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Payments are welcome, but what I really want to do is build readership. This is how you can help.

Screenshot from my Substack dashboard showing readership for a popular recent story. More examples are displayed below.

BREVARD — Think of this post as like a public radio station’s spring fund drive, but without the “fund.”

Money is nice, of course, but I’m more interested in enlisting your help to build Brevard NewsBeat’s audience.

By some measures, it’s already pretty big.

Less than 2 ½ years after NewsBeat’s founding, its stories average more than 5,000 views (see screenshots) in a county of 33,000, while at least 60 percent of subscribers who receive my emailed posts open them and, presumably, read at least a portion.

For perspective, a 50-percent “open rate” is considered excellent for writers on the platform I use, Substack, and the average is less than 25 percent. Because I built my email list with the addresses of sources, and because sources tend to be community leaders, I think my reporting has also informed public discussion on important issues such as affordable housing, land planning and healthcare.

So, I’m gratified to report that together we’ve created a NewsBeat village. What I’m hoping for is a NewsBeat nation.

Look at the number of registered voters in Transylvania County and you’ll see NewsBeat’s audience could be a lot bigger. There are nearly 26,000 of them and I can’t see why they shouldn’t all be subscribers.

Not necessarily because of the quality of the reporting, which is up to you to judge, but because of my approach.

With the exception of a few personal essays focused on appreciating people and places in the county, I don’t write my opinion. I am scrupulously non-partisan. I fact-check everything. I try to dig into issues to live up to my stated goal, which is to provide in-depth reporting not as a substitute for the community news found in the Transylvania Times, but as a supplement.

Also, it’s free. Really. Free! 

It’s hard to get that message across, partly, I think, because of the intimidating look of the green “subscribe now” button included at the top of this and every story. Nothing there indicates that subscriptions come without cost, without commitment, without downsides of any kind.

Nothing on that button helps overcome the wariness most of us have developed as veteran digital beings, the knowledge that a careless click can invite spam, hackers and/or hidden charges.

So, I need to tell you that NewsBeat is different.

From the start, I’ve seen it primarily as a community service, not a money maker. When you click on that button, you will receive an option for a free subscription. This entitles you to receive all posts, which I send via email about once a week, as well as the archive that by now include several exhaustively researched and still-relevant reports on topics listed above.

I have never sold or shared my email list and promise I never will.

All in the interest of increasing readership, sharing solid information with as many residents as possible — because, in the current media climate, that’s what we need most.

What can you do? If you read, subscribe. One purpose of this column is to narrow the gap between the number of subscribers — currently slightly more than 3,000 — and the number of readers for individual stories, which ranges between 4,000 and 10,000.

This means a lot of people see my stories by way of social media or referrals from friends, but don’t sign up. I also hear this from people I meet. Have you seen my site? “Oh, sure,” they say. Are you a subscriber? “Nope.”

So just do it. Subscribe. And, if you like a story, tell a friend about it. And share. Please. Share, share, share. Not only for the usual reasons you might post on social media, but because you’ll be supporting a community initiative.

That next part of this appeal comes up with that word, “support.” It’s common non-profit media code for “money.”

But NewsBeat isn’t a non-profit and after exploring this path I don’t think it should be. With so many pressing needs in the county, it’s hard to argue that supplementing my adequate retirement salary is one of them.

Instead, NewsBeat occupies an ill-defined middle ground — a for-profit that earns like a nonprofit. At last count only 241 of my subscribers were paid subscribers. I generated less than $18,000 in total revenue last year and, after Substack took its very reasonable cut, netted about $14,000.

I’m fine with that because it puts me in line with one established model of community service — elected office, which rewards its holders with engagement and influence but only a nominal salary. But I’d prefer to be more like another group: employees of nonprofits who could likely earn more in another sector but are paid a living wage for their work and dedication.

So, as always, I encourage you to subscribe for free. If you value what you read — and you have a decent amount of disposable income — sign up to pay $7 a month or $70 a year. Such fees are, like the site itself, hybrids. Part payment, part donation.

They come with the satisfaction of, yes, supporting community journalism. But they are strictly voluntary and you can do the same by just sharing and, above all, subscribing.

So, that’s my main request. Join the NewsBeat nation! Did I mention it’s free?

Email: brevardnewsbeat@gmail.com

Note to readers. My wife and I are heading down to Miami to visit our son, so I’m taking a few days off. Because I ask for transparency from public agencies and nonprofits, I’m providing the following screenshots from the NewsBeat dashboard to show readership, revenue and subscriber numbers. They generally show great support, which, as I should have said above, I really appreciate. Thank you!

Chart of gross revenue (with compressed left-hand column creating a misleadingly steep upward curve) and number of both total and paid subscribers:

Readership numbers for selected recent stories. All-time record-holder is still last year’s post on the history of Transylvania Regional Hospital, with 10,338: