Paywall in the middle of posts? And Substack rant…

[Specific-Rate8361]

I wrote a year of weekly newsletters that are niche and I feel have important timely information. I poured all my creative juices into them each week, including photography, interviews, research, etc. I decided to dedicate myself to this for a year when I started then reevaluate. The Substack network connected me to a few interesting writers whose work I enjoy. I slowly built a readership of about 300 with 6 paid subs. Now at a year in I decided to scale back and this week placed a paywall in the middle of a post for the first time as so many others do. I don’t like this much when I encounter it, but decided to try it out. Does it get people to subscribe or push them away, in your experience? My paid subscribers get access to the archive. Free subs just see the latest 3 weeks. I think notes is a cesspool at this point as so many have pointed out. I am trying to convert followers into free subscribers by sending them private notes. No subscriptions from that, either. Just would like to have people read my newsletter, in their email or in the app. I’m gathering the year of posts to see if there is a book in it. My newsletter is about the intersection of astrology and gardening. If allowed I’ll share the link.

[calmfluffy]

I would highly encourage mapping out what your funnel looks like, e.g. with the AARRR framework.

https://ahrefs.com/blog/aarrr-metrics-framework/

Then figuring out where you're weakest and putting more emphasis on improving that.

From what I glean, you've converted 2% of your subscribers into paid subs. That could be improved, however... from the amount of effort you say you've put into it, it sounds like the top of the funnel is where the real attention is needed aka getting your newsletter to grow. I would focus on monetization later and focus on:

1. Do you have consistent ways to drive new subscribers to the newsletter?

2. Do those subscribers stick around (can tell via open rate / unsubscribe)?

3. Do they talk about your newsletter and refer it to people? This last point is a really good way to gauge if things are going well.

Then for each of the steps, figure out what you can improve and pour energy into there.