How do I know if I'm ready to go paid?

It scores five gates on your own numbers: whether the money is worth it to you, real engagement (not just opens), consistency, whether you have the hours to deliver the paid promise, and willingness to pay. If any gate fails, the verdict is BUILD FIRST, with what to fix.

Which platform should I use?

It runs the fee math for Substack, beehiiv, Ghost (Pro and self-hosted), Kit and Buttondown at your projected revenue, shows the breakeven where a percentage cut costs more than a flat plan, and weighs things fees don't capture, like Substack's discovery network and migration effort.

Will it predict how many paid subscribers I'll get?

No. You choose the conversion assumptions, and it shows low/mid/high scenarios with the math. A pre-launch survey and waitlist checkpoint give you real signal before you commit.

Does it write the launch emails?

Yes: a survey/waitlist announcement, a launch email sequence, a paid welcome email, an 8-week paid content calendar, and a cancellation save offer. Any copy that promises results is rewritten honestly.

What if my list is small?

It shows the list size you'd need for paid to be worth it to you, given your price and platform fees, and gives a BUILD FIRST plan instead of a rushed launch.

Paid Newsletter Launcher

Example session with this skill installed

I've written The Grant Desk every Tuesday for about 16 months on Substack, free. 4,120 active subscribers. Should I launch a paid tier? I was thinking $9 a month.

[Follow-up answers: 12–20 replies per issue, ~12 hrs/week available, readers have professional-development budgets, 3 paid comparables, target $500/mo net, draft subject line "Paid members will win an extra $25k in grants this year."]

(Fictional test case.)

Read your context and instructions
Compiled the paid newsletter launcher

Paid Tier Launch Plan: The Grant Desk (fictional)

All names, comparables and numbers are invented for this demo and supplied "by the user". They are not benchmarks.

(Excerpt: verdict, revenue scenarios and platform fees. The full plan also covers paid value design, pricing, the launch emails, an 8-week paid calendar, retention and compliance.)

1. Verdict: GO, with a waitlist checkpoint

Your engagement, consistency and audience spending support a paid tier. At the mid scenario, net revenue clears your $500/month target. The paid promise had to be trimmed to fit your hours (G4), and the launch only opens if the waitlist reaches 41 sign-ups.

Gate	Your number	Result
G1 Money floor	Mid case $865.50/mo gross, ~$792/mo net on Ghost(Pro)	Pass
G2 Engagement	12–20 replies per issue, clicks up 4.9% → 5.8%, 310 poll responses	Pass (open rate treated with caution because of Apple Mail Privacy Protection)
G3 Consistency	70 consecutive weekly issues	Pass
G4 Capacity	First design: 10.5 of 12 hrs (12.5% buffer); trimmed: 9 of 12 hrs (25%)	Pass after trim: monthly template cut
G5 Willingness to pay	Professional budgets, paid databases, 3 comparables	Pass

3. Revenue scenarios: scenarios, not forecasts or promises

Scenario	Conversion (your call)	Paid subs	Monthly / Annual	Gross per month	Gross per year
Low	1%	41	25 / 16	$345.00	$4,140
Mid	2.5%	103	62 / 41	$865.50	$10,386
High	5%	206	124 / 82	$1,731.00	$20,772

Worked mid case: 62 × $9 × 12 = $6,696, plus 41 × $90 = $3,690, gives $10,386 a year. Founding members mostly

replace annual revenue rather than adding to it.

6. Platform fees (annual, mid case)

Fees from That Marketing Buddy, "Newsletter Platform Fees Compared (2026)", updated 2026-04-30 (third-party). Confirm current pricing.

Platform	Fees	Net	Effective %
Substack (10% + Stripe + 0.7%)	$1,648.00	$8,738.00	15.9%
beehiiv (Scale from $49/mo)¹	$1,124.69	$9,261.31	10.8%
Ghost(Pro) Publisher ($29/mo)	$884.69	$9,501.31	8.5%
Kit (3.5% + $0.30)²	$599.01	$9,786.99	5.8%
Buttondown Standard ($29/mo)¹	$884.69	$9,501.31	8.5%

¹ [NEEDS INPUT: confirm plan price at 4,120 subscribers.] ² Assumes Kit's free plan covers the list [NEEDS INPUT].

Breakeven: a 10% cut costs more than a $29 flat plan once gross passes

$290/mo ($29 ÷ 0.10), or ~$271/mo with Substack's 0.7% billing fee. All three scenarios are above that line.

What fees don't capture: about 18% of your sign-ups come through Substack's network, roughly 0.4 new paid subscribers a month at your mid assumption. Leaving saves about $763/yr at the mid case, which outweighs that on these numbers. Re-check if the network share rises.

Recommendation: move to

Ghost(Pro) before launch. No paid subscriptions exist yet, so this is the cheapest moment to switch. Choose

Kit instead if its free plan covers your list and its archive features fit.

7b. Copy fix

Your subject line "Paid members will win an extra $25k in grants this year" is an outcome claim you can't substantiate (FTC guidance on earnings claims). Rewritten as what the product contains:

"10 vetted grant opportunities, every Thursday."

Connects securely to your tools. The creator never sees your data.

About this skill

Thinking about turning on paid subscriptions? This skill tells you honestly whether your newsletter is ready, then builds the whole launch from your own numbers.

What it does

Readiness check (GO / BUILD FIRST). Five gates scored on your real data: the money floor, engagement (beyond inflated open rates), consistency, your capacity to deliver the paid promise, and willingness to pay. If it isn't time yet, it says what to build first.
Revenue scenarios, not promises. Low / mid / high tables at conversion rates you confirm, with every formula shown, including how a founding-member tier replaces rather than adds revenue.
Paid value design. What stays free, what goes paid, one clear model (premium posts, archive, community, tools, Q&A), and a cadence you can actually keep. If the plan doesn't fit your hours, it gets trimmed.
Pricing: monthly, annual and founding tiers, comparables, and how to test price.
Platform fee math across Substack, beehiiv, Ghost (Pro and self-hosted), Kit and Buttondown at your projected revenue: fees, net, effective %, the breakeven where a 10% cut costs more than a flat plan, and migration notes. Fees are cited and dated; confirm current pricing.
The launch: pre-launch survey and waitlist, a drafted launch email sequence, a paid welcome email, and an 8-week paid content calendar.
Retention: onboarding, a cancellation save offer, and the metrics to watch.
Compliance: clear recurring billing and cancellation terms, a refund policy, and honest launch copy. Income or outcome promises get rewritten.

Not legal or tax advice.

How to use

Skills on Agensi run inside your AI agent. Copy the prompt, paste it into your agent, and it connects to Agensi and installs this skill for you. If a payment is needed, your agent shows it to you first.

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Paid Newsletter Launcher