From 0 to Top 5 Rising in Business in 5 Weeks! Here's What Substack Newbies Selling Paid Subscriptions Need to Know!

Last week, I reached #5 Rising in Business on Substack as a new Substack publisher.

The Rising chart ranks newsletter publishers on the volume of their paid subscription sales in a single day.

Around me in the charts were bestsellers; well known Substackers with thousands, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

How does a brand-new Substack generate enough paid subscriptions to climb up the Rising leaderboard?

I’ll say upfront, I’m not a newbie online. I’ve had an online business for 15 years, but I am an unknown in Substack world.

Elsewhere, I have an audience roughly 15k-20k - on Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn and my email list combined.

But that wouldn’t have mattered if I’d followed the same paid subscription model most Substack writers use.

I’ll come back to the model in a minute. .

Let me tell you what I did NOT do (even though you might assume I would)…

❌ I did NOT import my email list into Substack.

❌ I did NOT pay for ads.

❌ I also did NOT sell the typical paid subscription offer.

What I did that got me to #5 Rising in Business:

1- My offer

Substack’s paid subscription model is similar to the busking model.

• Writers write words you want to read.

• Readers throw money into the hat of the writers they read, to support their work and to get closer access to them.

when you add the ‘subscribe with caption’ button to your post, the placeholder text actually says, “Become a paid subscriber to support my work”.

In my view, the default Substack model is a GOAL for newbies to aim for.

Newbies who want to sell paid subscriptions from day one should should sell outcomes - NOT access.

Let me explain…

Typical paid subscriptions sold on Substack are commodity offers.

Substack is awash with publishers selling paid subscription plans filled with features:

• Exclusive posts

• Zoom calls

• Q&As

.. access!

Selling access makes perfect sense when you are already well known here.

I mean, imagine if Taylor Swift had a Substack?

Lots of us would run to pay a subscription to get access to her on Zoom, hear her new music or ask her questions personally.

Sorry to break it to you… as a newbie you don’t have that same appeal.

Many people reading your content are making conscious choices about whose paid subscriptions they sign up for.

Even if you’ve build a decent sized audience prior to coming to Substack, you’re still a newbie until you’ve established your place on the platform.

It’s like when we leave middle school.

Every teacher, child and parent in your local middle school knew each other.

Then you get to the big high school and you’re a small fish in a big pond. Nobody even remembers your name for the first few months!

New Substack newsletters are small fish in a big pond.

And subscription fatigue is 100% a thing on Substack.

You might only be charging the minimum £3.50/month but those small subs mount up when you’re reading lots of different writers’ work.

If you are a Substack newbie and want to improve your paid subscription earning potential, do the opposite of what established publishers are doing.

Sell outcomes, NOT features!

Whether your Substack is:

• Based on your main business…

• A personal side-project…

• Related to your hobby or interest...

You know more about your topic than 99% of people in any average room!

1. Determine what your audience most want to know about that topic.

2. Consider how you could teach them that information in a course, content you will deliver in your Substack posts.

3. Sell the outcome of that course as your paid subscription offer.

Communicate the outcome as a compelling offer!

“Pay £xxx for extra posts” is NOT a compelling offer.

“Pay £xxx/year and master the art of writing sizzling sales copy that doubles the perceived value of your offer in your prospects’ mind!”

“Pay £xx/month and learn how to make your own clothes from recycled fabrics”……

“Pay £xxx/year and turn your skills into an online course or digital product that brings you a repeat income & boosts your paid subscription conversions!”

(Options 1 and 3 are the benefits of becoming a paid subscriber in my Substack Success Club.

When you upgrade, you’ll tap into my 15 years of online business expertise in our group chat for support with planning, promoting and selling compelling online offers with ease.

The offer I sold…

I didn’t ask my audience to become a paid subscriber.

I offered them a 12-month “Substack Startup Club” mentoring programme that will help them start, grow and optimise their Substack newsletter for success, so they boost their visibility, impact and income online - using my spoonie-friendly, energy conserving sales and marketing strategies.

2- Your marketing and copy

Substack only give us three lines (120 characters per line) to communicate the value of our paid subscriber benefits.

Do NOT rely on those 360 characters to sell.

The bulk of your sales promo should be done BEFORE people see your ‘Subscribe’ page.

• Your Substack posts…

• Emails to your main email list…

• Social media posts…

• Private conversations - DMs and in-person…

Use all of these to do the heavy lifting of selling your paid offers for you.

My marketing strategy…

Because I have a small audience here, I promoted my paid subscription through my social media and email list.

And the only way for people to buy my Substack course and year of mentorship is to join my paid Substack Success Club subscription.

3- Deadline

The final factor in my reaching #5 Rising in Business was that my offer had a deadline.

There was a beneficial reason for them to buy now.

Without a good reason to buy now, potential customers will tell themselves they will buy later.

But will…

• Forget where they left their card/phone - then forget why they wanted it when it turns up.

• Start going through checkout and get distracted - and then forget to go back.

• Have just sat down quickly, got comfortable with a cuppa and going through checkout now is too much faff - and then hours later, after that quick sit down turned into a long sit and they crack on again, guess what happens? Yep. Oops.

If you want lots of paid subscribers (or sales in general) within a specific time period, give people a Very Good Reason to buy NOW - before the distraction or long sit.

What’s in it for them to stop what they are doing and buy NOW?

Special offers

Substack’s ‘Special Offers’ feature is an easy way to run a short-term discount.

(Check out my /Subscribe page to see what special offer I am running today.)

Extra bonuses

What extras could you add to the offer now and remove on the deadline (that they’ll want) to incentivise them to buy now?

Perhaps a personal 1-1 or DFY service related to your course? (E.g. a private copy review, personalised advice on which course to create, a bespoke fitting session with you before they make their outfit.)

Maybe another course or digital product you sell elsewhere that they’ll receive access to?

Make sure any bonuses are something of value that will make it more likely they’ll achieve the outcome, improve the results they can expect or cut down implementation time.

And that’s how you create a compelling paid subscription offer that you are excited to deliver, provide access through Substack, and boost your conversions.

Have you started selling paid subscriptions yet?

Want to get paid well to deliver online courses you enjoy for subscribers you like?

Upgrade to my Substack Success Club now.

The next Substack Success Club course module will break down all the things I wish I’d known before I started selling paid subscriptions. Avoid repeating my costly mistakes and fast-track your way to Substack success!