Deprive others of what you love
Summer Sale 2025
Get 30% off The Pedestrian forever (available until 12th July)
FROM THE EDITOR
Recently, I have begun putting some of The Pedestrian’s content behind paywalls. I was reluctant to do this; I am neither particularly motivated by money, nor by an insatiable desire to create: I am more like a performing ape who must be spurred on with constant applause (and abuse).
Pay-walling content means losing some of that audience, and I have always preferred to be widely read than write for bread. But a couple dozen readers have decided to pay for a subscription, anyway, and I have felt indebted enough to them to begin producing exclusive articles.
There is actually a great deal of freedom in this. Knowing that I have the full support (and, I assume, understanding) of that readership, I am freed up to write in a different, looser way — a way that isn’t necessarily intended to trick anyone.
What I do like is that idea of a clubhouse, and that is what I intend the exclusive articles for The Pedestrian to be. You get, I hope, a sense of being in a clubhouse when you read these articles, anyway; the feeling that you are in on something, and that there are others baying at the windows, trying to scratch their way in.
That is the essence of the thing: Creating a clubhouse is not so much about letting people in as it is about keeping other people out.
That is what a subscription buys you: It keeps other people out.
As it stands I am putting about one article per month behind a paywall, and I am only doing that to satisfy those who have paid. Otherwise those articles would be completely free.
By paying for a subscription, you are encouraging me to pay-wall more articles which I would otherwise make available to everybody. It is not the case that I will necessarily be producing more articles should I gain more paying subscribers; it only means that I will be depriving the other, non-paying readers of them in order to satisfy you.
This is a nice enough idea, but I am not sure I can justify the Substack minimum subscription price of $5. To that end I have created a sale which brings the price down to around $3.50, with the annual price being now $35 or so (or $2.92 per month).
If you are a long time reader of The Pedestrian and would like to join the club, please consider taking advantage of the offer. It is good until next weekend (12th July).
If you continue to be a free subscriber, you will still receive posts. However, if many others decide to join the clubhouse, I will have to gradually reduce the feed from your drip, perhaps to just one in every two articles. Sorry.
Get 30% off The Pedestrian forever (available until 12th July)