Some Good News and Some Bad News

For the rest of 2024, I'm offering 20% off an annual Orchard subscription, but I've decided to increase subscription prices by the same amount in 2025.

It’s now been more than three years since I launched the Orchard and I’ve been charging the same price for a subscription—$5 a month and $55 a year—since then.

Starting in 2024, I began recording regular episodes of the Orchardcast as a perk for paid subscribers.

One of the few things I dislike more than asking for money is putting up financial barriers to accessing my work, so over the past few months I’ve opted to offer half of each episode as a free preview that anyone can listen to and then keep the second half for paid subscribers only, which is more in the realm of my comfort zone.

I’ve also been filing increasing amounts of access to information requests so that I can provide readers with exclusive news stories that you won’t see anywhere else, which will always be free for anyone to read.

Like this one:

U of A security called pro-Palestine encampment "extremely peaceful" a day before police tore it down

In the meantime, you might have heard that the cost of living has increased significantly.

For this reason, I’ve made the uncomfortable decision to increase subscription prices by 20% in the New Year, so starting Jan. 1, subscriptions will cost $6 a month, or $66 if you purchase a full year—an extra $12 monthly and $11 annually.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that until then, I’ve decided to offer annual subscriptions at a 20% discount from my $55 a year rate, meaning from now until Jan. 1, you’ll be able to purchase an annual subscription for $44.

This means you’ll be able to access all an Orchard subscription entails—full Orchardcast episodes, commenting privileges and the good feeling of supporting journalism that reflects your values—at significantly lower expense than it will cost in the New Year.

As always, if you want to support my work with a one-time donation, you can do so by buying me a metaphorical coffee.

Remember, the more paid subscribers I get, the more time and effort I can dedicate to doing journalism in this space without having to rely on income through freelancing.