What Is a Substack Newsletter? How It Works, How to Start One, and How to Turn It Into Video (2026)
Learn what a Substack newsletter is, how it works, what it costs, and how to start, grow, monetize, and repurpose one into video in 2026.
This video was made with Velo from a written post. No filming, no editing.
Try it freeA Substack newsletter is more than an email you send every week. It is a subscription publication with an email list, a public website, payment tools, analytics, and built-in ways for readers to discover your work.
That combination makes Substack attractive to writers, experts, founders, and independent publishers who want to build a direct audience without assembling a separate website, email service, and payment system. But it is not automatically the best fit for every newsletter, especially if you need advanced email automation, detailed audience segmentation, or complete control over your site.
This guide explains what a Substack newsletter is, how it works, what it costs, how to start one, how to turn it into video, and how to decide whether the platform suits your goals.
What is a Substack newsletter?
A Substack newsletter is a free or paid publication delivered to subscribers by email and hosted on Substack. When you publish an issue, it can appear in a reader’s inbox, on your publication website, and in the Substack app. You can publish writing, audio, video, or a mix of formats.
The easiest way to understand it is to think of Substack as four tools combined:
- An email newsletter platform
- A simple publishing website with an archive
- A subscription and payment system
- A social and discovery network for finding readers
Substack began as a newsletter platform, but its current publishing features also include Notes, podcasts, video posts, livestreams, chats, recommendations, referrals, and category leaderboards.
Substack at a glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| What does Substack do? | It lets you publish content to email subscribers, the web, and the Substack app. |
| Is Substack free? | Yes. Publishing to free subscribers has no monthly platform fee. |
| Can you charge readers? | Yes. You can offer monthly, annual, and founding-member subscriptions. |
| What does Substack charge? | Substack takes 10% of paid subscription transactions; payment-processing fees also apply. |
| Do you control your subscriber list? | You can export your subscriber list and publication data. |
| Does Substack support video? | Yes. It supports uploaded or recorded video posts, livestreams, clips, captions, and video analytics. |
| Who is it best for? | Creators and experts publishing useful editorial content for a defined audience. |
How does Substack work?
Substack gives each creator a publication and each reader an account. Creators publish posts and manage subscribers; readers follow publications for free or pay for premium access. Substack handles email delivery, hosting, subscription billing, and access to paywalled posts.
How Substack works for creators
The creator workflow is straightforward:
- Create a publication and choose its name, URL, description, and topic.
- Write, record, or upload a post.
- Decide whether the post is free, paid-only, or a free preview of paid content.
- Publish immediately or schedule it.
- Substack sends the post to the selected subscribers and adds it to the publication archive.
- Review opens, views, subscriptions, revenue, and traffic sources in the publisher dashboard.
You can also import an existing mailing list, provided those contacts have consented to receive your emails. Substack supports subscriber imports and allows publishers to export their email lists as CSV files.
How Substack works for readers
Readers can discover a publication through search, recommendations, Notes, leaderboards, social links, or a direct invitation. They then choose a free or paid subscription.
New issues can arrive by email and appear in the Substack app. Depending on the publication, subscribers may also be able to comment, join chats, listen to podcast episodes, watch videos, or attend livestreams. A paid subscription unlocks whatever benefits the creator has placed behind the paywall; Substack does not define one universal paid package.
Free and paid Substack posts
Creators decide what remains public. A common approach is to use free posts to attract and earn the trust of new readers, then reserve deeper analysis, premium resources, community access, or bonus audio and video for paying subscribers.
You do not have to launch a paid tier immediately. Many newsletters remain entirely free, earn through sponsorships or services, or wait until their audience has demonstrated what it values.
What can you publish on Substack?
Substack supports text, podcast, video, and community content within the same publication. You can start with one format and add others later rather than creating a separate platform for each medium.
Newsletter posts
The standard Substack post is an article created in its editor. You can add headings, images, links, buttons, audio, video, and downloadable files. When published, the post can function as both an email issue and a web page in your archive.
Notes
Substack Notes is the platform’s short-form social feed. Notes do not go to subscribers as regular newsletter emails, although readers may see them in the app, through notifications, or in a roundup. Creators use Notes to share ideas, start conversations, recommend posts, and stay visible between full newsletter issues.
Podcasts and audio
You can host a podcast, create free or paid episodes, and distribute it through an RSS feed. This is useful when the audio is part of the publication rather than a separate content project.
Video and livestreams
Substack lets creators record or upload native video posts, publish paid videos with free previews, generate transcripts, create clips, and view watch data. Its video-post guide notes that these controls apply specifically to video posts, not to a video simply embedded inside a standard text post.
You do not have to film the video yourself. With Velo, you can turn a written issue into a narrated video by uploading the document or pasting the post link, then publish that finished video as a native Substack video post.
This distinction matters: embedding a clip in a written newsletter and publishing a native video post are not the same workflow.
Is Substack free? Pricing and fees explained
Yes, Substack is free for creators who publish to free subscribers. There is no monthly publishing charge and no subscriber limit on the free tier. Costs begin when you enable paid subscriptions or add an optional custom domain.
Pricing below was checked on August 20, 2026.
| Cost | What you pay |
|---|---|
| Start and publish a free newsletter | $0 |
| Monthly platform subscription | $0 |
| Substack fee on paid subscriptions | 10% of each transaction |
| Stripe card processing for a U.S. account | 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction |
| Stripe Billing fee for recurring payments | 0.7% as listed by Substack |
| Connect a custom domain | $50 one time, plus the cost of owning the domain |
Substack’s official cost page explains that processing fees vary by country and payment method. Currency conversion, taxes, non-card payment methods, and optional in-app subscriptions can also affect the final amount.
Example: what do you keep from a $10 monthly subscription?
For a $10 recurring payment made with a standard U.S. card, the simplified math is:
| Deduction | Amount |
|---|---|
| Subscriber payment | $10.00 |
| Substack’s 10% fee | -$1.00 |
| Stripe card fee: 2.9% + $0.30 | -$0.59 |
| Stripe Billing fee: 0.7% | -$0.07 |
| Approximate creator proceeds before taxes | $8.34 |
This is an illustration, not a guaranteed payout. Your Stripe location, payment method, currency, refunds, taxes, and other fees may change the result.
How much can you charge for a paid Substack?
Creators choose their own monthly and annual prices. As of August 2026, Substack lists a minimum of $5 per month and $30 per year for a paid subscription. You can also offer a higher-priced founding-member plan for readers who want to provide additional support.
The right price depends on the promise, frequency, and value of your paid content, not what another newsletter charges. Before enabling payments, define exactly what a free reader receives and why someone should upgrade.
Substack pros and cons
Substack’s main advantage is that it removes setup friction. Its main limitation is that simplicity comes with less marketing and website control than specialized tools.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free to start with unlimited free subscribers | Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue |
| Email, website, payments, audio, video, and community in one place | Less flexible than a fully controlled website or publishing stack |
| Built-in discovery through Notes, recommendations, search, and leaderboards | Publishing alone does not guarantee discovery or subscriber growth |
| Subscriber and post exports make migration possible | Advanced automations and behavioral journeys are limited compared with email marketing platforms |
| Easy for nontechnical creators to set up | Branding, segmentation, testing, and ecommerce workflows may not meet complex business needs |
| Supports free, paid, and founding-member plans | Your publication still depends on Substack’s product decisions and platform rules |
The important ownership nuance
Substack states that creators own their content and audience, and it allows you to export posts, subscriber data, and statistics. That is meaningfully different from building only a social-media following.
However, portability is not the same as complete independence. Your publication is still hosted on Substack unless you move it, and your access to its discovery network, app, payment workflow, and community features depends on the platform. Export your data periodically and consider using a domain you control if long-term brand ownership matters.
Who should use Substack?
Substack is a strong fit for people building a publication around ideas, expertise, analysis, reporting, or a distinctive point of view. It is less suitable when the main goal is running complex marketing automation.
Substack may suit you if:
- You want to start a newsletter without paying a monthly software fee.
- Your content is editorial and valuable even when it is not promoting a product.
- You plan to publish consistently for a clearly defined audience.
- You want the option to add paid subscriptions, podcasts, video, or a community.
- You value Substack’s recommendations and social discovery features.
Consider another platform if:
- You need abandoned-cart emails, lead scoring, complex drip sequences, or CRM-style automation.
- You want complete control over website code, templates, and technical SEO.
- You expect paid revenue to become large enough that a 10% share is more expensive than a fixed platform fee.
- Your newsletter is primarily a promotional email channel rather than a publication people would choose to read.
How to start a Substack newsletter in 7 steps
You can complete the technical setup quickly, but a strong launch begins before you create the account. Decide who the newsletter serves and why it deserves space in that person’s inbox.
1. Define one reader and one promise
Avoid a topic as broad as “business,” “technology,” or “my thoughts.” Write one sentence that names the reader and the recurring value.
For example: a weekly teardown for early-stage product marketers who want clearer launches and onboarding.
That sentence makes later choices like the name, description, topics, examples, and paid offer much easier.
2. Create your account and publication
Go to Substack’s getting-started page, create an account, and begin a publication. Choose a name that is easy to remember, spell, and say aloud.
Your profile represents you across Substack. Your publication is the newsletter readers subscribe to. Treat them as related but distinct: the profile explains who you are; the publication explains what readers will receive.
3. Choose your URL carefully
Your default address uses a Substack subdomain. Pick a short, durable name rather than a temporary campaign phrase.
You can later connect your own domain for a one-time $50 platform fee, but you still need to buy and renew the domain separately. A custom domain can make the publication feel more like a durable brand, although it does not replace Substack as the underlying platform.
4. Complete the publication basics
Add these elements before inviting readers:
- A clear publication name
- A one-sentence description
- A recognizable profile image or logo
- A primary topic or category
- A simple visual style
- An About page explaining who the newsletter is for
- A welcome email that tells new subscribers what to expect
Do not spend days adjusting colors while the archive is empty. Clarity and useful posts matter more than decorative polish at launch.
5. Plan your first three posts
One post can look like an experiment; three posts begin to show a publication’s identity. Before launching, outline:
- A welcome post that explains the problem you will cover
- A useful flagship article that proves the newsletter’s value
- A follow-up that shows readers what your normal cadence will feel like
Choose a schedule you can sustain. A strong issue every two weeks is better than promising daily posts and disappearing after ten days.
6. Publish your first issue
Create a new post, add the title and body, preview the email and web version, select the audience, and publish or schedule it. If payments are already enabled, choose whether the post is free, paid, or a free preview.
Before sending, check every link, image, heading, and call to action. Also send yourself a test email; an issue that looks clean in the web editor can behave differently in an inbox.
7. Invite readers and study the right metrics
Share the launch with people who genuinely want the topic. If you import a list, upload only contacts who consented to hear from you; Substack’s email import guidance explicitly requires an opted-in list.
The Substack metrics dashboard shows subscriber and revenue growth as well as where traffic and subscriptions came from. Early on, focus on replies, shares, new subscribers per issue, and which topics cause readers to return, not one open-rate number in isolation.
Substack newsletter examples and what they do well
The best Substack newsletter examples are not successful because they use one template. They give a defined audience a clear reason to return.
Lenny’s Newsletter
Lenny’s Newsletter serves product leaders, founders, and builders with detailed product, growth, and career advice. Its lesson is positioning: the audience and expected value are immediately clear.
The Pragmatic Engineer
The Pragmatic Engineer publishes reporting and analysis for software engineers and engineering leaders. Its lesson is depth: original reporting and specialist context give readers information that is difficult to replace with generic summaries.
Letters from an American
Letters from an American connects current U.S. politics with historical context. Its lesson is consistency: a recognizable lens can make a broad, fast-moving topic feel coherent.
Feed Me
Feed Me is a frequent business and culture newsletter with a highly distinctive editorial voice. Its lesson is tone: readers often subscribe not only for a topic but for the way one person notices and explains it.
Do not copy the frequency, paywall, or format of a large publication without understanding its audience and resources. Copy the underlying discipline: a precise promise, original value, and a repeatable publishing rhythm.
How to grow a Substack newsletter
Substack growth comes from a combination of valuable posts, consistent distribution, and relationships with readers and other publishers. Its network can help, but it does not remove the need to earn attention.
Publish something readers can describe
“A newsletter about my interests” is hard to recommend. “A Friday briefing on regulatory changes for fintech founders” is easy to explain and share.
The narrower promise can still produce varied content. Its job is to help a potential subscriber decide quickly whether the newsletter is for them.
Use recommendations deliberately
Recommend publications you genuinely read and look for relevant publishers who serve an adjacent audience. Recommendations work best when the connection makes sense to the reader, not as a blind exchange.
Post useful Notes, not repeated links
Use Notes to test ideas, respond to other writers, share an observation, or extract one useful point from a longer post. If every Note is “new issue, please subscribe,” readers have little reason to engage.
Create a referral reward people actually want
Substack’s subscriber referral program lets creators set milestones and rewards for readers who bring in new free subscribers. A useful checklist, private discussion, bonus video, or complimentary paid access will usually feel more relevant than a generic prize.
Repurpose each issue for another channel
Turn one idea into a LinkedIn post, a short video, a podcast discussion, or a visual summary. The goal is not to paste the entire newsletter everywhere. Give each channel a useful version and point interested people back to the full publication.
Ask for replies
Replies reveal the language, questions, and problems your audience cares about. They also make a newsletter feel like a relationship rather than a broadcast. End some issues with one specific question instead of a generic “thoughts?”
Substack vs other newsletter platforms
Substack is strongest when you want an editorial publication with built-in discovery. Other newsletter platforms may be better when you prioritize automation, design control, ecommerce, or a lower fee at scale.
| Platform | Best for | Main tradeoff |
|---|---|---|
| Substack | Writers and experts who want simple publishing, subscriptions, and network discovery | 10% paid revenue share and lighter marketing automation |
| beehiiv | Newsletter businesses focused on growth, advertising, and monetization tools | More software-style plan decisions and less writer-centric culture |
| Ghost | Publishers wanting open-source software, stronger site control, and no platform revenue share | Requires a paid plan or technical self-hosting |
| Kit | Creators selling products or services through automated email journeys | Less native publication discovery than Substack |
| MailerLite or Mailchimp | Businesses running designed campaigns, segments, and automations | Built for email marketing rather than a creator publication network |
| Medium | Writers seeking distribution inside a broad reading platform | It is not primarily a creator-owned newsletter and subscription stack |
Substack vs Medium
Choose Substack when your goal is to build a direct subscriber relationship and control your own free or paid publication. Choose Medium when your main goal is to publish within a shared reading platform and earn or gain exposure through its ecosystem.
They can complement each other, but publishing the same full article on multiple domains can split attention. If you use both, consider publishing a distinct version or an excerpt that points to the canonical article.
How to turn a Substack newsletter into video
A written issue can become a strong video because its research, argument, and structure already exist. The job is not to read the article word for word; it is to adapt the core idea for people who prefer to watch or listen.
Substack itself supports native video posts. You can record or upload a finished video, add a free preview for paid content, generate a transcript, and create clips. If you already have a polished video, publishing it directly on Substack may be all you need.
The extra work comes earlier: condensing the post into spoken language, creating narration, choosing visuals, adding captions, and editing the final piece. For creators who do not want to film or manually edit, Velo can turn written content into a narrated video that can be refined before publishing. For the full method, see our guide on how to convert a blog or newsletter into video.
A practical newsletter-to-video workflow
- Choose one idea. Do not force every section of a long newsletter into one clip.
- Rewrite for speech. Shorten sentences, remove citations that are awkward to hear, and open with the most useful point.
- Match visuals to the subject. Use screen recordings for a software tutorial, slides or diagrams for an explanation, and original images for a story.
- Add narration and captions. Velo can generate narration so you do not need to record every line yourself.
- Review the output. Check names, numbers, pronunciation, pacing, and any AI-generated interpretation against the original post.
- Publish natively. Upload the finished version as a Substack video post, then create shorter cuts for LinkedIn, YouTube, or other discovery channels.
- Link back to the newsletter. Give viewers a clear reason to subscribe for the complete analysis or future issues.
The useful outcome is not “more content” for its own sake. It is a second way for the same researched idea to reach people who would not have opened the email.
Should you start a Substack newsletter?
Start a Substack newsletter if you have a specific audience, a repeatable idea, and a publishing rhythm you can maintain. The platform makes the technical work unusually simple, but it cannot supply the point of view or consistency that gives readers a reason to subscribe.
Begin with a free publication, publish enough to learn what readers value, and add paid content only when the difference between free and premium is clear. Then extend your best issues into audio or video when another format genuinely makes the idea easier to discover or understand. If you want to turn an existing article or newsletter into a narrated video without filming, try Velo free.