Why a paid Substack tier often isn’t enough (and what to add next)
Write For Revenue #1
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Here’s a truth you won’t hear about Substack too often: You’ll lose subscribers on a daily basis.
Here’s a more painful truth: Once you get enough of them, you’ll start to lose paid subscribers just as often.
Ouch, right?
In 2024, much of my paid growth strategy revolved around discount offers for annual subscriptions. I’d periodically offer money off my yearly membership plan and promote it heavily for a few days at a time.
And it worked.
I’d get a spate of upgrades to my annual paid subscription. My Stripe payouts would briefly look a lot healthier.
It felt like something I could build on going forward.
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But then, some paid members didn’t renew (even though they would’ve retained a hefty discount for another year).
And because a bunch of paid subs had come in at once, it meant I lost a bunch at once. Not all of them, of course - a good portion renewed, and I got some nice recurring revenue out of it.
But the cancellations hurt. They always do, even if they’re just monthly subs deciding not to continue, which is entirely their prerogative.
Over time, I realised that basing my Substack revenue strategy entirely on the success or failure of my paid membership was a bad move. I realised, probably too late, that I needed to pair it with additional revenue sources to make the whole thing work.
It needed to be a complete machine, not a single spinning cog.
The invisible trap for many Substack writers is thinking the only “real” Substack income you’ll ever get is from your paid tier.
This post is part of my ‘Write For Revenue’ series for paid subscribers. Upgrade now to read every new and previous instalment. 👇