Changes and Exciting News

Price drops, tightened paywalls, and podcast guests

Walt Disney Studios

Running your own paid site is sorta like having a kid. You love it and think it’s the best of its kind, but at some point you will 100% look at it and wonder, “My God, what have I done?”

That probably sounds horrible.

Let me explain.

The first few days after my son was born was not what you’d call a gentle introduction to parenting. He was a furious baby. Picture the Hulk, but much smaller, less green, and somehow angrier. Much later, we realized he had colic, which is a clinical term for being possessed by demonic spirits. Later, we learned how to handle him, and soothe his rage.

When we left the hospital, we had no real clue what we were doing. We just knew this baby was pissed—like, the most pissed—and the only thing that worked was outlasting him. Literally riding the storm until he passed out for a brief but blessed few hours.

You would be right to wonder why the medical staff didn’t spot the condition and offer some pointers. This was the first time I realized there are no real authorities, that nobody can really help you in your time of need, that it is your responsibility to figure it out. Someone might help, but in times of crisis most people will stand on the sideline and silently be glad it’s not their problem.

There is no substitute for experience, and experience just reveals how ill-prepared you were. How naively optimistic. Or, simply, how wrong.

Price Drop

I had no idea how to price this thing when I launched it. So I just did what everyone else does—$5 / month, $50 for the year—even though my parents have been warning me about following people off bridges since forever. Sometimes I offered limited time deals because price manipulation is an effective way of doing business. Every time I felt a bit icky about it.

As I explained to my paid supporters a couple of weeks ago, I don’t want to be in the coupon business. I’d rather set a fair price and leave it there, forever, or until the economics deem I raise it.

I’d rather focus on adding value than offering the appearance of value.

If you want to support my work, it only costs $3 a month. That works out to 10 cents a day. An annual plan is $30.

Tightened Paywall

In concert with the price drop, I’m being more mindful about what I paywall, and how often.

The short of it is that I will be paywalling a lot more of my long-form stuff. It takes the most time to write and offers the most value. It’s also the stuff my biggest fans seem to love the most.

I publish long-form articles on Mondays, and right now, every other one is paywalled. I’m going to continue that practice, but to be honest, I can imagine a day when every long-form piece is paywalled.

The podcast will remain free, though I’ll probably do some supporter-only episodes along the way. The Friday High Five will always be free because it’s obviously immoral to charge someone for a high five.

Announcement: Upcoming Podcast Guests

One of the upsides to running my own pop culture site is I get to meet all kinds of awesome people who are just as passionate about movies and TV as I am. I went through my mental rolodex, building a list of guests I’d love to have on at some point, and then I approached a few I consider good friends because they’re less likely to be judgmental about my hosting talents, or lack thereof.

The first victims volunteers are:

• Simon Dillon
  is a novelist, columnist, and cinema-ist (sorry) who also is my go-to film reviewer. We’ll be talking about The Temple of Doom, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Simon loves it, I laugh at it, should be a great discussion.

• Sheila Moeschen
  is a hilarious writer and pop culture deep thinker, which is to say, my kind of people. (Because life is unfair that way, she’s also an amazing photographer.) We’ll be chatting about Hacks, which just wrapped its 3rd season and is coming back for a 4th. Sheila also literally wrote the book on female comedians, so, this pod is right in her wheelhouse. (My credentials: I love Ava.)

• Justin Cox is the founder and editor of The Writing Cooperative, one of the largest publications on Medium. It might actually be the largest, I don’t check the scoreboard often. Justin is also an uber Star Wars fan after my own heart. We’ll be breaking down Rogue One, which is one of my favorite Star Wars films and one I can’t wait to talk about.

• Kevin Alexander
  is the proprietor of On Repeat, the best music newsletter on Substack. Kevin talks music, I talk movies, so we’re going to combine our powers, Voltron-like, in an episode about music movies, or music in movies. Something like that. Exact topic is TBD but it is happening people and I am pumped.

I’ll be recording with these fine folks in the coming weeks. I anticipate you’ll start hearing voices other than my own by the end of the month. Happy days!

In Closing

These administrative posts are always a bit awkward, no matter how many pop culture references I worm in. But in this case, it felt warranted.

I’ve been running this newsletter for about 18 months, and the paid portion for just over 6 months. It’d be stupid not to calibrate based on what I’ve learned, and even dumber not to share the changes with everyone.

I don’t like to come with the hard sell. I prefer to let my work speak for itself.

If you can’t financially support my work, or if you’re just here for the tasty free samples—eat up and be well. I’m happy you’re here. You will always be welcome. I genuinely mean that.

If you support writers you like—and assuming you like me—I’d be much obliged to receive your $3.¹

My goal isn’t to become rich here. I’m just looking for signals that this work is valued. Otherwise I can go write something more meaningful, like fiction, or reviews for strip mall sushi.

1. I have no idea why I turned into an 1800s prospector there. I guess asking for money is easier if I resort to an old-world dialect.