Have you ever received a link to a post with an intriguing headline, something you'd actually be interested in, only to click and find it behind a paywall? Cue sad trombone. Perhaps there's a free trial that lets you read this one article—but nothing else ever again unless you sign up for a monthly subscription, until the end of time. Til death do you part. This frustrating experience stems from today's digital publishing landscape where subscriptions have become the de facto standard … and we’re all suffering from subscription fatigue as a result.
The reason we’ve arrived in this place is because there are limited ways to make money from writing online. Many people enjoy writing and want to share their work with the world. Eventually, they may want to pursue writing full-time and find ways to earn from their efforts, especially after building a sizeable audience. At that point, a few options emerge:
Ads, ads, ads
Product placement + referral links
Donations (buy-me-a-coffee, patreon, ko-fi, etc)
Platforms that monetize reads (Medium)
Paywalls with monthly subscriptions (Substack, etc.) - today's choice-du-jour
Using their blog to showcase expertise and build a brand or promote their services
Some approaches are more appealing than others, and not all options work for everyone. Each approach comes with specific trade-offs:
Bring-your-own-website (Options 1, 2 and 6): If you’re able to, or have the time and effort available, you can build your own website, customize it, and make it truly yours. But then, you need to drive traffic to your blog. Historically the best way has been search (i.e. SEO), but then you have to wade through the murky SEO waters to figure out how to get your content to the top. You might post them on aggregators (reddit, forums, social media, etc), but the primary driver is search. And then, when you do try to monetize, you’re faced with a myriad of options; of which, ads and product placements might actually compromise the integrity of your content. It may feel like you’re selling out, unless you genuinely support and advocate for the ads/products.
Platform usage: Options 3 and 4 use platforms, which have a number of trade-offs:
You're locked into their platform with limited options to differentiate from others. It can be difficult to stand out creatively and really make the content your own.
They often come with aggregation. Aggregation helps with discovery, but may impact your SEO.
You may be subject to what others are writing about and promoting. If others are peddling pejorative content, you may be unwilling associated simply by existing on the same platform.
Subscriptions: And with platforms, you typically have either the freemium, or free-trial subscription model, locked behind a paywall. This means you’re paying for this one author or publication for an extended period of time, regardless of how many articles you find particularly relevant. I’d argue the issue isn’t necessarily with the paywall, but the commitment to the subscription that usually comes with the paywall, and the limited number of subscriptions you can reasonably justify. Subscription fatigue is a real thing.
Donations: Donations rely on goodwill. There are a very limited number of people out there willing to go through the steps to set up an account, add a credit card to that account, and actually contribute - all after reading a given article. Definitely an option, but not be as financially sustainable as more aggressive gated/paywall options.
Showcase expertise and promote services: This means you have your own business, and maybe a significant presence on the Internet - along with all the overhead that comes with it. Good for you, but definitely not feasible for everybody.
The AI Elephant - in 2025 we must acknowledge the AI elephant in the room. SEO visibility makes your content vulnerable to AI scraping. Paywalls and gated content help protect from robot crawlers. Options 1, 2, and 5 offer no protection, while paywalls can (though not always) provide limited defence
PaperWall proposes an alternative to the above options: pay only for what you read, with no commitment beyond the current article.
PaperWall works through a securely embedded widget on your site that puts a paywall in front of individual articles. You set each article's price (using "tickets") and optionally, a threshold. When that threshold is met, subsequent visitors encounter a paywall. They then redeem purchased tickets to view the article—a process requiring as few as two clicks. Readers top up their accounts as needed and can use this system across any article and publication in the PaperWall network. The redeemed articles will be remembered for as long as they exist on PaperWall, meaning you can revisit them in future as you please.
This model isn't ideal for every blog or publication. It works best for well-researched, thoughtful, long-form content, rather than brief news or light pieces which simply convey information. The flexibility provided is how micro-transactions can potentially succeed - it's selective, lets publishers choose what to monetize, and has the potential to extend reach beyond existing followers.
How does PaperWall address the trade-offs mentioned earlier?
Bring your own website: Customize however you want, and PaperWall integrates seamlessly. If you encounter issues, read this guide or reach out here. Since it's your design, there's no platform lock-in for your content and no obligation to stay registered.
Your content remains yours: No product placements or ads needed, just direct monetization
It includes an aggregator: Aggregators provide a new channel to reach new readers. Search only goes so far, and a good aggregator can surface far-reaching content that may have gone undiscovered using classic techniques like categories and tags.
Hides content behind a paywall: This is contentious and has its pros and cons. Often, people don’t like paywalls, but it’s more about the commitment that usually come with paywalls: “Subscribe to everything til the end of time in order to read this one article”, vs in this case where the paywall simply asks for payment up-front before reading an article, instead of after, based on a reader’s goodwill (see the bit about donations).
Paywalls have other trade-offs as well: they provide some protection from AI crawlers. But it may hurt SEO. Depends on your SEO strategy and how your content currently reaches readers.Speaking of AI: Most people visiting paywalled articles are likely looking for well-written, long form pieces - not quick, generic AI generated information. AI is good for providing information, but we need to promote accessible, high quality writing in a way that is financially sustainable to writers online. This is a well known struggle that PaperWall is helping to solve, regardless of the current AI landscape.
It's worth noting this isn't the first attempt at this approach—you can learn more about what PaperWall offers here and how it improves on previous efforts.
PaperWall proposes an alternative:
Pay only for what you read, with no commitment beyond the current article.
So that's the publishing landscape in 2025. Various methods exist to monetize your writing, each with advantages and disadvantages, with PaperWall being the newest in this space. While perhaps not suitable for everyone in all situations, hopefully some will find this approach valuable for creating a sustainable way to read and write online, all while allowing new readers to discover your writing.