Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 3 Volume 9 | Page 47

stream. One thing they are doing is dou-
bling down on paywall content and tech-
nology (content that requires the reader to
pay) as they focus on developing digital
subscriptions nto their key revenue driver.
The FIPP report states, “There is a
healthy demand for high quality, original
content, and consumers are willing to pay
for it.”
But, the drive for subscribers is not
equally aggressive among the majority of
publishers polled. Almost 4 out of 10 pub-
lisher executives said that their company’s
resource commitment to subscription
initiatives is in the single-digit percent-
ages. An overwhelming 75% say they
spend less than a fourth of their resources
on subscription efforts even though sub-
scriptions appear to be a fairly solid and
sustainable business when compared to the
digital ad market.
Shelley Seale, Editor of INMA stated,
“The newsroom must own the subscrip-
tion process.” Currently the Norwegian
and Swedish media markets are reportedly
the most advanced in the world in that they
embrace data and digital subscriptions.
Earl Wilkinson, CEO of INMA adds, “There
are still companies out there international-
ly where newsrooms want nothing to do
with data or digital subscriptions.”
Apparently, a news organization’s stop
rate (the percentage of all digital users who
are “stopped” by a subscription prompt, a
paywall, or a meter limit) can apply to high-
performing publishers. Publishers with
over 6% stop rates have “thriving” digi-
tal subscription businesses. However, a
majority of the publishers are stopping a
only a very limited percentage of their
F ALL 2019
readers from continuing to read without
paying. Among the more than 500 news or-
ganizations analyzed, the lowest ranking
subscription publishers stop only 1.8% of
their readership with a paywall or meter.”
There is no question that conversion
represents challenges. But subscriptions
work for many publishers who put in the
time and resources. Unfortunately, it ap-
pears a large percentage are still using out-
dated business models.
Data indicates that for many publishers
who struggle with their subscription ef-
forts, it may be time to rethink their ap-
proach and perhaps concentrate more on
snagging digital subscriptions.
This poses the question, could the same
approach work for book publishers? There
are platforms that are subscription-based
for digital books and audio books, but what
if an author or publisher experimented
with providing a certain portion of a book
free on their own? Readers with a monthly
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W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE