20 Lessons for Subscription Authors in 20 Sentences

By Michael Evans on October 23, 2023.

I am so grateful that 5,000+ of you have downloaded/listened to the free Subscriptions for Authors book (if you haven’t yet, you really should!).

But I also know… that many of you who downloaded it… didn’t actually read it. I get it… life is busy… there is lots going on…

So I wanted to sum up the entire book for you in 20 sentences.

Let’s do this thing. One sentence per chapter …

Subscriptions are a payment directly from a reader to an author for content or other agreed-upon value.
Subscriptions enable authors to sell directly to readers through ownership of data, content, pricing, and the reader experience.
For readers, subscriptions provide an opportunity to get access to stories they love, bonus content, community experiences, and more; for authors, subscriptions provide an opportunity to generate recurring revenue, expand your income, and give your readers more of what they love.
The currency of subscriptions is trust and whether you choose to start a subscription or not, you will always benefit by nurturing trust in your readers so that they continue to come back for more stories from you.
Subscriptions are about being consistent, underpromising and over delivering, and choosing benefits and a schedule that will be sustainable and enjoyable for you.
Your primary goal for your subscription will determine how you structure your subscription and what changes you choose to make to it in the future.
There are three core parts to creating a subscription: your page name and branding, your tier(s) price point and tier copy, and the content/benefits of your subscription.
The best tier benefits are at the intersection of what you are interested in, what your readers are interested in, and the strengths and resources you have to deliver those benefits.
Early access is a common subscription benefit where readers get access to your story before they are released elsewhere — this can be on any cadence that you want, so long as it is as consistent as possible.
Other subscription models that authors successfully run are exclusive or bonus content, physical rewards (think signed books), or a community/fan engagement model.
When pricing your subscription, we highly recommend to start your tiers at $5 per month or higher and to utilize multiple pricing tiers to cater to different readers’ willingness to pay.
When setting up your subscription, strive for getting your first paid subscriber fast and efficiently rather than creating the perfect page.
Marketing your subscription is not about the singular moment you launch, but instead creating repeatable entry points that get readers over the edge from free to following and following to paid tiers.
For your first subscription launch (launch 1.0), focus on delivering a message that feels authentic to you and your readers, and continue creating “mini-launches” or moments of excitement to bring new fans into your subscription (maybe you launched a new benefit or started a new story inside your membership or maybe you are running a limited time discount for one of your tiers).
Welcoming readers into your subscription is a crucial point to increase their retention (length of their subscription) and most-often authors utilize a welcome email that delivers new subscribers key information on the benefits they get in their subscription, how to utilize the subscription platform, and thanks them for their support.
Managing your subscription is all about keeping your existing fans happy, typically by consistently delivering on your promises and creating a great experience for your readers during the three core reader retention points (the first moment they join your subscription, the first week of their membership, and the first month).
Subscriptions are all about making tweaks to figure out what works best for you and your readers — the key is that less is more… if you start or change too much at once, it will be challenging to tell what is working.
If your subscription isn’t going as planned you may want to try re-launching your subscription with a new benefit that will be sustainable for you and more attractive to your readers (i.e. maybe your readers want your backlist instead of early access).
Scaling the profit of your subscription can happen in one of three ways: (1) you increase the number of paid members in your subscription, (2) you increase the length of time the average reader spends subscribed to you, (3) you increase the average amount that a reader pays you per month.
Ultimately, subscriptions are what you make of it — there is no one way to succeed in subscriptions as an author, the only thing you must do is start .

And that’s it! 20 Lessons About Subscriptions in 20 Sentences — all inspired from the Subscriptions for Authors Book.

If you read all these lessons, there are actually some new insights that aren’t in the book! That’s because every week we keep learning more about subscriptions… which means at some point there might need to be a new edition of the book .

In the meantime, if you haven’t read the Subscriptions for Authors book, you really should. It’s free on all retailers, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

P.S. If you want an even deeper dive into subscriptions, Cohort 2.0 of the Six-Figure Subscription Author Accelerator opens in 10 days. Join the waitlist here.