For What It's Worth: On Value & Pricing
Why I'm turning on paid subscriptions, offering full scholarships to anyone who asks, and betting that the value of this work lives in what happens after you read it.
I’ve been thinking about this post for months: why my work should have a price — but also remain free and accessible. Not because the decision is complicated, but because the reasoning matters more than the numbers.
Today I’m turning on paid subscriptions for MotionMic. — and I want to explain why in a way that’s honest about what I’m doing and what I believe.
Starting today, MotionMic. offers three ways in:
Monthly — $5/month
Annual — $30/year
MotionMic Committee (Founding Member) — $275/year
And one policy that underpins everything:
If cost is a barrier, this work is yours. Write to me, tell me why you want the Open Access Dialogic Scholarship — and get a 1 year subscription, free.
That’s the model. But the thinking behind it is worth sitting with.
What I Owe, and to Whom
My doctoral research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. That’s public money. Taxpayer dollars underwrite my scholarship, and the insights I share here — about systems, complexity, organizational culture, corrections, human factors — are byproducts of that investment.
I don’t take that lightly.
There’s a version of this where I paywall everything and treat these ideas as proprietary. That version doesn’t sit right with me. Not because the work lacks value, but because publicly funded scholarship should circulate publicly. The ideas belong to the commons. What I’m offering through MotionMic. is a particular way of processing those ideas — through motion, through synthesis, through a voice shaped by lived experience inside systems most people never see from the inside.
That processing has value. But the door should never be locked.
Why Charge at All
Because signals matter.
I spent years working in an environment where value was measured by compliance rather than contribution.
One of the things that experience taught me is that what we put a price on tells people what we think matters.
A free newsletter says: this costs me nothing to make. That’s not true. A paid newsletter says: this took something real to produce, and I believe it’s worth your attention.
The price isn’t a gate. It’s a statement.
I’m inspired here by Sam Harris, who pioneered a model I respect: the work is available to anyone who asks, but those who can support it are invited to. It works because it’s grounded in trust rather than extraction.
That’s the energy I want.
The Three Tiers (And What They Mean)
$5/month is for readers who want to stay close to the work without a longer commitment. It’s low friction, no ceremony.
$30/year is where I’d encourage most people to land. It signals something I care about — long-term engagement. Symphonic thinking doesn’t happen in a single post. It builds across months, across threads, across returns to ideas you thought you understood the first time. The annual rate reflects a belief that this kind of intellectual relationship needs duration. In a world that fragments attention into disposable takes, committing for a year is a quiet act of resistance.
$275/year — the MotionMic Committee — is for founding members who want to invest in what this becomes. Not just what it is now, but where it’s heading. This tier reflects the full value of the work, and it signals something I don’t say lightly: that this project is building toward something larger than a newsletter. If you’re here at this level, you’re not subscribing. You’re participating.
Two Policies That Are the Real Point
The Dialogic Scholarship (100% free)
If you want access and cost is a barrier — for any reason — write to me. You’ll receive a full annual subscription at no cost. All I ask is that you tell me why you’d like it. Not to justify yourself. Because the act of articulating why you want to engage with this work is itself a form of dialogue. And dialogue is the whole point.
Until further notice, 100% of these requests will be granted.
The Dialogic Pair (75% off)
This one is personal to me. If you want to subscribe alongside someone — a friend, a partner, a colleague — so that you can discuss the work together, I’ll offer both subscriptions at 75% off. Why? Because MotionMic. isn’t built for passive consumption. It’s built to spark conversation. If my writing becomes something two people talk about over coffee or on a walk, that’s the highest compliment I can imagine. That’s the whole theory of change, made real.
What I Actually Want
I want to be direct about this. The goal is not revenue. The goal is conversation.
I spent years inside an institution where dialogue had collapsed — where decisions flowed downward and feedback disappeared into bureaucratic silence. That experience changed me, not toward anger, but toward an almost stubborn belief in the value of exchange. Of hearing and being heard. Of sitting with complexity rather than managing it into submission.
When someone subscribes, I want them to feel like they’re entering a space, not purchasing a product. When someone comments, critiques, pushes back — that’s the work functioning as intended. The call to action has always been open-ended: engage however you want to. Share it. Challenge it. Bring it up in a conversation with someone who would disagree. Write me a note telling me I’m wrong.
Democracy, at its most basic, is sustained through conversation. That’s not a metaphor for me. It’s a conviction that shapes everything I publish here.
The Bottom Line
The full value of this work is reflected in the MotionMic Committee tier. Annual access is discounted to support long-term engagement. And if cost is a barrier, access is always available — just reach out.
In a world of fragmented thinking, this space invites everyone. Paying sustains it. But conversation is always free.
To subscribe, choose the option that fits you best and feel welcome to drop me a line about the Dialogic Scholarship, write to me directly at mptaylor.com.