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Asking for more money for seemingly no reason at all seems to be quite en vogue in professional golf right now.
But here is the actual reason we are asking readers to become members: Reader support is part of our path to building a sustainable business.
While I personally take advantage of the benefits of most of the places I subscribe to, the primary reason I subscribe to them is mostly because I don’t want to imagine them not existing.
I am guessing you are the same.
We will provide plenty of value for all you Normies out there, yes -- obviously, that is our job -- but my main pitch is (and probably always will be): We all want this to exist, let’s make it exist.
Related: we also wanted to take the top off the defense and allow those of you who are (in some cases, literally, in others, figuratively) making Top 10 in the FedEx Cup money to help build this place as we start to get off the ground.
That’s why we’re introducing a minimum membership price but no set number on what you want your membership to cost (if you pay over the minimum you will be considered ... an elevated member :)).
I say this a lot, but I am constantly blown away that anyone would want to read my thoughts about golf and enjoy Jason’s illustrations. This is all we want to do professionally, and reader membership helps ensure that it is all we ever will do.
• $82/yr is the minimum necessary to become a Normie.
This means ...
• For one Bryson contract you could be a member for 2 million years (or 3/4 of Bryson’s lifespan).
• Officer Gillis could have spent his $82 on a Normal Sport membership instead of on a pair of pants that got ruined anyway.
Or ...
• You can become an elevated member and pay whatever you want. We opened this option up because, as noted above, we wanted to give you the opportunity to support our endeavor. As a bonus, we will give you an extra membership to give away to a friend.
• If you are andyH2Oman@protonmail.com (or any other billionaires who subscribe), please email me for your rate.
• If you understand any of these jokes, maybe it’s time to become a member.
1. The satisfaction of making sure Normal Sport thrives as a business (and remains free for most people).
2. A bonus 10 thoughts from Kyle on Thursdays.
3. Special edition newsletters during big events like that limited field tournament in north Georgia in early April.
4. Kyle’s weekly thoughts on entrepreneurship and the direction of Normal Sport.
5. All of our Normal Sport books (past and present).
6. The ability to drop public comments on our newsletters at normalsport.com. Basically you can pay us to troll us.
7. Early access to merch drops.
8. Credit from our partners (like Holderness and Bourne) meaning that if you spend that credit, your membership could pay for itself.
9. Current prices forever as long as you remain subscribed.
10. A free membership to give to a friend for the next year. (elevated members only)
This is a good question.
As we thought through potential business models with our team, we considered every possibility. We could ...
• Put the newsletter behind a paywall.
• Slather the newsletter in ads for products we don’t like.
• Ask Yasir Al-Rumayyan for money.
None of those options seemed palatable, and the more I studied other newsletter models, the more the one we landed on made the most sense.
This doesn’t mean NS will be ad-free.
We believe the advertising experience doesn’t have to suck, but we also believe that it always will if it’s your only source of revenue. We have already partnered with some high-quality brands and integrated their products into our content.
It’s something I believe can be done tastefully. Howevah ... I have noticed a trend highlighted by this tweet.
So much of the internet is borderline unusable to the point that I’m not sure whether the purpose of the ads is to subsidize the content or whether it’s the other way around.
I am convinced of two things, though.
There is a clear race to the bottom on the internet as businesses try and squeeze every last nickel from every last consumer. It’s not one we will be participating in, though, and I’m hopeful this model will facilitate that aspiration.
The other day, I was sitting at the table with my dad (age: 69), and he said, “So ... how does all of this work?”
Translation (and I can tell it’s a question others have wanted to ask but haven’t known how to phrase): “How on earth are you going to support a family of six on a mostly free newsletter?!”
If I’m honest about all of this, here’s the dream: 10,000 people become members (Normies), and I just write my face off for them and maybe we have 1-2 partnerships with awesome brands, that’s our entire business.
This does happen. It has happened. So is it technically possible for a niche golf newsletter? Sure! But is it plausible? Absolutely not!
So while I would love a model that is almost exclusively readers paying us for our work, I think the following three-legged model is going to work well for us in the future in terms of revenue.
1. Creative newsletter partnerships with companies like Holderness and Bourne, the Ryder Cup and Garmin.
2. Reader membership (become a Normie).
3. Product sales (including merchandise).
Will all of that somehow meld together to create a business that survives? Who knows! But it’s the best we can do, and we’re going to try and keep extending our runway from 4 months to 8 and then from 8 months to a couple of years.
1. The creation of the most unique written and illustrated golf content in the world that only includes advertising that actually fits into the Normal Sport world.
2. Feeding Kyle’s 27 kids.
3. Building out this company to the point where we are able to bring on our other co-founders and/or other content creators full time at some point.
4. Other one-off projects such as a children’s book we are working on and other ideas we have percolating. Think: Short books (maybe tiny books) with titles like 20 reasons we love Jordan Spieth and How Rory is having Phil’s career.
Let’s frame all of this a different way with a hypothetical question: How much money would you pay to eliminate 90 percent of the ads from the golf you watch on TV and ensure that you get a mostly ad-free product?
For many of you, the answer will be $0. For some of you, it will be much, much higher.
Not only would you enjoy a better golf watching experience for your money but you would be hailed as a conquering hero in strange and humorous corners of the internet by people who suddenly get to watch commercial-free golf.
This is sort of the same idea we have for this newsletter. It’s called “unlocking the commons,” which essentially just means keeping a thing people love free for all with the support of few.
I have found that within the online communities I am a part of, I care less about the extra goodies I get than I do about supporting this thing I want to exist. So we decided to make that the primary reason to become a Normal Sport member.
Here’s how Tim Carmichael, who, as best as I can tell, invented the phrase “unlocking the commons,” put it in a recent essay.
The most economically powerful thing you can do is to buy something for your own enjoyment that also improves the world. This has always been the value proposition of journalism and art. It’s a nonexclusive good that’s best enjoyed non-exclusively.
Please note that this is not fuzzy-headed idealism or just sentiment: This is as concrete and comprehensive as it gets. It’s economic thinking that recognizes that goods don’t just exist to be used up, but are objects of labor produced by and for members of a commonwealth.
I can think of few writers who make me stop everything to read their work. You’re one of them. Your work has been my favorite discovery of the past year. I used to be in publishing. I was burnt out on writers. You have renewed my faith in the art. Thanks for that. Thanks for your work. Thanks for putting something beautiful in the world. -Nathan S.
Normal Sport is the best golf newsletter out there. Kyle understands his audience perfectly. It’s not for the casual golf fan. It’s for the sickos. I love it. Well done, brother.My dad is pretty sick and since I got him to subscribe we always have a lot to talk about. -Mr. Bee
It's the modern day, more serious Bill Simmons column that doesn't seem to exist anywhere else - more niche topic (instead of all sports, just one), tons of insider humor, but with an authentic passion/voice that is actually more about life/important topics. -Brett U.
Something about the way it is written jives with how I enjoy consuming sports in general. It is reasoned and rational, while still being opinionated.
I also like how there is something for everyone; the occasional follower of golf will get as much out of the newsletter as the true sicko. -Ryan O.
