I follow an amateur weather guy on Facebook. I like his forecasts because he’s never been about using hype to get more clicks. He would do his forecasts and then after the storm would post his PayPal link for people to donate to help him keep his work going. He recently announced he is starting a Patreon and will only give certain aspects of his forecasts to people who join for $3 a month.
I am a fan of a musician who also uses Patreon and you can only hear some of his music by subscribing.
All of my favorite writers who left Deadspin have started a new site, but you have to buy a subscription to read past a few free articles.
Medium only allows you to read 5 articles a month unless you pay $5 a month.
The publication I write for on Medium seems to be moving a lot of its stuff to Substack which likely means even more of it will likely be behind a paywall.
I get wanting to make money from what you do. I would love to make enough money from writing so I would never have to consider getting another job outside of the house. I have a support page here on WordPress. Feel free to click it and give me money! I make no money writing here.
I have no problem with people trying to make money with Patreon and Substack. I write on Medium specifically because I can make money there. I post my referral link on the articles in hopes of luring more people in so I make more money. I would consider Substack if I thought people would pay to read more of my writing. I know they won’t, so that would be a wasted effort.
My question is – How much of this will people tolerate before they just stop consuming?
I know I’m not going to pay $3 a month for an alternate weather forecast. I can get the weather for free.
I don’t pay for the extra music from the singer I like. I already pay for his music when he releases music outside of Patreon.
I do pay the $5 a month for Medium.
I would consider a subscription to Defector, the Deadspin people’s site.
I think the audience has to be very small for a pay-only area for most blogs.
I feel fortunate that people will actually read what I post here when it is free. Why would I consider reducing my audience by charging?
The World's Common Tater 
I apologize if this hits twice….my fave non WordPress blogger went to a paid subscription model last year…4 articles free then pay. I will not subscribe. The nickels and dimes add up after awhile
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Yeah. The $3 a month seems cheap but if you have several $3 a months it adds up.
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That’s exactly it!! I pay for the times and the journal because I like them as news sources, but after that Just can’t do it.
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Something has to be really special — either the product (writing, music, needlework) or the artist/writer/group — for me to consider paying. I usually pay if I want to support a person’s efforts, but there has to be some sort of connection first or special interest. A little here, a little there, and soon it becomes not so little.
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Exactly and I still support the one musician by buying music when he releases it to the world. I just don’t need the cover songs he charges for on patreon
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I don’t often subscribe to bloggers or writers. My son gave me a subscription to an author he really likes on Substack. I can read enough of his articles for free that I didn’t renew the subscription. When I wanted to make money writing, I did it, but it was working for trade magazines, writing for websites and magazines. In other words, submitting ideas and samples and getting assigned freelance jobs with deadlines. It’s sad that we don’t value writers enough to pay them or ourselves for our own work and ideas through subscriptions.
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I don’t feel confident enough in my writing to try the freelance thing
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I have confidence in you and your writing. I was referred to a trade magazine company and emailed the editor. They gave me a trial assignment. The specifics were to contact five sources and ask them six questions. They provided the sources and the questions. Another magazine/website I wrote for let me come up with my own ideas. I think if you look at websites or publications in subjects you’re interested in, you could submit or query some ideas or writing samples.
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Ditto the above. I don’t normally pay for extra. I’ll buy a book or music, but that’s about it.
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