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.
Mine, The Real Time Creator, still runs on the free substack.com address. You don’t need a custom domain to grow.
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.
3. Paid subscriptions
When you’re ready, you connect Stripe (free) and turn on paid subscriptions. You pick a monthly and yearly price. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Related reading
Is Substack Free? What It Really Costs
Every fee, line by line, and what you keep at each price.
How to Make Money on Substack: My Real Numbers
174 paid subscribers and where every paying reader came from.
How to Start a Substack
The full setup, from your name to your first post.
My Substack Notes Playbook
Cadence, hooks, and schedules that bring in readers.
How to Get Distributed on Substack
Migrate your list, then earn the byline.
Substack vs Medium
Which one actually pays writers.
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.
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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!
