Pay to Read Online

Here we are, writing and reading through an historically poor economy.

I spent over an hour today at the Duval County Fairgrounds, picking through books at the Friends of the Library Book Sale. It was $10.00 for a grocery sack filled with books, and I nabbed nineteen for that amount.

And let me say, the tables were picked. I couldn't find any good King titles. Not one Lansdale. No Richard Ford or Jeffrey Ford. No Neil Gaiman, no John D. MacDonald, no Chuck Palahniuk, no John Connolly.

The sum total? Four Michael Connollys, four John Grishams, one John Farris, one Robert McCammon, one Michael Crichton, three Elmore Leonards, one Peter Straub, one James Lee Burke, one Lawrence Block...so on and so forth.

Now, I've already written about the importance of supporting a magazine in these rough times. But, in case you need another look at what is amounting to the paramount discussion on where the world of writing is headed, take a gander at this article, and the discussion that ensues, at the Internet Review of Science Fiction.


I applaud all of the quality markets and editors who are making a very serious job of publishing work in this down time. I'm simply thankful for the hard work that editors devote to putting together a quality magazine (online or print), and I think they deserve a ton of credit for having the stones to do that.

As an aside, I just asked my wife if she'd be willing to subscribe to the Oregonian online, and we both agree that we would. The question then boils down to what that would mean. Could online subscriptions ever eclipse the economic thrust of advertising, or would content providers find some common ground between the two?


To be honest, I can't imagine paying much more than six or seven dollars a month to read the Oregonian online. That said, I can certainly live with that, while maintaining my subscription to the physical copy of the Florida Times-Union.

So here it is: would you pay for online content? If yes, how much?