63 Comments
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Gaia's avatar

This works if you have a Substack that teaches something. What about people who just write? It’s the same amount of work, it’s even harder in my opinion, and no digital product to sell.

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Andrew Knapp's avatar

I’m so tired of this type of content.

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Osh's avatar

He's also written this clearly with AI. If you ask Chatgpt for example how to make money on substack the section before his accidental discovery is written by it. It's just to sell his over priced pdf

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George Ziogas's avatar

Given Substack does not have the digital selling options yet: How difficult it is to set up a digital product (e.g. eBook, etc) for sale on Substack ? How can newbies to Substack go about selling a digital product on Substack?

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Wes Pearce's avatar

George you can use something like Stan Store or Gumroad. I break it all down in the masterclass and also have several posts under “Create Digital Products” on my Substack.

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George Ziogas's avatar

Thank you Wes for your encouraging reply. I will look into these options for creating digital products on Substack. Appreciated, G

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Carrie Scharf's avatar

I use fourthwall to sell products and like it.

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Mark Williams's avatar

Whilst I understand the maths, I think there’s another factor to consider. Being as George says, atm there’s no “product” sale option from Substack. But I gather there will be. If everyone didn’t turn on paid, then there’d be no Substack. So for me, I think there’s a balance to be had between paid and off Substack sale. Each to his own tho.

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Jun 5
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Mark Williams's avatar

Yes. I’ve listened to an interview on here with a couple of senior people from Substack. Likely to be when not if.

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Lady Prospère's avatar

I am so glad to read this because I have absolutely no intention of ever starting a paid subscription. Why? Because I'm not willing to lose the 10% to substack and the 5% to stripe for the fees. I'm not willing to lose the 15%. My goal is to send them to my website, where I don't lose 10%. I'd rather lose 5% than 15%.

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Mike Trouble Lin's avatar

Thanks 🙏 for the great suggestion on how best to use Substack… it’s exactly the info I needed to start my newsletter

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OMNIGod's avatar

Initially, allow me to congratulate you on a wonderful idea that you did a great job capitalizing on. However, the reality in play is that now EVERY idea for a Newsletter will be successful, as there are many subjects that don’t produce such interest. The idea of setting up a Newsletter structure is a valid structure. Yet, there’s more to it than just that, in addition to the fact that you already had a pretty-good following on Substack prior to initiating the Newsletter. I’ll research your idea in more depth, because the strategy has merit for sure. Thank you for presenting a well balanced article as well.

May God Continue to Bless you,

OMNIGod

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Amy Bronwen Zemser's avatar

What product am I selling? I write comic essays.

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Elizabeth Ogabi's avatar

How to write comic essays?

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7h
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Amy Bronwen Zemser's avatar

About what? Feel free to send me a DM

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CandelariaWrites's avatar

This is so insightful Wes! Specially for someone who does not have a big audience just yet, I was quite hesitant about the monetary value on paid subscriptions, even long term. So thanks for bringing a new take on how to use this wonderful App and for sure, what we all want, escape te cubicle 🙏🏼

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The Millennial View's avatar

These always seem too good to be true.

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Urvi Priyadarshini's avatar

Great and insightful article

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Belinda Enoma's avatar

Great article!

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Eren's avatar

Yuck, I come to Substack to avoid ai slop. Not to be convinced to buy your workshop clearly written and fueled by it. This isn’t LinkedIn.com.

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Tarzan Bonanno's avatar

so basically: write a book and hope one blows up?

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marina colerato's avatar

oh no, the digital products gurus of Instagram are now coming for substack 🆘

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Janice Lam, JLLamPublishing's avatar

Great article. Thanks for sharing.

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