Love the content and deep-dives, which is why I subscribed. FWIW, if I didn’t put it on the company card, I wouldn’t have done the pay model. IMHO, especially compared to other substacks I pay for, it’s steep…and I think too steep for a rank-and-file beer employee to consider these days (sorry, I know pricing your valuable time is highly personal…just responding from today’s request for feedback).
Thanks Eric. I appreciate the sign-up and totally agree that it's currently setup for business owners or people who are able to expense a business newsletter for their role. For them, I don't think it takes much to get the value out of it over the course of an entire year, but I'll learn if I'm right went people start renewing annual subscriptions. So far so good on monthlys staying on.
The feedback I was referring to in the post was regarding the breweries and businesses that are always reaching out for inclusions in my business breakdowns, product introductions, and fascinating marketing strategies on Instagram/TikTok. Basically looking for free earned media. I turn all those down generally if they didn't come to me organically, but a higher support tier could be a way to work them in as long as its a natural fit, and offset a lower subscription tier as a result.
On the monetization front, Substack has a one-size model—and it doesn’t fit all. I cast around a long time to find an approach that fit my needs: needing some remuneration to support the work, needing a solution that didn’t require a lot of my time to maintain, and also wanting a clean, wholly open-access site free of annoyances.
For writers working in niche subjects, the sponsorship model is an excellent solution. At Beervana, I do an annual sponsorship with companies I admire (so far it’s only been breweries). We all have relatively small reaches, but if you’re doing a good job, you’re hitting exactly the audience many companies desire. I know that’s true with Beer Crunchers. It’s a small investment of time to do annual asks, and then it’s done for the year. And no annoying ads!
I suspect that, like me, you’d like to reach the widest audience. Substack’s model isn’t designed for that. It does, however, allow for serious supporters to offer some revenue (I have a ko-fi account for that), which is also gratifying.
Substack works perfectly for what I am trying to do and I honestly couldn't think of a single thing I'd want to change about it. Asking for annual underwriting dollars just isn't my style, especially from breweries. I like the ability to earn it through my writing, starting with the free pieces that demonstrate the capability, and then a preview of the premium posts to introduce what I went deep on. That combined with the funnel of Instagram and TikTok, which I don't consider small, has been a great way to build the community, incredible feedback loops, and have fun doing it. I am comfortable with the Premium side only being for people who can expense a business newsletter for their job, but will definitely consider playing around with tiers more in the future and ways to use social to offer benefits.
Love the content and deep-dives, which is why I subscribed. FWIW, if I didn’t put it on the company card, I wouldn’t have done the pay model. IMHO, especially compared to other substacks I pay for, it’s steep…and I think too steep for a rank-and-file beer employee to consider these days (sorry, I know pricing your valuable time is highly personal…just responding from today’s request for feedback).
Thanks Eric. I appreciate the sign-up and totally agree that it's currently setup for business owners or people who are able to expense a business newsletter for their role. For them, I don't think it takes much to get the value out of it over the course of an entire year, but I'll learn if I'm right went people start renewing annual subscriptions. So far so good on monthlys staying on.
The feedback I was referring to in the post was regarding the breweries and businesses that are always reaching out for inclusions in my business breakdowns, product introductions, and fascinating marketing strategies on Instagram/TikTok. Basically looking for free earned media. I turn all those down generally if they didn't come to me organically, but a higher support tier could be a way to work them in as long as its a natural fit, and offset a lower subscription tier as a result.
On the monetization front, Substack has a one-size model—and it doesn’t fit all. I cast around a long time to find an approach that fit my needs: needing some remuneration to support the work, needing a solution that didn’t require a lot of my time to maintain, and also wanting a clean, wholly open-access site free of annoyances.
For writers working in niche subjects, the sponsorship model is an excellent solution. At Beervana, I do an annual sponsorship with companies I admire (so far it’s only been breweries). We all have relatively small reaches, but if you’re doing a good job, you’re hitting exactly the audience many companies desire. I know that’s true with Beer Crunchers. It’s a small investment of time to do annual asks, and then it’s done for the year. And no annoying ads!
I suspect that, like me, you’d like to reach the widest audience. Substack’s model isn’t designed for that. It does, however, allow for serious supporters to offer some revenue (I have a ko-fi account for that), which is also gratifying.
Just a thought—
Substack works perfectly for what I am trying to do and I honestly couldn't think of a single thing I'd want to change about it. Asking for annual underwriting dollars just isn't my style, especially from breweries. I like the ability to earn it through my writing, starting with the free pieces that demonstrate the capability, and then a preview of the premium posts to introduce what I went deep on. That combined with the funnel of Instagram and TikTok, which I don't consider small, has been a great way to build the community, incredible feedback loops, and have fun doing it. I am comfortable with the Premium side only being for people who can expense a business newsletter for their job, but will definitely consider playing around with tiers more in the future and ways to use social to offer benefits.
You are killing it, Doug. And what a year! I've learned so much from your posts. Thank you!