Amish365 Plus Discuss

Those of you on my email list have already read this basic thread,  but I am posting this more for our Facebook and web audience.  There has been a lot of interest and excitement about Amish365 Plus and I appreciate that!  In the first week we are already halfway to my "bare minimum" subscriber goal and almost 20 percent to my overall subscriber count goal. But I've also had some backlash, which I wanted to address.  The price for Amish365 Plus is .99 cents for the first month and $3.99 a month after (or $10 quarterly).  And that price has had some people in fits.  This is my full-time job and I have to be able feed my family on it, so add-ons like Plus can accomplish that.

I'm trying to think of the best possible analogy and this is what I keep coming to:

Say you 're accustomed to going to a buffet everyday to eat for free. You can chow down until your heart's content and have for years. No limit: eat, eat, eat on all of the stuff pictured her - for free. But, one day, the chef adds some homemade chocolate cake to the buffet and decides to charge $3.99 for a thick slice. Mind you, the rest of the buffet is still free. The cake is simply an additional item that couldn't be offered with out charging. Would you quit eating the other 25 free items at the buffet because a piece of cake has a price-tag? If the answer is yes, please email me and explain why because I'm missing the reason. In this analogy, Amish365.com is the buffet and Amish365 Plus (the new paid content) is the cake.

Here are some of the responses I got from people who decided the paid content (the cake) was enough to make them head for the exits yesterday:

David wrote: "I wanted recipes I could print and enjoy for free! Not having to pay for anything! False representation of site!"

Huh? Again, the buffet remains free and I think I've been saying for weeks that the paid part was coming.....

Judy wrote: "I thought this was a free site. Since it is $3.99 a month, no thanks."

Again, the buffet is still free. Only the cake has a price.

Julie wrote:  "I am broke and unemployed and have no money for an email subscription."

Again, most of what is posted is still free. There were more notes like that, some unprintable. Also, it is important to note that it's not like the paid part of the site is taking away anything from the free stuff (the buffet). There were plenty of neat freebies this week as usual. None of the cake would be possible without the price. For instance, Mrs. Yoder's Journal (which returned this week) would not be possible without the subscription rate. I simply wouldn't have the budget to pay her otherwise and then no one would read her. So it is like not Amish365 Plus is taking away anything, it's only adding.

SIGN-UP:  Would you like to sign up for Amish365 Plus?  Click here.  You'll get access to all the free past posts Plus content and get all the goodies coming up next week which include a visit inside an Amish home, Wilma Hershberger's canning recipes, an Amish stuffing recipe, and a visit to Kenyon College's neat Amish-food service collaborative!