Some Quick Unpaywalled Thoughts On Writing Behind A Paywall

Unless you’ve been living behind a paywall for the past few weeks, you’ll know that there are big changes afoot at the online edition of the New York Times.


Starting March 28th, American visitors to NYTimes.com will only be able to access 20 stories a month, unless they’re willing to plunk down between $15-$35 every four weeks for unlimited access.

Gallons of digital ink, mixed with no small number of tears, have been spilled over the news: whether it will result in greater or lesser profits for the Times, whether other publications are likely to follow suit, and whether any of that matters when paywalls are so easy to circumvent.

I, on the other hand, have found it hard to care. Another grand publishing experiment: it’ll work, it won’t work – it’s really too early tell.

And then came an email from the Times. Suddenly I cared.