7 Strategies To Monetize Your Substack In 2025

What I learned going from zero to 140+ paying subscribers in six months.

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When we launched our Substack, we had no idea how quickly it would grow.

Six months in, we’ve gone from zero to over 140 paying members, earning us a Substack bestseller badge.

Along the way, we’ve tested different monetization strategies, discovered what works, and learned a lot about what doesn’t.

In this article, I’ll share seven monetization strategies that will help you take your paid tier to the next level, and make more money from your Substack in 2025.

Let’s dive in.

Registration for our brand-new Substack Growth Masterclass is now OPEN.

Click here to secure your spot and show up live to learn how to grow your audience and income on Substack in 2025.

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#1: Offer More Than Exclusive Articles

Exclusive articles are great, but let’s be honest - they’re not enough to blow people away.

If you want your paid tier to feel like an irresistible offer, you’ve got to pack it with value.

Think of it this way: What can you include that makes joining your paid tier a complete no-brainer?

Here are some ideas to increase the value of your paid tier:

• E-Books or Guides: Write short e-books or PDF guides that solve specific problems for your audience. For example, if you write about productivity, you could offer a guide like “The Ultimate Time Management Playbook” and make it downloadable.

• Live Monthly Sessions: Host live Q&A sessions or workshops. This gives your subscribers a chance to interact with you directly and creates a sense of community.

• Tools & Templates: Share templates, spreadsheets, or frameworks that save your audience time and effort.

• Workshops or Mini-Courses: Offer occasional deep-dive sessions on hot topics. For example, a Substack about freelancing could host a workshop on “How to Land Your First $5,000 Client.”

On top of exclusive articles, we offer at least one live training session a month (our next one is tomorrow, January 13th), a range of mini-courses & workshops, and in-depth guides.

This significantly increases the value of our paid Substack versus our free plan - and it’s a big reason why so many people joined our paid plan in a relatively short time.

Tip: Make a list of your audience’s biggest pain points. Then think about what additional perks you can offer to address those problems and increase the value of your paid tier.

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#2: Don’t Be Afraid to Promote

You could have the most valuable paid tier in the world, but if nobody knows it exists, you won’t get any paid subscribers. That’s why promotion is key.

Promoting doesn’t mean you have to become an aggressive, pushy marketer.

It just means talking about your paid plan more often. It means letting people know it’s there, what they’ll get out of it, and why it’s worth paying for.

Here’s how we do it:

• In every free post, we link to at least one (but often more) premium resource that builds on the topic of that free post

• We regularly share snippets of our premium content in our Notes

• We make most of our premium content free to read for about 25 - 50% and then we add a paywall (see the Free + Paywall Strategy below)

Tip: Treat your paid tier like a product you’re proud of. If you genuinely believe it delivers value, don’t hesitate to talk about it.

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#3: Use the Free + Paywall Strategy

One of the best ways to convert free subscribers into paying ones is the free + paywall strategy. Here’s how it works:

1. Write a premium article

2. Make 25 - 50% of the post free to read

3. Add a paywall that prompts readers to subscribe to unlock the rest

The free + paywall strategy is really effective because it lets readers experience the quality of your paid content without having to take out their credit card first.

It’s like giving your readers a taste of the cake before asking them to buy the whole thing. If the free section is valuable enough, they’ll likely want to see the rest as well.

Tip: Make the free section valuable enough to hook readers, but leave the most valuable insights behind the paywall.

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#4: Create a Premium Content Library

Our premium content library is one of our best marketing assets, and we link to it from many of our free posts.