Scarcity mindset is killing indie journalism

You are not gonna like this issue. But we have to fix something.

I’m an outsider to journalism. I didn’t come up in a newsroom. I’ve never been a reporter. My background is with tech companies and internet businesses.

The culture shock for me has been the scarcity mindset. There’s not enough for me. There’s not enough for you.

This bleak perspective plaguing journalism is limiting what’s possible in journalist-led media. While journalists toil over this perceived lack of resources, business guys are doing pretty damn well eating your lunch.

I watch as journalists take to Bluesky or LinkedIn to complain about how hard it is to run a subscriber-backed venture (*cough cough Taylor Lorenz*). Then, I’ll open my inbox and scan their feed to see when their last direct appeal was.

Reader…I usually can’t find one. The problem isn’t that there’s not enough. It’s that you’re not asking.

Scarcity mindset is the biggest thing in our way right now. It’s blocking people from starting media projects. It’s preventing existing media entrepreneurs from making sufficient levels of income. It’s shutting down publishers that could be thriving. Hear me when I say: it does not have to be this way.

Today, I’m unpacking this and other top limiting beliefs I hear from journalist entrepreneurs.

–Lex

Top limiting beliefs from journalist entrepreneurs

“It’s hard finding paid subscribers so that means I’ve hit the limit of who will pay for this.”

Have you met everyone on the planet? No? Then, you still have potential baby!

There’s a lot that goes into converting people from free readers to paying subscribers (that’s why I’ve basically written an entire book on it). Learn the business of paid subscriptions and try the techniques we know work from the many thousands of paid subscription businesses that exist. Or just take a break and come back to it next month.

“I don’t want to paywall anything because journalism should be free.”

Ok, but it’s MUCH HARDER to run that way and I do not advise it. Nearly impossible I’d say as a solo journalist. Slightly more possible as a small collective. I can count on one hand the amount of publishers successfully doing this and making a full time living. I’d strongly encourage you to rethink this one and instead ask yourself “what absolutely needs to be free?”

Also, have you heard of metered paywalls?

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“My subscription price needs to be lower than the newsrooms because I’m just one person.”

I understand why people come to this conclusion but let me steer you away from it. The reason people want to read you, listen to you, watch you and pay you is because of what you are producing. Journalism is not a BOGO deal at the grocery store. I can’t trade one Nathan Tankus for ten New York Times writers. It’s absurd to think like this.

Remember that your fans want to see YOUR PROJECT continue. That’s why they pay you. It’s not because you were cheaper than WIRED.

“I can’t ask for money even though I need money to keep going.”

The handwringing about asking for money is unreal. Freelance reporter Sean Beckner-Carmitchel FINALLY launched a GoFundMe after getting physically assaulted by cops on the job AT LEAST TWICE THIS SUMMER and when he did he said, “I absolutely hate doing this.”

Sean speaks for all journalists there. It’s an industry wide pain point really. And it’s one y’all have got to get over if we’re going to have a financially independent media ecosystem. What are you gonna do? Wait for a wad of cash to be handed to you in a bag of chips?

I find it helpful to have a promotion calendar and a system of automations running in the background to make this less of a constant panic, but if you find yourself abused by the Los Angeles Police Department OR just short a few thousand this month, you should absolutely turn to your audience and tell them what you need, unapologetically.

“Do you like this work? Here’s what I need right now to keep doing it.”

The alternative is that you burn out, have to lay people off, have to lay yourself off and shut down your project. Two days later, Sean’s nearly fully funded by the way.

“I don’t ever want to run ads.”

If you are a person who doesn’t like to ask for money AND doesn’t want to run ads, you’re not going to have a media business. You either need to get really comfortable asking your audience all the time to jump into paid subscriptions or you’ll need to book ads.

There are other revenue streams you can (and should) try, but ads will give you a multiple thousand dollar cash infusion quickly and there’s many ways to do them with care for your audience. See my post on Ted Williams’ launch sponsor strategy or my story on Andy Dehnart’s model for reality blurred for some ideas and open your mind to this! It’s not all bad.

“I shouldn’t email my readers too much because they’ll get sick of me.”

Tell me the value of a reader’s email if they don’t want to read what you have to say? There’s a lot of obsession with list growth but unless you are running on an ad model where impressions and clicks is how you are getting paid (not something I’d recommend you do, by the way), your email list size is a vanity metric.

It’s good to keep your list happy and healthy, but if you want to communicate something, you should do it. A few people might get annoyed and leave but other people will stay and pay and share. Sending emails works to get attention on something and losing a few not-that-engaged readers over one extra email is WORTH IT.

“My project isn’t any good because it didn’t go viral on Substack.”

Most of the people who have super fast growth were already famous. They are also often people with generic appeal. If you are a niche publisher (like a local news publisher or a niche topic publisher), you’re going to have a different ride.

Instead of comparing numbers, focus on who your biggest fans are. Save good replies you get to stories. Capture testimonials from your first paid supporters. The important thing is that your publication finds its audience AND its paying audience as quickly as possible, but that does not require any overnight virality. Consider leaning more on a smaller group of people to make your project a success by building deeper relationships with them, focusing on expansion revenue and word of mouth from within.

There’s enough. You just have to ask.

I get that times are bad. But if you’re running a media business that’s supposed to be your livelihood, you kinda have to push through and start making a lot more asks. It takes A LOT OF ASKS to make the revenue work if you are reader-funded. Automate as much as you can.

I don’t know about you but I have very real bills to pay and the consequences of me not asking truly means that my projects will slow down or shut down and I’ll have to go do something else for money. That thought alone keeps me motivated enough to fight like hell to stay in business.

There’s more than enough for everyone. There’s certainly more than enough to sustain however many indie media projects we can come up with. Let’s start asking for what we need.

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