The economics of “1000 True Fans”, where a hard-core following of super-fans economically support a creator, dovetails with a recent piece on a “shared values community” business model suggested by Eric Feng. Feng recounts how not all content is subsidized by advertising. The basic idea is that a core base of a creator’s audience is willing to pay ... See more

The subscription access business model results in a creator’s dilemma. If their best content is paywalled, how will they demonstrate the value of subscribing to new readers? If their best content is paywalled, subscribers have no way of accurately assessing the quality of a creator’s work.