How I Get 21% of My Medium Subscribers Upgrade to Paid
My Medium-to-Substack Funnel in 5 Simple Steps
You don’t have to leave Medium for Substack.
Actually, that would be kind of stupid thing to do. A thing I did last year because I was too frustrated to see the opportunities in the downturn. There always are some.
Writing for the algorithm is not an option, that’s for sure.
I needed control.
I wanted a more stable model to build my business on.
I wanted a way to turn my Medium audience into something that actually moves my writing business forward.
Here’s exactly how I built my Medium-to-Substack funnel — the one that helped me make five figures from writing while Medium paid me literal cents.
You can start building yours today.
The Strategy
I stopped counting on earnings from Medium. I started using it as social media — a way to improve my Substack SEO and a source of new subscribers.
It works.
Those became one of my favorite notifications:
And the best part: I’ve got 21% free to paid subscribers conversion rate from Medium. That simply rocks.
You can get that data from your subscribers report on Substack. You have to export and analyze it, it’s not in the charts (you know I’m a nerd :)).
Full disclosure, I’m not making millions. Those are just 6 paid subscribers out of 28, but the rate is impressive. And I haven’t been consistent enough, I only started posting daily (again) a few weeks ago.
Meanwhile, I get zero email subscriber growth on Medium itself. So, no, this is not a story about how I import my Medium subscribers to Substack. I’ve been there, tried that, got 1% conversion rate. No, thank you! It’s more than that.
I can see the many changes in Medium’s UX shifting towards email marketing, but let’s be honest: it’s NOT working. At least not for me.
Yet people DO click on my links from my Medium stories and subscribe to my Substack. And 21% of them go paid.
So how does this work?
Let me break it down for you in 5 simple steps…
Step 1: Use Links Strategically
Let’s get this out of the way.
If you’re ending your Medium stories with a “Subscribe to my newsletter” link that just drops people onto your Substack homepage…
That’s a huge opportunity cost.
No one subscribes to a home page. People convert on value.
Instead, use this:
Option 1: create a freebie with a dedicated landing page that tells them:
What they’ll get
Why it’s different
What problem it solves
This isn’t about a “newsletter.” It’s about giving them something they want more of. For FREE.
Think:
“Get my 5-part series on X”
“Steal my email template that got me 3 paid clients”
“Free mini-guide: How I Made $10K on Substack Without Going Paid”
My freebie is a 10-Day email course about how to grow your first 1000 email subscribers on Substack in about 3 months.
Make the trade clear. Value for email. That’s the transaction.
This works to gain free subs.
Option 2: Link to a Substack article that expands on your Medium article.
I usually link to some of my Substack exclusive paywalled content that does much deeper into the same topic I cover in my Medium story.
This works to convert.
Option 3: Publish the same article on Substack and Medium.
Add link to the Substack version in the beginning saying something like “Non-members can read this story for free here” so that non-members can read it all on Substack.
When they go there, Substack automatically prompts them to subscribe to you before reading.
Remember to also add a canonical link on Medium so that Google doesn’t penalize you for duplicates. You can find this in your Medium story settings: More Settings -> SEO -> Advanced Settings -> Customize Canonical Link
This also works to gain new subscribers but targets a different audience — the Medium non-members.
I use all of the three approaches.
Step 2: Use Your Best Medium Posts as Bait
Medium is still good for attention. Just not for conversion.
So take your highest-performing stories, optimize the intro and structure — but rewrite the final 2–3 paragraphs to lead directly into your Substack using the links strategy from above.
Medium Meta stories still get a lot of attention, I just don’t paywall them. Remember: the links are the gold, not the cents you get from Medium.
Examples:
“If this resonates, I go deeper in my free 10-day email series over here.”
“I expanded this into a free mini-course for writers — you can get it here.”
“If you’re tired of waiting for boosts, here’s how I built a writing income without them.”
End with value, not “please subscribe.”
Step 3: Deliver Immediate Value via Email
This is where most writers fail.
You got the subscriber — now what?
You don’t get to a 21% conversion rate doing nothing else but writing. Even if it’s daily.
Don’t just drop them into your weekly newsletter and ghost them until Friday.
Give them a welcome sequence:
Who you are
What they’ll get
Your core belief (the reason you write)
What you offer (yes, make one)
A sample newsletter or story that made readers reply
I do this using Kit, as Substack doesn’t have automation. Set it up once. Let it work for you forever.
Even five emails make a difference.
Step 4: Give Them Something to Buy (Yes, Even If You’re “Not Ready”)
I sold my first offer before I felt ready.
It wasn’t perfect.
It wasn’t fancy.
But it was clear. It solved a problem my readers had — and they bought it.
You don’t need to launch with a full course or a membership. Try this instead:
A one-hour workshop
A $29 toolkit or guide
A challenge within your community
A 30-minute audit or coaching session
A subscription with a clear bonus (not “support my work” — that’s charity, not an offer)
Don’t wait for the “right time.” The right time is when someone’s paying attention.
That moment is now.
Step 5: Use Notes and Emails to Loop Them Back
Once they’re in your world, the flywheel begins.
Use Substack Notes to resurface Medium content and deliver bite-sized value to your audience.
Use paywalled posts to deliver more value and give them more reasons to upgrade.
You’re not dividing your attention anymore — you’re stacking your assets.
And suddenly?
You’re not writing in circles.
You’re writing in systems.
It’s a flywheel that works like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
You Don’t Need Fancy. You Need Focus.
Forget the guru jargon.
Forget the $997 funnel-building tools.
Forget the idea that you need 10K subscribers to make real money.
You need:
One clear offer
One simple journey
One system that works for you
And the guts to stop asking platforms for permission, and start building something that belongs to you.
This is how I made five figures from my writing business in less than 12 months.
While Medium gave me 5 cents.
If I can do it, you can do it.
Start today.
Stay Unplugged!
Yana
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