Veronica started charging her Substack newsletter a few months after launch, but real revenue growth kicked in around 1,000 subscribers. She saw a 2-3% conversion rate to paid subscribers, far below Substack's claimed 5-10%. Enable pledges early, then switch on paid subscriptions once you have a few supporters.
I started monetizing a few months into my Substack, but real scaling happened around the 1,000‑subscriber mark, with a conversion rate of about 2–3%.
Since there are a few questions, I think we'll jump into those so that we don't miss them. The most recent one I have is from Lena, and she says, how many subscribers did you have when you started monetizing? So it's out of this conversation, but I know Veronica has a quick answer to it. So would you want to give a quick answer, Veronica?
I think when I started monetizing was A few months into my Substack, but it was, it was very, very marginal. When I really started to see a bit of a scaling monetization was around the 1,000 mark or so. What I think can be more helpful is to give a percentage of what is usually the conversion rate that is expected. In my case, around 2 to 3%. I know that Substack likes to say that it's more 5 to 10%. I have not seen those numbers. community. If you are 5%, I think you're doing extremely well. So I think from there you can work your math. And what I will say is that if you have this very small community, the numbers are not going to work to your advantage. It doesn't mean that you cannot turn on the paywall, but just keep those numbers in mind so that you manage expectations. 2 to 3%, I'll say is fair.
And my quick, um, 2 cents worth is turn your pledge on right from the beginning. And when you feel there are a few people who have taken the pledge, And you feel comfortable with that, turn the paid one on. So that's the best way of having
How Much Speakers Charge And Where To Find Paid Gigs [Public Speaking Bootcamp]
