We believe that what you read matters. And we believe that there has never been a better time to bolster and protect those ideals. Now, more than ever, publishers of news and similar content can be profitable through direct payments from readers.

Subscriptions were pioneered by periodicals, including, in 1688, the first illustrated edition of Milton’s Paradise Lost.

The news business—and here we interpret the word “news” in its broadest sense—is unsustainable if it continues to rely on advertising.

leading to a future in which the aggregate market value of subscription-based content is larger than the value of the news industry we know today.

Precisely targeted and curated content means less noise.

“[B]y making something scarce, and worth paying for, you are by definition limiting your number of readers,” Thompson wrote in 2015. “Stratechery, though, serves a niche, and niches are best served by making more from customers who really care than from milking pennies from everyone.”

a niche is just something that at least a few people care about a great deal—and perhaps enough to pay for. A subscription publication, then, doesn’t need to be the New York Times in breadth and scale.

Once the old rules are gone, a new world of possibility opens up.

Make it simple to start a publication that makes money from subscriptions.

Over time, we will introduce an ever-evolving suite of features and services to better serve independent publishers, helping them do the best work they can and build strong, enduring businesses.

Publishers will own their data, which we will never attempt to sell or distribute, and we won’t place ads next to any of our own or our customers’ products.