Hi Claire, this is brilliant! I love how you moved to annual only and got rid of monthly!
I had paid option on for a while but nothing paywalled and no extra offer so I turned it off again. I have one pledge for annual sitting there should I decide to turn paid on again. I have a lot of ideas but just not the bandwidth to put these into action at the moment. Frustrating but I guess this is just the season of life I’m in.
Would you say I should have paid turned on just in case people feel generous vs suggesting pledges? I tried buymeacoffee but wasn’t consistent and barely anyone used it anyway xx
Hey Carmen!! Thank you - so glad you found it helpful! It was hard to get everything across here. A lot of it is energetic which takes us back to trusting our gut.
It sounds like you’ve built a solid foundation, and it’s completely okay to be in a season where you’re gathering ideas for what paid for content might look but don’t have the bandwidth to act on them just yet. Those ideas aren’t going anywhere, and when the time is right, you’ll be ready to roll with them!
As for turning paid on, I’d say yes—why not? Even if you’re not actively offering extras, some people genuinely want to support your work, and having the option there makes it easy for them. It’s also a great way to normalize the idea that your writing has value. Pledges can work too, but I’ve found that a simple, open paid option tends to be more effective in the long run. Pledges tend to work when you are gathering evidence for paywalling stuff in the future. Eg the summit we did here last year had a couple of grand of pledges which told me I could potentially charge for one in the future…
And don’t stress about Buy Me a Coffee—not every platform fits everyone! Substack already has everything built in, so keeping it simple makes total sense. That said if you have a template post with it embedded you simply duplicate it or put it in your footer. I saw someone had “buy my a sunflower” linked somewhere the other day. Being open to being paid is important in our journey to understanding the value in our work. It’s not the be all and end all - that comes from feeling congruent. I often remind people of the average conversion too - cited above. If you think of it that way there’s never any rush. ✨💞
Nice!! So it could work if you wanted to get a cohort together to follow a programme or challenge to turn off monthly for your/ their focus. Only an option.
Hi Claire. Your membership is attractive for me, BUT i am french, and your calls and podcasts are in english. I am not fluent enough to listen to without subtitles. And thé timelag is not favorable for me for thé live calls. That is my principal objection to suscribe. You have to know it. I would like to join you all, but conditions are défavorable for moment.
I understand. When you say the time lag - is that the subtitles translating? Forgive me - new language for me... All our replays are in the a-z library and I am always looking at ways to improve accessibility here.
Time lag : I mean the time in France vs the time hour in US. (Subtitles are à problèm only with live calls on Substack ; and à lot of people forget to turn ON possible subtitles on plateform vidéos)
I can resonate with this in so many ways… why I’ve made the decision I have or actually just froze really! But that’s ok… I do have a goal and your words have helped me see a potential destination. Not quite sure of the next step yet but much clearer… thank you 🤩
For me there’s a fine balance between being in control, guarding spaces, community and things being in flow. I didn’t fear anything much when I started, the fear grew with things feeling slightly off balance/ too fast. I knew my creativity was suffering - we are not machines are we? I just needed space and to re-create safety for myself and for the community I so deeply value. ❤️
It’s always an option and can really work in a launch to get everyone in to receive something you’re planning all at once. Glad it sparked something for you Chris!
This was such a big one to explain but I’m so glad I did it. It feels counter intuitive turning off the flow/ options especially as I’m a big believer in payment plans but it really helped me reframe the gift I could give folks!
Hi Claire, interesting read, thank you. I tend to be an annual subscriber usually because I’m sucked in by most publications cheaper offer for a year but also I like the idea of paying up front & that being that. For myself, decided to turn off paid altogether because I only had 2 paid subs and although none of my content was behind a paywall I was feeling the pressure to post at least once a week as they were paying. I’m just not there yet in terms of consistency & it feels like the best decision.
Hi Claire, this is brilliant! I love how you moved to annual only and got rid of monthly!
I had paid option on for a while but nothing paywalled and no extra offer so I turned it off again. I have one pledge for annual sitting there should I decide to turn paid on again. I have a lot of ideas but just not the bandwidth to put these into action at the moment. Frustrating but I guess this is just the season of life I’m in.
Would you say I should have paid turned on just in case people feel generous vs suggesting pledges? I tried buymeacoffee but wasn’t consistent and barely anyone used it anyway xx
Hey Carmen!! Thank you - so glad you found it helpful! It was hard to get everything across here. A lot of it is energetic which takes us back to trusting our gut.
It sounds like you’ve built a solid foundation, and it’s completely okay to be in a season where you’re gathering ideas for what paid for content might look but don’t have the bandwidth to act on them just yet. Those ideas aren’t going anywhere, and when the time is right, you’ll be ready to roll with them!
As for turning paid on, I’d say yes—why not? Even if you’re not actively offering extras, some people genuinely want to support your work, and having the option there makes it easy for them. It’s also a great way to normalize the idea that your writing has value. Pledges can work too, but I’ve found that a simple, open paid option tends to be more effective in the long run. Pledges tend to work when you are gathering evidence for paywalling stuff in the future. Eg the summit we did here last year had a couple of grand of pledges which told me I could potentially charge for one in the future…
And don’t stress about Buy Me a Coffee—not every platform fits everyone! Substack already has everything built in, so keeping it simple makes total sense. That said if you have a template post with it embedded you simply duplicate it or put it in your footer. I saw someone had “buy my a sunflower” linked somewhere the other day. Being open to being paid is important in our journey to understanding the value in our work. It’s not the be all and end all - that comes from feeling congruent. I often remind people of the average conversion too - cited above. If you think of it that way there’s never any rush. ✨💞
It’s a bold idea! Just checked mine though and the majority are annual…
Nice!! So it could work if you wanted to get a cohort together to follow a programme or challenge to turn off monthly for your/ their focus. Only an option.
Hi Claire. Your membership is attractive for me, BUT i am french, and your calls and podcasts are in english. I am not fluent enough to listen to without subtitles. And thé timelag is not favorable for me for thé live calls. That is my principal objection to suscribe. You have to know it. I would like to join you all, but conditions are défavorable for moment.
I understand. When you say the time lag - is that the subtitles translating? Forgive me - new language for me... All our replays are in the a-z library and I am always looking at ways to improve accessibility here.
Time lag : I mean the time in France vs the time hour in US. (Subtitles are à problèm only with live calls on Substack ; and à lot of people forget to turn ON possible subtitles on plateform vidéos)
I’m in the UK. I can turn subtitles on on zoom. I also post replays to YouTube as unlisted. Let me know if you’d like the link to see how you find it?
Good idea. I Could try it ! Thank you
Yes absolutely - let me dm you a call to check
I can resonate with this in so many ways… why I’ve made the decision I have or actually just froze really! But that’s ok… I do have a goal and your words have helped me see a potential destination. Not quite sure of the next step yet but much clearer… thank you 🤩
…. I have a small and beautiful community that I want to serve no matter my decision. That’s part of the reason why I froze… thawing a bit x
Thanks Hayley!
For me there’s a fine balance between being in control, guarding spaces, community and things being in flow. I didn’t fear anything much when I started, the fear grew with things feeling slightly off balance/ too fast. I knew my creativity was suffering - we are not machines are we? I just needed space and to re-create safety for myself and for the community I so deeply value. ❤️
Thanks for this Claire. I have not turn on paid yet, but when I do I will consider to turn off monthly.
It’s always an option and can really work in a launch to get everyone in to receive something you’re planning all at once. Glad it sparked something for you Chris!
Yup, I know, I need to work on that 'launch'. Thanks again.
I love seeing you experiment, Claire, and learning from it 🙌🏻
This was such a big one to explain but I’m so glad I did it. It feels counter intuitive turning off the flow/ options especially as I’m a big believer in payment plans but it really helped me reframe the gift I could give folks!
Hi Claire, interesting read, thank you. I tend to be an annual subscriber usually because I’m sucked in by most publications cheaper offer for a year but also I like the idea of paying up front & that being that. For myself, decided to turn off paid altogether because I only had 2 paid subs and although none of my content was behind a paywall I was feeling the pressure to post at least once a week as they were paying. I’m just not there yet in terms of consistency & it feels like the best decision.