This is my first ever substack subscription and I'm so glad I've subscribed. I totally agree that you (and everyone else) deserves to be paid for your writing. We are expected to provide so much for free, for 'the exposure' and I think people have become used to that. I wonder if that direction of travel will start changing - with things like blogs and social media content becoming more short form, with longer form content distributed via paid media like this. I don't think this would be a bad thing at all (working for free is not sustainable!), but it would require a culture change. I admire you for making the change Annie.
I’m honoured that this is your first subscription, thank you. And thank you also for your positive words and support. I think you’re right - we need the culture to change - and with burnout being so prevalent, perhaps it will x
Thank you for sharing this Annie. I have been wanting to set up my paid Substack for sometime but didn't feel quite prepared, even though I know that ideas always flow when we need them to and are ready for them. I'm now almost ready to take the leap and you've given me the confidence to do so very soon. x
That's exciting! I've seen various models for this - some send three emails a week and charge £7.50/month, others send a weekly email and one a month is free while the other three are behind a paywall. And I've set mine up, as you have seen, with a paywall on each but at a lower monthly cost. Happy to chat if you want help deciding what/how to charge x
Such a lovely thing to do to allow the person who sent you a lovely email to have a gift. People always remember the way you make them feel. And as for the other one... some people can just be so rude and entitled sometimes.
It reminds me of when years ago I started charging a small subscription for 'opportunity' emails, leads for paid training gigs. I had been sending them out for 18 months completely for free. It was getting time consuming. Many trainers were getting work and almost all of them never even bothered to say thanks.
On the day I sent out the email telling them that I was going to start charging £27 a year I got all excited doing the maths, I had about 2000 subscribers.
And you know what? Not a single person subscribed.
But I did get some very rude emails from people saying how dare you start charging?!!
I stuck to my guns and once people realised that the the emails had stopped they started to sign up. I still have the service to this day and it's now £97 a year, still massively cheap.
I've never understood the freebie mentality. You wouldn't expect to go to the garage and fill up your car and just walk away would you?
Wow. That is such an interesting example of how people can become complacent about the feee content they receive. What did you do when no one subscribed, did you continue emailing? Ax
No, I just stopped. And once people realised they weren't getting those opportunities any more the sign ups started to trickle in....
Another thing that makes me sad right now is the GDPR thing on your website. I put a lot of time into my freebie reports and now people can just go to the website, grab them and opt out of any further emails. Happily, most people do sign up for further emails but it always makes me a bit disgruntled. Learning to ignore it and focus on those that do want to hear from me.
It’s interesting that people would want the freebies, but not one for the content… As you say, probably best to just focus on the people who do you want a longer relationship x
This is my first ever substack subscription and I'm so glad I've subscribed. I totally agree that you (and everyone else) deserves to be paid for your writing. We are expected to provide so much for free, for 'the exposure' and I think people have become used to that. I wonder if that direction of travel will start changing - with things like blogs and social media content becoming more short form, with longer form content distributed via paid media like this. I don't think this would be a bad thing at all (working for free is not sustainable!), but it would require a culture change. I admire you for making the change Annie.
I’m honoured that this is your first subscription, thank you. And thank you also for your positive words and support. I think you’re right - we need the culture to change - and with burnout being so prevalent, perhaps it will x
Thank you for sharing this Annie. I have been wanting to set up my paid Substack for sometime but didn't feel quite prepared, even though I know that ideas always flow when we need them to and are ready for them. I'm now almost ready to take the leap and you've given me the confidence to do so very soon. x
That's exciting! I've seen various models for this - some send three emails a week and charge £7.50/month, others send a weekly email and one a month is free while the other three are behind a paywall. And I've set mine up, as you have seen, with a paywall on each but at a lower monthly cost. Happy to chat if you want help deciding what/how to charge x
Such a lovely thing to do to allow the person who sent you a lovely email to have a gift. People always remember the way you make them feel. And as for the other one... some people can just be so rude and entitled sometimes.
It reminds me of when years ago I started charging a small subscription for 'opportunity' emails, leads for paid training gigs. I had been sending them out for 18 months completely for free. It was getting time consuming. Many trainers were getting work and almost all of them never even bothered to say thanks.
On the day I sent out the email telling them that I was going to start charging £27 a year I got all excited doing the maths, I had about 2000 subscribers.
And you know what? Not a single person subscribed.
But I did get some very rude emails from people saying how dare you start charging?!!
I stuck to my guns and once people realised that the the emails had stopped they started to sign up. I still have the service to this day and it's now £97 a year, still massively cheap.
I've never understood the freebie mentality. You wouldn't expect to go to the garage and fill up your car and just walk away would you?
Wow. That is such an interesting example of how people can become complacent about the feee content they receive. What did you do when no one subscribed, did you continue emailing? Ax
No, I just stopped. And once people realised they weren't getting those opportunities any more the sign ups started to trickle in....
Another thing that makes me sad right now is the GDPR thing on your website. I put a lot of time into my freebie reports and now people can just go to the website, grab them and opt out of any further emails. Happily, most people do sign up for further emails but it always makes me a bit disgruntled. Learning to ignore it and focus on those that do want to hear from me.
It’s interesting that people would want the freebies, but not one for the content… As you say, probably best to just focus on the people who do you want a longer relationship x