4 ms·

It's a fair comparison, Ed (though I never think good ol' paper magazine is something that we could be replaced. It's just a different reading experience). Let

It's a fair comparison, Ed (though I never think good ol' paper magazine is something that we could be replaced. It's just a different reading experience). Let's put it this way: This is the only way Hacker Monthly could move forward and sustain. Don't get me wrong. I love working on Hacker Monthly and enjoyed every seconds I spent on it (this came by surprise, actually). I love sending email to authors asking for permission (and sometimes have a lil conversation), spending days after days on the design, curating articles and so on. I love it all, except one thing, it took too much time. The money we made on the past issues (advertising + print magazine sales) is, simply put, so little that it could not justify 10% of the time we spent on making for the magazine. I have to spent the rest of my time working freelance contract work to pay bills. And honestly, the past two issues wouldn't be made possible without the voluntary help from Ricky (who worked so much more than just a proofreader, thank you!). We believe Hacker Monthly provides so much value for the readers that we could charge for it. The subscription revenue would enable us continue to produce really high quality stuff for years to come, without burning ourselves out. I hope that explains well.

jacquesm 16y ago
I'm fine with the pricing, mostly because I'm not going to pay it. The reason for me is that HN is worth so much more with the comments and the ability to follow all those links. But I can completely understand that you have to charge this much at the current volume to make it worth the time you invest. What I don't get about the whole thing though is that you seem surprised by how much time it takes and how little money it makes from advertisers. But that really shouldn't come as a surprise, after all, whether you get this circulated to 50 or 50,000 people the editorial work is the same. Only with 50K readers your financial picture would look a lot better, both at a lower price-point and from an advertising revenue perspective. Maybe it was too early to start charging, maybe you should have counted on some more runway to get the volume up to a point where the price would be low enough that it would not become a substantial barrier to the success of the magazine?
- epi0Bauqu 16y ago
  Alternatively, have you thought of having the price drop automatically if x users signup?

jacquesm 16y ago

I'm fine with the pricing, mostly because I'm not going to pay it. The reason for me is that HN is worth so much more with the comments and the ability to follow all those links. But I can completely understand that you have to charge this much at the current volume to make it worth the time you invest. What I don't get about the whole thing though is that you seem surprised by how much time it takes and how little money it makes from advertisers. But that really shouldn't come as a surprise, after all, whether you get this circulated to 50 or 50,000 people the editorial work is the same. Only with 50K readers your financial picture would look a lot better, both at a lower price-point and from an advertising revenue perspective. Maybe it was too early to start charging, maybe you should have counted on some more runway to get the volume up to a point where the price would be low enough that it would not become a substantial barrier to the success of the magazine?

epi0Bauqu 16y ago
Alternatively, have you thought of having the price drop automatically if x users signup?