I’m Slashing the Paid Subscriber Rate, and Getting Honest About Why
Seasons change. So do prices.
In August of 2023, I asked Sarah Jessica Parker if she reads this here newsletter. “What do you think???” she responded. “We all do. Everyone does.”
It was unintentionally giving Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Kathryn Merteuil:
“Everybody does it, it's just that nobody talks about it.”
And while I’d like to believe she’s right, a slew of recent comments from paid subscribers gave me pause in considering the business model of this newsletter:
“Love you, Evan, but I simply don’t have it in the budget.”
It’s a recurring sentiment I’ve heard since inception, but one that’s grown in volume in recent months, so much so that I thought it was about time I do something about it.
I work hard on this newsletter. I spend a great deal of time thinking about what I want to write about, how I want to write about it and making sure that my thoughts and ideas are workshopped and properly baked. I get big exclusives (see my recent interview with Jonathan Bailey), offer in-depth reviews about fashion, media, theater, and award shows, candidly discuss grief, curate a holiday gift guide, rank all 85 And Just Like That… characters, reflect on my place in the universe and go long on topics ranging from corporate Pride to my experience with online trolls — and yes, I did a top 10 moments from Emma Roberts's AD Tour.
I’m proud to have had over 1,000 paid subscribers since this newsletter launched last year (🥺). But with nearly 20K readers of the free weekly drop, it occurred to me that 95% of you were quite literally only getting half the story (😱). If this were my primary source of income, I’d rely on the coin brought in. But being transparent, I have other streams of revenue, and this was always intended to be a passion project rather than something to supplement my income.
And so with that said, and in keeping with the “half the story” motif established earlier, I’m slashing the monthly subscription from $10 to $5 and the annual subscription from $100 to $50. I will keep the $100/year level for those who wish to patron the art of newslettering, but wanted to create something more equitable for all.
Why the change?
It’s not the Wild West out here, per se, but the valuation of newslettering is still in its nascent phase. Unlike traditional media outlets, we don’t rely on outside advertisers or paid media plays, so it’s up to us to determine that sweet spot between what we think we’re worth (“I’m worth a million,” Charlotte York famously declared) and what we think people are willing to pay. Luckily, there’s some data. My favorite Substackers, Amy Odell and Hunter Harris, charge $5/month, so my initial price point always veered toward the higher end — though nowhere near DotMacro, a finance newsletter that charges $400/month.
We also have additional expenses. Substack takes 10% off the top, plus there’s another 2.9% + 30 cents per payment and 0.5% for recurring payments charged by Substack's payment provider, Stripe. I also pay a managing editor, Robby, who oversees the site and edits every piece. I point this out with the intention of showing a bit more of how the sauce is made — not just for me, but for others who are trying to navigate a crumbling media industry while also pursuing their passion in a way that is profitable, while also trying to figure out a model that is sustainable and potentially scalable.
Why should you become a paid subscriber?
As Tina Fey told Matt and Bowen, “authenticity is expensive.” You get access to not one, but two newsletters (the latter of which, the paid only, offers a more nuanced and, perhaps, unsanitized perspective). You’ll also have priority access to asking me questions directly during a monthly live chat. Want my take on your fav show? Want some recommendations on what to watch? Should you buy that? I’m happy to help.
Thank you for the decrease in the cost. However what really has me rethinking my subscription (and I think I bought in pretty early on), is your lack of crediting The Good Liars on a recent post. That’s flat out not acceptable. I commented and you ignored it. Their work is important, they deserve credit and for you, another content creator, to lift their content without credit, is pretty shitty. It’s also shady. Those two do amazing and sometimes dangerous work on behalf of all of us. There is NO excuse for stealing content or not crediting it. Flat out.
This is a great move. I don't know if anyone else, like me, assumed subscriptions would change automatically but I just looked and it was still listed at the higher rate, I had to manually select the lower rate. Which makes sense, but worth checking your sub settings. (I'd actually been thinking of cancelling my paid sub as other bills mount up, but at this lower rate I definitely feel it's affordable).