Stopping Subscriptions: Why

Tonight, I took a deep breath and undertook an action that some will think crazy.

I cancelled the subscription mode.

I have three basic reasons for doing so, and no real clear replacement at this time.

1. It turns out there are some potential issues related to my working at the MUP Headquarters and spending part of my time working on something for which I receive subscription income outside of MUP. Resolving these might be possible. However…

2. There doesn’t seem to be a large and growing market. I appreciate the 18 people who have subscribed so far–subscriptions are actually bringing in less in total than free gifts from friends did before the subscription mode–and for whatever reason it’s not growing beyond that, and the subscription is limiting me from providing content to a larger audience that could really use it.

3. Google is making a massive change to Google Reader which will savage about a third of the content I provide on the website–and there is no clear resolution for that in the cards. I’ve spoken to folks who work with Google on Reader and it’s clear they are removing the Sharing options and not providing a replacement other than integration with Google+ (which won’t help the website).

So the subscription mode was problematic, and needs to be rethought.

Part of a “Deep Change” (or Godin’s “The Dip”) is knowing when to push through the problems and when to abandon the course of action for something that will be better. I may be wrong, but I sense that this is a point where abandoning a course of action is the better tack to take. So after spending several hours pondering this and coming to this conclusion, I’ve decided to act and sleep better.

I’ve gone ahead and cancelled every subscription. If anyone wants a refund on their full subscription (or the last 30 days) let me know and I’ll issue one.

Again, I appreciate all our subscribers. I am not going to stop writing, and I have some ideas about what we might do. I think in the future we’ll be providing data compilations (a la the Guidebooks) with a suggested tip, or perhaps sponsors, or something.

Thank you for your continued support.