Introducing Tiered Subscriptions

Answers to your questions on free and paid subscriptions.

Dear Reader,

There comes a moment in each newsletter’s life, once it has grown enough to seriously tax the author’s time, where it must start generating revenue to compensate the author for his time (especially if it takes time away from paid work, family time, or other obligations). Game & Word has now reached this point. As such, I am introducing paid subscription tiers, starting right now.

I know this is big news, and you’re probably either really excited for me, or really nervous about what this means for your reading experience. Well, let me assure you that you have nothing to be afraid of, and so much to be excited about!

Here’s why:

If you level up your subscription, you’ll gain access to more content, more often, and in more formats.

And even if you don’t pay a dime and remain a free subscriber, you’ll continue receiving a feature article every Sunday, like you always have—it’ll be like nothing has changed.

This is a huge announcement, with a lot to unpack, so the rest of this post will be dedicated to breaking it down for you. It’s basically a FAQ¹ for these new paid subscriptions. If you want more details about what you get with each subscription tier, different subscription options, and why I’ve chosen to implement paid subscriptions (in particular), read on.

But if you just want a summary, you’ll get a bulleted list of perks before changing your subscription. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so by clicking the “subscribe” button below:

And if you’ve already subscribed and want to level up your subscription, here’s a helpful guide from Substack itself. Please note that you can only change or upgrade your subscription from the web, not the app.

Thank you again for your ongoing support of Game & Word. You’re probably sick of hearing it, but I truly cannot thank you enough for subscribing and reading my humble little newsletter.

Simply put, Game & Word would be nothing without subscribers like you. And you’ve helped grow this newsletter enough to hit this major milestone. Thank you.

Best,

~Jay Rooney

Publisher, Game & Word

Paid Subscription FAQs

1. What are the different subscription levels?

2. What do I get with a paid subscription?

3. How do I know which tier is right for me?

4. Ugh… do I really have to pay?

5. What if I can’t (or won’t) pay?

6. Can I preview this bonus content before buying a subscription?

7. Why are you even doing this?

8. Any other questions?

1. What are the different subscription levels?

Glad you asked! Starting right now, you have four different subscription options:

• Free: You pay nothing. You’ll continue receiving the weekly, longform feature articles you know and love. No guilt, no pressure, no penalty—nothing will change for you.

• Monthly: $7/month. Same benefits as the free tier, plus tons of bonus content (detailed further below).

• Annual: $70/year. Same benefits as the monthly tier, only at 16% off the monthly rate!

• Founding Member: Starting at $400/year. Same benefits as the monthly/annual tiers, plus your name on Game & Word’s masthead, and the satisfaction of knowing you’re sustaining an independent, reader-supported publication to such a huge degree.

Oh, and just FYI—all prices are in US Dollars.

2. What do I get with a paid subscription?

Paid subscribers will receive additional, weekly bonus content in addition to the free content everyone gets. Bonus content won’t necessarily follow the same theme as the free issues, though they sometimes will be. Bonus content will take the form of several different formats and structures, each with its own title and concept. These will be rotated in and out of publication as necessary. A few such formats² include:

• Pop Psychonautica: Ever wonder what kind of trauma’s behind Crono’s muteness? Or what Bowser’s MBTI type is? Can you infer Nathan Drake’s zodiac sign based solely on his personality? Join us as we explore these questions, and more, from Game & Word’s specially-designed psychoanalytical armchair!

• Civilopedia Entry of the Week: Civilization is the closest we’ve come to a complete record of humanity’s story in a video game. Join us as we pick an entry from Civ 6’s Civilopedia and dive deeper into the topic it introduces!

• Game Works: Why are some games just so damn good? For this segment, we’ll look under the hood of the best games ever made to discover why they work so well. We might even learn a thing or two about game design along the way!

• Byte-Sized: Shortform, more “traditional” gaming writing (well, relatively shortform, in any case). This could include reviews, commentary, developer Q&As, and quick takes on everything from ascendant genres to individual moments of brilliance in games I’m currently playing. Will publish as either text or audio, depending on what’s best for the topic (and whatever mood I’m in).

• Archetypes and Monomyths for the People: Hey, remember Hades’ flawlessly voice-acted cast of Greek gods and goddesses? Ever wondered why they’re so horny all the time? Or, have you ever asked yourself why Link’s journey is so damn relatable? Spoiler: it’s because his journey is everyone’s journey (don’t worry, we’ll break down how, and why). All this, and more archetypal goodness!

• The Game & Word Podcast: Yes, we’ve done audio interviews. But now it’s time for the Game & Word Podcast! Join me (a gamer) and my wife (a non-gamer) once per Volume as we explore the intersections between games and our own different interests. Along the way, we’ll discover how much more connected games are to the wider human experience than either of us imagined!

• More: There’s no reason we need to stop there. Paid subscribers also get more of a say in which topics Game & Word covers, so if you just have to have a Donkey Kong metaphysical and existential analysis in your life, now’s your chance to pitch it!

Does any of this sound enticing? If so, you can gain access to all this content—and more—by becoming a paid subscriber.

In addition, some features that are currently free—commenting, and accessing the Game & Word archive, for example—might become paid features in the future, if I feel it’s best for the newsletter. As a paid subscriber, you won’t have to worry about any of this.

3. How do I know which subscription is right for me?

I know I should say “any of the paid ones.” But the fact is, whether you pick a paid or free subscription is your decision, I’m just glad you’re reading. Period.

That said, if you’ve read and re-read each post and still crave more… then you really should consider leveling up to a paid subscription. You’ll receive lots of fun bonus content, and you’ll gain all the moral satisfaction from helping a small, independent writer keep a roof over his family’s head. Upgrade today so you can rest easy tonight, knowing you’ve done a very good deed, indeed!

As for which paid subscription is best, that’s really up to you and your own individual circumstances.

An annual subscription gives you the most bang for your buck. You get 12 months of content for the price of 10, and you don’t have to worry about missing out on content if you’re short on cash for a month or two, as you will have already paid for the year in advance.

That said, I know that for a lot of people, annual subscriptions are a lot to pay for upfront. If you’re a student, living paycheck-to-paycheck, or can only splurge on a $10 purchase and not $100, then the monthly subscription is right for you. And $7/month is still quite accessible, especially when you consider the sheer quantity the content you’re getting.

The founding member plan is for three very specific types of people.

Type 1: Let’s fast forward a few years from now, once Game & Word has attained a wide reach and a huge audience. Are you the type who’ll brag about how you liked and backed this publication “before it was cool”? Well, because founding members are listed by name in each issue, and founding memberships are a limited-time deal, this is the best way to prove it to your peers, letting you bask in their sweet, sweet jealousy.

Type 2: You’re a purpose-driven individual with cash to spare. And you like Game & Word’s content so much, and believe in its mission so passionately, that you want to do as much as you can to bring more of it into the world. Perhaps you want to give the little guy a leg up to rise above the venture-backed behemoths flooding the gaming media market with surface-level, SEO-optimized, algorithmically-favored clickbait. Or maybe you’ve always wanted to become a “patron of the arts,” and this just happens to be the latest, “trendy” way to do so.

Either way, if you’ve got the means, motive, and opportunity to become a major lifeline to a fledgling online publication—and Game & Word happens to be the one you chose—then the founding member tier was practically made for you.

Type 3: You simply like spending lots of money in random ways, for no reason other than you can. That’s all there is to it, really. I won’t question or judge you or your monetary habits. I’m just happy my publication is one of the beneficiaries of your generous (if a bit random) patronage.

Also, as I come up with new subscription perks or benefits, or stuff like merchandise, founding members will get early access.

4. Ugh… do I REALLY have to pay?

I know, I know. I don’t like paywalls any more than you do. I remember the internet back in the olden days, when information flowed freely and you could read basically any newspaper for free, anytime you wanted.

I remember… because that was when my budding career as a journalist died a protracted, painful, and premature death. And I was far from the only one.

Fact is, writing is work. The fact that I even need to say that shows how thoroughly Silicon Valley’s attention economy has devalued creative labor (which includes writing). But it doesn’t change the fact that writers are workers, and should be compensated for their work like any other laborer.

However, I also recognize the benefits that come with information moving freely. I believe we should be increasing access to information, not decreasing it. And I’m as annoyed at the New York Times’ paywalls and Wired’s article countdowns as anyone else.

As such, I’ve put a lot of thought into pricing the monthly and annual subscriptions accessibly. My aim has always been to keep money as low a barrier to access as possible, while still allowing me to feed my family.

And so, I arrived at the magical number of $7/month. It seems a lot at first. But if you break it down by what that $7 gets you, it turns out to be a pretty good deal.

Game & Word features average about 5,000 words in length. Four times a month, that’s 20,000 words. That’s just the free content. The bonus content will at least double that figure. That’s 40,000 words, or about the length of a short novel.³ $7 is well within the range of an eBook novel of similar length, and about half as much as the paperback version. So in terms of quantity, it’s a pretty sweet deal. You’re basically buying one extra book a month.

Or, if you’d rather compare it to video games, you can break it down similarly. Game & Word features generally take between 20 and 40 minutes to read—for simplicity’s sake, let’s average it out at 30 minutes per article. Four times a month is two hours of reading time. Now, let’s double that, giving us four hours.

Now, I know $7 for a two-hour game sounds preposterous… until you remember that A Short Hike, To The Moon, and Firewatch—all critically-acclaimed games that clock in at four hours or less—are worth $8, $12, and $20, respectively. Sure, paying $7 for an abomination like Awakening of Cthulhu is nothing short of madness, but $7 for Firewatch? That sounds like one hell of a deal.

And as far as quality is concerned, is Game & Word closer to some microtransaction-plagued, malware-ridden, pay-to-win-wholly derivative, mobile gacha game glorified slot machine… or a short, but lovingly made and emotionally-resonant experience like Firewatch?

Exactly.

Or, if you want to keep things even simpler, let’s break it down by time:

$7 for 30 days = $0.23 per day

And again, remember: the more people buy subscriptions, the more time I can devote to Game & Word—which means more articles, longer articles, multimedia and other experimental projects, and more of anything and everything our subscribers want. The value of your subscription will rise even more!

5. What if I can’t or won’t pay?

Not ready to pay for a subscription? I get it. After all, who am I to take your money? I’m no Trevor Noah, Hunter S. Thompson, or even Arlo. While I am a passionate, lifelong gamer and decorated communications professional, I’ve got nowhere near the kind of following and brand recognition that other gaming content creators like PewDiePie, Dream, or Scott The Woz command.

So if you’ve read some of my free articles and enjoyed what you saw, but you’re not quite ready to pay yet, or you can’t afford to pay, or you’re just not the type to pay for content, don’t fear! As I’ve repeatedly mentioned:

Game & Word will ALWAYS offer a free subscription tier!

As a free subscriber, you’ll continue receiving the weekly Game & Word issues you already get and read. And each issue will still have the same high quality you’ve come to expect from this publication. Quality isn’t going to nosedive because I’m now writing paid content as well as free content.

Paid subscribers will simply get more of that content.⁴

6. Can I preview this content before paying?

Ah, so you’re curious about this bonus content, but nervous about taking the leap? Not a problem! We also offer free, 7-day trial subscriptions! It’s a nifty, risk-free way to see if subscribing is right for you. You’ll see the option while you’re selecting the tier you’re trying out.

(Oh, and no matter which tier you choose, you can always downgrade, pause, or cancel your subscription at any time.)

Oh, and if you know a curious gamer (or someone who’s curious about gaming) who’d enjoy the content, you can also gift them a subscription! You’ll see the option when you’re updating your subscription.

7. Why are you even doing this?

Writing Game & Word is a true labor of love. Simply researching a single article can take dozens of hours of interviewing, transcribing, and falling down informational rabbit holes. Then there’s outlining, writing, editing, referencing, testing, sharing, and reviewing analytics. I meticulously scrutinize every single word in every single draft for grammar, style, clarity, and accessibility. Most drafts—which clock in anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 words, if not more—go through at least a dozen revisions. I also source original imagery (usually my own screenshots) to the greatest degree possible.

And I do all of this in my free time. Every single week.

Not that I’m complaining! This newsletter has become one of my life’s greatest joys, and I want to keep doing it. But just as importantly: as much as I enjoy writing Game & Word, lots of people seem to enjoy reading it just as much—if not more so.

Clearly, many gamers hunger for substantive, well-written, and longform gaming content. I’ve certainly felt that pining, which is why I started this newsletter—if it was up to me to give the world such writing, I thought to myself, then so be it.

And I’m glad I did! There are few surprises quite as delightful as hearing from a non-gamer who enjoyed an article. More often than not, they found an article that connected gaming to one of their interests (like history or economics), read it, and emerged with a whole new understanding and appreciation for gaming as an artistic medium.

I wasn’t expecting this newsletter to resonate with non-gamers so much, but the fact that it does tells me that this type of writing is important. It can help chip away at society’s reactionary stigma against gaming and other so-called “childish” (yet ultimately harmless) hobbies.

Writing Game & Word is not only fun; it has also become impactful.

Now, I’m not so deluded as to think my little newsletter will single-handedly transform the way the hobby is seen (whether by gamers or the general public). But if Game & Word opens even one person’s eyes to a game’s depth and complexity beyond just what its code outputs to a screen? Well, that’s reason enough to have written all I have so far, and to continue writing long into the future.

However, I also have a family to support. Rent to pay. Groceries to buy. And all of those things, unfortunately, cost money. Not satisfaction, not accolades, not impact. Money. And all those hours I’ve dedicated to Game & Word haven’t generated a single cent.

But by purchasing a paid subscription to Game & Word, you can help to offset the costs of creating these articles, thus directly supporting this newsletter. The more people subscribe, the longer into the future Game & Word can survive.

Plus, you’ll gain access to some pretty sweet bonus content.

As for why paid tiers specifically, it’s because Substack is practically designed and set up for tiered subscriptions. It’s just so much easier to do than practically any other newsletter monetization vehicle.

8. Any other questions?

I know this is a lot to take in! But don’t worry, take all the time you need to decide. And please reach out to me if you have any questions.

Regardless of which tier you choose, I sincerely thank you for being a subscriber and supporting this humble newsletter operation.

Cheers,

~Jay Rooney

Publisher, Game & Word

PS—Having trouble changing your subscription? Here’s an easy, step-by-step guide on doing so, straight from Substack itself.

1. Yes, I realize that, since I’m just announcing this, nobody’s actually asked me any of these questions. But I fully expect these will be the most frequent ones, based on several conversations with Substack authors who also started free and introduced paid subscriptions down the line.

2. All at varying points in the production process.

3. The length of a novel is surprisingly disputed for a medium as old as literature. There is undoubtedly a threshold through which a novella becomes a novel. But ask an author or publisher to name it, and the answers are all over the place. Some place it at 45,000, others at 75,000 words, and still others won’t consider any work under 125,000 words a novel.

But regardless of where exactly the threshold lies, I’ve yet to hear anyone place it under 40,000 words. So that’s the word length I’m using as a benchmark.

4. There is a chance, at least at first, that the length of free articles might decrease a tad, because of the aforementioned time factor. But it’ll bounce back as I get used to the busier production schedule. Besides, there are some among you who’d consider shorter articles a good thing.