I enjoyed reading your essay, Matthew. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Following your thought process in deciding to keep your writing free was interesting. Even while my mind kept coming up with scenarios that posed a value consideration that would end up on the opposite side of the paywall decision.
That in taking the decision, you are considering a particular 'target audience'
Because there is an audience that would be excluded if the community includes everybody. A bit like a restaurant that a celebrity could not patronise because it has not got the sort of exclusivity that guarantees their privacy, security, or simply street cred.
Of course, that is a bit far-fetched for writing.
Perhaps it would apply for building a particular type of community. If you wrote a newsletter about real estate in New York, say, and paywalled it to a level where only those who could afford real estate in New York had access. And in giving everybody access, the real community one wanted to engage would keep away. If they thought discussions did not represent buyer opinions.
I've been reading some author's comments about the new DM feature on substack. And how they are considering taking up the paid option. Yes, as a source of revenue. But also, as a way to form a certain type of community; to keep their DM time and attention only to 'serious' community; not creepy texters or time wasters.
The value of words question goes all over the place.
Matthew, very well done. The time that readers spend is a significant part of the price paid by the readers and the value received by the writer. Of course, readers will only keep reading if they think their time yields value.
Seneca has a line about how we get upset if someone steals money from us but we don't get upset of someone steals our time. We can get our money back, but not our time.
Great post, Matthew. Like you, I have a paid tier, but have decided to make all my content free. at first, I thought this was not valuing my creativity, but then I realised I wanted to create a community where everyone felt valued. So people can pay if they want to support me as a writer, but they don’t have to. And no one misses out. Maybe our model won’t be appreciated by some, but I feel more comfortable with it. It takes the pressure off me as a writer too. And I don’t need that pressure.
Thanks for sharing your take on this value - I agree, it was probably the hard one!
I enjoyed reading your essay, Matthew. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Following your thought process in deciding to keep your writing free was interesting. Even while my mind kept coming up with scenarios that posed a value consideration that would end up on the opposite side of the paywall decision.
That in taking the decision, you are considering a particular 'target audience'
Because there is an audience that would be excluded if the community includes everybody. A bit like a restaurant that a celebrity could not patronise because it has not got the sort of exclusivity that guarantees their privacy, security, or simply street cred.
Of course, that is a bit far-fetched for writing.
Perhaps it would apply for building a particular type of community. If you wrote a newsletter about real estate in New York, say, and paywalled it to a level where only those who could afford real estate in New York had access. And in giving everybody access, the real community one wanted to engage would keep away. If they thought discussions did not represent buyer opinions.
I've been reading some author's comments about the new DM feature on substack. And how they are considering taking up the paid option. Yes, as a source of revenue. But also, as a way to form a certain type of community; to keep their DM time and attention only to 'serious' community; not creepy texters or time wasters.
The value of words question goes all over the place.
This was a great post, Matthew! Value is such an important concept.
Matthew, very well done. The time that readers spend is a significant part of the price paid by the readers and the value received by the writer. Of course, readers will only keep reading if they think their time yields value.
Seneca has a line about how we get upset if someone steals money from us but we don't get upset of someone steals our time. We can get our money back, but not our time.
Great post, Matthew. Like you, I have a paid tier, but have decided to make all my content free. at first, I thought this was not valuing my creativity, but then I realised I wanted to create a community where everyone felt valued. So people can pay if they want to support me as a writer, but they don’t have to. And no one misses out. Maybe our model won’t be appreciated by some, but I feel more comfortable with it. It takes the pressure off me as a writer too. And I don’t need that pressure.
Thanks for sharing your take on this value - I agree, it was probably the hard one!
Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts with your readers. I believe in what you are doing here.