An interesting observation from Spot.us founder David Cohn in this Nieman Lab video interview - readers will pay for stories that explain how things work in their community, but not for think pieces.
Spot.us works by inviting members of its community to suggest and respond to story ideas and then to pay for those which they most want to see written. Most people will contribute $20 towards the total budget of a story which might range between, say, $500 and $1800.
Based in the Bay Area of San Francisco and funded by the Knight Foundation, the site has had some early success and is now looking at setting up in other communities.
Cohn says nuts and bolts stories fare much better than think pieces.
“Environmental stories have typically done really well,” he says.
“Pitches that are relevant… have an anchor in a geographic or ethnic community that are relevant to people’s lives, do a lot better than thought pieces, of like ‘I’m going to look into the psychological impacts of being laid off.’ … In truth with a story like that what you’re saying is I’m going to go talk to some experts … and find the nice quotes… and let you know what those nice quotes are and make it nice. There is some added value in that… but you kind of know what that story’s going to look and read and feel like.
“Whereas a story about city budgets in San Francisco … or where did my trash go… Where did my trash go in San Francisco? I don’t know. I don’t know what that looks like right now. So there’s real added value there.”
Spot.us is now looking at covering beats, or rounds, starting with how City Hall is managing during the credit crunch. They’re hoping to raise another $5,000 to extend the effort for another three months – effectively fundraising to do daily journalism. That’s an interesting progression.
More in the video, including on editorial workflow, who does what, motivation, successes and failures.
All Evolving Newsroom
Never mind think pieces, tell me how stuff works
An interesting observation from Spot.us founder David Cohn in this Nieman Lab video interview - readers will pay for stories that explain how things work in their community, but not for think pieces.
Spot.us works by inviting members of its community to suggest and respond to story ideas and then to pay for those which they most want to see written. Most people will contribute $20 towards the total budget of a story which might range between, say, $500 and $1800.
Based in the Bay Area of San Francisco and funded by the Knight Foundation, the site has had some early success and is now looking at setting up in other communities.
Cohn says nuts and bolts stories fare much better than think pieces.
“Environmental stories have typically done really well,” he says.
“Pitches that are relevant… have an anchor in a geographic or ethnic community that are relevant to people’s lives, do a lot better than thought pieces, of like ‘I’m going to look into the psychological impacts of being laid off.’ … In truth with a story like that what you’re saying is I’m going to go talk to some experts … and find the nice quotes… and let you know what those nice quotes are and make it nice. There is some added value in that… but you kind of know what that story’s going to look and read and feel like.
“Whereas a story about city budgets in San Francisco … or where did my trash go… Where did my trash go in San Francisco? I don’t know. I don’t know what that looks like right now. So there’s real added value there.”
Spot.us is now looking at covering beats, or rounds, starting with how City Hall is managing during the credit crunch. They’re hoping to raise another $5,000 to extend the effort for another three months – effectively fundraising to do daily journalism. That’s an interesting progression.
More in the video, including on editorial workflow, who does what, motivation, successes and failures.
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David Cohn, founder of Spot.Us from Nieman Journalism Lab on Vimeo.