Raising your prices

Signs it is time

Most creators underprice, and most wait too long to fix it. Raise your prices when:

• Nearly everyone who looks at a locked post unlocks it. That means the price is below what the audience would pay.
• Custom requests arrive faster than you can fill them. Demand exceeding your time is the clearest signal in any business.
• You have been at the same price for a year or more and your content, audience or skills have grown.
• You resent the work at the current price. Resentment shows in content and in replies. A fair price fixes more than money.
• Your costs have gone up, which they always do.

Do not raise prices because you had a bad month. Raise them because the evidence says you are cheap.

How much

Small steps, not leaps. A subscription from $9.99 to $12.99 loses few fans; from $9.99 to $24.99 loses most of them, including some who would have accepted $14.99 later.

• Subscriptions: 20 to 30 percent per increase, no more than once or twice a year
• Pay-per-view: raise individual post prices freely; fans see each as its own decision
• Customs: raise your quoted rate for new requests immediately. Nobody has a right to last year's price.
• Tip menu: update items as you like; a menu is expected to change

Existing subscribers

The approach fans respect is to honour the old price for existing subscribers for a period, or permanently. Announce the increase a couple of weeks ahead and say that anyone subscribed before the date keeps the old rate. Two things happen: current fans feel rewarded for loyalty, and people on the fence subscribe before the deadline.

Check the current VestaCreate terms for exactly how a price change applies to fans who are already subscribed, and tell them plainly what to expect.

What to say

Keep it short, confident and without apology.

• Say the new price and when it takes effect.
• Say what, if anything, is new or improved. Do not invent extras to justify it.
• Thank existing fans and tell them what happens to their rate.
• Do not explain your finances or ask for understanding. It is a business decision.

A single post and a pinned note is enough. Repeating it every day reads as anxiety.

Some fans leave after any increase. Usually it is the ones who were least engaged, and total income rises even with fewer subscribers. Track revenue, not subscriber count, for the two months after the change before you judge it.

If you find you raised too far, do not announce a reduction. Run a promotion instead; it achieves the same result without signalling that the price was wrong.