26 Comments

I had no idea about that “email” button for the filtered subscriber list. Thank you Jasmine! I’ll be using that soon, as I’m trying to hit 100 paid subscribers before the end of the month

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This article was great, and some of these tips made me think about my own strategy! I really enjoyed all of the posts in this series and they had some great tips! Thank you and have a great day everyone 😊

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Some interesting insights. I've seen some of them elsewhere and I'm doing some of them, but not all of them. I'll definitely think about a few of them. I've considered giving a free trial to some of my early subscribers so I can get more of either paid or free subscriptions.

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This is all great. Are you planning on adding support for Flourish embeds in the future for data viz? https://slopegame3d.com

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This was very helpful post and I walked away with some ideas on how to start picking up paid subscribers.

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Hello Team! I'm really struggling with creating a link to a 30 day free trial. I followed the steps as outlined, but get stuck on the choices of "give this offer to anyone who subscribes" or "set a special short link." With the latter, it auto-fills to my general (home) page, which seems odd. And with the first one, that only makes sense for new subscribers. I want to be able to offer this to those who have 4-5 stars and are engaged. Is there a video or some detailed instructions how to create this?

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I think I may have figured it out! And have emailed it to one subscriber who is a friend to confirm it is working. Fingers crossed...

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Let us know if it works

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It did. She's not happy about being asked for credit card info.. but that's how such offers are, I know. And she had some great feedback about the letter itself, suggestions I've incorporated! I'll now comp her a couple extra months! I've been comping folks who contribute to newsletter Q&As and pieces. Good will :) Thank you, Katie, for checking in!

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Has substack adjusted the projected 5-10% of subscriber conversions? My free subscribers are doing great...almost 500 in a few months...great articles (if I may say so myself), 2 a week, one for paid, great artwork...but only 6 paid, out of 450...what am I don't wrong??

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My paid subscriber conversion had nearly stopped. I have 1,400 subscribers with only 42 actual paid subscribers...I may get one new one every 2 or 3 weeks. The free subscribers have slowed down as well. At one time in the beginning I had 30 a day, now I am lucky to get 3. Lots of unsubscribes (free) as well. My paid people stick around for the most part, and are very active in comments. I get a lot of compliments on my writing.

I have basically given up on the paid subscribers. Substack is not going to be a monetary source for me, it just isn't working. I will keep writing because that is what I like to do. I guess if I focused on anything it would just be on subscribers (free). There really isn't anything you can do to get people to pay...at least nothing that I know of. I sent out a "plea for paid subscriptions" to my 1,400 free folks, and did not get a single conversion. So that doesn't work.

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Substack runs under an interesting paradigm that I think it rather new and unique and is a result of the "internet age." They like to think of "paid subscriptions" as "donations"...I can see why this is a wise distinction. It is indeed possible to get tens of thousands of subscribers....look at all the insane TikTok subscriptions, Joe Rogan, etc. Of course not EVERYONE attracts that sort of interest, but again, why can't I hope for just a fraction of what some 15 year old gets to subscribe watching him or her talk about the shoes they just bought?

With a huge number of subscribers, there is the law of chance that says a certain percentage will pay SOMETHING, and that small percentage could amount to a lot of payers. So who knows what time will bring. If the percentage idea works, and if I got 100,000 free subscriptions, and only 3% converted to paid (which is my current conversion rate) that would amount to $180,000 a year, which isn't shabby. Even 50,000 free subscribers equals $90,000, which isn't too shabby either. A million subscribers (Joe Rogan has how many, 50 mil?) Supposedly he makes about 60 mil a year.

Of course that becomes "movie star" level, and no one should count on that. But you get my drift. I don't think it is impossible to get over time 100,000 subscribers. Maybe I am wrong...I understand it would take a lot of work. But from what I understand, on the internet, there are a lot of people out there willing to sign up. Then the paid conversions are just a percentage thing...

Who knows.

I do have a "buy me a coffee" link...on each article, so people can donate $3 instead of a whole subscription. It is hard to tell if that is a good or bad idea. I do know most big players on the internet, such as James Corbett, Off-Guardian, Jordan Peterson, rely on donations...and they make millions. Then again, they offer more value than my little substack.

Anyway...I am babbling...where is your substack and what do you (or want to) write about??

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This is fantastic news. I'm curious to know if there's any plan to include support for Flourish embeds for data visualization in the future. Integrating Flourish could significantly enhance the way we present and interact with data, making it more dynamic and engaging. This addition would be a valuable tool for those of us who rely heavily on data visualization for our work. Any insight into potential timelines or development plans would be greatly appreciated! https://kinitopetgame.com

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I have really enjoyed the series and learnt so much from Substack. I have more confidence to start my own channel and grow over time.

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Figure that if you build an engaged audience, you can turn about 10% of your total subscribers into paid subscribers. https://retrobowl-college.io

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Absolutely awesome post, thanks a ton Substack team!

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thank you for the alpha ☺️

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Hello! I'm looking to grow a paid subscription but I dont have Stripe in south africa?

Is there anyway still to make this work?

Thank you so much

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Hello , I have the same issue, I am saddened by the lack of response to your question posted in March and seemingly ignored since, this does not bode well.

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Love the idea of Instant Free Trials, I think I am going to implement it. Anyone tried it successfully?

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Thanks for these tips! I really want to get my first paid subscriber! ;)

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Great Post. Thanks for the tips!

Key point for me is to have something worth paying for. If the offering adds value to readers, they will be more inclined to pay.

Free preview work great as well :)

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