A word’s worth

How do you price an online newsmag?

I’ve run through various models, but I keep coming back to one key figure: €52 a year. Just a euro a week, as the marketers would promote it. [Update: €52 a year isn’t quite working on the spreadsheets; a euro a week may not pay for the level of journalism I want to provide. With that in mind, all the figures below also subject to change.]

It’s not that one euro a week is a magic number, but rather that the next step up is two euro a week, and that breaks the psychological barrier of €100 for an annual subscription.

So for now at least, I’m settled on a euro a week.

That said, there would be more expensive options. Want a six month option? That’ll be €32 please. A single month? Try a fiver. The point of course, isn’t to earn extra revenue on shorter subs, but to encourage potential readers to sign up for the more valuable one year commitment.

Meanwhile (with thanks to Jason Walsh) the answer to a question that’s been troubling me. If you’re a small newsmag available only to subscribers, how do you spread the word? NSFWCorp has one answer. Every reader can share up to ten stories a month with their friends. It allows new readers a glimpse behind the paywall, and with luck, some of them will convert to new paying readers.

Image via MorgueFile.com
Image via MorgueFile.com

By Gerard Cunningham

Gerard Cunningham occupies his time working as a journalist, writer, sub-editor, blogger and podcaster, yet still finds himself underemployed.