Subscription should include everything

kotitonttu · 2016-08-13T03:48:19+00:00

I have no problem paying for online services. I pay for a music service, I pay for multiple video streaming services, I pay for content creation and up until now I have paid for Fakku. What I do have a problem with is paying for a "premium account" yet stil feeling like a second-class citizen. More and more I've noticed when I come to this site the content I happen to click on from the front page or my personal notifications is beyond a paywall. For me, a paying customer. That is not ok. It's especially bad when you consider how expensive the premium subscription on this site is. The endless music library with more content than I could listen to in a hundred lifetimes costs less than half per month compared to what Fakku charges. The video streaming services I pay for are similiarly around half of Fakku and the content creators who do it as a full time job all ask half or even less of what Fakku asks for. Adobe Photoshop which used to be a ~1300â‚¬ software but transitioned to a cloud-based subscription model costs one euro less per month than Fakku does. I understand it's a smaller market and the price must be adjusted to make this operation even somewhat profitable. After all everybody listens to music but not many read manga or hentai in the west. However you cannot just ignore how the consumer feels and if they consider their investment worthwhile. Having paywalls on top of paywalls is frankly put "bullshit". I'm aware there exists tons of content on this site available simply with the subscription but it's not so much about any lack of content but the negative user experience when they see something they like yet are barred from it despite having already paid for the service. I wish all the best for your attempts to work with artists and bring good quality content over to the west, but with your current pricing model I simply cannot justify paying for this service anymore. If you were to ever reconsider it and include all the content with a subscription like most if not all other subscription-based services handle things I'd be the first to re-subscribe.

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Drifter995 Neko//Night

5 years ago

POCKETKING55 wrote...

Just saying, I’d be ok with a bigger subscription cost if it included books. I gotta say it does really suck paying twice. Not to mention, everything I want to read ends up being a book.

I mean, I don't neccesarily disagree with the thought of an extra on top for digital access, but that does severely limit funds to the authors of the books, so it's not ideal.
The point of the books and doujinshi is to give the money directly to the author/ publisher (author only for doujinshi). Vs the sub model being basically a split, and going to the magazine company to distribute more or less, as it would normally. Not sure how the spread would work, whether it's just more income for wani, and the others to give to their staff, or they use data from the site or something.
But, yeah, the books are specific pieces released, so it makes sense they are separate. Money goes to the authors directly (and also publisher), and doujinshi jsut to the author. Vs if everything was included say, it'd be a shitshow of who gets money and how.
The idea is nice, but practical wise, it isn't ideal for the authors

kotitonttu

5 years ago

POCKETKING55 wrote...

Just saying, I’d be ok with a bigger subscription cost if it included books. I gotta say it does really suck paying twice. Not to mention, everything I want to read ends up being a book.

That's exactly the sentiment I had when making this thread. It's not that the subscription doesn't give plenty of content, it does. It's the constant feeling of disappointment when logging into the site and seeing new interesting content in the notifications only to find out it's not included in the price I pay after clicking on it.

Whether the books and comics are separate in terms of the business arrangements FAKKU has with their Japanese business partners is completely irrelevant to the end user. The customer is still left with a bad taste in their mouth for paying for a service that teases with content then asks for more money to access said content. It's just a bad way to handle things. Even simply giving me the option to filter out all book content from the notification feed would make the user experience much more enjoyable as it would let me freely get excited whenever a new notification pops up rather than feeling suspicious or preparing myself for disappointment.

I noticed they've rebranded the subscription since the creation of this thread so I subbed on for another month just to see if things have changed in practice. I really hope they find a solution for this issue as at its core I do enjoy the product and appreciate what FAKKU does for the Western audience.

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