Even Microsoft with its millions was unable to buck that trend. It set up a magazine titled Slate . It was free for a while, to attract readers. When its circulation was healthy, it started to charge a modest subscription fee. Hardly anyone subscribed, and eventually they had to revert to giving it away.
Weird things happen to capitalism on the Internet.
Think of one of those pink rubber kitchen gloves. On the Internet, it's the other way around. At first I thought that very few writers would want to publish in Jacket without being paid, but so far that doesn't seem to be a problem. Let's look back to the days of Gutenberg for a moment. That's say ten people.