215 Comments
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Abi Akoms's avatar

I feel seen. Like you, I felt bad about adding a paywall and turned it off completely. I like the idea of “buy me a coffee” in my case a latte😀I’ll try it later today. Will anyone use it, maybe not but it doesn’t hurt to try. Thanks for the suggestion!

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Sunday Ripley's avatar

Lmk when you do it! 🤗

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Abi Akoms's avatar

I've set it up and added it to a few of my posts! This feels so much better than a paywall🥺

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Meera Menon's avatar

Yeah even I want to add, but not sure if I should add "buy me a coffee for com button" or kofi dot com button?

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Karl Dunn's avatar

I use BMAC but it can be buggy. I like the people. But they sometimes take days to get back to you. Haven't tried Kofi. Hope that helps./

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MomSharingStories's avatar

PS: I subscribed :)

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MomSharingStories's avatar

I am a latte person too!

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Rae Palmer's avatar

SUCH a good idea!! I've been operating under the 'maybe I'll turn paid subscribers on when I have more content' but it just hasn't felt right for me. I'm writing so people going through what I am don't feel as alone as I have. I don't want to put a wall on that, either! This is great, I'm going to work on it today.

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Sunday Ripley's avatar

Totally!

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Anthea's avatar

Mm, this is very helpful because Stripe isn't available in my country and so I can't be paid for my Substack! Going to be giving this a go!

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Sunday Ripley's avatar

Awesome! let me know how it goes!

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Eira Wynn, Keeper of Pages's avatar

I hadn't thought of this. Is it possible for you to pay for a subscription? Or do we cut ourselves off from huge potential audiences with a paywall, too?

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Zaid B. Hussain's avatar

The funny part for me is my country doesn't have Stripe but does have Stripe Express (which BMAC uses) so I'm like…

The heck? 😭

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Aaron KJ Marcus's avatar

Just wanted to express my thanks. I set up a "buy me coffee" link after reading this post. Found this really helpful. All the best.

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Sunday Ripley's avatar

Amazing! Glad it was helpful

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Robert Maxey's avatar

I am reminded of something we called Shareware.

Someone would create a program and it was freely copied and distributed.

The idea was, if you liked the software, you would pay the developer(s). Some paid and some did not pay.

It worked well for some devs.

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Sunday Ripley's avatar

Ugh I love that (the part where some paid haha). I love when humans are kind.

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Robert Maxey's avatar

Those days were exciting. I knew a few developers that did well with their shareware. Back then, the computer industry was exciting.

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Lion WithinYou's avatar

Apps or sites like that reminds me that the world has good souls in it.

Wikipedia, Blender etcetera

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Ula's avatar

What a great example... I for sure have paid for little software things, including a pretty flip clock lol

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Nicol Delk's avatar

I don't have my paywall turned on yet, I'm new around here, but I did set up a buy me a coffee. I love this idea.

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Emy Tafelski, PhD's avatar

I love how you detailed everything in this post. I find that things like this sometimes overwhelm me when I think of how to do it. This was really helpful.

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Sunday Ripley's avatar

Thank you! I personally can't deal with Ikea like instructions lol so I try to make everything super clear.

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Emy Tafelski, PhD's avatar

I generally try to do the same. As a therapist, I work with lots of folx with anxiety (and have my own) so I try to give clear instructions regarding logistics for appointments etc. I know that it is so helpful when others do that but I think it's pretty rare. I appreciate you.

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NOESIS STACK's avatar

Thank you 🙏 That was great, I’m considering setting it up in the future, I don’t know. I love the idea of making a few bucks even 1$ but at the same time, I didn’t start Substack to make money, it is more of a challenge and discovery for myself. What helped you decide to add the paid option?

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Sunday Ripley's avatar

I started substack to remember my love of writing and in doing so, I realized (again) how magical, but time consuming, writing is. Speaking for myself, I think I have a little bit of imposter syndrome, where I feel bad for charging someone to pay to read my posts. But if they can read it and then make a decision to give a few bucks, that feels right to me!

I've read your writing and it's amazing. You should set it up, I'd love to give some $!

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NOESIS STACK's avatar

Thank you for saying that, I definitely experience imposter syndrome. Maybe I will set it up in the near future.

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Charlotte Anderson's avatar

This is genius - love it! Thanks for the idea and enjoy your coffee 💕

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Heléna Kurçab's avatar

Ha ha, I’ve been trying for days to set this up and hadn’t quite got there but thanks to this post, I do believe “I can do it!” Thank you so much!

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World Stories, Told My Way's avatar

Thank you. I'm going to do this too. I'm now relying on income from creative endeavours but recognise that many people simply can't justify multiple subs in the current economic climate

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g.m.'s avatar

I’ve done this too because I just want all my words to be read regardless!! No one has brought me a coffee yet though!!

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Juliet RoseWarden🌹❤️‍🔥's avatar

Oooh wow! I needed this! I've been wanting to find more way to make extra money trickle in, even a little bit. But i don't post often enough to where i feel warrants a pay wall. And i don't like the idea of locking my posts with a pay wall cuz it annoys me when I'm on the readers end of it. (can't afford it.) so thanks!

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Harold Hubbard's avatar

Mine is wide open and free. I do like the Buy Me A Coffee idea but then a reader needs to do more than just reading and “liking” and leaving a comment. I’ll just say I have NONE of those! Lol! I’d rather the “like” and comments.

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Kirk Walden's avatar

I chipped in $2 for two reasons:

1) I think this is a way forward. Hoping Substack creates this feature.

2) I wanted to see how easy it was. And it is super simple.

Thank you!

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Lorrie Lush's avatar

I addedd a Buy Me a Coffee button to my posts and my site a while ago. No one has ever used it.

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