Your Substack questions.
Answered.

Substack is a publishing platform where you can run a newsletter, publish on the web and connect with readers in the Substack app. You create a publication, publish your work and invite people to subscribe. Readers can join for free, or choose a paid subscription if you offer one.

For your business, it gives your ideas a home and a way to reach subscribers directly. Start with a clear promise to your reader, then build the content and offers that deliver on it. See Substack’s introduction.

Publishing a free newsletter on Substack is free. When you accept paid subscriptions, Substack takes 10% of subscription revenue, and Stripe charges payment processing and recurring billing fees. Include those costs when planning your pricing.

The total depends on your payment method and account location; in-app purchases can have additional costs. Check Substack’s current fee breakdown before calculating your take-home revenue.

Yes. Substack gives you access to your subscribers’ email addresses, including readers who subscribe through its app. You can export your subscriber list as a CSV from the Subscribers dashboard. I recommend keeping a current backup.

Following is different: a follower has not necessarily subscribed to your newsletter, and Substack does not give you that follower’s email address. Build the subscription relationship so you can reach readers beyond the feed.

Yes. You can import an email list of people who opted in to hear from you, and Substack offers post-import options for several publishing platforms. Back up your current list and content, prepare your Substack pages, then follow the migration steps for your existing provider.

Paid members need a separate billing and access plan; importing email addresses does not automatically transfer their payments. Check Substack’s migration guide before switching off your old service.

Start with the reader you want to reach and the problem your newsletter helps them solve. Then build your publication’s homepage, About page and welcome email around that promise. Publish a useful first post and give readers a clear reason to subscribe.

My Substack Setup Sprint takes you through that build in four private working sessions.

Make the value of subscribing clear before asking for an email address. Your title, tagline, homepage and About page should tell the same story: who your newsletter helps, what readers get and why your approach is worth their time. Give visitors an obvious subscription step, then follow through in your welcome email.

Lead with what the reader gets. Explain who the publication is for, the problems you cover and what subscribers can expect. Show the experience behind your advice, add relevant proof and finish with a clear invitation to subscribe. Your story matters most when readers can see how it helps them.

Confirm what the reader signed up for, tell them what to expect next and point them toward a useful first step. That might be your best starting article, a member resource or a question they can answer by replying.

Substack lets you customize welcome emails for different subscriber types. Use the welcome email settings to make each message fit the reader joining.

No. You can publish your newsletter and build its public home on Substack. A separate website becomes useful when you want more room for service pages, bookings or other parts of your business. Start by making the path from discovering your work to subscribing or buying easy to follow.

No. You can start with your Substack address. A custom domain is an optional branding decision; it does not replace a clear message or a useful publication.

If you choose one, Substack currently charges a one-time $50 connection fee, separate from buying and renewing the domain. Follow Substack’s current domain instructions when setting it up.

Yes. Choose a publishing schedule and an initial offer you can deliver alongside your existing commitments. I recommend protecting time for writing, reader conversations and building the offer, rather than trying to launch several income streams at once. We can plan the work around the time you have.

Yes. Start with a specific reader and useful work they have a reason to share. Use conversations, relevant collaborations and Substack’s discovery features to introduce people to your publication. Make sure your pages explain why they should subscribe when they arrive. A bigger audience is useful when it includes the people your work serves.

Give a specific group of people a reason to subscribe. Publish useful examples of what they will receive, then personally invite people who already care about your topic to read and sign up. Share your subscription link where you already have relevant relationships.

Use Notes to join useful conversations, collaborate with creators who serve similar readers and ask engaged subscribers to share your work. Track which activities bring actual subscriptions, and repeat what works. Focus on earning those first relationships; there is no guaranteed timetable to 100.

Followers can see your Notes and activity, but following alone does not give you their email address. Subscribers sign up for your publication and can receive its posts by email or in the Substack app. Paid subscribers choose a paid plan.

Track those relationships separately. A growing follower count is an opportunity to earn subscriptions, not the same thing as a growing email list. Substack explains the difference here.

Use Notes to share a useful idea, show how you think and join conversations with people interested in your topic. Connect that activity to a publication with a clear promise. When a longer post answers the question, give readers a reason to continue there.

Notes are public, short-form posts. They do not replace the newsletter your readers subscribed to receive.

Recommendations let creators introduce publications to their readers. They can appear in the subscription flow, on a publication’s homepage and in recommendation emails. Choose publications you would sincerely recommend to your own audience, and build relationships around shared reader interests.

Substack’s Recommendations dashboard shows the subscriptions each recommendation generates, so you can see what brings readers in.

Choose a schedule that lets you deliver useful work consistently. Begin with a rhythm you can keep, then adjust using reader feedback and the time each issue takes. More posts do not fix an unclear promise. Leave room in your schedule to meet readers, improve your setup and sell your offers.

Yes. Public Substack pages and posts can appear in Google search. Write clear titles around questions your readers actually ask, answer them well and link related posts together. Make your expertise clear on your About page, and link to your publication from your website and relevant profiles.

Check Substack’s SEO guidance for the tools available to your publication. Some features, including sitemaps and Search Console verification, become available as a publication grows. Google does not guarantee indexing or rankings, so use search alongside your other ways of reaching readers.

Track new subscribers, where they came from, clicks to your offers, inquiries and purchases. Look at paid upgrades and cancellations if you sell subscriptions. Compare the income your newsletter supports with the time and costs behind it. Use those signals to decide whether the next improvement belongs in your content, subscription journey or offer.

Yes. A free newsletter can introduce readers to paid services, coaching, courses or digital products. Sponsorships and affiliate income are other possible revenue streams. Choose offers that fit your readers and your expertise, then show people how to take the next step.

I built 8 income streams around my newsletter.

These are my results, not typical ones. Most people earn less, and some earn nothing.

That is the business model I teach: use Substack to build the audience and a path to your offers.

Turn on paid when you can explain what members receive, who it helps and how you will deliver it consistently. You can test that offer with your readers before building a large library of content. I would rather see a clear paid promise and a manageable delivery plan than a launch based only on reaching a subscriber milestone.

Price the value readers receive, the depth of the work and what you can sustain. Compare relevant alternatives, talk with your readers and test a price you can explain. Someone else’s subscription price is a reference point, not your pricing strategy.

The Newsletter Pricing Calculator helps you compare three monthly price recommendations based on your answers.

Give free readers enough useful work to understand your expertise and trust your approach. Make the paid offer a clear next step: deeper teaching, resources or support they want. Decide what you can deliver repeatedly and explain the difference in plain language. More words behind a paywall are not, by themselves, a compelling offer.

Connect a problem you help solve to a specific offer. Explain who it is for, what they receive and how to buy or book. Use relevant posts and your welcome journey to introduce that next step. Then follow the response: clicks without purchases point to a different problem than an offer nobody sees.

Start with one offer you can deliver well to a reader you understand. That could be a service, workshop, digital product or paid membership. Test the demand and the delivery before adding another. My 8 income streams grew over time; you do not need eight to begin.

The Offer Stack Builder helps you compare models against your audience, expertise and available time.

There is no fixed subscriber count or timetable that guarantees sales. Your starting audience, offer, demand and execution all matter. I focus first on a working subscription journey and an offer you can put in front of real readers, then use their response to improve it.

My results and client testimonials describe individual experiences. We build a plan for your business, not an earnings promise.

The Substack Academy is my training library inside 9-To-Thrive on Substack, included with every paid membership. Learn the systems I use for publication setup, audience growth, offers and sales, then apply them to your own business.

Courses, workshops and tools are added as they are released. The Academy page shows what is available now.

The free newsletter introduces you to my approach to growing and earning on Substack. Standard is the paid membership for learning at your own pace. It includes Academy courses as they become available, digital products, monthly challenges, member perks and Tuesday paid posts.

VIP is the membership level on Substack that adds personal feedback and live support to the Academy. You get a one-to-one strategy call, live group coaching cohorts four times a year, advanced modules, AI agents and the Vibe Coding Accelerator.

Bring your publication, offers and sales plans to the live coaching and build with my guidance.

Join 9-To-Thrive on Substack and choose a paid membership. Your Academy access, membership billing and member resources live there. There is no separate Academy purchase or course login.

Standard and VIP describe the level of support. Monthly and annual describe billing options; the subscription page shows the current choices.

The Academy grows as I add lessons, workshops and tools. Check the current Academy page for the module list and training availability before joining. Your next step is to use the available lessons to build your publication and offers.

No. You can focus on your Substack setup, audience, offers and sales. VIP includes advanced AI resources for members who want them. In private coaching, AI assistants are an optional focus chosen around your work and goals.

Choose an Audit for a personal review of your existing Substack and a prioritized plan. Choose the Setup Sprint to build the foundation with me in four private sessions.

Choose a Clarity Call to tackle one strategy decision in an hour. Choose private coaching for eight weeks tailored to your conversions, offers and launch, or AI assistants.

Compare the ways we can work together.

I review your positioning, pages, reader journey and offers. You receive a personal 15–20 minute video review and a prioritized 90-day action plan, with a download link to keep. Send your publication URL, revenue goals and timeline after purchase.

Delivery is within five business days of purchase. See the personal Audit page for pricing and details.

VIP includes a Substack Audit plugin. The personal Audit is a separate service: I review your publication myself and record your feedback. Choose it when you want my individual assessment and a plan for what to change first.

We build your Substack together over four private 60-minute Google Meet sessions, usually across two to three weeks. We work through your message and pages, settings and pricing, publishing system, and welcome journey with a growth plan.

It is done-with-you work on a shared screen, so you understand how to run what we build. See the Setup Sprint page for pricing and details.

Yes. Bring the publication you have and the decisions you are working through. We can improve its structure, clarify the promise and build the missing pieces. You do not need a finished offer before starting.

If your main goal is developing and launching an offer over a longer period, private coaching gives us eight weeks to focus on that work.

A Clarity Call is a private 60-minute strategy session. Bring your publication link, the decision you need to make and the outcome you want. We can work on your offer, positioning, pricing or next launch, and map the actions to take afterward.

It is separate from the VIP member strategy call and the discovery call after a private-coaching application. See the Clarity Call.

VIP combines Academy learning with a one-to-one strategy call and quarterly group coaching cohorts. Private coaching gives us eight weeks devoted to your business.

Choose the focus: build your Substack for conversions, develop and launch an offer, or create AI assistants that help you stay solo. We tailor the work to your needs. Explore private coaching.

Yes. Use the free calculator and enter your name and email before answering the questions, so your results can be sent to you. There is also a separate $47 calculator purchase, with a personal access link after payment.

Already a paid 9-To-Thrive member? Use your included member access instead of buying the calculator again.

Answer eight questions about your audience, experience, time and goals. The builder recommends an offer model to consider; you choose the specific offer, scope and price. Use it to decide what to develop next.

Standalone access costs $27. It is also included with Standard and VIP membership on Substack.

Use the Academy or your 9-To-Thrive member perks on Substack. Both tools are included with Standard and VIP. Sign in with the Substack account connected to your paid membership; you do not need to make a separate purchase.

The Substack subscription page shows membership prices and billing options. Website service pages and their checkout or booking pages show the terms for that service. Private-coaching investment and payment options are discussed after the application, on the discovery call.

Check the terms for the offer you choose rather than assuming one access period or payment plan applies to everything.

All sales are final. There are no refunds on digital products, courses, coaching, audits, calls, plugins or memberships. Substack memberships are billed by Substack, and you can cancel anytime in your Substack account settings. Read the full refund policy.

For a question about an existing purchase, contact me with the email address you used for the order.

My booking hours are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Available appointments appear on the booking page. We meet on Google Meet; your confirmed booking includes the meeting link.

Sprint clients and VIP members should use the booking instructions included with their purchase or membership.

Yes. The sponsorship page lists the audience, packages and rates. After purchasing a package, arrange the publication date directly with me and send your brief and assets. Checkout does not reserve a specific date.

Yes. Tell me where you are with your Substack, what you want it to do for your business and what is getting in the way. Send your question here, and we can identify the right next step.