How Does Substack Work? A Plain-English Guide
Substack is a free website and email newsletter in one. You write a post. Substack puts it on your page and emails it to your subscribers at the same time. Readers can follow you for free or pay you monthly or yearly. Substack keeps 10% of paid subscriptions, and that’s how it makes money. Notes and the Substack app help new readers find you.
Substack in one sentence
You write. Substack sends it. Readers can pay you.Substack does three jobs at once: it’s your website, your email list, and your payment system.
Before Substack, you needed a blog, an email tool, and a way to take payments, and you had to glue them together yourself. Substack puts all three in one place for free.
You write a post. It goes live on your Substack page and lands in every subscriber’s inbox. If you turn on paid subscriptions, readers pay by card through Stripe, Substack keeps 10%, and the rest goes to your bank.
Substack lets you download your subscriber list anytime, so your readers stay yours even if you leave.
The 5 parts of Substack, explained
Substack is five tools working together. Tap any card to see how that part works.
1. Your publication
Every Substack gets a free home page at yourname.substack.com. Each post lives on that page and goes out by email at the same moment. You can publish written posts, podcasts, and video, and paid-only episodes work the same way paid posts do.
Mine, The Real Time Creator, still runs on the free substack.com address. You don’t need a custom domain to grow. My setup is in how to start a Substack.
2. Subscribers
Anyone can subscribe with just an email address. Free subscribers get your free posts in their inbox. They are your real asset, because they’re the people who may pay you later.
My list is 7,577 people. 7,403 of them are free. That free list is where every one of my paid subscribers came from. Here’s how to get your first 1,000 subscribers.
3. Paid subscriptions
When you’re ready, you connect Stripe (free) and turn on paid subscriptions. You pick a monthly and yearly price, and you can add a higher founding member tier for superfans. The minimum is $5 a month or $30 a year.
Then you choose which posts are free and which sit behind the paywall. Paid readers get everything. I have 174 paid subscribers today. Here’s my paywall strategy.
4. Notes
Notes are short posts that show up in a feed inside the Substack app, a lot like a social media feed. People who have never heard of you see them, and they can like and restack your Notes to their own followers.
This is the part most beginners skip, and it’s the part that grew my Substack. More than 100 of my paid subscribers found me through Notes. Here’s my Notes playbook.
5. The network
Writers can recommend other publications. When a reader subscribes to one Substack, they see its recommendations and can subscribe to those too, in one tap.
The Substack app also suggests writers to readers. That’s why Substack isn’t just email software. It sends you readers. Here’s how to get distributed on Substack.
How do writers get paid on Substack?
A reader pays by card. Stripe processes it. Substack keeps 10%. Stripe keeps its fee. The rest lands in your bank account. Here’s where a $10 monthly subscription goes.
| Who | Their cut | On a $10 payment |
|---|---|---|
| Substack | 10% of each payment | $1.00 |
| Stripe card fee | 2.9% + $0.30 | $0.59 |
| Stripe billing fee | 0.7% of recurring payments | $0.07 |
| You | Everything else | $8.34 |
Fees are for a standard U.S. card, before taxes. International cards can cost a bit more. Every cost is broken down in is Substack free? what it really costs.
How Substack works for me: my real numbers
Straight from my Substack dashboard on September 28, 2026.
| What | My number | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Total subscribers | 7,577 | Everyone on my list, free and paid |
| Paid subscribers | 174 | People who pay me monthly or yearly |
| Paid conversion | 2.3% | About 1 in 43 readers pays |
| Gross revenue | about $23,000 a year | Before Substack, Stripe, and taxes |
| Substack’s share | about $2,300 a year | Its 10% of that revenue |
| Average open rate | 27.8% | Share of subscribers who opened my emails, last 30 days |
| Net new subscribers | 328 | Growth in the last 30 days |
The lesson: most readers stay free, and that’s normal. You grow a big free list, and a small slice of it pays. See the full story in how to make money on Substack: my real numbers and where my paid subscribers actually came from.
Is Substack right for you?
Pick the one that sounds like you.
You pay nothing, ever, if you stay free. You get a website, an email list, and a built-in audience in the app without touching code or paying for tools.
Start writing, post on Notes, and see who shows up.
Substack only makes money when you do. There’s no monthly bill while you build. Once readers pay, you keep about 83 cents of every dollar.
I compare it with Medium in Substack vs Medium: which one actually pays writers.
You can import your existing email list and start charging right away. But at high revenue, a 10% cut gets big.
Ask one question first: will Substack’s network bring you new readers? If yes, the fee pays for itself. I compare the options in the best newsletter platforms for beginners.
Substack is a publishing platform, not a CRM. If you need heavy e-commerce, complex sales funnels, tagging, or advanced email automations, you’ll hit a wall.
I use both: Substack for my content and community, and a separate email tool for structured marketing sequences. You don’t need that setup to start.
How to start using Substack today
Check these off as you go. None of this costs money.
“Substack is a newsletter, a website, and a discovery app. Most people only use the first one.”— Lori Ballen
Frequently asked questions
How does Substack work?
Substack is a free website and email newsletter in one. You write a post, Substack publishes it on your page and emails it to your subscribers. Readers can follow for free or pay you. Substack keeps 10% of paid subscriptions.
What is Substack?
Substack is a publishing platform for newsletters. It combines a blog, an email list, a podcast host, a payment system, and a social feed called Notes in one free app. Writers own their list and their content.
Is Substack free to use?
Yes. Starting, publishing, and emailing any size list costs $0. Substack only takes 10% of paid subscriptions, plus Stripe’s card fees, when readers pay you.
How do writers get paid on Substack?
Readers pay by card through Stripe. Substack keeps 10%, Stripe keeps about 2.9% plus $0.30 and a 0.7% billing fee, and the rest goes to your bank. On a $10 subscription, you keep about $8.34.
What are the ways to make money on Substack?
The main one is paid subscriptions: monthly, yearly, and a higher founding member tier. You can also add affiliate links to your posts and send readers to your own products, courses, or coaching.
Most writers pick one of three models: a mix of free and paid posts, everything paid, or everything free with an option to support you. I use the mix.
How does Substack make money?
Substack makes money by keeping 10% of the paid subscriptions writers earn. It doesn’t charge writers who stay free, and it doesn’t charge readers extra fees.
How is Substack different from Mailchimp or Kit?
Email tools only send your emails. You have to find every reader yourself. Substack has its own audience: Notes, recommendations, and the app put your writing in front of new readers.
The tradeoff is features. Substack has fewer automations, tags, and segments. I use Substack for content and a separate email tool for marketing sequences.
Can you start a podcast or video show on Substack?
Yes. You can publish audio and video episodes right on your Substack, with no separate hosting. Listeners can use the Substack app or other podcast apps, and you can make some episodes paid-only.
Do readers need a Substack account?
No. Anyone can subscribe with just an email address and read posts in their inbox. The Substack app and Notes work best with an account.
What are Substack Notes?
Notes are short posts in a social feed inside the Substack app. They help people who don’t know you yet find your writing. More than 100 of my paid subscribers found me through Notes.
Do I own my Substack subscriber list?
Yes. Substack lets you export your email list anytime, so you can take your readers with you if you ever leave.
How long does it take to make money on Substack?
It depends on how much you post and promote. I earned Substack’s Bestseller badge four months after my first paid subscriber. Today I have 174 paid subscribers and about $23,000 a year in gross revenue. My results aren’t typical, and yours aren’t guaranteed.
Your complete Substack guide
This page is the starting point. Pick the step you’re on and keep going.
1. Start your Substack
Set it up the right way the first time.
2. Grow your list
Notes, recommendations, and getting found.
3. Get paid
Pricing, paywalls, and my real numbers.
4. Write posts that convert
What to write and how to reuse it.
5. Become a Bestseller
What the badge takes and what it means.
The 3-Bucket Business Field Notes
The simple way I run a one-person business in three buckets so it keeps working without me chasing every shiny thing. Enter your email and I will send the field notes.
Ready to make Substack work for you?
Substack 101: A No-Fluff Guide to Building and Growing a Paid Newsletter
Setup, Notes, pricing, and the paywall, step by step, so your free Substack turns into a paid one.
Side Hustle to Six Figures
The system for turning one skill into recurring income without hiring anyone, with Substack as one piece of it.
Now you know how Substack works. Let’s make it work for you.
Inside Substack SKOOL, my community for Substack creators, we build Substacks together: real Notes, real pricing, real numbers. Want to see a Substack from the inside first? Read mine, The Real Time Creator.
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!
