Exclusive interview with Zhou Qinhua, founder of "Tech Island Reading": Insights and experience sharing in operating subscription-based content
This article author Qiu Taocheng, Ziqian is a small copywriter who uses five keyboards to type in turns. I don’t think I’m as good as a copywriter, so I’m just a writer. Currently, I specialize in keyword advertising and copywriting marketing. Looking forward to finding a dignified way to survive. Thank you for authorizing “Content Hacker” to reprint. Thank you hereby.
[Why we reprint this article] When talking about paid knowledge services in Taiwan, it is difficult not to mention [Chou Qinhua] (https://www.facebook.com/chouchinhua) and the “[Youwu Report] (https://next.yowureport.com/)” and “[Technology Island Reading] (https://daodu.tech/)” he founded. This article interviews Zhou Qinhua, allowing us to unveil the mystery of “[Technology Island Reading] (https://daodu.tech/)”. It also helps everyone understand the problems and bottlenecks that may be encountered in implementing content subscription services. It is of great reference value and is worth reading!
Foreword:
The author has been a fan of “Youwu Report” since several years ago and was inspired by many of its articles. Especially the sentence “Every minute here is worth more than anywhere else” made me realize for the first time the impact of content quality on readers, why good content is precious, and the importance of the so-called “efficiency per unit time”.
“Youwu Report” was not only the first time for the author to realize that there are depths of online content and that good content is worth paying for, it also gave me a different imagination about media and content.
The follow-up “Technology Island Reading” (https://daodu.tech/) launched by “Youwu Report” is also eye-catching. It is also one of the important discussion cases in the three articles the author wrote about the content subscription system a while ago. (Please see: “[A brief discussion on subscription fundraising (Part 2): Restrictions and challenges for creators of “closed content”] (https://www.contenthacker.today/2018/01/kyon-subscription-comment-part3.html)”)
In the process of writing this article, the author found that I still had some unanswered questions, but no way to answer them. Fortunately, the author’s friend forwarded me the January 23 Science and Technology Island reading “[The Information Media Accelerator Review] (https://daodu.tech/01-23-2018-the-information-media-accelerator-review-nintendo-launch-nintendo-labo)”, which mentioned several discussions about the subscription system, which made me very interested and excited, because I felt that I was about to find the missing pieces of the puzzle.
Therefore, the author took up the courage and made an invitation to Mr. Zhou Qinhua (Michael), the founder of “Youwu Report” and “Tech Island Reading” (https://daodu.tech/about), hoping to ask for help on subscription and writing issues, which led to the creation of this article. I would like to thank him for his time, and I hope that content creators and writers can be inspired by this article.
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Founder of “Science and Technology Island Reading”: Zhou Qinhua
What is “Technology Island Reading”?
Before the subsequent discussion begins, let me first introduce what “Science and Technology Island Reading” is? The following text is quoted from the official website of “Science and Technology Island Reading”:
“Technology Island Reading” is produced by Zhou Qinhua, founder and editor-in-chief of “Youwu Report”. Island Reading will focus on “technology” and “business strategy”, the two most critical driving forces that will affect mankind in the next 20 years.
The name “Island Reading” is because although there is an explosion of information, there is a lack of perspectives from Taiwan’s perspective. Therefore, in addition to Silicon Valley and international technology news, Daodu will also discuss and analyze important news related to Taiwan. From Taiwan’s perspective, we will help you understand how business is changing due to technology.
“Technology Island Reading” focuses on two major aspects - business and technology, which are also the areas we most often come into contact with in our daily lives. However, what is special about “Science and Technology Island Reading” is that it emphasizes the “Taiwan perspective” and starts from Taiwan’s perspective.
Compared with other technology media, many of the opinions quoted often come from Silicon Valley in the United States, China, etc., and may not be directly applicable to Taiwan. Zhou Qinhua’s “Science and Technology Island Reading” is written by Taiwanese and for Taiwanese readers, so that readers can get relevant business and technological perspectives.
For a detailed introduction to Science and Technology Island, please refer to here.
Regarding the convergence of topics──Change from “Report on Things” to “Reading on Science and Technology Island”
In a previous INSIDE [“Tech Island Reading” Zhou Qinhua talks about knowledge self-media: Please “hire” me instead of treating me as an Internet celebrity] (https://www.inside.com.tw/2017/06/02/daodu-tech-yowurepor) (this article is worth reading), Zhou Qinhua (hereinafter referred to as Michael) shared: “Tech Island Reading” revised 3 of “Youwu Report” There are two problems: different reader experiences, divergent topics of articles, and lack of Taiwanese thinking.
Question: During this interview, the author specifically asked Michael, what does “reader experience vary”? What will be the problem specifically?
Michael answered: “It’s a bit like paying money to a telecommunications provider. After spending money, you hope to get “stable service quality.” You want stability today, stability tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. ”
But for the same reader, the “Youwu Report” at that time sometimes had the wrong theme, and sometimes the author’s writing style was not accustomed to it. Although the content is good, for this “paying customer”, when he sees articles in his mailbox that he doesn’t like, maybe only three out of seven articles he likes, this is a sense of loss, which is the so-called “inconsistent experience.”
Question: For readers, don’t they think of articles that they don’t like that much—“It’s a lot, you can see the profit; forget it if you don’t like it, there’s nothing to lose”?
Michael replied: “Too much is a waste. People don’t like it.”
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This also reminds the author that for paid subscription content, “Content predictability” means managing expectations, which is very important. That is, when a reader opens his mailbox, can he predict what he will see today?
When the predictability of the content is high, it is easier for readers to develop viewing habits. After the habit is formed, the subsequent [letter opening rate](https://blog.newsleopard.com/%E4%BA%BA%E6%AF%94%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%A3%E6%AD%BB%E4%BA%BA%E7%9A%84%E9%96%8B%E4%B F%A1%E7%8E%87/), the usage rate will naturally be high, which will affect the future “Renewal rate (retention rate)”.
Take magazines as an example. If you buy them this year and don’t read them, consumers will naturally be hesitant about ordering them next year. Consumers will tend not to continue buying things they know they will not use. For a mass media (which covers a wide range of fields and covers many fields), without paying, readers can choose what they like to read and forget about it if they don’t like it. The cost of skipping is quite low.
But what if each article paid for itself? At this time, you will naturally care about whether you like the article and whether it is useful. Since you are spending your own money, the sense of loss will be greatly enhanced.
About the letter opening rate and writing mentality of “Science and Technology Island Reading”
For “Technology Island Reading”, the indicators that Michael cares about the most are the letter opening rate and retention rate.
The open rate can tell whether the recent article type is preferred by readers; the retention rate can tell whether readers will pay for it and vote with their money. These two indicators can be said to be comprehensive results, which can initially determine whether the recent direction of the article is correct and accepted by the market.
Regarding the open rate, Michael shared his observations while studying in the island. He emphasized: “The title and topic type of the current article, as well as the quality of the previous article” will affect the open rate of this letter.
It is not difficult to understand the two factors of the title of the letter and the type of issue. The author’s previous experience in e-newsletter marketing and writing articles and copywriting generally conforms to this observation. Taking Dadu as an example, if the article contains some very hot keywords, such as Google, Facebook and other topics that everyone is usually concerned about, the open rate is usually not bad.
On the contrary, if some topics or content are relatively blunt, the letter opening rate may not be so ideal. Michael said: “For example, when I wrote about blockchain-related content before, probably because the content was a little more abstract, the open rate of that article was affected.”
When the open rate is low, Michael explained that he would not pay too much attention to the open rate of a single article, but would look at the data for a period of time and a range, and then adjust his direction.
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Question: Will you deliberately avoid or reduce “those more difficult topics” and only write “what readers want to see”?
Faced with this question, Michael replied: “I think this should still be written. As long as I think this issue is important and readers should know it, then I should write it. This is the commitment I have given, and I think it is an important part of Daodu brand building.”
Michael explained: “When faced with more rigid topics, you can choose to give up easily and no longer touch these issues. Or, you can continue to try to find a simpler communication method so that readers can understand and like it. Or, you can find an entry point that is more relatable to Taiwanese readers.”
These conversations in the interview also made me think twice, especially when writing Medium articles. Sometimes after chasing too many hot topics, I don’t dare to write what I really want to write. Michael’s words remind me that adjusting the direction is not necessarily a complete dichotomy, and there is still a lot of room for adjustment.
And, for a brand, what are some things that even though they are thankless, they still have to do?
The author also asked Michael about a major problem with closed content: “How can we continue to expand our influence and increase our readership when the content cannot be made public?”
Regarding this question, Michael believes: “This is indeed a very important issue, and we have not found the best solution yet. At present, we are publishing one of the articles from the previous week to attract more readers to watch, and provide a trial for the first month.”
“However, we do still rely on word of mouth and word of mouth,” Michael said.
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Question: Do any readers feel that “disclosing their paid articles” will cause them losses, and will there be a backlash?
Michael responded: “I personally don’t think so. I have never received such feedback from readers since Youwu went to Daodao to read.”
He further explained: Some content is indeed “the less people know about it, the better.” For example, resources such as certain stock trading information, of course, I don’t want too many people to know.
But for readers, purchasing subscription services is not to possess this information, but just because “they need to know.” At the same time, even if these contents are made public, they will not actually suffer any loss, so Michael does not think there is much problem with moderately public articles.
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Recently, a new “blocktrend” subscription content has appeared on the market. Compared with most blockchain content on the market that is mainly based on speculation, Blockchain hopes to give readers “blockchain content that speaks human words”, which is mainly based on knowledge and education, which seems to go against the intuition of the market. Would anyone be willing to subscribe to this type of content?
Michael’s view is that investing in blockchain is like investing in stocks. There are always people who want to speculate in the short term, but there are always people who want to learn solid investment methods; although the latter is relatively rare. It is undeniable that this group of people will always exist, and the former and the latter may not be completely separate, there are many overlapping parts.
Maybe some people are speculating in currencies and need speculative advice; but there are also some people who really need this introductory and complete blockchain knowledge. Markets are not black and white; just because one is right doesn’t mean the other is wrong.
Talking about time efficiency: “Every minute here is worth more than anywhere else.”
Finally, Michael shared the concept of “Time Effectiveness” with the author.
Compared with reading a rough article without verification and reading a high-quality analysis article, even if it takes the same time to read, the subsequent benefits will be very different. This is the difference in time efficiency.
Michael said that in the future, more and more tools will appear that can improve personal “time efficiency”. If you cannot use it properly, you will be surpassed by others. When the information you read is not good enough, or you spend too much time looking for high-quality information, you will naturally fall behind.
When there are more and more things to attract our attention, where are we going to put our attention? How can I get more benefits in the same amount of time?
Michael believes that from “Youwu Report” to “Science and Technology Island Reading”, there has never been a concept of deviation. “Technology Island Reading” hopes to serve readers so that readers can understand issues faster and gain more inspiration through their own words. Finally, use this knowledge to achieve greater rewards.
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Conclusion:
From Zhou Qinhua (Michael)’s valuable sharing, we can see many considerations of [subscription-based content] (https://www.contenthacker.today/search?q=%E8%A8%82%E9%96%B1%E5%88%B6), as well as the different choices that everyone makes due to their different situations.
For example, in a paid subscription system, how important is the consistency of content? What is the significance of open rate and retention rate? The mentality of facing less flattering issues, and what you do and don’t do as a content brand.
There are many ways to increase your “time efficiency”. The author believes that obtaining high-quality and good content means allowing yourself to obtain greater leverage benefits through a small investment, which is a practice worthy of reference. Thank you again Michael for your wonderful sharing, and welcome everyone to the official website of “[Technology Island Reading] (https://daodu.tech/)” to learn more about high-quality perspective information.
Recommended reading:
-
[A brief discussion on subscription fundraising (Part 2): Restrictions and challenges for creators of “closed content”] (https://www.contenthacker.today/2018/01/kyon-subscription-comment-part3.html)
★ This article author Qiu Taocheng, Ziqian is a small copywriter who takes turns typing on five keyboards. I don’t think I’m as good as a copywriter, so I’m just a writer. Currently, I specialize in keyword advertising and copywriting marketing. Looking forward to finding a dignified way to survive. Thank you for authorizing “Content Hacker” to reprint. Thank you hereby.
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★ To improve your content power, please don’t miss the online course “[Content Power: The Super Power of Building Brands] (https://hahow.in/cr/content-power)“
Further reading
- Knowledge Paid Content Subscription Summit: You Shufan talks about five insights into engaging in paid knowledge services
- How is a subscription service with a monthly amount exceeding 120,000 yuan created?
- PressPlay’s Attack: From a learning platform in the era of fragmentation to a brand promoter in the fan economy
