Above Avalon Podcast Episode 168: The Paid Membership Model
This past week marked the fifth anniversary of Neil launching Above Avalon membership. Above Avalon continues to thrive with a sustainable business model based solely on paid memberships. In episode 168, Neil gives a behind-the-scenes look at Above Avalon’s business model. Additional topics include: Above Avalon’s history, Neil’s “secrets” to success, and his largest challenges found with a paid membership model.
To listen to episode 168, go here.
The complete Above Avalon podcast episode archive is available here.
Above Avalon Membership Turns Five Years Old
Above Avalon membership was launched five years ago this week. I am happy to report Above Avalon continues to thrive with a sustainable business model based solely on paid memberships.
Those who became Above Avalon members on May 13th, 2015 will enter their sixth year of membership tomorrow. A big thank you goes out to these early adopters who have played a pivotal role in financially-supporting Above Avalon from the literal beginning.
Reflection
Above Avalon membership’s fifth anniversary is a good time to reflect on milestones, challenges, and successes.
While membership-supported websites have grown in popularity over the past five years, Above Avalon remains on the forefront of testing just how niche a site can be and still thrive. By focusing on Apple and its ecosystem, Above Avalon is an example of how sustainability can be reached by dedicating all resources to covering one topic (company).
Since Apple doesn’t operate in a vacuum, an “Apple focus” includes analysis of other companies including, but not limited to Alphabet, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Spotify, Netflix, Disney, Fitbit, and Sonos. In addition, industries that Apple competes in receive my attention. This ends up being my secret sauce for covering Apple - start with a company focus and then move outward to cover an entire industry while keeping Apple at the central point. This is the opposite of what is typically done as many start with an industry focus and then analyze specific companies.
It’s never been easier to get a paid membership site off the ground, which means it’s never been harder to find success. Start-ups focused on handling much of the back end needed for paid membership sites have reduced the barriers that traditionally prevented writers, journalists, analysts, podcasters, and videographers from monetizing audiences. This has increased competition as everyone is ultimately fighting for people’s attention. However, outsourcing the back end ends up being the simple part. Based on my experience over the past five years, the technical details of starting a membership site (creating a website / finding a payment and membership system / managing a mass email - all of which I built piece by piece myself instead of relying on a one-stop shop) pales in comparison to the time and effort spent on offering analysis and perspective on a daily basis. Your perspective is ultimately what people will be paying for, and there isn’t any outsourcing of that critical ingredient.
Successes and Challenges
The “secrets” to success with paid membership sites are multifaceted. What has or hasn’t worked for me may or may not apply to others. With that said, here are my keys to success.
Keys to Success
Focus. As most entrepreneurs who have started businesses can attest to, a constant stream of opportunities arise along the way. These opportunities take the form of ideas such as “maybe should I do this" or “that would be an interesting feature." However, saying “yes” too much will result in dilution of both one’s time and effort. Said another way, being able to retain focus by saying “no” more often than “yes” has been one of my primary keys to success. The cornerstone of Above Avalon membership hasn’t changed in five years: four daily updates per week (each having about 2,000 words and covering three stories). To date, approximately 1,000 daily updates have been published.
Sustainability. It’s an interesting phenomenon but success brings on more success in this industry, and it all has to do with consistency. Above Avalon members have come to expect an exclusive daily email in their inboxes, and that is exactly what they get on a daily basis week after week, month after month, and year after year. Of those members who have chosen to step away from membership at some point over the past five years, a good percentage have returned to find that my daily discussion with members via the updates hasn’t missed a beat. Such consistency wouldn’t be possible if I spent years throwing things against the wall and constantly reinventing membership in attempt to find financial sustainability.
Membership quality. Every paid membership site must weigh the relationship between pricing and membership growth. Many news sites that have recently entered the realm of paid subscriptions are pivoting to chasing subscriber growth with drastic promotional offers and unsustainably low monthly pricing. Such a strategy doesn’t have many paths for success. With Above Avalon, I made the decision to focus on long-term, high-quality membership relationships. This has resulted not only in reduced churn (a good thing), but also continued subscriber growth as my priorities have allowed me to remain focused on adding value to membership (versus trying to boost subscriber numbers). The end result is membership that offers more value than its cost with these two variables not being anywhere close to each other.
Strive to be the best. One of the loudest criticisms surrounding paid subscription sites is that people are experiencing subscription fatigue. There is truth found with the statement. However, there ends up being much more going on behind the scenes that is rarely mentioned. There is no such thing as an “average” subscriber or subscription load. The top three subscription sites for one person will likely be different from the top three sites for someone else. To succeed, a paid membership site doesn’t have to earn a spot on everyone’s top three list. Instead, the site has to resonate with only a “few” people. This involves embracing a “be the best” mantra that entails making sure you are at the top of your game in your respective beat. After five years, I am confident in saying that this thinking has played a role in Above Avalon membership success.
There are variety of challenges found with paid membership business models, especially for one-person shops. Here have been my largest challenges:
Challenges
Exposure. While those who work at massive media outlets with teams numbering in the hundreds or even thousands have built-in amplification apparatuses for sites like Twitter (where everyone retweets each other’s articles), Above Avalon has to fight for exposure. At times this can be challenging, especially given my niche focus. I depend primarily on word of mouth for new Above Avalon weekly article readers and podcast listeners. Those two products remain my primary funnels for member acquisition. This is why having Above Avalon readers, listeners, and members (and there may be overlap among those three groups) share articles, podcasts, and daily update links is highly appreciated.
Workload. Simply put, I work a lot, to the point of being embarrassed some days by how long a daily update took to write (up to 12 hours). However, I’m happy to say that every update that I’ve published to date has met my publication standards. A consequence of this reality has been scaling back on the number of articles and podcast episodes that are published as there is only so much time in a day. Instead of rushing ideas out via shorter pieces or rushed podcast episodes, I decided to simply publish and record less often and instead dedicate the vast majority of time to Above Avalon members. My estimate is that 90% of my time in any given month is dedicated to membership with the remaining 10% going to weekly articles and podcasts (which are accessible to everyone).
Hesitation. As many artists can attest to, there is a difference between creating something with the expectation that people may or may not ever see it and creating something knowing that it will be seen. As Above Avalon readership has grown over the years, I’ve struggled at times with hesitation when hashing out certain ideas or theories. A daily update format ends up alleviating some of this hesitation as I end up talking with people who are likely to be more aware of my theories and perspective.
Other Items:
Reading habits. One debate that continues to be waged online is over people’s changing reading habits and the trend of people writing shorter pieces. For example, it has been said that blog posts are replacing books while tweets are replacing blog posts. My honest opinion of this is that it’s hogwash. Having tried my hand at tweet storms for a period, there is no question that shorter snippets of text composed in a style meant to grab one’s attention can lead to more Twitter followers, retweets, and likes. Why else would people publish tweet storms? However, the tweets comprising such storms are forgotten within a few hours and to be frank, lack depth. Meanwhile, I can easily recall certain blog posts and books that I read years ago. That isn’t a coincidence or just a result of blog posts and books being longer. Instead, writing is a powerful art that shouldn’t be manipulated just to chase social media engagement. The trend of shortening blog posts into what is just a series tweets is ultimately a growth hack.
Viability. Is it possible for other “Above Avalons” to exist (one or two-person shops focused on companies other than Apple)? Sure. The more important question comes down to how long it will take someone to find an audience. For example, if someone wants to dedicate his or her career to covering Coca-Cola, there is no question 1,000 to 10,000 people in the world would be interested in paying for top-notch analysis and perspective on the company. However, can someone find those 1,000+ people within a reasonable time period before the groceries and other household bills take over? That’s much less clear. As for covering other popular companies like Amazon and Tesla, my theory is that a company needs to have a defined and storied culture in order for an outside observer to properly analyze the company. Covering Tesla in the Above Avalon style ultimately comes down to analyzing Elon Musk, and that is an entirely different job. Meanwhile, covering Amazon presents its own challenges as the company is all about throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks. With Apple, there is a decades-long track record of a corporate culture and mission that ultimately makes it possible to analyze the company’s strategy, actions, and future.
Gratitude
In the blog post announcing Above Avalon membership back in 2015, I began with the following:
“Above Avalon will be 100 percent supported by its readers, and I'm very excited about that model. I am confident this will assure that Above Avalon will continue to serve as a vibrant, independent source of unique perspective on Apple for a very long time.”
While I had a good hunch that the model was going to work, I ultimately had no way of knowing for sure. Over the subsequent days, weeks, months, and then years, I passed certain thresholds like the point of first reaching financial sustainability or the time that the first annual memberships came up for renew. Those milestones ended up being validation markers more than anything else - signs that I was on to something.
This fifth-year anniversary feels different in comparison to those previous milestones. Instead of seeking validation, it’s a time for being grateful by taking a moment to think about and recognize those who have helped Above Avalon get to this point.
At the end of every Above Avalon podcast episode, I usually say a variation of “I am proud to say that Above Avalon is fully sustained by its members.” That pride is born out of a gratefulness that there are people out there who allow me to share my perspective on the world.
To all Above Avalon members: Thank you.
Here’s to a great first five years and to many more.
Listen to the corresponding Above Avalon podcast episode for this article here.