A few really thoughtful questions came in under this post about when to turn on the paywall and how to actually get a Substack publication set up the right way.
One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of creators aren’t stuck on writing.
They’re stuck at the very beginning: choosing the name, structuring the publication, setting up the paywall, and getting the first article ready.
Because of that, I’m hosting a small live working session this Friday called "From Unstuck to Published", where we build the publication step-by-step together.
If you're someone who has been meaning to start a Substack but hasn't actually launched yet, it may be helpful.
Thank you! I’m glad that section landed. A lot of creators struggle with deciding what should be free vs paid, so I wanted to make that part as clear as possible.
Appreciate the straightforward answer. I was trying to figure out where to put that paywall line in my posts so it didn’t feel disruptive. 100% agree with your suggestion.
Hi, Judy! I’m glad you found this article about the paywall straightforward! When you insert the paywall, you can see it in the draft; however, once the article is published the paywall line is invisible. No one can see it.
You want to be strategic where you insert the paywall. You don’t want to insert it too early into the article that the free people get no value and end up possibly annoyed or upset. you also don’t wait to give all the paid info away for free either.
you want to “tease” the free subs with whatever preview of the article they get.
Keep the story or the problem and the lesson learned from the experience all above the paywall, but if you are going to give an execution plan or a solution for how the reader can avoid or overcome the problem/experience you went through or the mistake you made, thats behind the paywall.
I started a paid subscription, but I haven’t done anything with it yet because (just like you said) we need to have a foundation first. But once I gain that foundation this will be super helpful. Thanks 😊
Hi, April! Thank you for sharing! I’m planning to host a live workshop this Friday at 7PM EST called From Unstuck to Published where you bring your laptop and we can either start your publication from scratch and build it right the first time or you can come with your publication already in place and once the 60 minute workshop is done we can look at yours and see what needs to be improved. But it’s all foundational stuff. So not really developing or refining the offer. But I can also help you a bit now if you’d like with your paid offer and see if it’s solid and if so then just update the foundations. I’m happy to help.
Really useful - is there a stage at which you would recommend adding a paywall, or is it unique to every different person and just a matter of personal choice?
Thank you, Claire! I’m glad you found it useful. If you want to enable paid subscriptions I would do it as soon as you have your paid subscription offer ready. If you plan to go paid, then the sooner the better.
Useful advice - thanks. I'm not there yet, but its definitely something I've started to toy with more. Maybe time to do a bit more deliberate thinking around the concept.
You’re very welcome! If you need anything let me know. But start with the outcome of the offer. What are you helping or teaching or giving your audience to achieve that outcome. Then make an offer around it. Refine it make sure it’s good. Figure out your angle and positioning. Your posting schedule for free and paid articles and connect stripe and turn on paid subs!
No, as of 2026, Stripe has not added Nigeria to its list of directly supported countries. This means you cannot simply sign up on stripe.com with a Nigerian address, BVN, or local bank account and start processing payments.
Unfortunately, but there's a workaround many Nigerian creators use:
You can register a US business entity (LLC) through services like Stripe Atlas ($500) or cheaper alternatives like Bizee or Doola, then open a US bank account using Geepay, Wise, or Grey. Once you have those set up, you can connect Stripe to Substack.
It's a bit of setup, but it's the standard legal path that thousands of creators in Nigeria (and other unsupported countries) use to accept paid subscriptions on Substack.
Super helpful post. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on when you launch paid to your audience. I know a lot of people say do paid from the beginning but what is your opinion on a magic number 1,000? 5,000? Imo you need to build trust and value before you ask people to pay.
Thank you, Luisa! I’m glad you found it helpful. If monetizing your substack is what you want to do then I would enable paid subscriptions as soon as you have your paid subscription offer ready. If you plan to go paid, then the sooner the better. There’s no magic number. You don’t need a huge audience. You just need an audience who likes and trusts you and who will buy from you. If you have 100 solid subscribers with problems you can solve for them with a specific achievable out come you are ready to sell and they are ready to buy. So make sure before you turn on paid, you know what outcome you’re promising to the reader and develop your paid subscription offer. Once you had a solid offer, turn on paid. Don’t wait! I hope this helps you. -Jessica
Such a simple explanation to an important concept that I could easily follow and understand. You are absolutely right on the clarity aspect that takes much more time to establish and for me sometimes even after having that base, I still keep refining
Thank you so much, Dheeraj! It’s so simple yet very important but like you said it almost is something that is in constant refinement. Which is good, you want to refine and fine tune the offer based on what’s working or not or what value you feel you could better provide!
A few really thoughtful questions came in under this post about when to turn on the paywall and how to actually get a Substack publication set up the right way.
One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of creators aren’t stuck on writing.
They’re stuck at the very beginning: choosing the name, structuring the publication, setting up the paywall, and getting the first article ready.
Because of that, I’m hosting a small live working session this Friday called "From Unstuck to Published", where we build the publication step-by-step together.
If you're someone who has been meaning to start a Substack but hasn't actually launched yet, it may be helpful.
You can see the details here:
https://unstucktopublished.substack.com/p/build-your-substack-in-one-sessionfrom?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
this was super helpful! thank you!
Thank you! I’m glad that section landed. A lot of creators struggle with deciding what should be free vs paid, so I wanted to make that part as clear as possible.
It’s a great information. I didn’t know it but now I know. Thank you for sharing this 👍
i’m glad you found it helpful, Biriz! if you need anything just reach out or if you have any other questions let me know!
Sure I will. Thank you Jessica
you're very welcome, Biriz!
This is very helpful for a new Substack writer like me. Thank you!
you're welcome, Alexandra!
if you have anymore questions about the paywall, i'm happy to help!
plus, i wrote a follow-up email about 4 questions asked about the substack paywall!
https://www.unstucktopublished.com/p/3-questions-about-substack-paywall?r=2glptb&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Appreciate the straightforward answer. I was trying to figure out where to put that paywall line in my posts so it didn’t feel disruptive. 100% agree with your suggestion.
Hi, Judy! I’m glad you found this article about the paywall straightforward! When you insert the paywall, you can see it in the draft; however, once the article is published the paywall line is invisible. No one can see it.
You want to be strategic where you insert the paywall. You don’t want to insert it too early into the article that the free people get no value and end up possibly annoyed or upset. you also don’t wait to give all the paid info away for free either.
you want to “tease” the free subs with whatever preview of the article they get.
Keep the story or the problem and the lesson learned from the experience all above the paywall, but if you are going to give an execution plan or a solution for how the reader can avoid or overcome the problem/experience you went through or the mistake you made, thats behind the paywall.
I started a paid subscription, but I haven’t done anything with it yet because (just like you said) we need to have a foundation first. But once I gain that foundation this will be super helpful. Thanks 😊
Hi, April! Thank you for sharing! I’m planning to host a live workshop this Friday at 7PM EST called From Unstuck to Published where you bring your laptop and we can either start your publication from scratch and build it right the first time or you can come with your publication already in place and once the 60 minute workshop is done we can look at yours and see what needs to be improved. But it’s all foundational stuff. So not really developing or refining the offer. But I can also help you a bit now if you’d like with your paid offer and see if it’s solid and if so then just update the foundations. I’m happy to help.
Really useful - is there a stage at which you would recommend adding a paywall, or is it unique to every different person and just a matter of personal choice?
Thank you, Claire! I’m glad you found it useful. If you want to enable paid subscriptions I would do it as soon as you have your paid subscription offer ready. If you plan to go paid, then the sooner the better.
Useful advice - thanks. I'm not there yet, but its definitely something I've started to toy with more. Maybe time to do a bit more deliberate thinking around the concept.
You’re very welcome! If you need anything let me know. But start with the outcome of the offer. What are you helping or teaching or giving your audience to achieve that outcome. Then make an offer around it. Refine it make sure it’s good. Figure out your angle and positioning. Your posting schedule for free and paid articles and connect stripe and turn on paid subs!
Great stuff. Clear and helpful, especially the section on Context, Insight, Depth.
thank you so much for reading, Gustavo! i’m glad you found it helpful and useful!!🤝
Thanks for breaking this down so clearly! This was helpful.
You’re welcome, Alexis! I’m glad you found it helpful and clear. I appreciate you reading.
Mrs Jessica Drapluk.
I am Nigerian. I am having problems in building a stripe account. Isn't it available for my country?
Hi Grace,
No, as of 2026, Stripe has not added Nigeria to its list of directly supported countries. This means you cannot simply sign up on stripe.com with a Nigerian address, BVN, or local bank account and start processing payments.
Unfortunately, but there's a workaround many Nigerian creators use:
You can register a US business entity (LLC) through services like Stripe Atlas ($500) or cheaper alternatives like Bizee or Doola, then open a US bank account using Geepay, Wise, or Grey. Once you have those set up, you can connect Stripe to Substack.
It's a bit of setup, but it's the standard legal path that thousands of creators in Nigeria (and other unsupported countries) use to accept paid subscriptions on Substack.
Hope this helps! Jessica
I use it for two purposes: one, as you described. Second, when I want to protect a more sensitive, personal post from the wild, hostile Internet.
those are great purposes!!
I also use it to protect for personal or confidential info only for paid subs that I dont need the hostile crazy internet seeing if they’re not paid!!
Super helpful post. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on when you launch paid to your audience. I know a lot of people say do paid from the beginning but what is your opinion on a magic number 1,000? 5,000? Imo you need to build trust and value before you ask people to pay.
Thank you, Luisa! I’m glad you found it helpful. If monetizing your substack is what you want to do then I would enable paid subscriptions as soon as you have your paid subscription offer ready. If you plan to go paid, then the sooner the better. There’s no magic number. You don’t need a huge audience. You just need an audience who likes and trusts you and who will buy from you. If you have 100 solid subscribers with problems you can solve for them with a specific achievable out come you are ready to sell and they are ready to buy. So make sure before you turn on paid, you know what outcome you’re promising to the reader and develop your paid subscription offer. Once you had a solid offer, turn on paid. Don’t wait! I hope this helps you. -Jessica
Such a simple explanation to an important concept that I could easily follow and understand. You are absolutely right on the clarity aspect that takes much more time to establish and for me sometimes even after having that base, I still keep refining
Thank you so much, Dheeraj! It’s so simple yet very important but like you said it almost is something that is in constant refinement. Which is good, you want to refine and fine tune the offer based on what’s working or not or what value you feel you could better provide!
Very helpful! Thank you!
I’m glad it was helpful for you, George! If you ever have questions feel free to reach out!
Great insights!
Thanks, Chris! If you ever need any help with your publication let me know I got you!
Really helpful thank you