People Don’t Pay for Content—They Pay for This


Write • Build • Scale Sunday Digest

Write Better, Build Smarter & Scale Faster

Welcome to the Write • Build • Scale Sunday Digest, where we help you write better, build your audience, and scale your income through quick tips and actionable resources.


Fewer features, more benefits

We hosted our monthly Substack Growth Workshop this week and reviewed several paid offers to discuss what writers can do differently to make their paid tier on Substack more attractive.

One thing all reviews had in common is that writers often focus on the features of their paid subscription instead of highlighting the actual benefits.

For example, they describe their paid tier with bullet points like:

  • Weekly articles
  • Full access to the archive

But as a reader, I want to know what these resources will help me do.

So, if you are a health and fitness writer, for instance, I want you to highlight what your advice is going to do for me.

If you are writing about politics, I want to know why your point of view or opinion is different from all the content that I can access for free.

If you are writing about caregiving, I don't want you to tell me that you'll send me a weekly email. I want you to tell me what your email is going to do for my life.

Features describe what you offer.
Benefits explain why it matters to your audience.

Features are the tangible aspects of your paid tier—like the number of posts, access to archives, or community perks.

But benefits connect those features to real outcomes for the reader.

Instead of saying “weekly articles,” tell them how those articles will improve their health, save them time, or give them a unique perspective they can’t find elsewhere.

People don’t pay for content; they pay for transformation, insights, and results.

This is true regardless of what exactly you sell.

You can catch the replay of the entire workshop here.

We host these workshops every month with a different focus topic to give as much hands-on feedback as possible to our paid subscribers at Write • Build • Scale.


3 Ways to make $1,000/month

Whether you're just starting or looking to scale, these three ideas will help you turn your content into consistent income—without relying on luck, algorithms, or a massive audience.

If you’re serious about turning your writing into income, you'll love these practical, proven approaches.


Toxic preconditions are holding you back

Many writers struggle to get words on the page because of toxic preconditions—misguided beliefs about what writing must be to be worthwhile.

Perfectionism and high expectations often hold us back from showing up and doing what we want to do.

In this piece, Oliver Burkeman shares how the need for certainty can keep us stuck and what we can do differently to "break free."


What did you like most about this week's Sunday Digest?

Hit "reply" and let us know - we read every reply and respond to all questions! 💌

Keep writing, building, and scaling!
Sinem, Philip & Jari from Write • Build • Scale

Rüdengasse 4/4, 1030 Vienna, Austria
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