Innovative Models For the Online Economy

Creativity and Innovation are not fashion accessories. They are qualities essential to pioneers. Be part of the revolution, and join the club.

3 September 2001

Economic realities must be faced, the sooner the better.

Content-wire launched seven months ago, sustained by individual efforts and vision, rewarded and stimulated by the excellent feedback of our readers.

No grant, no public funding, no venture capital, no European Commission money, no advertising revenue.

Just our curiosity, confidence and hopes, and our readers' thirst for real information in the mystically exploding content sector.

What is content, anyway?

We took our editorial destiny in our own hands, and leaped into the big internet void, when it looked as if the online economy dream was dissolving.

Now the time has come for that crucial decision to open a ‘subscribers section’.

The moment of the truth.

It’s an inevitable step for us to grow and be sustainable.

There is no such thing as public support for the internet economy. Nor private, for what we know.

If we want to make it, it's up to us, including you, essential reader.

Like busking opera singers, just no so gracious

When we launched the site, we felt like those opera singers and ballerinas who busk in Covent Garden Piazza – just not so gracious –

Will anyone stop by to listen to our tune, we wondered, as we started shouting at the top of our voices.

Content-wire currently enjoys over 40 thousands unique visitors per month, so we know we have an audience out there...

Now the next challenge is to see how many of these 'thousands' monthly visitors are really loyal readers, and how much our content is worth to them. Or do they just drop in because they have nothing better to do?

Will anyone subscribe, we wonder now, as we lock our best pieces behind passwords.

The Content Economy is No Joke

The 'subscription riddle' is no joke indeed.

There are a lot of questions to be answered…

Can individual items be viewed without subscribing?
Yes, for a small fee, say two dollars each. You may have to wait 48 hours before you receive them though, until we automate the process.


How did we set the price for a content-wire subscription?

Getting the price right is part of winning the subscription game, but your guess is as good as mine, I admit.

We are going for one hundred dollars per year, or equivalent amount in gold if you have some commodity surplus.
Nice round figure, tha's all.

What will I get for my money, readers could legitimately ask?

You know all those interesting articles that you have been reading on content-wire so far? A subscription section will allow us to continue publishing to the free pages of the site, and to produce more targeted stories that will be increasingly interesting and useful to you.


The Deal

In addition to the usual free news content, we’ll publish more researched stories, and, as some research is very labor intensive, we’ll take the liberty to charge for selected items.

The capital raised via the subscription scheme will be spent to produce increasingly targeted editorials and research that we know is so valuable.

Our plan for the year ahead is to work very closely with our readers, to study our market in detail and help the online content community develop healthy and balanced - not easy considering the swings of the last year or so.

Subscribers will be able to access our research material for half the general charge - we cannot disclose much yet but we are working on a couple of papers that will be available for purchase, and subscribers will be entitled to preferential conditions.

We have also realized that many of our readers are professional figures, often doing research and keeping up to date in their line of business on behalf of their company.

Content-wire is, or should be, part of the research budget..
Talk to us if you’d like to discuss a corporate subscription.


Leaping Together

In a way we realise that we are asking our loyal readers to become supporters and perform an 'act of faith'.

There is nothing to assure you that we'll be here tomorrow, and that we won't just take everybody's money and run off to Brazil, instead of staying at the desk to do more work as we promise.

But our destiny is indissolubly tied to yours, we are in this together. There are better ways to make a quick buck, than starting a content information resource, believe me.

An alternative for us would be to do some begging, soliciting the interest of benefactors and venture capitalists alike, but that is definitely not in our style, and it would be like admitting failure.

It would be like saying that there is no sustainable future for the new economy other than begging.

We’d like to prove the contrary, and need your support, now.


Readers will be the first to put their hands on our equity


If anyone must get their hands on our equity, that should be the readers, content-wire management committee decided from day one.

As a token of appreciation for all readers who place their trust with content-wire, we are offering five complimentary shares per year to each subscriber, for the first two years, to those who subscribe before next summer (1 st July 2002).

Shares will be issued second quarter 2002, and a total of 20% will be made available to subscribers. More financing options will be available then, in case you may want to buy more than five.

If things go well by this time next year you'll have received your content-wire share certificates, possibly printed on lilac paper, and we'll be having our first AGM.

What do you think of that?

Yes, it’s a leap of faith, and share to subscribers incentive scheme sounds like a good idea to us, but we don't know anyone who has done it before. So what?

Yes, you need to be willing to be a little patient, and to experiment with the model, but what else is internet life for? Thanks for sticking with us.

We'll do more.

If you wish to use content-wire as a communication platform for your business message, you can subscribe to our package subscription deal, which gives subscribers, in addition to premium content access, the right to display a banner on our homepage (position according to availability) for up to two months in a year, and a package of five text newsletter adverts, for a total price of 200 Us dollars, or equivalent currency.

So, if you wish to access the stories that carry the dollar sign (($$$)) near the headline, please send 100 dollars to content-wire via paypal (paypal.com, pay content@content-wire.com), and you'll be sent a password to access the Premium section of the site valid for a year, that will enable you to read the password protected items.

If you wish to read an individual item that carries the subscription symbol, but do not want to subscribe, send us two dollars and an email specifying the story you want to receive, and we’ll email it to you withing 48 hours or so.

Is there any other way you'd like to support content-wire?

We are open to suggestions. We are hungry and we need to grow, fast

Do not hesitate to send us any questions and comments


Yours so very truly


Paola Di Maio
Managing Editor
editor@content-wire.com


Regular Subscription, 100 dollars