Here's How To Double Your Paid Subscribers

It's time to take your Paid strategy seriously

I launched a Paid letter a little over a year ago because I realized it was the only way I could sustain growth on Substack.

Slow + steady, baby!

Not everyone is looking to grow on Substack. Some people want to write a letter reviewing the play they saw last week or want a public-facing diary to look back on. Fine! But I have the sneaking suspicion a lot of Long Live readers are at least a little curious about how to scale their own Substack into a substantial part of their personal flywheel.

Here’s a letter I wrote around the time the Tuesday letter launched. I had 30 Paid subscribers, a very substantial does of imposter syndrome, and a dream that maybe one day, Substack could account for a massive slice of my income pie.

The Future of Long Live 🚀

The perks of writing a Paid letter are plenty. Here’s my take on it:

• A collective of like-minded, engaged readers in one place

• The option to paywall chats for more intimate/specific conversations with this group

• Rankings on Substack’s Bestseller Leaderboard

• Monetization that has nothing to do with ads or performance

But don’t just take my word for it! I was lucky enough to get some burning questions answered from

Christina Loff

, author of

The Dry Down Diaries

and Head of Lifestyle on the partnerships team at Substack. She’s the aforementioned “very helpful woman” turned IRL friend :)