How Brew Your Own Killed Print and Went 100% Digital (Without Killing the Business)
How Brew Your Own dropped print, kept its advertisers, and grew its email list going digital-only. The full playbook from Wally Wallace of 50 Fish
Category: Paywall Podcast
Rethinking the Publisher Drip Sequence
Small Boats converts free registrants with one welcome email. The Moss Report uses 18. Both work. Here’s how to match the right drip sequence to your audience.
Email List Cleaning for Publishers: The False Economy of Cutting Costs
Two publishers tried to fix their email costs this month. One deleted 30,000 contacts. The other cut daily to weekly. Both lost more in paid subscriptions than they saved on email. Here’s how to clean your list without killing your conversion engine.
What Newsletter Creators Know That Publishers Don’t (But Should)
Dylan Redekop shares how publishers can adopt a creator mindset, leveraging newsletters as products, boosting reply rates, and using cross-promotion to build a full-time business.
How The Moss Report Uses a Free Content Bundle and Email Drip to Convert More Subscribers
Ben Moss of The Moss Report lifted free registrations 20-30% with a curated content bundle and uses an 18-email drip campaign to convert free subscribers to paid. Here’s how the system works.
The $351M Vote of Confidence for Reader Revenue
Warren Buffett just invested $351M in the NYT. We unpack the metered paywall strategy behind this massive reversal and how to model it at your scale.
The Hidden Cost of the Discount Trap
A publisher’s Valentine’s Day promotion converted 80 subscribers but lost 379. Here’s what went wrong and the 4-part fix.
How AI is Destroying Publisher Traffic (And Why Registration Walls Are Your Only Defense)
Publisher traffic from Google dropped 30% as AI overviews kill clicks. The Fisherman tripled email signups with one strategy: free registration walls that block AI scrapers.
7 Subscription Mistakes That Cost the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Millions
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette could have generated $28 million annually from subscriptions. Instead, seven fundamental mistakes destroyed their revenue. Here’s what killed their subscription business.
How Mexico News Daily Built a 100% Reader Revenue Model (Without Ads)
Mexico News Daily runs on 100% reader revenue with zero ads. Here’s how Travis Bembenek built a subscription funnel that grows by giving readers a better experience.
Are subscriptions actually worth the customer service hassle?
Terrified that launching a paywall will turn your newsroom into a call center? We explain why the “customer service hassle” is optional and how modern tech like Stripe and passwordless logins can automate the friction away.
Why Publishers Must Automate Now
Discover how automating your newsletter strategy fixes broken conversion funnels, eliminates subscriber friction, and turns your list into a predictable stream of paid subscriptions.
How to Nurture Engaged Readers into Higher Subscription Tiers
Learn to simplify your subscription offerings, guide readers seamlessly from free registration to stable annual subscriber, and use effortless upgrade paths to unlock thousands in new monthly revenue.
The 3-Step Plan to Grow Your Email List 20% Faster
This article breaks down a proven 3-step framework designed to grow your email list 20% faster and turn those new sign-ups into loyal, paying subscribers.
How magazine publishers are thriving in today’s digital landscape
Is your publishing business still stuck in the past? Learn how to stop relying on old ad models and build a profitable, sustainable business by treating your content as a premium digital product.
How to Monetize Your Newspaper E-Edition: A Registration-First Strategy
From “flip book only” to whole‑site funnel: free registration, steady newsletters, and on‑site checkout with automatic renewals turned this local site into a reliable engine for traffic and subscriber revenue.
Cloudflare’s Pay-Per-Crawl: Sustainable Income or Just Spare Change?
Cloudflare’s Pay-Per-Crawl sounds great, but bot pennies won’t match real revenue. Email capture, solid newsletters, and fair subscriptions still win. Here’s the playbook.
The Truth About Paywall Evasion, AI, Google, and Passwords
Worried about AI scrapers, “remove-paywall” hacks, or shared logins? Learn which threats really hurt—and the simple tweaks that protect revenue without killing reach.
Why Clear Copy Converts Faster
Confused visitors rarely hit “Subscribe.” Use plain language to build instant trust and watch sign-ups rise on autopilot. Clear copy converts faster.
Finding Your Perfect Email Cadence: A Practical Guide for Publishers
Not getting the traction you want from your newsletters? You might be sending too little—discover the cadence that keeps your readers coming back for more.
Moving Past the Fear of Paywalls: Lessons from Four Publishers
Launching a paywall for the first time can feel intimidating. This blog walks through how four publishers—each starting from a different place—faced the fear, took the leap, and found what works.
How publishers should set content restrictions to drive paid subscriptions
What’s the right way to gate your content? We break down smart paywall setups and show how publishers are using them to drive paid subscriptions.
Black Friday Without the Profit Burn
A strong Black Friday doesn’t need to hurt long-term value. These Black Friday strategies protects your brand and builds subscriber trust.
A better email newsletter service creates growth for Mexico News Daily
Switching to Flowletter helped Mexico News Daily streamline their email workflow, improve reader access, and grow paid and free subscriptions.
Registration Walls vs Newsletter Signups: Why One Local Publisher Sees 16x Better Results
Salem Reporter’s registration wall generates 16x more signups than newsletter forms and converts 20% of free readers to paid subscribers. Here’s their formula.
The Subscription Page Formula: Best Practices Blueprint
How do you build a compelling subscription landing page? We show off high converting examples.
From YouTube Ads to Website Subscribers: Strategies for Sustainable Growth
Learn how a YouTuber musician sends his audience to his website and converts premium subscriptions
Maximizing Non-Profit Revenue and Reach: How KBIndependent Achieves Subscription Growth
We take a deep dive into how the Key Biscayne Independant is surging audience growth, donations, and paid subscriptions.
The impact of accessibility laws on publishers websites and how to stay compliant
AI and social media concerns are ramping up for publishers. So what do you do? We offer guidance.
How should publishers handle AI and social media today?
AI and social media concerns are ramping up for publishers. So what do you do? We offer guidance.
10 subscription promotions that actually work for publishers
We dive into successful promotional subscription strategies for publishers
Publisher Mastermind webinar: How to put subscriber Insights to work for your publication
Publisher Mastermind – How to put Leaky Paywall Insights to work for your publication
Publisher Mastermind webinar: How to easily set up your subscriber-only newsletter
Publisher Mastermind – Learn why and how to set up your free and subscriber-only newsletters
Unlocking Success: Salem Reporter’s 5-Month Journey to Audience and Revenue Growth
We dive into a case study on Salem Reporter, a local news publisher that has seen significant success in growing their revenue.
What percentage of your audience should be paid subscribers?
Paid digital subscriptions are becoming the largest share of revenue for publishers including the New York Times.
Publisher Mastermind webinar – How to nurture casual readers into paid subscribers
Publisher Mastermind with Q&A – Learn best practices for engaging and nurturing casual visitors on your website.
Special Episode: Pete stops by the Powered By Coffee podcast to talk paywall monetization strategy
Pete drops by the podcast Scale, from the Powered By Coffee team to chat about paywall monetization strategies with Stewart Ritchie.
3 ways AI will shake up your reader revenue
How do you target different types of readers? What registration setups work better than others? Find out…
How magazine publishers should approach reader revenue
How do you target different types of readers? What registration setups work better than others? Find out…
How to convert more readers with targeted messaging
How do you target different types of readers? What registration setups work better than others? Find out…
Motivate your readers to become paying subscribers with a drip email campaign
Have a free registration wall and want to improve paid conversions? A nurturing drip email campaign plays a key role.
Is Your Free Registration Hurting Your Paid Subscriptions?
In this videocast, Pete and Tyler discuss different types of free registration approaches and how some free registration setups work better than others.
Can a pay-per-article option actually boost subscriptions?
Pay per article allows readers to purchase single articles. Offering a pay per article option can help drive readers to subscribe if both options are shown in tandem with each other.
It’s your subscriber. It’s time to control your data.
It’s important to take control of data, be able to export it, transfer it easily from one system to another, etc., so that you have full access/control over your information & subscribers at all times.
Subscriber Behavior: What insights do you need?
It’s time to identify the articles that convert your new free and paid subscribers. By digging into this single metric, you can quickly learn more about what readers actually value and will pay for.
What are subscription retention best practices?
We received a question from Flyer Magazine on how best to handle subscriber retention emails. After reviewing the website, the video below turned into a retention and new subscriber generation session.
Upgrade your free newsletter with paid subscriber benefits
As a publisher, it’s important to have a newsletter to drive your visitors back to your website.
Is your website annoying your readers? Here are seven ways to make your website more reader-friendly.
Paywall Podcast E30: Publishers often redesign their sites and add features without considering how these changes will affect the user experience. As a result, many websites are difficult to navigate and use, causing frustration for readers who just want a smooth content experience. Step back to take a look at what you are actually doing to the reader experience.
How to easily produce a premium newsletter for your paid subscribers
Pete and Tyler discuss how to quickly update your existing newsletter into a value-add for your paid subscribers. It’s easy and you already have everything you need to make it happen and automate the workflow.
Will your paywall kill your website traffic (and ad revenue)?
Don’t be afraid of the paywall. Pete and Tyler will tell you why the long terms gains to traffic, readership, and revenue are worth it.