
Stupid idea: Charging $100 a year for an e-mail newsletter - shortformblog
http://shortformblog.com/chatter/stupid-idea-charging-100-a-year-for-an-e-mail-newsletter
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michael_dorfman
I completely agree that what Billboard is doing is bone-headed, but I don't
think that a $100/year e-mail newsletter is necessarily a "stupid idea". The
trick is to come up with content and quality that justifies $2/week (or
$10/month)-- a task that is not trivial, but not impossible. And, as always,
that range between the trivial and the impossible is where the viable business
idea lies.

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shortformblog
Perhaps. I feel, though, that turning a promotional vehicle into something
they expect people to pay for is not the way to go. The value is in the
promotion.

In my experience, people don't want nudges turned into the product. They like
the nudge, and taking that nudge away is quite often a turnoff.

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michael_dorfman
I completely agree. Billboard is completely out to lunch on this one.

I'm just saying that in general, paid content is not necessarily a bad
business plan-- remember, a lot of folks thought that cable TV would sink
because "why pay for TV when you can get it for free?"

