To Monetize Or Not? Reaching An Astonishing 100 Subscribers On Substack

I hit 100 subscribers on my Intriguing Times Substack yesterday and am pretty damned excited about it. ‘Astonishing’ is admittedly a bit hyperbolic, but it is apparently good for SEO. This is the world we live in now.

As you can see from the page above, the publication’s front page now looks more impressive. It’s somehow proper now and I think that helps.

My first newsletter failed to impress, but others try harder

I had tried my hand at a previous publication, which was all about science fiction and fantasy, and after a month and a half, I managed to get one subscriber. And she didn’t even like SFF – she was just nice. It has been just over two months since I launched the Intriguing Times newsletter and it has clearly resonated with readers a bit better.

I had tried to be consistent with both Substack publications and post every Thursday, and largely succeeded. It is just that one had more immediate success. But there are others on there who plug away because they are passionate about something and despite things going slowly – like it did with my SFF site – they kept going until they found success. I admire them and their rising readership is a testament to perseverance.

If you are reading this because you are thinking of starting a Substack – or you have one but it is growing slowly – then I have some options for you.

Growing your Substack

• Persevere. The algorithms might take a while to connect you to your readers. Don’t expect to get much traction until you’ve published several articles and have a nice landing page. If you are in a specific niche, your audience might be slow finding you but they’ll be loyal and you’ll get read.
• Try changing to a different topic. This is a good option if you are eager for growth and have multiple interests. I like science fiction, literature, and history/travel/culture. I am now writing about the latter.
• Be brilliant at social media. I am rubbish at social media, but I imagine this would really help grow readership.
• Be consistent in publishing. I publish every Thursday. I did some research, and this is apparently a good day. It also sets a self-imposed deadline, which I really need.
• Interact with others on the platform. The Notes feature is pretty cool. It is like X but for writers rather than angry idiots. It’s fun, and it helps.

But when to monetise?

That’s the big question. When I started the second Substack, I read that, on average, only one subscriber in 100 will pay. So you can see my dilemma. If I monetise, I must paywall some articles or offer something special.

I have a plan. I have a load of Medium articles, which I will compile into a book. I’ll probably then delete the articles from Medium and close down the account. The site is dying, partly because everyone is going Substack, but also because there are a load of changes that made the site a bit shite.

The book will then be given away for free to subscribers. I will also have articles firewalled after a month or two. In addition, if all this works, then I’ll write a couple of extra articles purely for subscribers.

We’ll see. It seems like a slightly complicated transition compared to just giving everything away for free, but I need to earn money somehow until I finish my fiction book and make millions.

You can check out the Intriguing Times Substack front page thing (as in the picture) by clicking here. It is all free.