Why I'm back to Substack and launching a paid subscription

I found my niche!

Newsletter Circle is your go-to source for building a successful newsletter business through a paid subscription.

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How it all started

I sent out the very first issue of Newsletter Circle two years ago around this time—on January 8, 2023—from Substack.

Yes, this journey began on Substack.

Before that, I spent 10 years working in marketing & market research roles at a global FMCG company. Back then, I was fully focused on climbing the corporate ladder, aiming for one promotion after another. But after a decade, I realized I wasn’t enjoying how I spent my time.

So, I made a big decision: I quit my job to build something more meaningful, something that aligned with my interests and had the potential to grow.

During my research into the online content space, I discovered the world of newsletters. I signed up for many and was blown away by their high-quality content. Yet, I noticed a gap—there wasn’t much guidance on how these creators were building their newsletters behind the scenes.

That’s when I decided to create a newsletter for newsletter operators, sharing insights and strategies from my interviews with successful creators.

Why Beehiiv Wasn’t a Perfect Fit for Me

After starting on Substack, I moved to Beehiiv in May 2023 to access advanced analytics, segmentation, and other features.

While Beehiiv offers great tools, I realized it wasn’t the right fit for me.

So today, I’m sending you my second first issue from Substack.

Here’s why I returned to Substack:

• Higher engagement: Substack readers are highly interactive, leaving thoughtful comments, liking posts, and sparking discussions. I never saw such an engagement on Beehiiv.

  Substack DM and Chats are also great way to engage with subscribers.

• Discovery and Growth Engines:

  • Substack’s Recommendations is a powerful tool for growth. I gained new subscribers every week—even while I was on Beehiiv—just by keeping my Substack page active.

  • Substack Notes is a great in-platform discovery and growth engine that allows you to reach your target audience. This is unique to Substack.

  • Substack makes it easier to be discovered through Substack Apps and by showing newsletters and Notes by newsletter topic.

• Community and collaboration: Substack creators are more eager to collaborate with guest posts.

• Focus on quality content and paid subscription: Beehiiv Ads and Boost features didn’t work for me since payouts are too low and the recommended ads have limited audience match and flexibility in terms of copywriting. I prefer to focus on creating high-quality content and creating recurring revenue through paid subscriptions, as many Substack creators prefer.

Finding My Niche

I decided to come back to Substack. But there was a question I had to answer first:

Who am I targeting to and how do I help them?

Whenever I decided to build something, the lack of a clear target persona stopped me.

Ok, I was writing a newsletter for newsletter operators, but it was too broad.

But, the newsletter space is incredibly diverse, with operators ranging from hobbyists to full-time creators earning six-figure revenues. Their needs and pain points are vastly different.

So, I took a step back and first looked at the big picture of the newsletter space.

I gathered key information from 75K Substack newsletters and shared the key findings in my free “2024 Understanding Substack Landscape Report”.

It was a challenging project, but it highlighted the massive potential of paid subscriptions:

• Substack is THE place for paid subscriptions. 50% of 41K active newsletters have a paid plan.

• The average monthly subscription price is $10. Capturing 1,000 true fans could mean $10,000 in monthly revenue.

• The report shows the size of Substack paid newsletters but there is a lot to explore about “How to apply a successful paid subscription”.

  I often hear from creators that they want to learn more about how to convert free subscribers into paid ones.

So, this data made me realize the need for more actionable insights on how to build successful paid subscription models. That’s where I’m focusing now.

📣 Big news: I’m launching a paid subscription - What you should expect

Starting today, Newsletter Circle will focus on helping newsletter operators grow their businesses through paid subscriptions.

Here’s what you can expect:

Free Subscribers:

✅ Weekly in-depth interviews with successful newsletter operators—now exclusively featuring creators who have built paid subscription models.

Paid subscribers (in addition to weekly interviews):

✅ Monthly mini-reports on paid newsletters’ best practices & growth strategies

✅ Monthly AMA sessions with paid subscribers pros

✅ Special discount on courses, templates and digital products on newsletter paid subscription

I’ll be your content journalist to reveal what it takes to build a successful paid subscription.

What you can get in the upcoming months

I’ll start researching Substack bestsellers with Purple, Orange and White badges.

I identified:

• 47 newsletters with Substack’s Purple Badge (10K+ paid subscribers).

• 600 newsletters with the Orange Badge (thousands of paid subscribers).

• 3,000 newsletters with the White Badge (hundreds of paid subscribers).

I will check all these 4,000 newsletters’ pages and strategies ONE BY ONE to reveal “how” they became successful:

→ How do they price their memberships?

→ What makes their premium content stand out?

→ How do they convert free subscribers into paid ones?

→ How do they craft their welcome emails?

→ What unique tactics drive their growth?

I’m back where it all began—on Substack—and I’m here to help you build true fans and generate recurring revenue through paid subscriptions.

If you’re serious about turning your newsletter into a business, upgrade to a paid subscription now.

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Thanks for reading, and feel free to reply if you’d like to connect!

Ciler

Find me on LinkedIn