# Publishing and subscription

> Independent commercial advisory for publishing and subscription businesses, from an operator who took a members-only, subscription-funded digital publisher from concept to trading, with no advertising and no booking engine to fall back on.

Source: https://barkingcat.ai/sectors/publishing-and-subscription/

## Sectors

Revenue from readers, and only from readers.

## What reaches a publishing board

A proposition that has to earn a subscription rather than an impression. Acquisition cost against a lifetime value that is not yet known. Content quality as the whole product, with no advertising to subsidise it. Retention as the business model. The invitation and the paywall as the front door, in a category where the free alternative is one search away. Which of these is binding is not decided in advance. The Cat’s Whiskers determines it, and the Review reports what it found, not what it expected.

## How the Review reads it

[The Review](https://barkingcat.ai/review/) walks the proposition the way a customer does: the first search, the landing, the product page, the basket, the checkout, the parcel, the return. It is measured against traffic, conversion, order value, margin and repeat, and checked against all seven foundations of [the Cat’s Whiskers](https://barkingcat.ai/the-cats-whiskers/). It resolves to the one constraint that is binding in this business.

## The record behind it

A members-only, subscription-funded digital intelligence publisher for affluent travellers, taken from concept to trading: independent of advertising and sponsorship, no booking engine, [membership fees the only revenue](https://barkingcat.ai/the-cats-whiskers/commercial-discipline/), online-only so the content stays current. Its annual industry report went on to earn coverage in the Financial Times, CNBC and the South China Morning Post. Platform builds and turnarounds since 1999, mostly before boards had a digital agenda, sit behind it.

## The Review is a clear-eyed account of the experience you are actually selling, seen from the only side of the screen that spends money.

[THE BARKING CAT REVIEW](https://barkingcat.ai/review/)

## Contact

steve@barkingcat.ai

Barking Cat Advisory Limited. Registered in England and Wales, company number 17338003.