It’s a very important way to support our work.
Hey, I see you.
I know what you’re doing — reading the free articles you get here at NRO, then when the paywall blocks you, dancing around on different devices or browsers trying to evade the law until another month rolls around and you begin the dance again.
And you might think while you’re reading those articles, “Why are there so many damned ads? All I want to do is read this stuff.”
Well, if you are reading this piece and feel “seen,” as they say, I humbly suggest that you simply give in and sign up for NRPlus. We’ve got a special, low offer of 60 percent off going just for you, by the way.
Trust me, subscribing will be easier than what you’re doing now if you are a routine reader of this website. You just sign up and log in, and never have to worry about the paywall again.
Also, if you do, you’ll see far fewer ads (and no pop-ups to boot).
But, more fundamentally, there is nothing that you can do outside of giving a major donation that does more to support our work.
Digital subscribers are now the core of our business model. We’ve been fortunate that since we launched NRPlus we’ve had strong, steady growth in subscribers — bless you if you’ve already subscribed and are reading this for the sheer enjoyment of it! — but we have a ways to go before we can leave behind the hand-to-mouth existence that has characterized this institution since its founding.
If you are a publication that doesn’t do clickbait, that publishes controversial material that many advertisers will want to avoid (e.g., our trans coverage), that employs first-rate writers at the top of their game, that calls it as it sees it and is unafraid of internal debate, you’re going to need a loyal band of devoted readers and supporters, and we’ve been blessed with it from the beginning.
We need to periodically rally that band and have been doing it for decades. The other day, a reader sent me a copy she had kept of a Bill Buckley fund-appeal letter that she had received back in 1972, written in his inimitable style and printed in Courier type on National Review letterhead.
Usually, appeals such as this one are for donations, but again, subscriptions are another, crucial way to support NR — and one with considerable benefits to you as a reader.
If you sign up and log in, you will not only eliminate the paywall and most ads, but unlock commenting privileges for articles and blog posts, get digital access to the print magazine and additional NRPlus-only content such as Kevin Williamson’s newsletter, and receive invitations to exclusive calls and events, among other benefits.
Most important, though, you will be contributing to the health of a publication that you love, or presumably at least respect, or you wouldn’t be here.
I imagine some of you might feel a little twinge of guilt when reading us for free, and I must say that I side with your conscience on this matter (on all other such struggles, I have no opinion).
So please consider clicking here, taking advantage of our 60-percent-off deal and formalizing your relationship with us. I promise you that you won’t regret it, and it will help us continue to produce the content that you’re consuming, if perhaps in a strategic manner at the moment.
We had a big, internal meeting at our New York HQ last week, and as far as I’m concerned, you aren’t going to find a more engaged and committed group of writers and editors anywhere in the English-speaking world. Many of us, I assume, would work and write here for free if we could.
Of course, that’s not realistic, which is why we are hoping you will pay for our work, not an exorbitant amount, but enough for us to keep writing and publishing at the standard you expect, for your enlightenment and entertainment.
All of that is to say, please just give in.