Andrew Sullivan, star blogger, gets $333k in subscription in 2 days for independent blog as he ditches The Daily Beast

Andrew Sullivan, the star blogger at “The Daily Beast” is leaving the online magazine and starting on his own with his own business model.  Well, the model was supposed to be bold –

• No Ads
• Charging the readers for deeper content, more specifically

You’ll be able to read any story on the site for free if you get there via a link or social media. In fact, you’ll still be able to read most of the content on the Dish even if you go straight there. Sullivan is merely blocking you from clicking “Read More” halfway down his longer stories. Well, actually, you’ll get a certain number of “Read More”s per month for free anyway. (link)

The result:

Despite the lack of any real restriction in that setup, 12,000 readers have already ponied up $19.99 or more for a year of content. Some 2,000 chose to kick in an extra $5, though they didn’t need to, and nearly a thousand have contributed $50. “On average, readers paid $8 more than we asked them to,” writes a stunned Sullivan.

Well, the dude has gotten a cool $333k in just two days.  His goal is $900k.

The maximum purchases or subscriptions have been from California and New York.

With this he has opened a new avenue for bloggers and above all …. the media itself!  Ads model is risky and also not the best suited for the analysts.  The readers paying you for what you give them is probably a far better model.

Featured Image courtesy of Flickr, Geoff Livingston