Ongoing dialogue/ FAQ about the financial realities of writing on Substack

Why the heck do you write so much Kathryn? Also about paywalls, my Pay What You Can sliding scale, and why I'd rather you pay me $10 per year than $10 per month ...

this post’s images free from Unsplash using search term “money art”

I recently shared some financial realities with you about my experience with paid subscriptions on Substack. I am loving the conversation it generated, the feedback, the thoughts it’s provoking. Because of those realities, I’m going to be changing my Substack model soon, so look for that announcement. Today, I want to circle back to some of the most frequently asked questions in this conversation and the topics that I think are important that are coming out of it all.

Also, I’ve updated my About page so you might want to check that out.

FIRST: GRATITUDE

Before anything else, I want to make sure to let you know that I am grateful that you are here reading this and supporting me in whatever way you’re able to. I don’t say this lightly. It’s a big deal.

HUGEST THANK YOU to the people who are giving financial support. But also thank you to everyone for comments and kindness and sharing and reading.

I want to be clear that I get some really amazing non-monetary rewards from writing here and being a part of this community. I value that. I just have to find the right balance of that with the financial realities if Substack can’t support me more financially. But that doesn’t mean I’m not grateful for all of the other stuff. I value it a lot as well.

Note: You do you and I’ll respect that!

Just to be clear … I make no judgment or assumption about anything you do with your own paywalls or rates or anything else in your career. We are all figuring out what works for us. What works for one person doesn’t work for another. I’m sharing my experience in case the transparency is helpful for anyone else.

I think the more that we can share what’s true for us at different stages of our careers with our different needs/beliefs/dreams/resources, the better. (Also, it is true that different levels of transparency are right for different people at different times and it’s okay to have your boundaries around that as well.)

What’s This Conversation All About?

In summary, my dream is to make a living entirely off of a subscription-based contributions that support my writing. I really do believe in this model. And I believe deeply in the work that I’m doing here, work that is built up off of nearly two decades of experience writing for online and print publications, trying all different types of monetization models, but mostly getting paid to write “content” that I don’t even believe needs to be in the world because that’s what has paid my bills (think SEO, think formulaic writing, think uninspiring magazine columns in the same format again and again).

The Dream

My true dream would be to create an online library or archive of writing and resources related to the complex relationship between art and mental health (which is what I’m doing here) AND:

• To keep all of the writing free for everyone to read so that it’s available as a resource

• And yet for so many people to believe in the work enough to pay an annual fee for it that it supports the full-time writing

• And actually also supports me giving back to other writers/artists/creatives. I always give 10% or more of my earned annual income to other creatives, a practice I’ve been doing for years, but the dream is to earn enough from subscriptions that in addition to that I can also pay people for guest posts and interviews.

So, I’m putting that out into the universe.

The Reality

I am super lucky and grateful for those people who do pay for a subscription. That it allows me any time at all to write here is so meaningful. But, I’ve been trying to make a subscription-based model of writing work on various platforms for over eight years, and it’s not really working, so something has to shift.

On The Question of Paywalls

One of the most common pieces of advice I receive is to paywall my writing and then people will have to pay. It’s something I’ve gone back and forth about a lot for various reasons.

I absolutely think that writers, including myself, should be paid for their work. I believe that where we put our money is one reflection of what we value. I have no qualms about charging people for my work, which I bring up because I know that’s touchy for people. Some people have a lot of fears and challenges around that, so just clarifying that’s not the issue for me.

However, I don’t want to paywall material that relies on the work of others. On Fridays, I do intensive digests linking together all of the amazing writing related to art and mental health. I don’t just add links - there’s commentary, etc. so there’s a lot of my own writing - but it excerpts the work of others and the point is to build community. So paywalling that doesn’t make sense.

I tried that (paywalling it) last year here, actually, by adding a Wednesday writing digest to my Friday digests but charging for that one. It created a kerfuffle when a writer said that by linking to her but then charging for the article, it was scammy. (I offered a free trial to anyone linked from the get go but it wasn’t received well.)

I did a lot of thinking around that and that’s a whole other story … paywalling those digests resulted immediately in an increase in income but ultimately I realized that I don’t want to paywall roundups, interviews, guest posts, etc. because if I’m utilizing other people’s work then I want to share it openly. My dream, truly, is to make enough money to pay those people for their contributions and then the discussion around paywalling it may be different. But for now, I can’t afford to pay anyone, and if I’m working with other people or sharing their work in any way then I want to keep it free.

So what it looks like right now is probably that this kind of community content will be going away (look for an announcement about a new model to support it coming soon) and I may paywall some or all of my own original writing.

On Charging for Inclusion

A related suggestion that has come up has been to offer paying subscribers prominent feature space in the digest roundups. This was suggested a long time back by writers who are doing that successfully on their own pages. I tried a few variations on this but I just don’t like it. I link/excerpt/share/promote because I truly believe in the work and want to build community.

I don’t want to include people simply because they pay to be included. I think it affects the integrity of what I share. Also, I think it invites the wrong kind of community because what I want happening here is a community of people who truly believe in the critical importance of a repository of resources around the topic of the relationship between art and mental health.

However:

• I am doing a monthly feature sharing my paying subscribers with you all in more detail, featuring five subscribers per month. I am happy to share them in their own posts where it’s transparent that that’s what I’m doing. Also, most of them are writers here so I truly do want to share their work in this way. It’s part of my commitment to building a true community here. So that’s a perk I’m comfortable adding for paying subscribers.

• I have considered offering a sort of “ad” style option where where paying subscribers could choose to place a monthly “pull quote” ad in one of my digests. It would be transparent that it was an “ad” and I wouldn’t include anything that wasn’t in line with my beliefs.

On The Amount of Writing Produced Here Every Month

The number one thing that people ask me about, comment on, have thoughts about is that perhaps I write “too much” here. I am a very wordy writer who writes longford posts but also a frequent writer who shares things almost daily. I wanted to address a few common things that come up in this conversation:

1) Some people assume that I write so often because I think I have to offer quantity in order to receive payment and they let me know that’s not true. That’s not at all the case for me. I write so often because that’s how often I want to write.

I truly, truly want to be writing here full-time, creating an online archive / library as you know, building the community up around this in ways that provide deep serious support for artists around mental health issues. I write so often because I actually have that much to share and want to keep putting it here in this archive.

2) Many, many people have expressed overwhelm because they can’t keep up. I never expect anyone to read everything I write. I think this is a super interesting thing that comes up so often for people. It manifests in different ways but what I hear most is: “I get overwhelmed by all of your emails,” “I want to read everything but can’t so I get frustrated,” and “I feel bad that I can’t read everything.” So let’s address these:

• On overwhelm and noise: I really, really want you to have a quiet inbox if that’s what you need. I have always offered the option to opt in or out of different types of writing here. Recently, I added the option of a monthly digest, so you can choose to receive a once-a-month roundup of the links to what I’ve written, organized neatly, so that you can read what you want at the pace you want in the month between digests.

• I don’t read everything that’s written by even my most favorite writers. So I would never take offense at someone not reading anything of mine. More explanation in my article on Mental Health Reasons I May Not Read Your Writing … But Please Write It Anyway. Don’t pressure yourself to read everything I write or everything anyone writes. Be gentle with yourself. It’s all okay.

• And ask yourself, why do you feel like you have to read it all? Is it because if you pay then you think you “have to” in order to get value? If so, I’d encourage you to remember that people pay here to support the work, the concept, the library, the mission … not for the specific thing they are getting in their inbox.

• Or do you feel like you have to because it’s “rude” not to read everything? It’s not. I work from a frame that it is my job to put out the best work I can in the way that is authentically true and right for me and that it will go find the people in the world it needs to find. I don’t worry about numbers in the sense of open rates etc. I don’t care if twenty million people read a piece; I care that the one person who needs it on that day reads it. It doesn’t offend me when people subscribe but aren’t reading everything.

On Conversion Rates

I had shared that only about 4% of my subscribers choose to pay. Several people let me know that their conversion rate is also right around 4%. I think this is interesting because I always hear that you should expect around 10%. Maybe the 10% is just a number that’s been used in business for so long it’s not accurate.

But actually I think that this is more of a reflection of the supply-and-demand echo chamber that is Substack. Most of my overall subscribers are coming from Substack itself, mostly through Notes sharing. But almost everyone who is here is writing plus also reading many many writers so they can only pay to support a few people. So the conversion rate is low.

On My Annual Rate … Why Aren’t People Using The Discounts?

I charge an annual rate of $100. There are a variety of reasons but none are particularly interesting. I often see the advice to lower that rate. A discussion could be had. But here’s what I’m super curious about … I offer a Sliding Scale discounted rate that people are invited, encouraged even, to take advantage of at any time. And yet very very very few people have chosen that and I’m so curious as to why.

Here are the links to those discounts in case you’ve never seen them:

• 24% off in ‘24 - The 2024 discount rate on an annual subscription

• Flexible Discount - 10% off either monthly or annual subscriptions

• Grateful for the Gift - 75% off one year

• Gotta Pay the Rent Soon Discount - 50% off one year

• Barely Getting By Discount - $10 flat rate for one year

• Lucky 13 Discount - 13% off forever

On Monthly Subscriptions vs. Annual

Many people are monthly, not annual, subscribers. I value those contributions but unfortunately I can’t really count on them in terms of planning out a writing schedule because there’s no predictability in whether or not they’ll keep paying the next month. So, I can really only plan around annual subscriptions.

I know that there are financial realities for everyone. I honestly would rather have someone pay a flat rate of $10 for a whole year of subscribing than pay me $10 every month. I know financially that sounds strange but I’ve done the math and looked at the process and seen how monthly subscribers rotate in and out and honestly that’s a better option for me because it lets me really plan for a whole year ahead.

Please join this conversation.

I value your thoughts and feedback. What responses do you have to the above? What works for you and what doesn’t in your own journey if you’re a Substack writer? What other questions do you have about my work? Answer in the comments or in Notes or send me an email.