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A note on subscription prices from LWN

lwn.net

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Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN

#51

Post by bee_rider »

> There are few things we like less than raising prices, which is why we have done it so rarely. It would be far better to keep LWN as inexpensive as possible and make it up in volume. Subscriber growth has stalled, though, in recent years, making that strategy unworkable for now. We are working on schemes to bring in more subscribers again, but that is a long-term process; getting there requires some short-term help.

I can see why they’d want to keep bumping prices occasionally (to keep up with inflation). Why do they need plans to increase subscriber growth, though, are they not currently profitable? It seems like they must have hit a steady-state by now.

Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN

#52

Post by thataccount »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #25
thataccount wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5 to 6 dollars is not much in terms of a donation. In terms of a subscription, though...One thing is voluntary if you find value, the other is mandatory to get to the value unless you are willing to wait.

I think you're reinforcing my point. Both $5 and $6 a month are a lot of money to many people. LWN isn't "about to discover" this, they've likely already discovered this in their release + 1 week traffic over the years since they set the price at $5/month.

It's been my experience most people, regardless of what point you make, feel like you are reinforcing their points these days.

Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN

#53

Post by RMPR »

> The LWN site has been improved in a number of ways, with features like articles in EPUB format,

This is the single biggest feature that makes me keep my subscription going. The convenience to read longer form offline on my ebook reader makes me wish all other long form content websites would have the same.

Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN

#54

Post by spockz »

bee_rider wrote: post #51

> There are few things we like less than raising prices, which is why we have done it so rarely. It would be far better to keep LWN as inexpensive as possible and make it up in volume. Subscriber growth has stalled, though, in recent years, making that strategy unworkable for now. We are working on schemes to bring in more subscribers again, but that is a long-term process; getting there requires some short-term help…

Inflation means that hosting costs increase. On the site they also mention being under heavy scraper load which also isn’t free.

Then the writers probably also need compensation increase, at the very least to be a responsible employer so that the employees can deal with inflation.

Inflation happens regularly, normally, or when world leaders emit another chaos bomb, and they do not raise prices immediately causing a lower income/costs ratio. In order to keep up with that without raising the prices in between you need more income and that comes from more payers.

Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN

#59

Post by teiferer »

rdpintqogeogsaa wrote: post #9
giancarlostoro wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that but lwn is one of the main sites that gets submitted to HN all year round (not daily, but maybe nearish to daily). So the audience here on HN has been exposed to it over the years. I'm not sure what more they could do to get new subscribers, I certainly hope they figure that out or how to get new ways to earn revenue without having to go the ad route. https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=lwn.net

That's the thing though. You can get all the value from LWN through here. Even if it wasn't for them tolerating subscriber links being posted on HN, the week-long delay isn't nearly enough an incentive to actually subscribe, rationally speaking.

Selfishly speaking is the word you were looking for.
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