Well, I am a Premium Medium member which conflicts me because with all the monthly this and that these days it starts to add up. Your monthly, based on an annual, is quite reasonable for me in the EU at just less than 5 euro but to pay monthly is 13 euro which is almost my Premium membership for all the writers on Medium. Of which, I do always read your stories. So its a dilemma for me and I bet for many others. If the per month cost were lower probably alot more people would pay. Just my thoughts on the matter. :)
Believe me, I've experimented with just about every pricing option Substack allows, and unfortunately it doesn't make much difference. The lowest subscription you can set is $5 a month or $50 a year, so there's not much room to manoeuvre.
I publish something every day rather than once a week or once a month, so I'm asking people to support a steady stream of content rather than the occasional article.
I do take your point about Medium, but personally I get far more engagement on Substack, mainly because of Notes. That's where a lot of the conversation and discovery happens for me.
Every paid article includes a substantial section before the paywall that stands on its own as a complete article. The section after the paywall is simply the longer, more in-depth version for subscribers. Looking at my statistics, I'm actually leaning towards making all my articles follow that format because the data suggests it's the right move.
A good example is my extended weekend newsletter. Lots of readers asked me to write more about life at sea and other topics beyond retirement, so I put a lot of time into producing it. Ironically, despite all that effort, it gets noticeably fewer opens, reads, comments, restacks and likes than a straightforward editorial piece about retirement.
Sometimes the audience tells you what they want, and sometimes their reading habits tell a rather different story!
Didn't know that substack restricts pay options like that. Mmm.... Yeah I know what you say about notes and how well it works on substack Running a software development business for over 25 years my brain defaults to wading into the weeds with random things and that includes how people are trying to make money from writing. It seems to be a somewhat challenging gig.
I have considered going back to basic on medium in order to support you but I don't like annual payments so that is a conundrum for me. Im a faithful follower though. 😂
I like your posts but I am a grey old thinker myself, life isn’t getting cheaper retirements are almost fixed, maybe writing and thinking at pour age should be free of any costs
Thanks for putting this out there. You know your numbers - free members, paid monthly, paid annual, unsubscribes both free and paid. You also have your digital products on Gumroad and, of course, your Yorkshire tea lol!
What would it look like (numbers wise) if you let annual subscribers choose one item (maybe from a selection of several) that they would get with their membership? And when they renew they can select another one. Nothing extra for monthly subscriptions. I don't know what your percentage of annual subscribers is to monthly. Perhaps you've already looked at this model and put it in the dumpster!
Well, I am a Premium Medium member which conflicts me because with all the monthly this and that these days it starts to add up. Your monthly, based on an annual, is quite reasonable for me in the EU at just less than 5 euro but to pay monthly is 13 euro which is almost my Premium membership for all the writers on Medium. Of which, I do always read your stories. So its a dilemma for me and I bet for many others. If the per month cost were lower probably alot more people would pay. Just my thoughts on the matter. :)
Believe me, I've experimented with just about every pricing option Substack allows, and unfortunately it doesn't make much difference. The lowest subscription you can set is $5 a month or $50 a year, so there's not much room to manoeuvre.
I publish something every day rather than once a week or once a month, so I'm asking people to support a steady stream of content rather than the occasional article.
I do take your point about Medium, but personally I get far more engagement on Substack, mainly because of Notes. That's where a lot of the conversation and discovery happens for me.
Every paid article includes a substantial section before the paywall that stands on its own as a complete article. The section after the paywall is simply the longer, more in-depth version for subscribers. Looking at my statistics, I'm actually leaning towards making all my articles follow that format because the data suggests it's the right move.
A good example is my extended weekend newsletter. Lots of readers asked me to write more about life at sea and other topics beyond retirement, so I put a lot of time into producing it. Ironically, despite all that effort, it gets noticeably fewer opens, reads, comments, restacks and likes than a straightforward editorial piece about retirement.
Sometimes the audience tells you what they want, and sometimes their reading habits tell a rather different story!
Hi OGT
Didn't know that substack restricts pay options like that. Mmm.... Yeah I know what you say about notes and how well it works on substack Running a software development business for over 25 years my brain defaults to wading into the weeds with random things and that includes how people are trying to make money from writing. It seems to be a somewhat challenging gig.
I have considered going back to basic on medium in order to support you but I don't like annual payments so that is a conundrum for me. Im a faithful follower though. 😂
Excatlly why I set up a buy me a Yorkshire Tea lol https://buymeacoffee.com/theoldgreythinker
You might like this https://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/teardown-falls-church/
I like your posts but I am a grey old thinker myself, life isn’t getting cheaper retirements are almost fixed, maybe writing and thinking at pour age should be free of any costs
Congratulations on a year of writing! It’s amazing to see how many people connect with your honest reflections. Your newsletter is truly a gem!
Thanks for putting this out there. You know your numbers - free members, paid monthly, paid annual, unsubscribes both free and paid. You also have your digital products on Gumroad and, of course, your Yorkshire tea lol!
What would it look like (numbers wise) if you let annual subscribers choose one item (maybe from a selection of several) that they would get with their membership? And when they renew they can select another one. Nothing extra for monthly subscriptions. I don't know what your percentage of annual subscribers is to monthly. Perhaps you've already looked at this model and put it in the dumpster!
I wonder what Kenneth means by 'assisted typing'?