The state of Played on Paper going forward
It's kind of a big announcement.
Hi all,
When I started Played on Paper in August of last year, I just thought it would be a place for me to hone my craft and vent my thoughts to a small group of people.
Now, over 1000 subscribers later, it has become something much greater than I could have ever expected, and I’d like to thank you all for supporting my newsletter so far.
If I can brag a bit, I think the articles I put on here are some of my best work. From the World Cup series I wrote late last year, to some of the detailed looks I’ve done about teams and players, there’s a good mix to choose from.
More importantly, these are the pieces I enjoy writing the most. My only issue is I never feel like I have enough time to commit to fully exploring all the ideas I want to.
That combined with a change in circumstances has led me to do some thinking about the future of this publication (as you probably guessed by the ominous headline and the corner flag in the photo above).
And in the end, I’ve decided to take the plunge and make Played on Paper a pay-to-read service.
Now I’ve always said in the past that I would prefer to keep this newsletter free and open to all, but to make this platform the best it can be and keep investing time into it, this is the decision I’ve made.
So what does that mean for you the subscribers or if you’ve just stumbled across this post and are wondering what Played on Paper is/will be?
Well, to begin with, all my existing articles will be remaining free to read; anything that’s already on the site you will able to access whether you are a paid subscriber or not.
I will also be doing one free newsletter a month, so if you stay or join as an unpaid subscriber, you will still receive some content every month for doing so.
Just to note, the quality will be consistent across all the pieces so don’t worry about me ‘phoning it in’ just because it’s free to read.
Now onto what you’ve all been waiting for - what paid subscribers get for their money.
For the low low price of £5/$6.17 a month (or £50/$61.67 a year)*, you will get access to four paid articles a month on top of the one free one mentioned before.
It’ll be the same great content you’ve been enjoying so far, but hopefully taken to the next level; more research, more detail and more pop culture references.
In addition to that, every other month I’ll do a mailbag where you can submit your questions for me to take a look at and I’ll pick a few to give a well-reasoned answer (or not depending on the question) to in the form of a post.
I want to build a community here and make you feel like the money you’re paying is a bargain for what you’re getting in return (any future additions to Played on Paper will also go into the paid package as well).
If that all sounds appealing to you and you want to subscribe yourself (or gift a sub) ahead of the change, you can do so here:
In terms of the timeframe for all this, I am hoping to start publishing pay-to-read content by the end of the month. This week's and next week’s newsletters will be free but after that, the paywall will drop.
Any support will be greatly appreciated and I’m hoping that in the past few months (or for however long you’ve been subscribing) my writing has made a good enough impression that you’re willing to pay for it.
Cheers,
Casey
*All conversion rates are correct as of the time of writing