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Manna From Heaven: Where Did This Money Come From?
Figuring Out Earnings From Substack
Since making the commitment to get serious on Substack, I’ve been continually trying to figure out how and when writers get paid. On Medium, I get daily statistics on earnings. On the first day of each month, I know what I’ve made the previous month, and I can project within a couple of days when a payment from Stripe will hit my bank account. I may disagree or not understand a dozen things about Mediums algorithms and the Boosting program, but I do know what to expect in terms of when and how much.
Medium clearly outlines what it does share, and I have come to rely on its reports. Substack tells me hourly about how many paid subscribers I have and my gross annualized revenue(GAR). There are four ways for subscribers to support me: monthly subscriptions, with a minimum of $5. There are annual subscriptions for $40 to my newsletter. I have a couple of “Founding Members” who’ve contributed $100 for a yearly subscription, and until I reach 150 stories on Substack (projected sometime in September), anyone could still subscribe for free. I’m thankful for all those who chose a paid membership when they didn’t have to.
I’ve read conflicting information about how/when Substack makes payments. They are clear that payments are received within 48 hours of transactions. I also read that they make payouts monthly, while elsewhere, I read that they make them weekly. I’ve discovered no report that I can translate to a deposit amount. The gross annualized earnings don’t tell me my net profits and how much Stripe will deduct after that.’
I got serious about Substack on July 9, 2024, and within a day or two, I got my first paid subscriber. That week, I got a few annual subscribers as well as more monthly ones. A couple of weeks later, I got a couple of Founding Members, and my gross annualized revenue reached almost $500. I’m now at 12 paid subscribers with a GAR of $622, all money I never counted on while free memberships were available. I still had no idea how that translated to income. I’d thought that Substack would calculate earnings at the end of the month and that payment would be received somewhere between two to fifteen days based on conflicting things I’ve read.
