Step 1: Define the Offer
The difference between a paid AMA that fills up and one that does not is usually the topic specificity. "Ask me anything" is too broad. A specific topic hook tells the audience exactly who this is for and what they will learn.
Weak topic: "Q&A with me."
Strong topics:
- "Ask me anything about landing your first $5k/month consulting client."
- "Ask me anything about scaling a Shopify store past $50k/month."
- "Ask me anything about getting promoted to senior engineer."
- "Ask me anything about building an audience on LinkedIn in 2026."
The topic should answer one question the audience is already asking. It does not need to be comprehensive. It needs to be specific enough that the right person immediately thinks: "that is my exact problem."
Format options:
Open Q&A. Attendees submit questions before or during the session. You answer in real time. Works well for smaller groups (10 to 30 people) where the questions are diverse.
Themed AMA. Questions are constrained to a specific topic area. You may do a 10-minute intro, then open for questions. Works for any size group.
Hot seat format. One or two attendees present their situation in detail, the group asks follow-up questions, you give a diagnosis. Best for coaching and consulting niches.
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes. Under 60 minutes feels rushed. Over 90 minutes loses audience attention and makes the recording harder to consume afterward.
Step 2: Price It
AMA ticket pricing runs on two axes: audience engagement and topic value.
Here is a framework by format and niche:
| Niche / Format | Micro (under 10K followers) | Mid (10K to 100K) | Large (100K+) |
|---|
| Business, marketing, finance | $25 to $40 | $20 to $35 | $15 to $25 |
| Career, tech, design | $20 to $35 | $15 to $30 | $10 to $20 |
| Fitness, health, wellness | $15 to $30 | $10 to $25 | $8 to $15 |
| Creative, lifestyle, food | $10 to $20 | $8 to $15 | $5 to $12 |
Counter-intuitively, smaller engaged audiences often support higher per-seat prices. An audience of 2,000 highly engaged followers in a professional niche will pay more per seat than an audience of 200,000 passive followers.
For filling a first AMA without an email list or large following, see how to fill a paid workshop without an email list for promotion tactics that work at small audiences.
Step 3: Set Up Booking, Video, and Payment
The setup should be done before promotion starts, so anyone who sees the announcement can book immediately.
One link covers ticket sales, the live session, and recording. On Talkspresso, you create a group session, set the ticket price and session capacity, and describe the topic. The platform generates a booking page. Attendees pay and receive a confirmation with the video join link. The session records automatically.
Free plan: 10% fee, no monthly cost. Pro at $29.95/mo: 0% fee. For a 25-person AMA at $25 per seat ($625 total), the free plan takes $62.50, leaving you $562.50 after fees. Pro at $29.95 saves $62.50 minus the $29.95 subscription, netting you $32.55 more. Pro pays off at higher ticket volumes.
Session capacity. Set a cap that creates urgency. For a first AMA, 25 to 50 seats is a reasonable cap. The constraint makes the session feel more exclusive and encourages earlier booking.
For context on the broader guide to running paid Q&A sessions, that post covers format variations and delivery mechanics for different types of live Q&A events.
Step 4: Fill the Calendar
Promotion for a paid AMA should start 7 to 14 days before the session date. Here is a promotion sequence that works without ads or a large list:
Day 1: Announce the topic. Post the AMA topic on your main channel (newsletter, social, community). Be specific about who it is for and what they will walk away knowing. Include the booking link.
Day 3 to 5: Share a teaser. Post one question you have already received (or will likely receive) and your take. This demonstrates the value of the format and re-prompts booking from people who saw the first post but did not act.
Day 7: Final push. Announce how many seats remain. Scarcity is genuine here: you set a cap for a reason. Send to anyone who engaged with the announcement post but did not book.
Community amplification. Share the AMA in relevant communities where your topic is discussed: Discord servers, Reddit communities, LinkedIn groups, Slack channels. Frame it as an invitation to a focused Q&A, not a sales pitch.
Referral from existing audience. Ask your current newsletter subscribers or community members to share the link with one person who would benefit. This is the most effective and most underused tactic.
For the full playbook on hosting your first paid webinar, that guide covers the promotion timeline in more detail with message templates.
Step 5: Deliver and Follow Up
The AMA itself needs basic structure to run smoothly at any size:
Before the session: Collect submitted questions from attendees ahead of time (via the intake form or a pre-session email). Sort them by theme. You do not have to answer them in order, but having a list means you never sit in silence looking for the next question.
Opening (5 minutes): Introduce yourself in two to three sentences (assume some attendees found you recently). State the topic and what they will get from the session. Set the format expectation: how you will take questions, whether they can unmute.
Main session (50 to 75 minutes): Answer questions. Prioritize the most specific and high-value questions first. If a question generates a long discussion, take it to the end or a follow-up to maintain pace. Use the recording as a reason to be thorough: attendees who watch the replay benefit from complete answers.
Closing (5 minutes): Summarize the two or three most important takeaways from the session. Mention the recording and when it will be available. Offer a next step: a 1:1 session, a workshop, or the next AMA.
After: Send attendees the recording link within 24 to 48 hours. Ask for a one-line testimonial about what they got from the session. The best testimonials name a specific insight, which makes them much more useful for promoting future sessions.
Scaling Up
Once you have run one or two AMAs, you have options to scale the revenue from the format:
Recurring monthly AMA. A monthly paid AMA at the same time each month becomes a subscription-style revenue stream without requiring subscription infrastructure. Regular attendees come back. New ones discover it.
Recording product. Package the AMA recording as a standalone product at 30 to 50% of the live ticket price. Promote it to your audience as on-demand access. For the mechanics, recording and reselling live workshops covers how to set up the product and distribution.
Bundled packages. Offer a bundle of three AMA recordings plus one 1:1 session for a higher price point. This gives you a mid-tier offer between individual AMA tickets and full-price coaching.
Upsell from AMA to 1:1. At the end of each AMA, mention that you offer private strategy sessions for people who want to apply what they learned to their specific situation. This is the most natural upsell in consulting: attendees just spent 90 minutes seeing how you think, and the ones who most want more will book.
