Get GOOD for $1

One of my goals for the break was to restart magazine subscriptions that I let lapse during my time in Hong Kong. My father did me the favor of renewing my Rolling Stone subscription for Christmas, while The Week, The New Yorker, and GOOD Magazine are my responsibilities.

GOOD is a fairly new magazine. Its motto: "GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward. Since 2006 we've been making a magazine, videos, and events for people who give a damn."

I began subscribing in 2007 due to an innovative marketing campaign. The magazine threw an after-dark party at the Hirshhorn Gallery of Modern Art in D.C., replete with an open vodka bar, a D.J., and a gallery viewing. The $20 entry fee included a donation to a nonprofit of your choosing and a subscription to the magazine. Sounded too GOOD to be true. It was a fun event and I was surprised to find that I loved the magazine. In this cutthroat journalism environment, this kind of creative marketing is to be admired.

They must be focused more on building a subscriber base than making money though, which makes sense for a new magazine. When I went to resubscribe today, I discovered that you can get the magazine for a $1000/year... or $1/year. From their subscription site:

Choose your price. Seriously.

Because we want to help do good, we contribute 100% of your subscription payment to the nonprofit of your choice. Since we don't keep any of it, we figured we'd let you pay what you want.

All amounts give you one year of our magazine, full web access to GOOD.is and event invites.

> Pay $20 or more and also get one year of free admission to Choose GOOD parties.
> Pay $100 or more and also get one year of free admission to Choose GOOD parties
and your name printed in the magazine.
> Pay $1000 and get a lifetime subscription to the magazine, lifetime free admission to Choose GOOD parties, your name printed in the magazine, and a signed, limited edition bound copy of GOOD.

Taking a page from the Radiohead playbook.

Much as I wanted to pay $1, I paid $20.