8 min read · Written by Grant Rayner on 06 Dec 2023
Share by emailLast week, I introduced subscription products, exploring the benefits and covering some high-level considerations for pricing and promotion.
Articles are a good example of a subscription product.
Using applications like Substack, you can write an article every day or once a week. You can then offer people the option to pay a subscription fee to access these articles. Alternatively, you could also have the option to allow people to sign up for free, but they won’t get the benefit of reading the full articles. They may also not be able to access the full archive of articles. Another option is to alternate between free articles and paid articles. If you took this approach, your paid articles would need to offer substantially more value than your free articles.
In this article (which is available for paid subscription), I’ll discuss the benefits of articles in the context of a subscription product. I’ll also cover the revenue opportunities, as well as some of the potential challenges you might face.
Let’s start with the positive aspects of articles as a subscription product.
I discussed the benefits of subscription products in general terms last week. These benefits remain valid for articles. A key benefit from a business standpoint is the potential to add another revenue stream to your business. However, from my perspective, articles provide some less tangible benefits that are still important for building a healthy business.
Let’s explore a few of these benefits in more detail:
When considering articles as part of a larger business, your articles can provide you with the opportunity to promote your other products and services. If people are paying to subscribe to your articles, there’s a good chance that they will also be interested in purchasing your books or training courses. That’s certainly been the case for me.
From my own experience, nothing happened for the first six months of writing articles. Then, I started having like-minded people connecting with me. I’ve had multiple video calls with people all around the world talking about different aspects of crisis management and travel security. These conversations have not only expanded my network, but have also expanded my knowledge and perspectives. I’ve also had senior security professionals refer my articles to members of their teams. There have also been several full-time job opportunities directly related to my articles.
Article subscriptions could be your primary revenue stream. However, it would take time to build the number of subscribers necessary to build a revenue stream that would compete with revenue from other services, such as consulting.
As an example, let’s say your target revenue is $15,000 per month. If you were to offer article subscriptions for $5 per month, you would need 3,000 subscribers to hit your revenue target. That’s possible, however don’t underestimate how difficult it will be to gain 3,000 subscribers interested in your chosen security specialisation.
In practice, it will be difficult to determine the revenue potential for your articles until you get started. An effective approach is to start a subscription product, then build your subscriptions over time. Learn about your audience and adjust your approach as you go.
Let’s briefly touch on a few other ways you could earn revenue from articles.
You could include the option for people to give you donations. Even if you offer a paid subscription service, you could still provide the option for subscriber and non-subscribers to provide donations.
Another way to increase revenue for your articles is to allow companies to sponsor articles. Sponsorships are a common practice, and many blogs that are free to readers are subsidised by sponsorships. While it’s possible to do both, most people would either charge subscribers or have sponsors.
To attract revenue from sponsors, you will need to have a substantial subscriber base. Your subscriber base would also need to be the target market for your sponsors. For example, if you were writing about video surveillance technology, you could ask an integrated security vendor (an installer of security equipment) to sponsor your article. Be careful with this approach. If you were writing an article about video surveillance technology and chose a CCTV manufacturer as a sponsor, it may suggest that you’re promoting their products.
Another option is to have advertisements in your articles. One of the risks with ads is that they may impact your subscribers’ perceptions of your work. As with paid sponsorships, if you’re using ads, you probably don’t want to also ask people to pay an ongoing subscription fee.
Let’s shift focus from revenue to promotion. I’ll then share some of my experiences, and will wrap up with some additional points to consider before you set up your own publication.
Once you’ve set up your publication and have written your first article, you’ll need to consistently promote your publication to build your subscribers. As soon as you launch your publication, promote it through your website and social media. I recommend joining related LinkedIn groups and promoting your publication to those groups. Then, whenever you post an article, share a link to that article on LinkedIn and other social media platforms. You can share under your company account and your personal account.
If you don’t actively promote your publication and each article, you won’t be able to grow your subscribers. Active promotion is essential to the success of your publication.
I currently have two Substack publications: Business of Security and Dangerous Travels. As with many initiatives, I’ve treated subscription articles as an experiment. My primary objectives are to build my knowledge, share my knowledge, and promote my services. Earning revenue from these articles is a tertiary objective at best.
I had planned to write a book on the “Business of Security”, but found I was struggling to carve out time to write consistently. So I made the decision to start writing and releasing sections of the book as articles on Substack. Why not just make it free? There’s a few reasons. First, unlike Dangerous Travels and 51CM (discussed below), the Business of Security does not showcase my knowledge and experience in my areas of speciality. There’s nothing I write about here that will translate to future work opportunities. Therefore there’s no benefit to me in achieving reach. Second, I consider this writing to be work and I consider the articles to have value. It doesn’t make sense to work for free or to provide value for free.
Dangerous Travels is another publication on Substack that will be only be active for 2023. In this publication, I’m writing one article a week on travel security. For Dangerous Travels, I’ve provided an option for people to pay to subscribe if they feel the need to support my work. Very few have, which is both understandable and expected.
Dangerous Travels followed 51CM, which was my first foray into articles in 2022. 51CM involved me writing one article a week on crisis management. This publication was entirely free, with no option to pay for subscription. I compiled the 51 articles from 51CM and published them as a book this year. I’ll be doing the same for Dangerous Travels next year.
I’ve come across some obvious challenges. The key challenge is that I’m writing about relatively niche topics which do not have broad appeal. This fact limits the number of people likely to want to subscribe to my publications. A second challenge is the willingness of people to pay to subscribe. More on this shortly.
Before wrapping up, let’s consider a few other aspects relating to writing articles that are relevant for your business.
In a strict sense, writing an article (or a book) presents an opportunity cost. You could be using this time to either market or deliver consulting services, which will probably have a higher return than articles.
In reality, you’ll have enough spare time per week to write at least one article. Instead of viewing writing articles as an opportunity cost, see it as promotion. Every article you write and publish will make at least one new person aware of your expertise in your area of speciality. Another way to think of articles is as a way to dive deeper into a particular topic. From my own experience, I’ve built up my knowledge in specific areas as a result of research for articles.
In short, articles present an opportunity to build awareness of your capabilities while also improving those capabilities.
While I’m confident you can carve out time each week for writing, it’s important you recognise that maintaining a regular writing routine can be challenging. Even more so if you have other projects going on. If you’re charging people money to subscribe to your articles, you have an obligation to deliver high quality articles at a set frequency. You don’t have the luxury of slackening off. I’ve had to write articles when on other projects, writing on planes, in cafes, and in hotel lobbies.
The key here is to make a sober assessment of the time commitment before you start your new publication. Once you’ve started, block time in your calendar for writing so you’re able to ensure you can publish on time each week.
If you’re interested in writing a book, writing articles is an excellent way to start your journey. Even if you don’t plan to write a book, there’s nothing stopping you from compiling your articles into a book. I’ve taken this approach with 51CM, and I’ll be doing the same with Dangerous Travels. Some of the articles in Dangerous Travels are early drafts for a book I’m writing on information security for travellers. This publication, the Business of Security, is very likely to end up as a book within a few years.
Even if you don’t plan to write a book when you first set out, you’ll find that your confidence will build after you publish your first few dozen articles. Within a few months of writing weekly articles, you’ll find yourself sitting on a substantive pile of good material that people would pay to read in another format.
Overall, my impression is that most people are tired of paying subscriptions. From software subscriptions to Netflix subscriptions, people are becoming increasingly aware of the incrementally increasing cost of maintaining all of their subscriptions and will look for opportunities to cull them when they can.
When it come to newsletter subscriptions, most people will only be willing to pay for one or two subscriptions. In fact, I expect the vast majority of people will want to avoid paying for newsletter subscriptions altogether. You’ll need to consider subscription fatigue as you plan your approach.
Overall, I’m a strong advocate for writing articles. If there was one thing I wish I had started years ago, that would be it. Writing articles is an excellent way to demonstrate competence and to build your network. While I certainly couldn’t consider the money I earn from subscriptions to my articles to contribute in a significant way to my overall revenue, I know for a fact that I’ve won several projects because people have read my work. That counts for something.