Things I do that have helped my stack.

I set very low fees. A lot of small contributions add up to income and are a lot better than none. I don’t have donors or a paywall. It’s all up to readers volunteering to keep the writing coming.

I offer monthly Zoom conversations about writing craft for paid subscribers. They are well attended. People meet each other and like each other. This has led to smaller writing workshops for an extra fee. Writers and readers are also invited to send ahead a question about their own projects that we entertain.

I never ask subscribers directly to upgrade to paid subscription via email. They don’t like it. They feel corralled. They want to come on their own when they feel like it.

I remind readers in the posts that it’s necessary to take a turn at a paid contribution because there is always churn of people unsubscribing. Unless new subscribers come in to take their place, the thing won’t survive. The new contributors have at least to keep pace with the churn.

I remind subscribers they can unsubscribe from a paid subscription at any time and I will send them a thank you note and not try to twist their arm to stay.

I include prompts with each post, and there is never a paywall for the posts. There never will be. People read the stack because they enjoy the writing, so why would I want to limit that? Also, the growth of the stack is a hundred percent owing to readers and word of mouth. There is no advertising and to my knowledge Stackland does not promote my writing in its recommendations. I don’t even think my work has been classified in a genre. It’s okay. These methods so far are working.