An Offer From Fence

This came across in a listserv from Fence. I think it's an interesting idea, especially for lit mags struggling for readers and funding.

Dear Reader,

We at Fence love Radiohead, and so jumped at the chance to buy their newest album (I'm so old I call it an "album") at the price of our choosing. One of us paid $1 for it; another of us paid $17 for it; these seemed like fair prices. We have heard some paid two months' salary.

And now we're offering a similar opportunity for you to choose your own price for subscribing to Fence (or re-upping your current subscription). It's very important to us that Fence have readers--that the work inside Fence have readers, really--and so we want you to pay us whatever you want for your year's subscription.

All you have to do is go here and click on "donate," then choose your level. Payments are processed by PayPal (it's free and easy to set up an account if you don't already have one). Anyone who chooses to pay $300 or more, god bless you, will, as always, become a lifetime subscriber, and receive a receipt for your tax-deductible donation.

This offer will be good from now through April 30. If you take us up on it you will receive your brand new Spring/Summer 2008 issue of Fence sometime in May.

Thanks!

Comments

Kay Cooke said…
Interesting .... I think it was the Canadian musician Jane Siberry (who now goes under a different name I believe) who actually started this whole 'pay me what you think I'm worth' idea. Or maybe she got the idea from Radiohead? ... I do know Siberry started doing it about two years ago.
Maybe it will become the new commerce. I wonder if it would pay off? Or just be a big rip off for the buyers?
January said…
Well, journals need readers no matter what. And even if this is a publicity stunt, they will get new readers. So if it works, the pay-what-you-want system could be a new industry standard.

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