← Start a Paid Newsletter

Final exam: Start a Paid Newsletter

Ten questions, seven to pass. This tests whether the course’s key ideas actually stuck — not trivia, the concepts that matter. Pass and you bank 100 XP.

1. What is The Free Line?

The line in your budget between free and paid tools The exact boundary between free and paid content — drawn where curiosity peaks The subject line of your first free issue The point where you stop publishing for free

2. The 1,000 True Readers: 1,000 readers × $10/month equals what?

$1,000/month $10,000/month $100,000/month $12,000 a year

3. Why start free before launching paid?

Free platforms have better features Trust is the currency Paid tiers aren’t available to new accounts Free subscribers can’t ever convert to paid

4. Which statement about platform fees is correct?

Ghost takes 10% of paid revenue Substack takes 10% of paid revenue on top of payment processing Medium gives you full ownership of your email list Patreon charges a flat $25/month with 0% fees

5. June’s free issues are thin teasers and her paid tier is $30/month. Conversions are near zero. What’s the diagnosis?

The price is always the problem She needs more followers before anything will work Her Free Line is misplaced Teasers are the correct free strategy

6. What is a healthy monthly churn rate for a paid newsletter?

Under 25% Under 5% Under 15% Churn doesn’t matter if you’re growing

7. What is The Open Loop?

Ending an issue with an unanswered question the next issue answers Leaving typos in on purpose to seem authentic Publishing issues randomly, without any set schedule An email that never gets opened by anyone

8. What’s the highest-converting free growth channel for newsletters?

Buying ads on social media Posting more often on your own feed SEO-optimizing your archive Cross-promotions with similar-sized newsletters

9. When should you launch your paid tier?

On day one, before publishing anything After 8–12 consistent free issues and 500+ free subscribers Only after 10,000 free subscribers Paid tiers should never be launched — stay free forever

10. A newsletter charges $15/month with 200 paid subscribers. What’s the monthly revenue?

$1,500 $2,000 $3,000 $30,000