TL;DR: Paid newsletters monetise through subscriptions (2-5% free-to-paid conversion), sponsorships ($25-150 CPM), affiliates ($500-5,000/month on 5-10k lists) and courses ($20k from a $200 course × 100 buyers). Substack hosts 17,000+ earning writers with mid-tiers at $2,000-10,000/month. Path: 1,000 free subscribers → 2-5% convert at $8-12/month → $160-600 MRR → layer sponsors at 5,000+ subs....