The article earlier about NYT preparing to charge ("Prepare to charge!") for access got me thinking (again) about the same questions that cstross asked in his post.<p>I say good luck to NYT in their efforts, but as the OP says, it's a dead business model. I don't care if it works for the NYT or not, and if it does, great. I probably won't subscribe, but that's another tangent.<p>What does concern me is how or whether good journalism and writing will survive. I buy and read a few fiction and non-fiction books per year, far more than the average American although probably far less than the average HNer. I assume that ereaders will be made to my liking RSN, at which time I will buy few if any paper books. (I will greatly lament the loss of large and odd format books, much more profoundly than I currently miss vinyl album art.)<p>I assume that the trend will continue, and production of content in and of itself will be decreasingly lucrative. So trying to rely on selling content, or access to content, is going to get harder. Books will probably last a bit longer; if a news article is paywalled you can probably find a similar article elsewhere for free or cheaper, but in most cases there is no substitute for reading a particular story by a particular author. But in the end, even books won't be enough to make a living.<p>So what do you do if people won't buy what you're selling (access to)? ... Anything else!<p>In the case of journalism and books, what you can do is make those things the attraction to something <i>else</i> that people are willing to pay for.<p>In the case of newspapers, I'm not sure what they would sell besides advertising, but it'll have to be something. Maybe more in depth coverage of the same story (but attracting with mere summaries won't work). Maybe video about the story or related subjects.<p>Maybe instead of selling advertising for stuff, they'll sell the stuff directly. "Nice car Bob." "Like it? I'm leasing it from the New York Times."<p>For some authors, they might sell editing services, book design and similar to other authors. 100 years ago miners went broke and died looking for gold, but the hardware stores and outfitters made a good living supplying the miners. If you're an author that other writers like, that could be one way to make a living.<p>Bottom line is revenue is being siphoned or disappearing, and you'll have to change.