What would a member-supported version of The Devil Strip be like?

Hey good lookin’, this is what we’ve got cookin’…

Last month, I explained why we’re turning The Devil Strip into a community-owned local news co-op. In March, I’ll show you how we get there. This month, we’re going to daydream about the future.

(This is the unabridged version of the piece originally published in the February 2018 issue of The Devil Strip.)

Photo by Sophie Franchi of a section of a large chalk mural by Joseph White for A Walk in the Park Cafe in historic Firestone Park.

The day before deadline, we launched a reader survey to get some feedback about where we are and what we can improve. It’s still early, but the responses have filled me with hope. For one, more than half of you said you’d pay for a monthly subscription to support the work we do. So let’s start there.

What a subscription to The Devil Strip is NOT

I start here because it’s important: We will never put a paywall on our web stories or a price on the print copies. We want Akronites to benefit from our work whether they’re in a position to pay for it or not. This is one reason I’ve remained committed to print. You don’t need a laptop, smartphone, wi-fi or 4G to hold a copy. We have plans to double our distribution this year so it’s easier to find us.

So… what would a subscription to The Devil Strip look like?

Let’s put the cost around $10/month, which is what most daily papers charge for digital access, sometimes with a weekend subscription. Premium or “all-access” digital subscriptions cost $13/month at the New York Times and $15/month at the Washington Post.

You may be wondering what good your subscription is if we don’t charge for digital or analog access. One, you’d get early access to certain content — videos, podcasts, special projects and investigations — and your support would guarantee we’d have more of it.

One of my favorite shots from Drink Tank in January when we kicked it at Frank’s Place on Market. (photo by Ashley Kouri)

The real idea is giving you access to community through hosted members-only events and priority RSVPs to public events. If you’ve been to Drink Tank, Live at Lock 4, Signal Tree or one of our holiday parties, you have some idea what this could be like.

But let’s take it a little further. That aforementioned early access could actually be a members-only invite to The Nightlight for the premiere of a documentary video series we’ve produced from our addiction and recovery stories. The on-stage interview of an artist whose exhibit we’re featuring in the magazine. An intimate concert with a local band whose new album we’re reviewing. The soft-open of a restaurant whose entrepreneurial owners we’re profiling.

We’ve got a few things on the drawing board, in fact: an Akron neighborhood food tour, a regular weekly coffee shop takeover, pizza parties for adults, the citywide downhill soapbox challenge — all stuff that’ll get you face-to-face with our crew and our people …because we know some great people.

I have never thought of The Devil Strip the way that most publishers think about their magazines. We don’t have rules that say we have to confine our work to the page, whether printed or web.

All we want is to connect you to your neighbors, our city and a shared purpose to make this great place even better.

So your membership our would equip you that way: members-only freebies, vouchers and special discounts so you have a little help exploring Akron’s restaurants, shops, bars, concerts, art shows, dance and theatre.

And we’ll deliver The Devil Strip to your house. (We’re eyeballing a lower-cost option for our Akron expat friends who can’t use the events and other in-person benefits of the regular subscription.)

What would change about The Devil Strip?

The beauty is that the more members we have, the better the magazine becomes. That’s the biggest change. If you like us now, you’re going to love us when we have more resources.

You want more coverage of our local government? Of community news? Education, public health, mental health? This is how you get it. The more subscribers we have, the more writers. photographers, editors and designers we’ll be able to hire — and at wages they deserve because we believe local creatives should be able to eat too.

Right now, we have one f/t editor, one p/t editor/features writer, one p/t writer/events organizer and one p/t sales guy/writer. And… I haven’t taken a regular paycheck in three years since starting this. I’ve put all our money towards paying people so we can increase the quality of our work. However, the well is running dry and I can’t keep doing this if I can’t make a living soon.

The how is something your membership would change, too. We are 100 percent ad-supported. We’ll still sell ads, but we won’t depend on them and with your support, we’ll be able to keep our standards:

• We don’t write about anyone just because they buy ads.
• We don’t sell ads disguised to look like our stories.
• We don’t put ads on our website, run pop-ups or pre-roll on our videos.
• We don’t take ads from national chains or from 1–800 numbers, escort services, strip clubs or illicit massage parlors.
• We won’t sell an ad to a business that we don’t think we can actually help.

Circulation would also grow, but if just 10 percent of our current readership became monthly members, The Devil Strip would be in great shape. We’d be financially stable and able to hire folks to do more of the watchdog journalism, special projects and investigative reporting we’ve always wanted. Judging from the comments on our survey, that’s something you want.

So… what’s the co-op about then?

Memberships are one thing. The co-op is a little different.

If you’re a member, you get perks and special access. When you buy a share in the co-op, you’ll co-own The Devil Strip, voting on decisions that affect the future of the publication because we believe local news would be better if the community owned the media that cover it.

As a member-owner, you’ll also help us build something that’s the first of its kind in the country, a model that we want to inspire others to follow.

For the co-op — short for cooperative — the details aren’t mine to determine alone. We’ve assembled a founding committee and we’ll introduce you to them soon. They’re helping us answer questions big and small so we can put together bylaws to share for your feedback.

Here are some ideas we’ve had that the co-op could include:

• Quarterly town hall editorial meetings — We’ll give shoutouts to our contributors and members then share which story ideas we’re pursuing, take your feedback and suggestions on ideas we should be pursuing.
• Neighborhood Bureaus — Who better to share the undiscovered stories in our neighborhoods than the people who live there? Practicing asset-based community journalism, we’ll pair our writers with residents to bring stories to a wider audience.
• Scribes — We’d train and pay Akron citizens to attend, record, live tweet from and report on government meetings. The best real world example of this would be the Documenters program run by Chicago’s awesome City Bureau, which does commits some of the most inspired, exciting and engaged local journalism.

There’s more but I’m running out of space here. It also doesn’t include stuff we’re already bringing to life just because we can, like Rubber City Rocks, a kids section that’s created by kids who love Akron. This fall, we’re helping bring the Crossroads Writers Conference to give our growing literary scene another boost.

Of course, Live at Lock 4 and Signal Tree Fest will also return this summer.

Okay, that’s enough for now. Same deal, Akron. I’m sharing these ideas so you can punch me in the face. In the proverbial “Everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the face” Mike Tyson quote way. Please do not actually punch me, but do write me at chris@thedevilstrip.com.