Have you ever wanted to read an article only to discover two paragraphs later that you need a recurring subscription to move forward?
We don't go to the bakery and leave a donation and then eventually take a loaf when we need it. We also don't have a membership to our corner bakery. We buy the bread, because it is valuable to us and we value the work of the baker.
That's Vernus, for digital content.
I read a lot and I make an effort to read from varied sources. However, maintaining subscriptions to a dozen places isn't only a financial burden, I often feel like I don't want to be a supporter of a certain platform, for political or other reasons, but when they do great work I'd be willing to pay.
Intellectual work is highly valuable and still somehow the market has evolved into a state where people either depend on donations, which I find quite derogatory need to compete with big players to convince users to pay yet another $10-$20 a month.
Vernus aims to be just as much a platform for the paywalled content of big media as it is an anti-Substack, where individual voices can build a readership and earn a living.
