Busy?
Listen on the Substack Writers at Work podcast →→→→
Thank you illyanna Maisonet, Petya K. Grady, Molly McPherson, Alyssa Polizzi, Amy Gabrielle, Simon Haisell, and many others for tuning into my live video with Caroline Donahue and Stephanie Bennett Vogt!
Main takeaway: We have to ask people to pay. Yup. No way around it.
Some of us just expect people to pay. And writers and creators/creatives tend to dislike asking, but there’s no way around it.
I’ll be talking about how to ask people to pay without feeling icky and salesay 6/10 and in our paid-subscriber workshop on 6/13.
Substacks mentioned and to subscribe to:
3 Components of a Substack Bestseller:
Know what your Substack is (your Substack DNA)
Know what you offer
Articulate that offer to people
Other people tell you how Substack works; I show you how to make Substack work for you. Become a paid subscriber.
What People Pay For:
Accountability
Community
Fandom
Solving a problem (including curation)
Paid Strategies:
Don’t auto-paywall your archive; instead, create a collection or “best of 2025” for paid subscribers by tagging certain posts and linking to the collection in your welcome email.
Paywall intentionally. Insert paywalls strategically, link to paid posts in every free post.
Offer challenges/workshops. Start free, then convert to paid.
Build a larger business model. Use Substack as one part of multiple income streams.
Three paid models:
Paywall model
Service/teaching model (workshops, challenges)
NPR model (asking for support)
Really important:
Quality matters. High-quality content is everything for sustained growth.
Keep it simple. Avoid overwhelm; do less but do it better.
Be consistent. Pick a schedule you can maintain even on bad days.
Think long-term. Building a bestselling Substack takes time.
Common Mistakes:
Offering too much
Creating overly complex calendars
Discounting too much and too often
Not asking your subscribers to pay!!!
Trying to do everything at once
Time stamps:
Please check out and subscribe to Caroline Donahue and Stephanie Bennett Vogt. Their Substacks are terrific.
00:00:30 - Caroline's Substack
00:07:07 - Stephanie's Substack
Core Concepts
00:03:05 - 3 components of bestseller
00:21:05 - What people pay for
Paid Strategies
00:14:15 - Business models
00:19:04 - Paywalling tips
00:35:42 - 3 paid models
00:43:16 - Calls to action
00:45:37 - Discounts and special offers
00:52:54 - Nurturing subscribers
Sustainability
00:54:02 - Avoiding overwhelm
00:55:30 - Consistency
