Creative Conundrums #5: Free vs Paid Substack Publications?
A Writer's Corner series dedicated to challenges and worries throughout the creative process, doubts, queries and everything in between.
Schedule-wise, the Weekly Creative Conundrums Series by Writer’s Corner is now officially out of sync. I would like to take the blame but, instead, I shrug my shoulders and point the finger at my full-time job. Last week, I had work-related travel and my return journey was — suprise, surprise — delayed courtesy of the entire railway system. This meant I was unable to publish Flash (Non) Fiction on Thursday when back home, and did it on Friday evening. To avoid posting on two consecutive days, I then skipped the Creative Conundrums entry on Saturday. This week, I should have posted Flash a couple of days ago, but I was at an offsite for a Teams Event. One day out of the office equals Outlook / Calendar carnage, so yesterday I was chasing my tail like a twelve-week old puppy (minus the cuteness). Here I then am on Friday morning, trying to edit this before work. I will look to bring the schedule back in line over the next couple of weeks. #Rantover.
For anyone, who has only stumbled upon Creative Conundrums now, I would like to firstly welcome you. Have fun now that you are with us. Below you can find a little reminder of the series’ previous instalments:
Creative Conundrums #2: Individual Publications or Publication Sections?
Creative Conundrums #4: What Are the Substack ... Things Called?
Lastly, and before we move on to the matter at hand, thank you to the new Writer’s Corner subscribers this week. Your decision to join this community fills me with joy. I appreciate every person that happens to come across and subscribe to my newsletter. Hearing from people is a privilege, and I love reading your comments. Any interaction gives me a chance to get to know you better. Let us get chatting!
What is Creative Conundrums?
“What is Creative Conundrums”, you ask yourself. It is a series - if someone has a finer term for it, I would steal it in a heartbeat - dedicated to questions of creative nature, worrisome thoughts, plaguing insecurities, and day-to-day challenges that I wrestle with.
Over the years, I have realised that much of what we often consider to be unique to our personalities, for example the tendency to be indecisive, or circumstances, say our education background or job, resonates with others louder than we have ever imagined.
Creative Conundrums will, therefore, serve two purposes:
Aid me in un-baffling myself through endless rambling and mind backflips, and
Provide solace to you in the realisation that you are not alone in your troubles (Fingers crossed, sound practical advice will be a welcome by-product).
Preface completed, let us meet the fifth Creative Conundrum.
Creative Conundrums #5: Free vs Paid Substack Publications? Context
Most of you may already know this through the About Me section of this Substack or prior exchanges with me, but I am very new to writing.
That said, I cannot deny that the written word has always played a role in my life. This is true not only in the sense of me being an avid reader, but also extends to my status as an amateurish writer. I have maintained a journal, on and off, since an early age. Writing assignments and subjects, such as Languages, Literature, Philosophy and Ethics, were my favourites throughout school. While at University, I created a healthy lifestyle blog; it was a great idea but it was doomed from the start. Unlike today’s youth, who do it all, I crumbled under the pressure of assignments, and let my blog die a painful death. For a few months, I was writing for a healthy lifestyle app. I have had one article published in a Literary Magazine that, to my knowledge, does not exist anymore. None of this stuff is particularly newsworthy, but it may be useful by way of background.
Jobs, where I grew up, were not meant to be interesting or pleasurable; they had one purpose and that was to feed you and your family. I have never considered the ‘arty farty’ occupations (of which, in my opinion, writing may be one depending on its subject matter) as an option; it was not anything that I, or 99% of the people for that matter, could do it in a capacity that went beyond leisure. This is the reason why I never truly prioritised or gave my desire to write a second thought; projects, which derailed me off my main path, were not to be treated like anything more than what they were in essence: a mere distraction. I invested my time and energy elsewhere, and we all know that practice makes perfect. In that respect, my writing, including what I publish here, is in its embryonic stage.
Creative Conundrums #5: Free vs Paid Substack Publications? The Actual Conundrum
In turn, the above may explain today’s post. I have been on Substack since the beginning of Jan and the debate over Free vs Paid is a ripe one. My newsletter is currently free; all my posts are available for anyone to read, and I have reservations for going paid.
Why am I unsure about offering a paid option at present?
I will feel bad asking for money from people. If we are to believe the stereotypes (and it is questionable whether we should or not), women are worse than men at asking for a pay rise, for example. These are different scenarios, of course, but it is my belief they stem, at least in part, from the same underlying issue: not realising one’s value and / or lacking the bravery to say out right how much one estimates their worth to be.
My amateurish writing is not deserving of people’s hard earned money. I can see how established writers and authors can charge for their work, but who am I to do that? Who would even bring themselves to pay for someone’s writing practice?!
Closely linked to #2, my fear is that people will not subscribe or support at all. If they do, they will stick with the free option. I will, therefore, end up creating paid content for a very small number of readers (if anyone at all).
Creative Conundrums #5: Free vs Paid Substack Publications? Your Thoughts
Your turn, my friends. Like myself, some of you are fairly new to Substack. Others have been using the platform for a year, a couple of years, maybe longer. What do you think? As always, whatever feedback you have, both other Writer’s Corner readers and I will be delighted to receive it. Do not be shy; make yourself heard.
A few questions that are of special interest to me:
Is there a good time to turn on paid subscriptions? Is it defined by length of Substack service?
Should this conundrum be guided by the number of subscribers one has? Is this not even a query I should be asking myself right now considering how many readers the publication has?
I decided to turn on pledges last week. Is this too early to give me an indication of readers’ intentions?
Thank you for this Siya, you raise a lot of questions about paid subscriptions which I’m sure many others have. Personally I don’t feel I have enough traction yet on Substack to turn on paid. I don’t even have a length of time or number of subscribers I’d want to get to before starting paid subscriptions. It just doesn’t feel appropriate as I am not a well enough known writer! I still maintain that most of those who have the paid option already have profiles as writers and Substack is in many ways a platform for those who can bring a substantive following. A lot of my subscribers are from my network outside Substack so I’m not seeing a following coming internally. I will be sticking with free for a good while! P.S. I didn’t realise I had pledges turned on but I have had a small number of pledges which is encouraging so that is a good way to test the water and see if people are willing to pay!
Just now I wanted to leave a comment (i.e. engage in a conversation) on a Substack article I'd perused. When I clicked to comment, the system announced that I'd have to upgrade to comment. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, with putting up paywalls, with getting paid for one's work ... but I know that I felt a mild sense of frustration. I had given my comment some thought, was ready to engage - then was denied.
There you have it, that's why I'd rather not get paid. I want those who discover my articles to be able to engage. Like right here, right now, with you. When it comes to getting paid, from what I saw is that most of the money by paid subscribers goes to a top few. In reality, therefore, I might make a few bucks here and there - but is it worth the engagement, the conversations, missed because of the paywall?
Screenwriters (my world) tend to be very secretive about their awesome stories ideas. To those fearful ones I say that, as a beginning writer, you’re biggest challenge isn’t that someone might steal your story, but that you are entirely unknown (wrote more about that here > https://danielmartineckhart.substack.com/p/what-if-they-steal-my-story). I'd say it's similar here - if all goes well then, over time and through all of that meaningful content and worthwhile engagement, some people will gladly pay - but there's no likely getting there without openness.
Then, of course, counter-point, there's the well-known argument that people will only think something's valuable, if it costs something. Well, there's no doubt some truth to that as well - but my nature will likely always lean toward open engagement.