I'll try and keep it as short as possible, I would really appreciate any advice or feedback based on the options I mention at the end of the article.
As many of you know for the past few months I've been working on Readory -- with the building process initially beginning through engaging with the Indiehackers community.
After two Readory Producthunt launches (coming 4th and 3rd) and 2k+ registered users, we've done pretty well. However, I've realised that a platform to share articles and connect them with sources doesn't drive enough engagement to achieve the goal of Readory being the go-to place to find interesting articles sourced by a community.
The reasons why Readory isn't what it was planned to be are:
- There are so many people sharing articles not enough of them stick long enough to get comments/engagement.
- Too much advertising articles without enough quality content.
- Why would users social share an article from Readory if they could just share the source.
Is Readory going to shut down?
No, quite the opposite.
Readory will be completely overhauled into one of two things based on what the Indiehackers community and our Users think.
Here are the two options for Readory:
Option 1 - Readory becomes a centralised publishing platform for writers who wish to earn $$$. Currently, there are no platforms similar to youtube for creators where a writer can earn proper $$$ moolah for their content. As a bootstrapped business the idea would be to go head to hips with Medium allowing bloggers to publish their content and earn some money from it. Basically, I would connect advertisements to a Users article (if they wish to monetise) and dish out 95% of the total that article makes. (Adsense Host perhaps)
Option 2 - The original model of sharing articles stand-put but rather than one link being shared many links would be collated into a "edition/collection" in order to have more original and shareable content. The idea is that a User can collate some articles from around the web, leave a commentary and turn it into a sort of shareable magazine. An example would be "Interviews with Developers turned Founders" a small commentary I've left and perhaps 5 of my favourite articles related to that subject. This would hopefully increase the quality and engagement issue.
Would really appreciate feedback.
