“At root is a fundamental shift in the news industry: There are plenty of ways today to pay little — or nothing — to read the news. There are free blogs. There’s Facebook and Twitter. Who needs a subscription to a local newspaper? Millions of Americans have decided they don’t.”
A fascinating episode of NPR’s “Hidden Brain” looks at “what economists refer to as a free-rider problem. And we ask, who bears the cost when nobody wants to pay?”
RahwayRising.com has always been a free blog, sustained on advertising from local businesses, like The Lehrer-Gibilisco Funeral Home, Pettit-Davis Funeral Home, Mr. B Printing, and more, previous crowdsourcing campaigns, and the occasional contribution.
I’ve been doing this for almost 13 years, becoming the premier site for news about redevelopment in Rahway and experimenting with it in many different ways as a sort of hobby and at times, part-time job. And I’m experimenting again. Readers can now support RahwayRising.com via Patreon with a monthly pledge at a variety of different tiers ($3, $5, $10 and $20) or a one-time contribution.
RahwayRising.com won’t change — most of the posts will remain available here — but Patreon offers readers another way to support the site. And there are some ideas I’ve thought about for how to incorporate Patreon supporters, such as: exclusive content for subscribers, such as maybe some of the more substantive and labor-intensive posts that take more effort and time. Or providing opportunities for input on direction of the site, like specific ideas on what kind of posts do you want to see? Would supporters be interested in podcasts or some type of audio version of blog posts, on a weekly or monthly basis? Maybe I’ll bring back the reader polls with some Patreon tweaks. I’m open to ideas and hearing other suggestions from loyal readers.
It’s easy to think that just because it’s on the Internet, that means it’s free (and some might say, you get what you pay for). Attending Redevelopment Agency, City Council, or Zoning Board meetings and writing up comprehensible summaries takes time, as do some of the more enterprising posts.
So, if you like what you’re reading and appreciate knowing what’s going in your neighborhood, please consider supporting this site at whatever level you’re comfortable.
