A Message from Our Founder: Subscription Rates
Hi all, Noelle here!
You've likely seen our social media posts by now, announcing what it'll cost to subscribe. While we have a free subscription tier, not all of our work will be available on that tier. Some content will be paywalled behind a $12/month all-access tier. Why?
1. Business Expenses: Currently, the Independent uses Ghost via MagicPages for our hosting platform. We use the cheapest available hosting plan, at $65/year. As the founder of the Independent, I also personal-scale business expenses I have to cover as a freelance journalist, e.g. my continued membership in the Investigative Reporters and Editors association, which offers trainings and conferences that help me to be a better reporter. IRE membership currently costs $75/year but has proven invaluable to me as a reporter. While I've tried to keep business expenses low and plan to keep them low, equipment can break, prices can increase and there might be an opportunity to make the Independent better in the future that requires investing additional funds into it. I will always be as transparent as possible on what it costs to run this newsletter.
1A. On Hosting Platforms: I'm aware free hosting platforms exist. Substack being among the most well-known. Several of those platforms, including Substack, while "free" may take a cut of a newsletter's subscription earnings. I disagree with this and would rather pay a single annual hosting fee up-front than get nickeled-and-dimed by a percentage every month. E.g. Substack, the last I was aware, took a 10% cut of a newsletter's earnings each month. That may not sound big, but it adds up quickly. Regarding Substack, specifically, I also refuse to use their platform on ethical grounds. That platform has become notorious for hosting extremist and Nazi content and I do not want my name or my work associated with any platform that hosts Nazis. The Guardian, a UK-based publication, recently highlighted how Substack profits off of such content and ArsTechnica highlighted last year how Substack continues to host such content despite it being a years long known issue that has caused people to cease publishing on the platform. If any readers are aware of the myriad hosting platforms out there and wondered "why doesn't Noelle just use Substack" that's why.
2. Treating Employees Fairly: Yes, this probably sounds a bit silly when we're a one-person show, pardon me for a bit of flippancy coming up, but I've been a freelancer for nearly my entire career. I don't believe in working for free, even for myself. Reporters aren't all out here making the big money that the talking heads on (insert preferred major television news network here) are making. Like everyone else, I have bills to pay and a car that runs on gas and is pretty crucial to getting me from one local government meeting to another. We live in a capitalist society, inflation exists and life isn't getting any cheaper.
We said we'd try to ensure the Independent is more affordable than some of the existing news sources in Decatur County. When I was planning what to charge for a paid subscription tier, I did my homework. The county has a free news source in WTRE and a free broader regional news source in The 812, however, the Greensburg Daily News charges $14.99/month for their all-access plan that includes a print subscription and $13.99/month for their digital plan. We said we'd be more affordable and wanted to live up to that. We thought hard about where to price ourselves and ultimately settled on $12/month with a free tier that will include basic news coverage.
If we decide to have a sale on a discounted subscription rate down the road, we will let readers know. If we need to change rates for any reason, we will explain why. We're glad you're here reading our work and supporting local news, whether by merely subscribing to the free tier, signing up for the paid tier when you can afford to do so, or sharing our work with someone you feel would appreciate it.
Thank you, readers, and we look forward to becoming your go-to news source for all things Decatur County!