So after months of mulling my writing life, my writing future, subscriptions, etc., I’ve reached a big decision. Even though I will continue to expand the blog’s subscription program – the blog is how I will make the bulk of my living as a writer in coming years – I have decided that the blog will remain free and fully accessible to people who can’t afford or don’t wish to pay for it.

So far the subscription program has convinced me to trust my readers and have faith in them. People are happy to pay a small amount of money – $3 a month, $5 a month, or $60 a year – to subscribe to the blog. Next week, there will be credit card payment options as well as Paypal options. The conventional Internet marketing wisdom is that once a subscription program is in effect, then free access ought to be curtailed, if not eliminated.

But I have never really followed the advice of marketers too closely, if I had I would never have started this blog, or put so much free content on it. Although only a fraction of blog readers have subscribed, that is not an insignificant number – a lot of people come through this site and that number is growing and will, I believe, continue to grow. There has been little or no grousing about subscriptions, it is a payment for my writing and photos, not my life. I am not a good cause or a charity,  I do not need or accept donations.

People seem to grasp, even embrace the idea of paying me for my work, a growing realization online, and I am surely embracing it as well. If I am wrong in my assumptions about the good faith of people, I can always revisit the issue, but I don’t think I am wrong, people understand that I need to be paid for what I do, just as if they were buying a book – the blog is a book, for sure, and more – and my photos. I just trust my readers, as many trust me, and I don’t want to slam the door on any of them.

I just hate the idea of sealing off the blog or limiting access to it. I want people to see it, and to continue to flow into the site. I understand that many people are pressed these days and the idea of subscribing to anything makes them nervous, or they just can’t afford it. If they can afford it, and value it, they will subscribe in one of the varied options I am offering them.

I feel very good about this decision, internet marketers will think me crazy and they are, of course, right about that. I love getting paid for my work, I love having a blog that is free. We’ll see just how crazy I am.