What to offer paid subscribers (And why most advice is wrong)
There's a weird bias in most Substack advice
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If I had a dollar for every piece of advice that works for ‘Substack experts’ and doesn’t work for ordinary people, I’d be hanging out in the Bahamas right now…
Spoiler alert: If you want to launch a paid offer on Substack, ‘Community’ is not the answer. 100% paid posts are not the answer. Cliff-hanger paywalls in stories are not the answer. Subscriber-only chats are not the answer. At least not for most people. I’ll explain shortly.
But first… a quick word from my sponsor (me):
Why most Substack advice about paid offers is wrong
Most people who are giving advice about monetizing Substack have seen success by writing about Substack on Substack. And many of these people started with an existing audience that they’ve brought from Medium, LinkedIn or a ConvertKit (‘Kit’) list.
Not me. I’ve built my other publication from zero in a weird niche that is not writing about writing. And what works there is not the same as what works here. I’ve learned the hard way that the advice provided by many Substack gurus is not quite right for publishers who aren’t writing for online creators.
Those other creators who think they’ve cracked the system, and found the golden key?
They have. They have found a perfect system and a golden key. For them. For their niche. For their audience.
Those gurus? They are in exactly the right place (Substack) at exactly the right time (Substack going mainstream).
Almost anything they do on Substack will make money.
The result? They think their “System” will work perfectly for you because it works perfectly for them.
Not that they aren’t working hard, and building (frankly) fantastic publications and communities, just that their natural advantages give them a weird bias when they try to teach what’s working for them.
What to do if you’re not writing about writing on Substack
My other newsletter is not about writing. It’s about food safety. It’s ultra niche. It doesn’t have a natural audience already hanging out in Substack. There’s no magic Substack discoverability for it.
It’s hard to grow. It’s hard to monetize.
And yet my paid subscriber numbers grew by 17% last year. My conversion rate is high. My retention rate is phenomenal. Without viral moments. Without shortcuts. Just consistent effort.
Here’s my advice for creators who are NOT writing about writing on Substack:
Be aware that some audiences are harder to monetize than others. My Substack Idea Analyser interactive tool will tell you if you are on to a winner or not.
Be wary of advice about monetizing “community”. To do this successfully, you’ll need either a very big subscriber list or a very special type of audience and niche.
Paywalling all your ordinary posts is a one-way trip to disappointment unless you have extraordinarily compelling content that people absolutely can’t get anywhere else, like local news publications (Simon Owens shares a great example of that here).
‘Gratitude’ offers (“Everything here is free to read, but if you love this newsletter, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to support my work”) can work. But only a little. (Here’s an example).
‘Buy me a coffee’ buttons and tip jars are appealing to creators who feel overwhelmed by the idea of a paid newsletter, but Substack doesn’t have a built-in ‘Buy me a coffee’ button for a reason.
Substack knows tip jars are not a sustainable way for writers to be compensated for their work. Use tip jars for nice-to-get pocket money, not a reliable source of income (Here’s how).
The most effective way to achieve sustainable, reliable revenue with paid subscriptions is to paywall posts that are different from your ‘normal’ posts or add special bonus content below a paywall. More about this below.
The most effective model: Different content behind the paywall
What I’m about to tell you might make you sob, ‘Ugh, this feels so transactional, so icky’. And you’d be right - about the transactional part, at least.
If you want to make money, people need to give you money. That’s a transaction. That’s transactional. That’s selling (arp!). If that’s not you, no worries, tune out now. But if you are interested in learning how to have successful transactions and what works best for most creators, read on…
Earlier in this article, I told you that your paid content should be different to your free content, that the content you put behind a paywall should be different.
It doesn’t mean paywalling your very best posts - why on earth would you hide those behind a paywall where hardly anyone will see them?!
It means reserving something special for your paying subscribers.
For example, if your publication is about fishing and your ordinary posts are stories about your favourite adventures or locations...
Standard advice would be: “Send three free posts per month to everyone and one post per month to paying subscribers.” Nope, don’t do that!
It’s much better to do something different for your paywalled content. For example, keep all your stories about adventures free for everyone, and do something special and different for paying subscribers. Such as:
Three free posts per month for everyone and one paid post per month that is a detailed guide to a specific fishing spot or technique, or
Adding a paywall towards the bottom of every post with a step-by-step guide to a specific technique or fish species. Your stories stay free and accessible to everyone. The paid content lives underneath.
What you’re doing with this technique is showing everyone who you are, what you know, and why they should trust you.
Only after you’ve built that trust can you convert free subscribers to paid.
Your free content builds trust. Your paywall gives your readers an opportunity to access something special: your specific insights and expertise.
Think of a paywall as an invitation to something more.
5 ways to do this (with examples)
I’ve just told you to paywall content that is different to your free content. Here are 5 types of content that can be successfully paywalled:
1. Curated information
Curated information saves people the time and effort they would spend filtering out all the free information on the web. It’s something people will pay for. More importantly, in the age of mass ChatGPT use, curated information is valuable to readers who trust your taste, instincts or expertise more than they trust the AIs.
Who does this well: Paris by Mouth, with free posts about individual restaurants (to create trust) and a paywalled curated list of places to eat while in Paris, which saves people time.
2. Standalone items
Special items that people can (figuratively) hold in their hands work very well for paid content. Think checklists, reports, guidance documents, templates. Popular options are investor reports, recipes and downloadable AI prompts.
Who does this well: The Bear Cave, with special reports for paying subscribers, like The Best Stock Research Tools for 2026
3. Live teaching moments
Live teaching moments are easy to monetize for publications that help people with health, wealth and relationships. Free posts showcase the writer’s personality, experience and ‘vibe’. Paid teaching moments, delivered using Substack Live or an online learning platform, show readers the exact ‘how’ of solving a problem.
Who does this well: The Play List, with live training sessions for teachers.
4. ‘Challenges’ and work-together sessions
Challenges and work-together sessions are focused on a single specific outcome, such as building ab strength or painting a still life from scratch. The benefit over ordinary ‘community’ is that readers can sign up to achieve one goal, which is more compelling than signing up to read endless threads week after week.
Who does this well: Wendy MacNaughton of DrawTogether with WendyMac with her 30 Days of Drawing Practice.
5. Subscriber-only AMAs (‘Ask me anything’s)
Paid AMAs are dedicated sessions or spaces where paid members can ask you anything. The free content provides generic advice but paid subscribers can get advice that is specific to their needs.
AMAs don’t have to be delivered with live video; they can be prerecorded or text-based.
Who does this well: Amanda Nelson of Amanda’s Mild Takes, such as in this Paid Subscriber AMA.
Final thoughts
If your paid subscriber count is lower than you want, don’t let the gurus get you down. What works for them won’t work for everyone. And that’s okay.
Instead of trying to follow cookie-cutter advice, revisit your goals (more impact or more money? - or both!) and find a way to help your readers by offering them something they will value and appreciate.
You don’t have to teach subscribers a skill or run a live session. The ‘help’ you deliver can be as simple as giving your readers a mood boost (“I feel uplifted after reading that fabulous essay”).
But if you really want to increase your revenue, I recommend you offer them access to something different from your ordinary posts.
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That’s it from me for this week. I bet you’ve got a ton of questions! See you in the comments.
Karen
P.S. Want specific advice about what to offer, customised for your unique personal style and niche? Jump on a call with me ($249), I have 3 slots left for March.
I clocked that a long time ago, the writers who write about writing and how to "gain x in x amount of time" are the ones that will gain paid subs very quickly. They are selling a dream to people who want to be in their shoes-- of course they have high conversions. It makes total sense. This is not to knock them, or down play their value, but I'm just happy to see someone with a realistic take on this and sees what I also saw.
I use a blend of 3 and 4 at Sketchnote Lab - a monthly teaching session over zoom for free, but the recorded video replays are for subscribers only, back to the very first on in December 2024.