An update from TV or Not TV ... The paywall cometh
It's just another Cyber Monday
Good morning, friends. I hope you and yours had a lovely Thanksgiving.
I am pleased to report that the various pieces of the puzzle that is TV or Not TV — for LA & OC are now in place. To whit:
I have furnished the website with examples of the many different kinds of content that will be available going forward: TV Highlights for broadcast, cable and streaming; new and classic Movies , event screenings and film festivals in area theaters; and comprehensive listings for live and local Theatre (with comedy, spoken word, etc.) and Music & Dance; arts-related activities for Kids & Families; plus the monthly Museums roundup and special roundups for things like Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Pride, July 4th, Halloween, etc.
Said content is now broken out by section on the website and in the newsletters. So if you only want to receive one particular set of listings — or however many you desire, in whatever combination — you can go into your settings and select the ones you want or de-select the ones you don’t. You will find instructions on how to do that here: How do I subscribe to or unsubscribe from a section on Substack?
And I have set a release schedule for each newsletter I should be able to stick to:
Movies — posted Wednesdays and covering that Wednesday through the following Wednesday
Kids & Families — posted Thursdays and covering that Thursday through the following Thursday
TV Highlights — posted Fridays and covering Sunday through Saturday
Theater and Music & Dance — posted Saturdays and covering Sunday through the following Sunday
Museums — a day or three before the first of each month
Holidays — a week or more in advance, depending
Also, I have registered a domain name of my very own — TVorNotTV.tv — which the Substack platform will allow me use as a URL to replace the rather unwieldy tvornottvmattcooper.substack.com (still works, but now redirects to the new one).
And I have purchased an ad that will run in the LA Times’ Sunday Calendar section (!) on December 3. It will be small, but in color, and hopefully effective at bringing in new readers (and if by chance you still get the print edition of the newspaper, keep an eye out for my feline mascot).
Lastly, I have decided to keep the pricing at $5 per month/$50 per year for the whole kit and kaboodle — or kitten kaboodle, if you will.
I was considering charging $5 per month for just the TV highlights alone, and more for the more labor-intensive posts like Theatre and Music & Dance. But there is no easy way to do that on Substack without setting up separate accounts, each with its own separate billing. So now it’ll be simply five bucks a month for as much or as little content as you might desire. Seems like a bargain to me, and I’m hoping that future subscribers will see it that way, too.
All that said, I will be turning on the paywall, as scheduled, on December 1st — i.e. this coming Friday. At which point, everything except the Kids & Families posts and Holiday roundups will be subscriber-only; those two newsletters will remain free to all, as a public service, but also as an enticement to bring in new subscribers (non-paying subscribers will be able to see a preview of a paywalled post, just not the whole thing).
Also, I will be able to “reward” readers who refer new subscribers with special bonuses like one or more months’ free access to the newsletters and website. I will need at solid base of around 2000 paying customers or more to make TV or Not TV a going concern (and once the paywall is up, Substack will come asking for their 10%). To that end, anything that you, dear reader, can do to spread the word will be greatly appreciated and perhaps even rewarded.
Thank you to all who have offered their support and suggestions to help get me get this project off the ground; I truly appreciate it. Everywhere I go, like “Frida y Diego” at LA Opera on opening weekend or “Inherit the Wind” at Pasadena Playhouse last Tuesday (both recommended), people are telling me that there is a great need for comprehensive arts & entertainment listings here in Southern California. And I am as committed as ever to making that happen.
Happy holidays, and fingers crossed…
Matt