The big change is to the way we present our work. Previously, you needed to buy an issue and download it to your phone or tablet or PC to read our articles (or, like, order a paper copy). We can remember back in 2011 how ebooks seemed like the future, but then along came a smartphone explosion and everyone offering huge data packages. Now it’s more about watching iPlayer on a large screen phone on your commute rather than specifically downloading books to a separate device.
Now, we’ve made the whole collection (at the time of launch some 550+ articles of more than 1.8m words) available online to everyone, instantly.
Now, anyone can read any article they like at any time, providing they have an internet connection. We’re nice enough to allow newcomers and non-subscribers a couple more articles each month, too, which means that more people than ever before are going to read what we’re writing about.
That’s kind of exciting. We’re also hoping this extended audience will appreciate the work that goes into our particular brand of longform football writing and join our subscriber base.
But three is the magic number – once you hit your limit of 3 freebies in a month, you’re locked out. Subscribers, meanwhile, enjoy unlimited access (without any adverts) through their browsers, as well as still having access to our ebook downloads and other subscriber benefits.
There’s also a shift away from the pay-what-you-like pricing model, with a set price on print editions (£12) and a new £20 per year digital subscription option to cover the online access and ebook versions.
There are a few more subtle, but equally helpful upgrades to the old site, too.
- New print subscribers can now choose which is the first issue in their subscription, rather than having to wait up to 3 months for the ‘next issue’ as previously
- Address changes and payment detail changes can be done through the website rather than by emailing us – simply head to the My Account page
- You can now pay by Direct Debit in the UK, removing the problem of PayPal logins and expiring debit cards.