changes to my pricing

please read if you are a paid sub!!!!!!

Soon, I’ll be changing my subscription model. It won’t affect the value of this newsletter but it will change how you pay.

I’d been thinking about this in new year but I wanted to look into your feedback first and see if I could understand my year financially before I made the decision. I know change is ~gross~ but in order for me to continue running this space, and grow it, I knew I needed change but didn’t know how. I realised I’d been running this space for five years and have rarely been able to forecast what I actually make here per year.

So, I asked around and was advised by substack creators – who are much more successful than me – to either:

- put everything behind a paywall
or
- continue free and paid but up my monthly sub price

Neither felt right. Instead I’ve come to another decision.

The monthly price of this newsletter will increase, but the annual price will stay the same (which is better value than the original monthly price). Technically, it won’t increase the price of the newsletter – and will actually make it cheaper over a year – but it will ask paid subs to change how they pay by doing it annually instead of monthly.

I want to be transparent and explain why I’ve made this choice, but firstly let me prioritise how it will affect you and your pocket because that’s more important.

I pay an annual sub of £50? How will this affect me?
It won’t. You probably chose an annual sub because you were able to pay that upfront and cause it was better value than paying for 12 months separately. This is exactly the model I’m introducing so you need to do absolutely nothing!

I pay a monthly sub of £5? How will this affect me?
You’ll have to decide if you’d like to pay for this space (and towards my work) for the next year or not, by April 1st when the monthly price will rise. The annual sub costs you less – over a year – than the total of paying 12 monthly subs.

You can find out how easy it is to change your plan from monthly to annual here

If you can’t afford the year, remember that the 70% off solidarity discount is there for those without income to pay.

Also! I’ll be posting, doing notes and social media content to remind people to change your subs before April 1st.

I’m a free sub but what if I want to go paid?
If you want to access to the book club, advice column, and more political and personal writing, the pricing will encourage you to sub for a year rather than each month. Again, with an annual sub the outright payment is higher, but it costs overall is less.

I realise this means some people may not be able to pay outright, but again stressing that the 70% off solidarity discount is there to use as is the 2 month free trial if you’d like to try before you buy.

Now for the why…

I felt really hesitant to change anything here for fear of losing people. I make a supplemental income from Gina’s Space but no way near enough to support myself at all, which is absolutely fine. I never expected to. Problem is though, my paid subs go up and down a lot every month and it has meant that I really struggle to know what I’m making from this platform. This was less of an issue when I had a part-time job to support me and pay rent, but I made the important decision to leave and I’m training at the moment in primary prevention of gendered violence. An annual subscription model will mean I will know what I make from this place per year. And when I know my paid community is stable for a calendar year, I can invest in it differently. I have been investing in this platform for a small income with no changes to pricing even though subs have risen for five years, but I want to develop it (which looks like collabs, paying experts to write, offline event and more). Doing that, though requires some stability.

You might be thinking, “well why don’t you just make it an annual subscription only newsletter?” and to that I’d say “I want to! But substack doesn’t bloody let you. So I have to do it this weird way.”

So, this is me asking for more financial stability and inviting you to change your monthly sub to a yearly sub to support that. If you value this space and want to stay here to be part of its growth and community, again, that will mean doing so before April 1st.

This is all a test and learn process for me too so any questions, concerns or comments please add below and we can figure it out together! If this new model doesn’t work I am always open to re-evaluating, too.

I wanted to finish by saying no pressure and no expectation from me here. Do what works for you.

Thank you so much,

G x

Find out how easy it is to change your plan from monthly to annual here.