The Pledge Drive Approach to Subscriptions
Why I'm asking for your support this month, plus a special offer
Hello, everyone! A few months ago, I attended a seminar with
She serves as an advisor/big sister to many of us who are looking for ways to use Substack to serve our readers, and grow our Substack audiences.As part of the seminar, Sarah told us there are several ways that we can appeal to our readers to sign up for paid subscriptions. The one that resonated most with me was the pledge drive approach.
If you’re a public media listener or viewer, you know that your station puts on occasional appeals for support. Many of them tie in their pledge drives (aka membership campaigns) with the seasons, aka winter pledge drive, spring membership drive, and so on.
The rest of the time, they pretty much leave you alone, although there is always a “donate” button if you want to give.
This year, I’m doing the same. Instead of asking you in every single issue to upgrade to a paid subscription, I’m only going to do so quarterly, during the first month of the quarter. Other than that, I will leave you be.
I’m personally resistant to people constantly asking me to pony up. Continual badgering tends to backfire with me. But I happily pay for a number of Substack newsletters that I want to support, because I like the author, and I find the content to be entertaining or useful.
I hope that’s the case with CulinaryWoman. In June, my newsletter will mark its fourth anniversary! I’m so grateful to you for your interest in what I’m doing.
Since 2020, CulinaryWoman readers have become such a valuable audience that publishers, restaurants and business owners are now asking me to write about them. They want to reach you through me.
I’m so happy to help fellow authors by recommending their books, and I love sharing my travel and other tips with all of you. Your feedback helps me come up with interesting stories, which often post weeks before other news outlets catch on.
If you’re thinking about an upgrade, I’m making this offer.
Anyone who becomes a paid subscriber during April will enter a drawing to receive an autographed copy of Satisfaction Guaranteed. I can sign a dedication to you, to a friend or business colleague or I can sign it generically if you want to give it as a gift down the road. I’ll mail it to you or your designated recipient.
If you already have the book, but it isn’t a signed copy, get in touch and I will send you a bookplate.
Thanks for reading and I greatly appreciate your support for CulinaryWoman. It is a pleasure to keep in touch each week.