Behold, our first subscriber goals

Seven months into Jank’s life, we have finally put up the paywall, compelling more readers to join the exalted ranks of the discerning literati who have backed us from the beginning. Now, it is time to start tempting more into joining the fold. 

At the time of writing, we have been blessed by 747 paying subscribers, bolstered by a series of folks who've contributed one-off donations. We are hugely thankful for all of them: we're grateful that people want to support this sort of website, and we're only able to do it thanks to their generous support. Our audience is small, but perfectly formed: the Discord remains a chill and pleasant place to be, and spawned a dedicated channel for pet photos right on schedule. 

The founders do not currently draw any salary from Jank. We are doing this because we want it to exist, and to endure without exhausting obligations to traffic and advertising. The income from subscribers covers our hosting costs for the website and podcast, plus other business expenses, but it’s mostly going on paying other writers to contribute posts to the site: every new subscription will go towards additional words. You've already seen some from folks like Sin Vega,  Alice Bell, Jeremy Peel and Jay Castello; we are in the process of commissioning other writers whose work we know and admire and you'll see their words on the site soon. 

The act of commissioning has revealed a fascinating deficiency: we're used to focusing on the games and topics that drive traffic, but the goal of Jank is solely to serve only editorial quality in general and our subscribers specifically. This is a strange and novel freedom, like introducing battery hens to free-range life, and it will take us some time to adjust: you may see some posts that are either wildly esoteric or unseemingly populist while we work this out, and at all times we welcome feedback on what you'd like to see more, or less of.  

Not all of them will be paywalled. We aim to reserve that for posts that rely on our subscribers to create; the stuff that only makes sense if somebody pays for it. We reserve the right to break this rule on occasion, for reasons of marketing, public interest or downright hubris, but in general site backers should get the good stuff first. 

We have ideas about the good stuff. Here is what we want to make, and the number of subscribers we need to make it happen.

• At 800 subscribers we will earn enough to commission Sin Vega as a fortnightly columnist. Sin is a great writer with a keen insight into indie games and we want to have her as a regular voice.
• At 900 subscribers we can afford for Nic Rueben to resurrect his book column, in which a noted game designer or developer talks through the contents of their bookshelf.
• At 1,000 subscribers we'll officially open ourselves up to freelance pitches, with a specific focus on finding and developing new voices and new writers. It takes a lot of time, discussion and editorial support to make this work and we want to do it properly
• At 1,100 we will launch a merch store, enabling you to proclaim your enthusiasm for Jank in physical form. We have a few ideas about how to do this and they all involve commissioning external artists and, potentially, legal counsel about the limitations of Fair Use.
• At 1,250 subscribers we can afford for Brendy to write for the site full-time. He won’t be making a lot of money, but it will save him from his current job and enable him to spend all of his working hours crafting excellent words.
• At 1,350 subscribers we can add Alice Bell as a fortnightly columnist, enabling you to experience regular and professionally-edited opinions that the Jank team only experience as profane stream-of-consciousness WhatsApp conversations.

If you’d like to make that happen, you can subscribe right here today. Every new subscriber makes us stronger.