, and I was curious if market research is being done to consider how bringing in a secondary Ko-fi model for individual donations might dissuade people from subscribing monthly. The default thinking is it's an untapped market to make more money, but I'm curious if it will do more damage than good.
I like the "tag" idea you're suggesting because it gives writers control over how to label their work. Substack already does this on the level of publication. It would be great to extend that to posts so the platform is more searchable. Including a limit of, say, three tags would force writers to stay specific and improve reader experience.
I also think it would be nice to have a "pay per post" option. That would allow writers using paywalls to make money without asking readers to commit longterm. Wondering if Substack's UX team foresees any negative side-effects to offering this kind of thing…
Apparently substack is working on the tagging system which beehiiv already has. Anything like a pay per post system just doesn't really enable writers to monetize properly and would dilute the business model. It's hard enough to scale paid subscriptions without flat face sponsored ads complementing monetization.
To clarify a couple of things further: The reader who preloads a Substack account with $50.00 would have access to ALL free content on Substack, but to access the payed content the reader would have to "pay" an amount per post, set by the writer, to read the full article, e.g. $0.05 or #1.00, or anything. The reader then has the choice to pay for the single post, subscribe to that newsletter/writer, or keep exploring. The writers participating in this program can choose to have all or some of their content behind a paywall, but the free content can also have a "donate" button, again open to any amount set by the reader or writer, to allow the opportunity for casual readers to also support the writer financially.
People already have access to all the free content on Substack. The $50 preload would be spent on individual paywalled posts rather than one subscription? I'm wondering what the benefit of the preload is, if they're differing the decision of what they want to pay for later anyway. Is it to avoid money transfer fees?
It helps us narrow down our niche, and even our niche within our niche, also for discovery it has super interesting possibilities with their app. But typically a keyword approach is algorithmic which they want to deemphasize. So when a product is limited by ideology it's an interesting dilemma.
Ultimately Creators deserve the best of both and all worlds. For instance I can understand and respect Substack is against Ads. I value that, but when the biggest influencers on Substack find platforms to gamify Ads to double their revenue, why shouldn't we? It becomes tricky.
Writers have to weigh the pros and cons of each platform and monetization model, just like Substack. I know Substack writers who are outspokenly against accepting sponsorships to generate income and see the idea as being against their ethos. They probably appreciate Substack's stance against ads and might leave the platform if that stance changes. There's a lot of give and take on both sides.
I understand that! But I did a price raise early in my newsletter, and I have a good amount of users still at the old price, however I am considering doing another one.
The thing that is interesting re: Price raises is you can actually say hey we are about to do a price raise, and that sometimes moves the incremental free user to sub and lock in an annual at a lower rate. I would do almost anything to see the reactions that the upsell of free > paid before a price raise.
I have thought about this. I would announce date it’s going to. Maybe 14 days from the first announcement. Push this to all tour free subscribers. Send emails at 14, 7 4 and last day to get in at the old price. Inflation makes the argument easier plus add what else you might be doing to give value.
yep! I am also maybe going to try to launch a superset of my newsletter as a product if they offer a higher tier - think things need to happen on substack side for that to happen.
I've actually had very VERY little luck with this. It seems not to sway folks at all. In fact, the more low-key my "pitches" are, the better... it seems. :)
It would be exciting if substack provided actual data on different strategies depending upon the free subscriber list number. This really doesn't have to be all art and no science.
Category and list size wood correlate with different strategies in their efficacy.
Email marketing has a long history of being data based and analytics-based. I would be celebrating if the creator economy adopted that knowledge. In truth, it would make your company a lot more profitable and not only be of service to us.
Thanks...I think it's a good strategy. I wanted to wait a year and I had a number in mind - 500 free subs before turning on paid. After one year, I was able to reach 650 - so that was good!
I'm not sure if this would be the proper place to ask, but given people's current financial circumstances many of my readers wanted to find ways of support that doesn't go all in on the monthly/annual subscriptions.
A few were wondering if Substack may consider an a la carte approach, such that readers can pick and choose articles that they really enjoy and support based on those articles. For example, if a writer makes a post that a reader finds outstanding they can click on a button and throw a dollar or two (or even more) to the writer based on that article alone.
I think given more people are having tighter wallets, and that many people are becoming overwhelmed by the number of writers while also having very little time having the ability to select to pay for what you read may be an interesting feature.
Just something I've noticed some readers have asked and wanted to give some perspective.
Something I would like to point out, which may not be obvious in the article, is one approach that doesn't work for gaining subscriptions, and that's highlighting personal financial hardship. I've never once seen it work long term outside of systems built for it, like GoFundMe. Your paid Substack is primarily about value. What value do you bring into people's lives that is worth paying for, and that may only be the value of supporting someone you want to see succeed. However, in the case where it's presented as, "I can't eat unless you support me," it's not often received well. Instead, I would encourage authors to say, "This is my full-time job, and I'm working hard at it to provide you with X value and would appreciate your support." They both say the same thing, but in two different ways. Subscribers will either see that value or they won't.
"'I can't eat unless you support me,' it's not often received well."
Thanks for saying this. I agree and then some. It immediately got my hackles up when I read this:
"I’d be appreciative if you signed up and doubly appreciative [if] you bought a paid subscription and helped me put two daughters through college.”
If a Substack I subscribed to solicited my support in this way, I'd probably unsubscribe. Unless we're family, I honestly don't care how you put your daughters through college, but it's not my responsibility, it's yours. As is feeding yourself. Don't lay that on me. Sorry, I'm not here to provide anyone a living or to help fulfill anyone's professional aspirations. Don't mistake me, a subscriber, not a philanthropist or follower. I'm a consumer. Offer worthwhile content and if I find it valuable, I'll find a way to support it on my terms. The rest is out of bounds.
Using a “NPR Paid Member Supporter” model featuring an abundance of world class articles about books that fascinate the reader has worked out fabulously well for me. Kudos to Substack for making this all possible. 🎈🙌
This is perfect timing for me! I just started last month and have been using a combination of free blogs and paid masterclasses. I'm hoping to convert some of my social media following over to substack. If anyone has any tips on working on mindset around asking for money, let me know 😊
I appreciate this post but wish authors had more flexibility in setting subscription prices. I’d like to start charging, but a minimum of $5/month is just too high for some of my readers. I hope to move there in a year or two, but I can’t in the beginning. Is there any way Substack could allow writers to set a lower minimum subscription fee, at least for the first year?
My Substack is two years old, and I love the platform. I just wish I had more pricing flexibility.
The way around the $5/month minimum is to offer an annual subscription at lower than $60. It's win-win. Your readers get a discount, and you spend less time worrying about renewals/churn.
Sorry, but my friends are all broke and claim they can't afford to pay anything at this stage of their lives (all age groups in the current economy). Substack needs a variety of paid subscription models, not just having to subscribe to individual writers. Example: whether $5/month or $14.95/month for each of three writers is just not doable., not even on a reduced annual basis.
It is very important to be extremely clear with what people get from a paid vs. free subscription. Otherwise, you'll have potential dissatisfaction among those who pay. It is also important to realize that when you initially turn on the paywall, you are likely to get a number of people who are your most loyal readers who have been following your work for a long time. That initial batch of paid subscribers might have different expectations than people who pay months later. As a result, your paid subscriber constituency could shift from a "fan" constituency to one that demands more exclusive content over time.
When I first turned on the paywall, my message was not very clear but a number of people who had followed my work for a long time signed up anyway. Soon, it became clear that to get additional subscribers I would have to create a much more clear delineation between free and paid content which I did. Prior to figuring this out, my paid subscriber count had plateaued which was quite frustrating. I am still not where I need to be to make the economics work, but six months into this experiment I see positive trends. My conversion rate from free to paid has increased and my free count has also increased. Much of it driven by an increasing follower count on twitter. Bottom line is that experimentation with the message and value proposition is part of the process.
This is extremely timely and helpful. After my SUBtember experiment I have been retooling my newsletter and this is EXACTLY the kind of resource I need! Thank you!
As a new writer I’m really focused on getting my articles as valuable as possible for the reader- without much thought to how or when I’ll start monetizing. I’m not sure what’s resonating just yet as the subscribers grow, but once I believe I’m serving a niche I can confidently move forward with a subscription model. Anyone feel the same?
There needs to be a scoring system that allows substack to give each of our articles compared to our baseline of all of our articles. Curiously, watching open rates and views is not the optimal way to even tell what his resonating since there are too many variables like the time of the day, day of the week and social media performance
Open & view rates are about as objective as it gets. People like to focus on time of day & day it was sent, etc., but to bank on those factors assumes people open an email (more or less) immediately. They don't. Some do, of course, but a lot of people wait until their lunch break, their commute home, or the next day. And in my case, there are some I save until my weekend, 'cause I want to be able to really dive into them. I'm a nightmare to someone looking for trend analysis based on day sent.
A better way might be to simply see what posts are really resonating with people (regardless of when/what day they were sent). In my case, I write about music. Looking at open/view/clock rates, it is *extremely* clear what my readers want to see more of what they can live without.
We have been debating this for some time. This post is MOST helpful to orientate the discussion. I personally think we have to define one strategy and stick to it. The difficult bit is which strategy to choose.
1) Substack Grazer subscription. 10 subscription-only articles per month from any writer. Fee: average annual Substack sub. Good for general Substack brand recognition. Maybe a discount for any subsequent subscriptions to individual writers.
2) One off payments for one article. Good for when something goes viral. Should be fairly steep to encourage 1). They get invited to do 1) when they do 2).
3) Tip jar. For any free or paid article. And even if you already subscribe, you can add a tip for an article you really like.
Good suggestions. I would like to see any way to generate some sort of individual payment, such as Ko-fi offers, but have the payment go through substack's system rather than a third party.
I like the "tip jar" and like payment for individual articles, but the $$ amount for "one offs" would have to be high enough that it doesn't compete with the subscription.
Maybe even a way to buy "credits"...if a subscriber buys 10 credits, for example, he/she could use them to read paywalled articles.
Substack should offer a general subscription service for writers to submit/option their work into for the public who aren’t particularly keen on subscribing to individuals. Revenue can simply be a percentage.
Honestly, I think writers could use two more options: Bundling subscriptions and a "donate" button.
In bundling, a reader could pre-load their Substack account with $50, for example, and pay either for individual posts or to support/subscribe to up to 10 newsletters of their choosing. This way the writers of the newsletters get some monetary support, and the readers can have access to the full Substack catalog for one low price.
An additional option is the "donate" button on all posts, so that readers can easily just pay per post.
While we're here, a better discovery system, like a "Hacker News" style front page that has text links of all the recent individual posts being published on Substack, plus a tag system per post so that readers can search Substack based on a category or topic, e.g. "humor" "comic strip" "movie recommendations" "life hacks" etc.—would also help.
This is good feedback. Our team has been thinking about other payment models more.
Hi Katie,
Here is an article that makes the argument for micro-payments as an addition to subscription payments:
"A person who wants one day’s edition of a newspaper or is enticed by a link to an interesting article is rarely going to go through the cost and hassle of signing up for a subscription under today’s clunky payment systems.
The key to attracting online revenue, I think, is to come up with an iTunes-easy method of micropayment. We need something like digital coins or an E-ZPass digital wallet–a one-click system with a really simple interface that will permit impulse purchases of a newspaper, magazine, article, blog or video for a penny, nickel, dime or whatever the creator chooses to charge."
https://time.com/3270666/how-to-save-your-newspaper/
If Substack implemented "Substack bucks" to allow payment of individual posts rather than only having the option of annual subscriptions, I think more people would be willing to pay.
"In addition, our two most creative digital innovators have shown that a pay-per-drink model can work when it’s made easy enough: Steve Jobs got music consumers (of all people) comfortable with the concept of paying 99¢ for a tune instead of Napsterizing an entire industry, and Jeff Bezos with his Kindle showed that consumers would buy electronic versions of books, magazines and newspapers if purchases could be done simply."
I've often thought about this, Katie, and I was curious if market research is being done to consider how bringing in a secondary Ko-fi model for individual donations might dissuade people from subscribing monthly. The default thinking is it's an untapped market to make more money, but I'm curious if it will do more damage than good.
A donate button would be great!
I like the "tag" idea you're suggesting because it gives writers control over how to label their work. Substack already does this on the level of publication. It would be great to extend that to posts so the platform is more searchable. Including a limit of, say, three tags would force writers to stay specific and improve reader experience.
I also think it would be nice to have a "pay per post" option. That would allow writers using paywalls to make money without asking readers to commit longterm. Wondering if Substack's UX team foresees any negative side-effects to offering this kind of thing…
Apparently substack is working on the tagging system which beehiiv already has. Anything like a pay per post system just doesn't really enable writers to monetize properly and would dilute the business model. It's hard enough to scale paid subscriptions without flat face sponsored ads complementing monetization.
To clarify a couple of things further: The reader who preloads a Substack account with $50.00 would have access to ALL free content on Substack, but to access the payed content the reader would have to "pay" an amount per post, set by the writer, to read the full article, e.g. $0.05 or #1.00, or anything. The reader then has the choice to pay for the single post, subscribe to that newsletter/writer, or keep exploring. The writers participating in this program can choose to have all or some of their content behind a paywall, but the free content can also have a "donate" button, again open to any amount set by the reader or writer, to allow the opportunity for casual readers to also support the writer financially.
People already have access to all the free content on Substack. The $50 preload would be spent on individual paywalled posts rather than one subscription? I'm wondering what the benefit of the preload is, if they're differing the decision of what they want to pay for later anyway. Is it to avoid money transfer fees?
I really like this idea. Especially the tag system.
It helps us narrow down our niche, and even our niche within our niche, also for discovery it has super interesting possibilities with their app. But typically a keyword approach is algorithmic which they want to deemphasize. So when a product is limited by ideology it's an interesting dilemma.
Ultimately Creators deserve the best of both and all worlds. For instance I can understand and respect Substack is against Ads. I value that, but when the biggest influencers on Substack find platforms to gamify Ads to double their revenue, why shouldn't we? It becomes tricky.
Writers have to weigh the pros and cons of each platform and monetization model, just like Substack. I know Substack writers who are outspokenly against accepting sponsorships to generate income and see the idea as being against their ethos. They probably appreciate Substack's stance against ads and might leave the platform if that stance changes. There's a lot of give and take on both sides.
Yes there should be more customization options. Tips for example. Contests per Category, etc...
This is the kind of posts I really want to continue to see from Substack - good job!
Going to think hard about how I can apply this to my own newsletter.
Thanks, Doug! What do you want us to write about next?
How to handle price raises - best practices - what people do.
Also a discussion of churn?
👀
The price is fixed unless they unsubscribe.
I understand that! But I did a price raise early in my newsletter, and I have a good amount of users still at the old price, however I am considering doing another one.
The thing that is interesting re: Price raises is you can actually say hey we are about to do a price raise, and that sometimes moves the incremental free user to sub and lock in an annual at a lower rate. I would do almost anything to see the reactions that the upsell of free > paid before a price raise.
I have thought about this. I would announce date it’s going to. Maybe 14 days from the first announcement. Push this to all tour free subscribers. Send emails at 14, 7 4 and last day to get in at the old price. Inflation makes the argument easier plus add what else you might be doing to give value.
yep! I am also maybe going to try to launch a superset of my newsletter as a product if they offer a higher tier - think things need to happen on substack side for that to happen.
Sometimes a time limited discount is still perhaps the best pitch?
I've actually had very VERY little luck with this. It seems not to sway folks at all. In fact, the more low-key my "pitches" are, the better... it seems. :)
This has been my experience as well. Any sort of "flash sale" I've done has absolutely bombed.
That's good to know Alison, thanks for the tip.
Perfect timing - I turned on the paywall less than 24 hours ago and I'm now working through my promotion strategy...
Exciting!
True, but it also brings to life every little nugget of self-doubt I thought I abandoned years ago...
New things are usually one part exciting and two parts scary for me! But usually if I am not a little scared it's not really worth it
It would be exciting if substack provided actual data on different strategies depending upon the free subscriber list number. This really doesn't have to be all art and no science.
Category and list size wood correlate with different strategies in their efficacy.
Email marketing has a long history of being data based and analytics-based. I would be celebrating if the creator economy adopted that knowledge. In truth, it would make your company a lot more profitable and not only be of service to us.
Yes - that data would be interesting.
Best wishes. I am building my subscriber list a little more and then will turn on paid.
Thanks...I think it's a good strategy. I wanted to wait a year and I had a number in mind - 500 free subs before turning on paid. After one year, I was able to reach 650 - so that was good!
It will be good to hear how you get on, if you don't mind sharing. rolandstravels@substack.com
I'm not sure if this would be the proper place to ask, but given people's current financial circumstances many of my readers wanted to find ways of support that doesn't go all in on the monthly/annual subscriptions.
A few were wondering if Substack may consider an a la carte approach, such that readers can pick and choose articles that they really enjoy and support based on those articles. For example, if a writer makes a post that a reader finds outstanding they can click on a button and throw a dollar or two (or even more) to the writer based on that article alone.
I think given more people are having tighter wallets, and that many people are becoming overwhelmed by the number of writers while also having very little time having the ability to select to pay for what you read may be an interesting feature.
Just something I've noticed some readers have asked and wanted to give some perspective.
Try BuyMeaCoffee
This was a great post, and very informative. If you would like a breakdown from someone in the fiction community that has shared some details on their own adventures in free vs. paid subscriptions, check out https://fictionistas.substack.com/p/how-i-can-make-a-living-from-my-newsletter by Elle Griffin, who writes The Novellist (https://ellegriffin.substack.com/).
Something I would like to point out, which may not be obvious in the article, is one approach that doesn't work for gaining subscriptions, and that's highlighting personal financial hardship. I've never once seen it work long term outside of systems built for it, like GoFundMe. Your paid Substack is primarily about value. What value do you bring into people's lives that is worth paying for, and that may only be the value of supporting someone you want to see succeed. However, in the case where it's presented as, "I can't eat unless you support me," it's not often received well. Instead, I would encourage authors to say, "This is my full-time job, and I'm working hard at it to provide you with X value and would appreciate your support." They both say the same thing, but in two different ways. Subscribers will either see that value or they won't.
"'I can't eat unless you support me,' it's not often received well."
Thanks for saying this. I agree and then some. It immediately got my hackles up when I read this:
"I’d be appreciative if you signed up and doubly appreciative [if] you bought a paid subscription and helped me put two daughters through college.”
If a Substack I subscribed to solicited my support in this way, I'd probably unsubscribe. Unless we're family, I honestly don't care how you put your daughters through college, but it's not my responsibility, it's yours. As is feeding yourself. Don't lay that on me. Sorry, I'm not here to provide anyone a living or to help fulfill anyone's professional aspirations. Don't mistake me, a subscriber, not a philanthropist or follower. I'm a consumer. Offer worthwhile content and if I find it valuable, I'll find a way to support it on my terms. The rest is out of bounds.
I’m just starting out. Doubtful I’ll ever go to paid. Meanwhile I’m having a blast here.
We love to hear that !!
Using a “NPR Paid Member Supporter” model featuring an abundance of world class articles about books that fascinate the reader has worked out fabulously well for me. Kudos to Substack for making this all possible. 🎈🙌
This is perfect timing for me! I just started last month and have been using a combination of free blogs and paid masterclasses. I'm hoping to convert some of my social media following over to substack. If anyone has any tips on working on mindset around asking for money, let me know 😊
I appreciate this post but wish authors had more flexibility in setting subscription prices. I’d like to start charging, but a minimum of $5/month is just too high for some of my readers. I hope to move there in a year or two, but I can’t in the beginning. Is there any way Substack could allow writers to set a lower minimum subscription fee, at least for the first year?
My Substack is two years old, and I love the platform. I just wish I had more pricing flexibility.
The way around the $5/month minimum is to offer an annual subscription at lower than $60. It's win-win. Your readers get a discount, and you spend less time worrying about renewals/churn.
Sorry, but my friends are all broke and claim they can't afford to pay anything at this stage of their lives (all age groups in the current economy). Substack needs a variety of paid subscription models, not just having to subscribe to individual writers. Example: whether $5/month or $14.95/month for each of three writers is just not doable., not even on a reduced annual basis.
I'm in the process of working around this with offering a universal 60% discount that lowers the monthly subscription to $2.
It is very important to be extremely clear with what people get from a paid vs. free subscription. Otherwise, you'll have potential dissatisfaction among those who pay. It is also important to realize that when you initially turn on the paywall, you are likely to get a number of people who are your most loyal readers who have been following your work for a long time. That initial batch of paid subscribers might have different expectations than people who pay months later. As a result, your paid subscriber constituency could shift from a "fan" constituency to one that demands more exclusive content over time.
When I first turned on the paywall, my message was not very clear but a number of people who had followed my work for a long time signed up anyway. Soon, it became clear that to get additional subscribers I would have to create a much more clear delineation between free and paid content which I did. Prior to figuring this out, my paid subscriber count had plateaued which was quite frustrating. I am still not where I need to be to make the economics work, but six months into this experiment I see positive trends. My conversion rate from free to paid has increased and my free count has also increased. Much of it driven by an increasing follower count on twitter. Bottom line is that experimentation with the message and value proposition is part of the process.
This is extremely timely and helpful. After my SUBtember experiment I have been retooling my newsletter and this is EXACTLY the kind of resource I need! Thank you!
Awesome!
As a new writer I’m really focused on getting my articles as valuable as possible for the reader- without much thought to how or when I’ll start monetizing. I’m not sure what’s resonating just yet as the subscribers grow, but once I believe I’m serving a niche I can confidently move forward with a subscription model. Anyone feel the same?
There needs to be a scoring system that allows substack to give each of our articles compared to our baseline of all of our articles. Curiously, watching open rates and views is not the optimal way to even tell what his resonating since there are too many variables like the time of the day, day of the week and social media performance
Open & view rates are about as objective as it gets. People like to focus on time of day & day it was sent, etc., but to bank on those factors assumes people open an email (more or less) immediately. They don't. Some do, of course, but a lot of people wait until their lunch break, their commute home, or the next day. And in my case, there are some I save until my weekend, 'cause I want to be able to really dive into them. I'm a nightmare to someone looking for trend analysis based on day sent.
A better way might be to simply see what posts are really resonating with people (regardless of when/what day they were sent). In my case, I write about music. Looking at open/view/clock rates, it is *extremely* clear what my readers want to see more of what they can live without.
We have been debating this for some time. This post is MOST helpful to orientate the discussion. I personally think we have to define one strategy and stick to it. The difficult bit is which strategy to choose.
Thanks, Tom
I suggest all of the following.
1) Substack Grazer subscription. 10 subscription-only articles per month from any writer. Fee: average annual Substack sub. Good for general Substack brand recognition. Maybe a discount for any subsequent subscriptions to individual writers.
2) One off payments for one article. Good for when something goes viral. Should be fairly steep to encourage 1). They get invited to do 1) when they do 2).
3) Tip jar. For any free or paid article. And even if you already subscribe, you can add a tip for an article you really like.
Good suggestions. I would like to see any way to generate some sort of individual payment, such as Ko-fi offers, but have the payment go through substack's system rather than a third party.
I like the "tip jar" and like payment for individual articles, but the $$ amount for "one offs" would have to be high enough that it doesn't compete with the subscription.
Maybe even a way to buy "credits"...if a subscriber buys 10 credits, for example, he/she could use them to read paywalled articles.
Substack should offer a general subscription service for writers to submit/option their work into for the public who aren’t particularly keen on subscribing to individuals. Revenue can simply be a percentage.
Another thorough and useful post. Many thanks!
Great post! thank you for sharing.