By Michael Evans on July 10, 2023.
STOP trying to make your subscription pretty.
STOP trying to have the perfect launch.
Instead, focus on one thing.
TTFD.
What in the heck is that?
Time To First Dollar.
How much money, time, and energy does it take you to get your first fan in the door?
And how can you decrease that as much as possible?
And how can you devote your resources to the most high-value activities (most likely for all of us writing!) that can help us get to that first paying subscriber the fastest?
Here’s what you need to get started with your subscription:
- One chapter/story
- One benefit/reward
- One tier (at one price point or multiple price points for the same benefit)
- One subscription page name + banner image (you don’t even need a tier image!)
- One marketing channel/post (think newsletter launch to email subscribers etc.)
That’s it.
To set all of this up takes less than a half hour… the thing that takes the most time… thinking through it all and plotting it out in our minds.
I totally get that… I do the same thing myself.
But it’s why I challenge you to just think about three things when you start your subscription… all of it under the principle of derisking your subscription as much as possible.
Why derisking your subscription?
I can’t promise that your subscription will be successful or that you will even have one paying fan (I know it’s possible for all of you, but possibilities and promises are two different things).
What I can promise is that if you derisk the subscription process from the start you will spend minimal time, minimal effort, and minimal dollars (or zero) testing to see if subscriptions are right for you.
And you can move on with no pain or sweats if it doesn’t work.
So how do you get started plotting out your one benefit, your one tier, and your one marketing attempt simply?
Think about your answer to these three questions in this order:
How can I make this sustainable for me for this month? (not some far-off future, let’s focus on the now… your benefits can change with time). THIS IS YOUR ONE BENEFIT.
What is a price point that makes this worthwhile for me and is aligned with reader expectations/willingness to pay? (My hack is to come up with three price points for the same benefits and let your fans support you at the level they want… no more agonizing over the perfect pricing strategy… you don’t need a perfect pricing strategy on day one).
What is the easiest way I can let my readers know who are most likely to be interested in the benefit I’m offering? (doesn’t need to be a full launch campaign at first… just one email or IG post works) THIS IS YOUR ONE MARKETING ATTEMPT
Now I know what you’re thinking:
- I don’t work like this, I need my launches to be big and beautiful.
- What if this fails?
- What if my readers hate this?
- What if no one signs up?
First of all, it’s okay if this mindset isn’t for you. However, if you are the majority of authors in the SFA community reading this who haven’t yet launched their subscription yet but are interested in it (this is the data we have from surveys you all have filled out) then maybe getting a simple, low-stress start, is just what you need to learn more about subscriptions and start testing your membership out in the wild.
Okay, that sounds great… but SERIOUSLY what if it fails?
This first test is just the beginning!
With one benefit, one price point, and one marketing activity you now can easily diagnose the problem.
Either, the benefit isn’t interesting to your fans. The price point doesn’t resonate (this is rare, especially when you give your fans multiple tier options to support you for the same benefit). Or the marketing activity didn’t work.
Now what do you do?
You come to the Subscriptions for Authors Facebook Group.
You share your successes and your failures. And we will all help you.
Each story is individual, and each author subscription is.
For some authors, their benefit may be great, their marketing activity me be on point and their price point is great… but they may not have a fan who is interested in signing up yet.
That’s okay!
Because you focused on the Time to First Dollar framework, you spent minimal time, effort, and energy setting your subscription up… and now that link can be live forever for readers to join.
Now you can focus the rest of your time on the high-value activities that will generate more fans who are willing to sign up for your subscription… writing great stories and sharing them in networks/platforms/places folks who like your stories are likely to hang out.
That sounds like a gross oversimplification.
It is!
But that again is what this Facebook group is for. Share your genres + premise with us and we as a hive mind can offer you advice on where you may be best to share it with the world.
And since you are focused on making it sustainable and fun for you… you will be able to invest in finding fans over the long term and building trust in your audience… and as those fans trust you, want to support you, and want more of your story goodness… they will know the best place to go to do just that… your subscription.
It’s about the long game.
It’s about the fun game.
And it’s about STARTING the game.
It all begins with one tier, one benefit, and one way to let the world know about it.
The worst that could happen?
No one joins for now.
And what if someone does join?
Well, you just got your first paid subscriber! And we can then celebrate that in this group with you!! And if you are feeling really kind, you can share with us your Time to First Dollar story… how long did it take you to get your first paying subscriber… and what did you do to get there?
Yes. One paying subscriber is a huge accomplishment.
And every single author with hundreds or thousands today started with zero.
And then one, and then two, and then you get the picture…
Hopefully this message today helps you get one step closer to your first subscriber.
And if you have already launched or, even more exciting, if you already have a paid subscriber… we’d love to hear about it!
We are all in this together. A community of authors building communities of our readers as we shape the future of publishing to be one where Authors are more powerful than platforms, retailers, and publishers.
A future where Storytellers Rule the World.
Come join us.
Just don’t forget about TTFD 
.