210 subscribers support IrishCycle.com’s reader-funded journalism, but more needed

IrishCycle.com is a reader-funded journalism publication. Effectively it’s an online newspaper covering news and analyses of cycling and related issues, including cycle route designs, legal changes, and pollical and cultural issues.

There are examples, big and small, which show that the reader-funded or listener-funding model can work to support journalism — from the Dublin Inquirer and The Guardian newspapers to a range of websites and podcasts.

To make it work for IrishCycle.com, it just needs enough people like you to believe!

Monthly subscriptions will give IrishCycle.com’s journalism a dependable base of support. But please don’t take free access for granted. Last year IrishCycle.com had an average of 15,800 readers per month and we know our readers include people who cycle and those who don’t, politicians, officials and campaigners.

I know only a small percentage of readers will see the value of keeping this open to subscribe, that’s the reality of the reader-funded model. But more support is needed to keep this show on the road.

The funding drive was started in November 2021 and, as of the start of February, 210 readers have kindly become monthly subscribers — thank you very much to all that have!

But it’s around 1.3% of readers. So, if you can, please join them and subscribe today via ko-fi.com/irishcycle/tiers

Background

IrishCycle.com run by me, Cian Ginty — I have reported on and commented on cycling in Ireland for over a decade. I have a background in journalism, with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City Univerity (DCU), and an HDip in Print Journalism from Ballyfermot College of Further Education (BCFE).

Just over a decade ago, I was writing about cycling (and other issues) for national newspapers, and, in 2009, I started CyclingInDublin.com first for overflow stories and more details than any newspaper could print. That grew into what IrishCycle.com is today.

I want to be upfront with readers here: Up to this point, articles were worked on and written on lunch breaks, late at night, and at weekends. Eating into family time and sometimes healthy sleeping time too. But not only that: IrishCycle.com has been subsidised for years by an unrelated full-time job in my family’s business, and a handful of readers kindly covering hosting etc costs.

To make this website more sustainable, I had been looking at the reader-funded model before COVID hit. The pandemic and lockdowns then added uncertainty. But my situation has changed — last year I was made redundant from my family business. So, it actually is make-or-break time. I’m mentioning this not as a sob story, but to honest and upfront with readers that there’s a relatively short timeframe to get this working or to move on to do something else.

The level of funding is now way above the worse case scenario, but so-far still also under what is needed sustain this website and the target of allowing for a small freelance budget.

Again, if you can, please subscribe today via ko-fi.com/irishcycle/tiers.

Thank you,

Cian Ginty
Editor, IrishCycle.com


...That's the end of the article. Keep scrolling if you want to the comments, but IrishCycle.com *NEEDS* readers like you to keep it that way. It only requires a small percentage of readers to give a bit each month or every year to keep IrishCycle.com's journalism open to all. Thank you.


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