Put a Paywall on Every Post
Free readers cannot see where the cutoff lands before they start reading. That is the whole trick. Every post becomes a place where somebody decides to upgrade.
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The part nobody tells you
Subscriptions were never going to be my only line. I run two, and the second one took almost no extra work.
Your readers paying for access is one budget. A brand paying for their attention is a completely different budget. Same newsletter, same send, two cheques. Most writers pick one and leave the other sitting there.
The reason I use Kit for this is the sponsorship matching. I do not pitch brands, I do not negotiate, I do not chase invoices. It matches me to sponsor offers based on what I write and how engaged my readers are, and it pays per click. That is a second income line bolted onto something I was already sending.
It is also where my list lives, which matters more than people think. On Substack you rent the relationship. My Kit list is a CSV I can download tonight.
Start a free Kit account →Affiliate link. I pay for Kit myself and have for years. If I did not use it, it would not be here.
Tap any card to open it up
Where would you put the cutoff?
Here is a real post of mine broken into its six parts. Click a line to drop the paywall there and see what a free reader would get.
The hook
One line about the moment everything changed. No context yet.
The story
What was actually happening. The divorce, the bills, the thing I was avoiding.
The turn
What I noticed, and the moment it stopped being a story and started being a pattern.
The framework
The three things I would do if I were starting over today, named and numbered.
The exact steps
Click this, set that, here is the number I used and why.
The asset
The template, the spreadsheet, the prompt. The thing they can use tonight.
Nothing is locked yet, so right now every free reader gets the whole thing and has no reason to upgrade.
Turning free readers into paying ones
None of this needs a big list. It needs a paid option that exists and a cutoff on every post.
That is the story. Here is the part I only give to paid subscribers. Below this line: the exact three-step version I would run if I were starting over today, the numbers I used, and the template you can copy straight into your own publication. If you have been reading these for a while and getting value out of them, this is the one to upgrade for.
Competence, not enthusiasm
“If you do not give them an option, they cannot give you money.”Lori Ballen
What I get asked about charging
Isn’t it greedy to paywall when I have almost no subscribers?
You are not taking anything away. The free half is still free and still complete. The paywall only adds a place for someone to say yes.
I got my first free subscriber and my first paid subscriber on the same day, and the only reason that was possible is that the button already existed. If it had not, that person would have had nowhere to spend money.
What if I have nothing worth putting behind the line?
You do. It is the specific version of what you just said generally. The exact numbers instead of the range. The template instead of the description. The thing you would tell a friend but not a room.
And on a light week, a few extra thoughts and a link is fine. Consistency of the cutoff matters more than the size of what is behind it on any given post.
How do I decide the price?
Not by going cheap. When I see a very low price my own first thought is what is wrong with it, and other people think that too.
Start where you are comfortable and raise it as the archive grows. Existing subscribers keep the price they signed up at, so raising it is not a bait and switch. Offer an annual plan at a discount or with a bonus so the year commitment has a reason to exist.
What if I am a fiction writer with no how-to?
Then the paywall goes somewhere else. Send the full piece to paid, and send free readers an excerpt, a synopsis, or the first section with a note that upgrading gets the rest starting next week.
Or put the extra chapter, the character notes, or the process behind the line. The mechanic is the same, only the asset changes.
Do sponsorships make my paid subscribers angry?
Not if the sponsor fits what you write about and you say plainly that it is a sponsor. People object to being tricked, not to being sold to.
They are also two different budgets. The reader is paying for access. The brand is paying for attention. Nobody is paying twice for the same thing.
The 3-Bucket Business Field Notes
The one person business model I actually run. What to build, what to buy back, and what to leave alone.
The two guides that pair with this
Substack 101
Setup, note formats, article structure, paywall placement, and how the money arrives.
From Idea to Income
Turn what you know into a paid guide. The product you sell to readers not ready for a subscription.
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Open the paid option today. Put a cutoff on the next thing you publish.
Not getting read yet? Start here: how to get distributed on Substack.
Hey there! Just a quick heads-up: some of the links on this site are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase (including through the Amazon Associates program), at no extra cost to you. Occasionally, products featured here are gifted by brands.
I also use AI tools to help research and create content for you! While I love sharing strategies to help you succeed, please remember that everyone's journey is unique—individual results vary, and there are no guarantees. Thanks so much for stopping by!
