The Ultimate Guide To Monetizing Your Substack

What we've learned after going from 0 to 200+ paid subscribers.

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We believe online writers and creators should get paid for their knowledge, expertise, and value—and that’s why we love Substack.

Substack makes it pretty easy to turn your ideas into income.

With the paid newsletter model, you can set up your subscription tier, offer exclusive content, and start earning—all without needing to be a tech wizard or sales expert.

But what should you offer as part of your paid tier? And what’s the best way to get paid subscribers? And when should you start your paid tier?

After going from zero to 200+ paid subscribers in six months, we’ve learned what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to monetizing your Substack.

In this guide, we’ll pull back the curtain and share our best practices to help you turn your Substack into a revenue-generating machine.

Here’s exactly what we’ll cover:

• Part 1: When To Turn On Your Paid Tier

• Part 2: What To Offer As Part of Your Paid Tier

• Part 3: Practical Strategies To Grow Your Paid Subscriber Base

• Part 4: Monetizing Your Substack With External Offers

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your Substack monetization game to the next level, this guide has you covered.

Ready? Let’s dive straight in.

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Part 1: When To Turn On Your Paid Tier

One of the most common questions we get is: When should I start my paid Substack? When is the right time to turn on my paid tier?

There are two strategies you can choose, and both have their pros and cons. Let’s break it down.

#1: Start As Soon As Possible

This approach is all about diving in and turning on your paid tier right from the start (or very early in your Substack journey.)

The benefit of this approach is:

• You’ll learn faster: Once you turn on your paid tier, you’ll start figuring out what works and what doesn’t. You’ll see which content converts free readers into paid subscribers, and you’ll get better at promoting your paid plan.

• You’ll get your first paid subscriber faster: Getting that first paid subscriber is a game-changer. Suddenly, you’re not just writing for free anymore—but someone values your work enough to pay for it. That first paid subscriber can spark the motivation to make your paid tier even better (and promote it more often).

But the downside of this approach is:

• Lack of clarity: It can feel a bit overwhelming to figure out what to include in your paid tier so early on, especially if you don’t have a large audience to survey.

• Slow growth: Your audience might be small in the beginning, which means you may only get a handful of subscribers at first (and that’s okay).

#2: Wait Until You’ve Built a Bigger Audience

The second approach is to wait until you’ve built up a solid free subscriber base before turning on your paid tier.

The benefit of this approach is:

• You have time to refine your offer: Waiting until you have a bigger audience gives you time to figure out what your audience wants most. You can use free content to test ideas and see what resonates, so when you launch your paid tier, you know it’s precisely what your audience wants and needs.

• You’ll have a larger group of potential paid subscribers: If you wait until you’ve hit a milestone—say, 500 or 1,000 free subscribers—you’ll be promoting to an audience that already knows, likes, and trusts you. This increases your chances of converting more people into paying subscribers from the moment you launch.

The downside of this approach is:

• Delayed momentum: If you wait too long, you miss out on the confidence boost that comes from landing your first paying subscribers. That feeling of someone valuing your work enough to pay for it is a huge motivator—and waiting delays that moment.

• Procrastination trap: Waiting until you have a “big enough” audience can quickly turn into an excuse to keep putting it off. There’s always going to be a reason to wait just a little longer. If you’re not careful, waiting until you have more subscribers can become procrastination in disguise.

All in all, if you prefer to take a more deliberate approach, waiting until you’ve grown your audience might be the better fit.

It allows you to build a strong foundation and launch your paid tier with a bang.

It Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect

In short, there’s no right or wrong answer.

Some people turn on their paid tier right away and grow as they go. Others wait until they’ve hit a specific subscriber milestone before monetizing.

Personally, I’m a fan of the “start as soon as possible” approach. The moment you land that first paid subscriber, something shifts in your mindset.

Suddenly, you know people value your knowledge enough to pay for it, and that boost of confidence and self-belief fuels the motivation to keep improving, growing, and promoting your paid tier.

But nevertheless, both approaches work.

You just need to choose the one that feels right for you.

No matter which approach you take, remember this: your paid tier doesn’t have to be perfect from day one. You can always tweak, improve, and add more value as you go.

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Part 2: What To Offer As Part of Your Paid Tier

If you want your paid tier to feel like an irresistible offer, you’ve got to pack it with value. Exclusive articles are a great starting point, but to really make your paid tier a ‘no-brainer’, I recommend going a step further.

The more tangible and actionable perks you offer, the easier it is for readers to justify paying for your Substack.

For our paid tier, we offer exclusive articles, monthly live training sessions (where paid subscribers can ask their questions directly), in-depth guides, and a library of mini-courses and workshops.

This significantly increases the value of our paid plan versus our free plan—and it’s one of the key reasons we’ve grown to over 200 paying subscribers on Substack.

If you’re wondering how to make your paid tier stand out, here are some ideas for what you can offer beyond exclusive articles:

E-Books / PDF Guides

E-books and PDF guides are a fantastic way to provide extra value to your subscribers.

They give your subscribers something tangible and actionable as it’s something they can download, reference, and use immediately.

Here’s how to approach it:

• Write short, focused guides (aka, mini-ebooks) that solve specific problems for your audience

• Make them easy to consume (clear formatting, actionable advice, and straight to the point)

For example, if you write about productivity, you could create a guide like ‘The Ultimate Time Management Playbook’.

Or, if you write about freelancing, you could write an e-book like ‘7 Strategies To Consistently Get High-Paying Freelance Clients’.

Live Monthly Sessions

Hosting monthly live sessions—whether they’re Q&As, workshops, or group coaching calls—is incredibly valuable and creates a true sense of community.

Nothing builds a stronger connection with your audience than live interactions.

When subscribers know they’ll get the chance to ask questions and get tailored advice from you, that’s a strong selling point to join your paid tier.

We find that our paid members love to watch (whether live or the replay) our monthly live training, and it’s a big reason why people join our paid tier in the first place.

Tip: Always record your live sessions and make replays available exclusively for paid subscribers who couldn’t attend live.

Tools & Templates

Practical resources like templates, frameworks, or spreadsheets are another way to provide huge value to your paid subscribers.

These tools save your audience time and effort—and people are often willing to pay for resources that make their lives easier.

For example:

• If you write about productivity, you could share Notion templates, downloadable productivity planners, or goal-setting trackers

• If you write about freelancing, you could create word-for-word client proposal templates

• If you write about personal finance, you could offer budgeting spreadsheets or net worth trackers

Workshops / Mini-Courses

Adding video workshops or mini-courses to your paid plan makes it feel like a full-blown membership—not just an upgraded newsletter.

When you plan to create a workshop or mini-course, don’t try to cover everything—but make it very specific.

Focus on one specific problem, skill, or topic your audience is eager to learn about and keep it between 30 - 90 minutes per workshop.

For example, one of the workshops we offer is on how to write engaging Substack Notes. It’s a one-hour workshop with actionable tips that help our paid subscribers achieve a specific outcome (which is to get more engagement on their Notes).

Yes, creating a workshop or mini-course is more work, but it transforms your paid tier from just extra content into an immersive, valuable learning experience—and that’s exactly what people pay for.

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Part 3: Practical Strategies To Grow Your Paid Subscriber Base

To convert free readers into paying subscribers, you need to take intentional, strategic actions. It simply doesn’t happen by chance.

So, in this part of the ultimate guide, I’ll walk you through proven, practical strategies that have helped us grow our list of paid subscribers.

Let’s dive straight in.