The pressure to go paid and drive paid subscriptions could be moderated and ironically be more effective. Not sure they will listen, but this product manager has thoughts
I don't feel any pressure on Substack. Many offer free content and paid options. It's a great space. The Substack problem is really around not having enough programmers. I manage multiple author sites, and it's clunky. They're Team settings don't work yet. What we all love is no ads and vigilance around hatred and vitriol. Maybe Substack could hire you, Geoff!
The pressure is on the author's side. Substack keeps nudging you to connect to Stripe and start taking payments.
The flip side is once that is done, they then immediately prompt you to select a paid sub when you initially click the subscribe button.
It is subtle psychology (and as a product manager, I am well versed in cues and prompts) to get people to pony up money.
And once you do go paid(as an author), they do give you periodic "hints" to convert more people. Like where and wen to use paywalls and teasers to try to snare people into subscribing.
I don't see that, but I probably need to take a deeper dive under the hood and master the settings for my authors. Stripe accounts were not easy to set up. Errors are always on the part of Substack. I'm thinking Google Drive programmers would make excellent hires.
I'm a Substack reader, not an author. But I am on Substack every day, often more than once. I DO NOT require an email every time one of the creators i follow decides to most. I would not mind getting a notice saying something like... "I notice you've been enjoying my content. Would you consider upgrading to a paid subscription." Or similar occasional messaging.
I would also be more inclined to throw some money in the hat if there were an option to make a one time payment rather than an ongoing subscription.
The Substack leadership are free to ignore my ramblings along with everyone else's here.
I have a cautionary tale. Post.news was very popular with its users but went belly up because their users, like me, didn't really know how they were compensated. It wasn't clear to many of us that us buying points to spread around to users we liked was how they were staying alive.
I know that turning on paid subscriptions will put my Substack into a different algorithm - one that promotes my posts, instead of burying them. And I know that Substack relies on their 10% commission to make money, but the only reason I know that is because when I researched Stripe and the tax implications of receiving income from this source so that I could turn on paid subscriptions for the sole purpose of getting better exposure through their algorithms, their commission was stated up front.
As an aside, like the person who Creates on McKinley Road, I tend to get angry when I get a teaser of a post that I can't finish because I am not a paid subscriber. And how dare you not let me comment on your piece for the same reason? My response is to unsubscribe - and that's really not a good thing for Substack. And while I love the musings of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I am not paying a multi-millionaire a dime just so I can see what I assume are more cute videos and funny memes beneath his paywall.
I am retired and never was a Product Manager, or heaven forbid, a Project Manager - most of whom I loathed in my career, but there has to be some way for the Substack folks to hear from us lowly users.
Regular users like me are in fact, their sales pipeline. Their future. There has got to be a better way to get us to throw money their way than the current system, but again, this isn't my field.
Very cogent thoughts, I hadn't considered the algorithmic differences between paid and free post dynamics. But that makes perfect sense. They (Substack) wants more people to go paid.
I do worry though that the model of balkanization of the sources (individual stacks) where each one is a $3 - $10 monthly subscription, versus the $20 a month to get all the reporting and opinion from say the NY Times is sustainable.
I pay for 21 stacks currently, probably to the tune of about $1,200 a year. I can afford it, but most readers are not in my shoes, and this becomes a hardship.
I have to believe some blanket bundling has to happen (or Substack starts injecting ads) to generate enough revenue to eliminate the reliance on VC and investor funding for their day to day operations.
I was thinking that same thing. The NYTimes and WaPo were so desperate to get me back, they were practically giving away a subscription to me. I am not going back, but for a combined measly $5 Cdn a month, I could have a subscription to each and have access to all kinds of great writing. They need subscriptions because the size of their audience generates advertising revenue, but it seems the subscription revenue itself is not all that important.
Whereas here at Substack the subscription revenue is all that matters. Is this model sustainable?
I too would like to see a bundling of services for a monthly fee. Something that would allow me to choose from a drop down menu of paid subscriptions. If I wanted to go beyond my allotted subscription count, I could for an additional fee. But how much, and more importantly, how, would the writer get paid?
My brain hurts now, so I think I will go and make a carrot cake.
as much as i enjoy and need some peoples writing or wisdom, and as much as agree work is worth payment, i am getting over the constant bleeting by some about subscribing.....so i appreciate the post mate. a couple of things i notice and think for myself...if you are on substack you are a reader........so logically, in todays world of rising cost and me a pensioner etc....how many can I fully subscribe to even if for a coffee cost per month.....and even if I wasnt a pensioner, how many????
And yes I have been honestly drawn into oissues I care about and end up after the teaser, the good oil being behind a paywall or upgrade............I have noticed words and attitudes like fuck you then being in my head or on my lips......and I delete hit delete...and that writer slides down my respect and estimation hierachy. I will never be writing for paid.....and I do some interesting shite, but I am here for the brushstroke on existence, not to have anyone pay for me being me.......and that dont reflect a low sense or worth.....its about how I want the world to be. So a good write, a good stir, and yeah...its all aboot the money. Course I like money, but liking myself is more important. I want to change the world and be connected with changemakers......not peeps who want my meagre change/ buckeroos.
Spot on. Look, I don't mind those who are trying to build a business, but the in your face that Substack forces them into is off-putting for the potential audience.
I am not asking that they eliminate that, but for fuck's sake, give the authors tools to manage their free to paid pipeline. One size definitely does not fit all.
My next post will be some thoughts on how to give more audience metrics numbers to give the authors granularity on subscribers and people who un-sub. That is a black hole.
I don't feel any pressure on Substack. Many offer free content and paid options. It's a great space. The Substack problem is really around not having enough programmers. I manage multiple author sites, and it's clunky. They're Team settings don't work yet. What we all love is no ads and vigilance around hatred and vitriol. Maybe Substack could hire you, Geoff!
The pressure is on the author's side. Substack keeps nudging you to connect to Stripe and start taking payments.
The flip side is once that is done, they then immediately prompt you to select a paid sub when you initially click the subscribe button.
It is subtle psychology (and as a product manager, I am well versed in cues and prompts) to get people to pony up money.
And once you do go paid(as an author), they do give you periodic "hints" to convert more people. Like where and wen to use paywalls and teasers to try to snare people into subscribing.
I don't see that, but I probably need to take a deeper dive under the hood and master the settings for my authors. Stripe accounts were not easy to set up. Errors are always on the part of Substack. I'm thinking Google Drive programmers would make excellent hires.
I'm a Substack reader, not an author. But I am on Substack every day, often more than once. I DO NOT require an email every time one of the creators i follow decides to most. I would not mind getting a notice saying something like... "I notice you've been enjoying my content. Would you consider upgrading to a paid subscription." Or similar occasional messaging.
I would also be more inclined to throw some money in the hat if there were an option to make a one time payment rather than an ongoing subscription.
The Substack leadership are free to ignore my ramblings along with everyone else's here.
I have a cautionary tale. Post.news was very popular with its users but went belly up because their users, like me, didn't really know how they were compensated. It wasn't clear to many of us that us buying points to spread around to users we liked was how they were staying alive.
I know that turning on paid subscriptions will put my Substack into a different algorithm - one that promotes my posts, instead of burying them. And I know that Substack relies on their 10% commission to make money, but the only reason I know that is because when I researched Stripe and the tax implications of receiving income from this source so that I could turn on paid subscriptions for the sole purpose of getting better exposure through their algorithms, their commission was stated up front.
As an aside, like the person who Creates on McKinley Road, I tend to get angry when I get a teaser of a post that I can't finish because I am not a paid subscriber. And how dare you not let me comment on your piece for the same reason? My response is to unsubscribe - and that's really not a good thing for Substack. And while I love the musings of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I am not paying a multi-millionaire a dime just so I can see what I assume are more cute videos and funny memes beneath his paywall.
I am retired and never was a Product Manager, or heaven forbid, a Project Manager - most of whom I loathed in my career, but there has to be some way for the Substack folks to hear from us lowly users.
Regular users like me are in fact, their sales pipeline. Their future. There has got to be a better way to get us to throw money their way than the current system, but again, this isn't my field.
Very cogent thoughts, I hadn't considered the algorithmic differences between paid and free post dynamics. But that makes perfect sense. They (Substack) wants more people to go paid.
I do worry though that the model of balkanization of the sources (individual stacks) where each one is a $3 - $10 monthly subscription, versus the $20 a month to get all the reporting and opinion from say the NY Times is sustainable.
I pay for 21 stacks currently, probably to the tune of about $1,200 a year. I can afford it, but most readers are not in my shoes, and this becomes a hardship.
I have to believe some blanket bundling has to happen (or Substack starts injecting ads) to generate enough revenue to eliminate the reliance on VC and investor funding for their day to day operations.
I was thinking that same thing. The NYTimes and WaPo were so desperate to get me back, they were practically giving away a subscription to me. I am not going back, but for a combined measly $5 Cdn a month, I could have a subscription to each and have access to all kinds of great writing. They need subscriptions because the size of their audience generates advertising revenue, but it seems the subscription revenue itself is not all that important.
Whereas here at Substack the subscription revenue is all that matters. Is this model sustainable?
I too would like to see a bundling of services for a monthly fee. Something that would allow me to choose from a drop down menu of paid subscriptions. If I wanted to go beyond my allotted subscription count, I could for an additional fee. But how much, and more importantly, how, would the writer get paid?
My brain hurts now, so I think I will go and make a carrot cake.
as much as i enjoy and need some peoples writing or wisdom, and as much as agree work is worth payment, i am getting over the constant bleeting by some about subscribing.....so i appreciate the post mate. a couple of things i notice and think for myself...if you are on substack you are a reader........so logically, in todays world of rising cost and me a pensioner etc....how many can I fully subscribe to even if for a coffee cost per month.....and even if I wasnt a pensioner, how many????
And yes I have been honestly drawn into oissues I care about and end up after the teaser, the good oil being behind a paywall or upgrade............I have noticed words and attitudes like fuck you then being in my head or on my lips......and I delete hit delete...and that writer slides down my respect and estimation hierachy. I will never be writing for paid.....and I do some interesting shite, but I am here for the brushstroke on existence, not to have anyone pay for me being me.......and that dont reflect a low sense or worth.....its about how I want the world to be. So a good write, a good stir, and yeah...its all aboot the money. Course I like money, but liking myself is more important. I want to change the world and be connected with changemakers......not peeps who want my meagre change/ buckeroos.
Spot on. Look, I don't mind those who are trying to build a business, but the in your face that Substack forces them into is off-putting for the potential audience.
I am not asking that they eliminate that, but for fuck's sake, give the authors tools to manage their free to paid pipeline. One size definitely does not fit all.
My next post will be some thoughts on how to give more audience metrics numbers to give the authors granularity on subscribers and people who un-sub. That is a black hole.