Dear subscribers, This is not my usual deep technical post, it’s going to be a rant about the problems I (and many other Indian writers) have faced in monetizing their writing on Substack, even after being here for years, bringing in thousands of new readers and producing hundreds and thousands of articles collectively.
The irony is that India could be a huge market for Substack and one day is highly likely to be. However the issues you point out sound very complex. I'm saddened and distressed by your situation.
Can you monetize more with your YouTube channel? Really double down on that is it worth it? Would moving to another platform fix your issues?
Nowhere in the world is there as many English speaking young curious minds as in India about the things we write about.
You are obviously very passionate and talented about the topics you write about and I believe you will find a way and become more resilient due to these experiences. Please let me know what happens.
Thank you, Michael, for sharing this. I have replied with all the info I've been gathering and reporting since we saw The Last American Vagabond and others have their accounts "messed with" for lack of a better description. Maybe the alternative processors I suggested, or others I am not yet aware of, could be the solution here.
I hear you . I have just started the monetising option and I barely have any but I know it’s not going to work for me . Many of my Indian subscribers just call and pay me by Gpay now
For what it's worth, I enjoy your content so much that I'd follow you to a different platform. That said, I hope this post gains enough traction that the Substack team realizes the impact.
Kudos for writing such a detailed article but the issue is not just limited to Substack. It's arguably with every international platform. Indian card payments are being declined left and right and I have been tormented by this issue for years. My payments have been failing on services like Cloudflare, Digital Ocean, Canva, ChatGPT, you name it.
Also, I tried setting up a payment pipeline back in the day with a platform called Podia and wasn't able to do it due to the same customer name, email and other details reason. They said they cannot modify their system just for a single country.
Maybe we could start a petition or something to get this fixed. I am unsure if the RBI is even aware of the hassle Indian businesses are failing as a result of their rules.
Businesses do not view India as a viable business platform because of the numerous issues; instead, we must find alternative means of meeting our demands.
Hi Folks! I have created an India-based writers list to discuss issues, tips, and solutions - if anyone is interested please email me at hello@techmadesimple.proton.me, or DM me. I shall add you to it. Thanks, Abhinav for highlighting the challenges - we are working on a solve -please join the list. Best, Jayshree
I know we've discussed this elsewhere, but I'll leave a comment here too. My reasons are different to yours, but I have now moved to either one-time contributions from readers or a one-time payment membership that includes more than just my written articles. As a result, I've made my Substack entirely free—there's still a subscription option for whoever wants to support this way, but monetisation is now either through one-time payments (that people can do as often as they want, for whatever amount they want), or through a full membership to The Python Coding Place (currently this is priced at $360—or PPP equivalent—that's a one-time payment, so no recurring payment issues)
So sorry to see you going through this. It's incredibly frustrating. I have been writing about Substack's vulnerability when it comes to the Stripe monopoly for about a month after seeing it happen to several US creators, and have done a couple of livestreams talking about it. There have been small changes made so far, but they really need at least one more payment processor, and my initial article recommends a few potential suitors to support Substack.
STRIPE has TOO MUCH POWER: A Monopoly Over Content Platforms - from "How Did We Miss That" on June 16.
Hi Folks! I have created an India-based writers list to discuss issues, tips, and solutions - if anyone is interested please email me at hello@techmadesimple.proton.me or DM me. I shall add you to it. Thanks, Abhinav for highlighting the challenges - we are working on a solve -please join the list. Best, Jayshree
Yes, it's truly frustrating. I have just joined Substack and when I tried connecting Stripe, India is not in the list of countries they operate in. But there is a way around it. You can build a separate page asking for support and add it to the navigation.
PayPal works just fine, so you can build a subscription plan on PayPal and add the button on Substack's page. If people like to read your articles, they might support you.
The only problem is, you can't paywall your content. So the support will be voluntary by people.
- There are companies in the UK that bill for services (software programming, etc) and then rebill the end supplier. Maybe they could also do it in relation to a Substack newsletter. I know little about this and I don't know if it would fit, but one of the advantages is the few complications it has.
- Many Europeans set up companies in the US or UK to invoice for courses or books. UK companies are very cheap. Stripe even has a service for setting up US companies. What I don't know is whether Stripe only looks at where the company is based, or where its director/major shareholder is based. If the latter, then you would have to look for a nominee director in the UK. It is not easy, but if the reason is not fiscal (taxes), but due to the payment issue, I think it can be done.
If there are other Indian authors in the same situation, it may be more cost-effective to create an American or English society among all of them, and share the expenses.
Thanks for sharing this. It's a frustration many Indian creators feel. I really hope we see a viable alternative to Stripe soon—something that truly supports creators and allows them to earn without these payment roadblocks.
Is it fair to blame Substack when the source of the challenge, as you highlight, seems to be Indian regulations. I'm thinking specifically about the headline here.
Yes! They have expres zero interest in addressing these issues when stripe documentation lists down the steps the integration needs to take to handle Indian accounts. It's a solved problem, rest of the world's subscriptions are working in India.
If it's so easy why do Stripe themselves say "easy onboarding is a fundamental Stripe feature that we cannot promise in India today."
Stripe also flag that "the regulatory landscape in India continues to evolve" so any company investing in subscription solutions must expect further complications and costs.
I still think you're blaming the wrong party - the government that needs to be more consistent with global norms
Well, if I had any influence on Indian regulations,i would have got things fixed. It is what it is. When the regulations were introduced they broke all subscriptions for months. The govt didn't bother then, and years later rest of the companies operating in India have adapted.
Stripe never said what exactly caused them to stop accepting new Indian businesses but my guess is the increased number of failed integrations such as substack increased the rate of customer issues and failed transactions.
Even now, there is no sound from the govt here after stripe made this announcement.
It is not impossible to implement these things.
- Ask Indian writers to provide their business name to enable currency localisation.
- Store Indian data inside India
- Collect customer name and addresses for Indian publications.
The irony is that India could be a huge market for Substack and one day is highly likely to be. However the issues you point out sound very complex. I'm saddened and distressed by your situation.
Can you monetize more with your YouTube channel? Really double down on that is it worth it? Would moving to another platform fix your issues?
Nowhere in the world is there as many English speaking young curious minds as in India about the things we write about.
You are obviously very passionate and talented about the topics you write about and I believe you will find a way and become more resilient due to these experiences. Please let me know what happens.
Thank you, Michael, for sharing this. I have replied with all the info I've been gathering and reporting since we saw The Last American Vagabond and others have their accounts "messed with" for lack of a better description. Maybe the alternative processors I suggested, or others I am not yet aware of, could be the solution here.
I hear you . I have just started the monetising option and I barely have any but I know it’s not going to work for me . Many of my Indian subscribers just call and pay me by Gpay now
I think Indian people are able to subscribe and pay (sometimes it may fail). International payments are completely broken at the moment.
Thank you for writing this.
I tagged Substack in a comment about this. Last time I did that, they fixed the issue. Let see if they can do it this time. 😅
Been trying to get this fixed for years now. Substack didn't care about Indian writers because I seemed to be the only one. Hopefully this changes now
For what it's worth, I enjoy your content so much that I'd follow you to a different platform. That said, I hope this post gains enough traction that the Substack team realizes the impact.
I will also follow you. Your content is unique. As a consumer, I don't like Substack....
I am new to Substack so this article is particularly helpful to me! Thank you so much :)
Kudos for writing such a detailed article but the issue is not just limited to Substack. It's arguably with every international platform. Indian card payments are being declined left and right and I have been tormented by this issue for years. My payments have been failing on services like Cloudflare, Digital Ocean, Canva, ChatGPT, you name it.
Also, I tried setting up a payment pipeline back in the day with a platform called Podia and wasn't able to do it due to the same customer name, email and other details reason. They said they cannot modify their system just for a single country.
Maybe we could start a petition or something to get this fixed. I am unsure if the RBI is even aware of the hassle Indian businesses are failing as a result of their rules.
If you are looking to run a subscription business you won't be able to pull it off with the existing Indian payment rules. This is a related read: https://inc42.com/features/recurring-payment-conundrum-how-guidelines-have-shaken-indias-subscription-economy/
Stripe has gone invite only in India and now WISE, I believe has also stopped working with Indian businesses https://www.reddit.com/r/india/comments/16de7uo/weird_issue_with_wise_money_transfer/
Businesses do not view India as a viable business platform because of the numerous issues; instead, we must find alternative means of meeting our demands.
Right now the only alternative I see is getting a Forex card and an overseas account. Let me know if you know any other.
Hi Folks! I have created an India-based writers list to discuss issues, tips, and solutions - if anyone is interested please email me at hello@techmadesimple.proton.me, or DM me. I shall add you to it. Thanks, Abhinav for highlighting the challenges - we are working on a solve -please join the list. Best, Jayshree
I know we've discussed this elsewhere, but I'll leave a comment here too. My reasons are different to yours, but I have now moved to either one-time contributions from readers or a one-time payment membership that includes more than just my written articles. As a result, I've made my Substack entirely free—there's still a subscription option for whoever wants to support this way, but monetisation is now either through one-time payments (that people can do as often as they want, for whatever amount they want), or through a full membership to The Python Coding Place (currently this is priced at $360—or PPP equivalent—that's a one-time payment, so no recurring payment issues)
What country are you writing from Stephen? Are your subscriptions failing as well?
I'm not affected by the Indian rules, no… This was more a general comment on other ways of monetising without relying on subscriptions
Really sad to read this. More power to you!
Hi Abhinav,
So sorry to see you going through this. It's incredibly frustrating. I have been writing about Substack's vulnerability when it comes to the Stripe monopoly for about a month after seeing it happen to several US creators, and have done a couple of livestreams talking about it. There have been small changes made so far, but they really need at least one more payment processor, and my initial article recommends a few potential suitors to support Substack.
STRIPE has TOO MUCH POWER: A Monopoly Over Content Platforms - from "How Did We Miss That" on June 16.
https://www.indiemediatoday.com/p/stripe-has-too-much-power-a-monopoly?r=539iu
The articles I wrote on June 6 and June 10 are also in the post linked.
I also appeared on a daily morning web show, Hard Lens Media, who also has a Substack, to talk about the problem on June 12
Indie joined Kit from Hard Lens Media to talk about the article "BIG Vulnerability For Substack & Creators, Stripe Payments"
https://www.indiemediatoday.com/p/indie-joined-kit-from-hard-lens-media-061224
Available to chat or collab on some ideas about alternatives.
Hi Folks! I have created an India-based writers list to discuss issues, tips, and solutions - if anyone is interested please email me at hello@techmadesimple.proton.me or DM me. I shall add you to it. Thanks, Abhinav for highlighting the challenges - we are working on a solve -please join the list. Best, Jayshree
Yes, it's truly frustrating. I have just joined Substack and when I tried connecting Stripe, India is not in the list of countries they operate in. But there is a way around it. You can build a separate page asking for support and add it to the navigation.
PayPal works just fine, so you can build a subscription plan on PayPal and add the button on Substack's page. If people like to read your articles, they might support you.
The only problem is, you can't paywall your content. So the support will be voluntary by people.
This is actually quite disheartening for any new writer.
What about working with a UK or US company?
I'm curious to know how that works.
Well, I think there are two options here:
- There are companies in the UK that bill for services (software programming, etc) and then rebill the end supplier. Maybe they could also do it in relation to a Substack newsletter. I know little about this and I don't know if it would fit, but one of the advantages is the few complications it has.
- Many Europeans set up companies in the US or UK to invoice for courses or books. UK companies are very cheap. Stripe even has a service for setting up US companies. What I don't know is whether Stripe only looks at where the company is based, or where its director/major shareholder is based. If the latter, then you would have to look for a nominee director in the UK. It is not easy, but if the reason is not fiscal (taxes), but due to the payment issue, I think it can be done.
Sorr to my late reply, but Substack didn´t told me you reply.
If there are other Indian authors in the same situation, it may be more cost-effective to create an American or English society among all of them, and share the expenses.
Thanks for sharing this. It's a frustration many Indian creators feel. I really hope we see a viable alternative to Stripe soon—something that truly supports creators and allows them to earn without these payment roadblocks.
Is it fair to blame Substack when the source of the challenge, as you highlight, seems to be Indian regulations. I'm thinking specifically about the headline here.
Yes! They have expres zero interest in addressing these issues when stripe documentation lists down the steps the integration needs to take to handle Indian accounts. It's a solved problem, rest of the world's subscriptions are working in India.
If it's so easy why do Stripe themselves say "easy onboarding is a fundamental Stripe feature that we cannot promise in India today."
Stripe also flag that "the regulatory landscape in India continues to evolve" so any company investing in subscription solutions must expect further complications and costs.
I still think you're blaming the wrong party - the government that needs to be more consistent with global norms
Well, if I had any influence on Indian regulations,i would have got things fixed. It is what it is. When the regulations were introduced they broke all subscriptions for months. The govt didn't bother then, and years later rest of the companies operating in India have adapted.
Stripe never said what exactly caused them to stop accepting new Indian businesses but my guess is the increased number of failed integrations such as substack increased the rate of customer issues and failed transactions.
Even now, there is no sound from the govt here after stripe made this announcement.
It is not impossible to implement these things.
- Ask Indian writers to provide their business name to enable currency localisation.
- Store Indian data inside India
- Collect customer name and addresses for Indian publications.