PainScience.com Membership Page
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PainScience.com has never been a non-profit website, but it has always been an idealistic, low-profit website, a small business that earns me just enough to take care of my family. The site is entirely reader-supported by book sales, memberships, and donations (and never any ads, ever, because modern internet advertising is super gross).
If you value this resource, please consider a membership — you’ll support a fine source of high quality health science journalism, keeping it ad-free and independent… and you’ll get extra content for your money.
You can be a member and get the main membership benefit — premium newsletter posts — for as little as USD $3/per month, and you can get all the standard membership perks for $5/month.
~ Paul Ingraham, PainScience publisher
Vancouver, Canada
Buy Good, Better or Best PainSci Membership…
Pause, cancel, or switch plans with ease. Payment data handled safely by Stripe.com. More about security & privacy. PainScience.com is a small publisher in Vancouver, Canada, since 2001. 🇨🇦
| GOOD | $3 | Free emails (0–3/week) + premium emails (1/month) |
| BETTER | $5 | All emails + post archives + audio versions + members-only sections + RSS feed |
| AWESOME | $10 | All of the above + occasional special benefits |
All the benefits of membership
- Everyone gets extra PainSci Updates newsletter posts — all membership plans. But members that pay more get more…
- Web access to the complete premium post archives.
- A full-text RSS feed (obscure to many, but valued by those who know).
- Audio versions of most posts, even short ones. Also audio versions of several large, “classic” PainSci articles.
- Access to 20 members-only areas scattered around the site. These are paywalled sections of articles that dive deeper down the rabbit hole — like articles within articles. The free content is always substantial, but members get more dorky detail.
- Membership does not hide advertisements (as so many membership programs do), because there are no ads to hide, never have been, and never will be. But I do hide my own “ads,” my own prompts for donations/membership.
Is membership for patients or professionals? Both!
The editorial policy of PainScience.com is to only publish content that can be easily understood and enjoyed by anyone: any kind of professional, or any keen patient. Obviously some content skews a little more one way or the other, but basically it’s all for everyone — and pros always have the option of reading further, or delving into more footnotes.
I could easily justify a more expensive membership for pros, and I might create a pro tier someday. But for now the price is set deliberately at a level that is in the middle: less than I could ask from pros, and maybe a touch high for patients, but just fine for my favourite kind of readers in either category.
More membership benefits coming, er, “soon”
The membership program is still somewhat new — 2022 was its first full year — and it’s critical for the future of the website. I have added many features to membership… but this is a small business, and nothing happens fast. As I chip away at it, here are some more benefits I am considering. Just ideas, but at least a couple of them are almost certain to happen eventually…
- “Book bucks” — Credits towards free e-books earned with continuing membership. This one is very likely happen in 2023 (and applied retroactively).
- Website features like reading-position bookmarks, a dark mode, and reading history.
- Ask-me-anything style video meet-ups with readers.
- A directory to connect science-respecting professionals and patients.
Pro tip: Get a deal by pausing membership ⏯️
Pausing your membership once in a while will reduce the cost of subscription while still getting you the majority of the benefits. If you pause, payments and perks will automatically resume after three months. Some members pause and resume semi-regularly, tuning in and catching up in bursts between pauses. I don’t encourage this… but I’d much rather have a subscriber come and go long-term than stop altogether, of course.
What is that pricey “awesome” membership all about? It’s about being a damned saint, that’s what!
You can pay double the middle-tier to get … absolutely nothing in particular. I am making no promises about what I will do for my top-tier members. There will surely be something (like the occasional webinar, say) … but I will not be busting a gut to feel to “earn” the extra few bucks.
Clearly I have missed my calling in sales.
Seriously, I cannot work any harder than I already am, so I cannot offer more than I’m already offering. What I need is to be paid better for what I’m already doing, so people who can pay more for essentially the same thing need that option. Want to buy me a modest breakfast once per month, rather than just coffee and a muffin, without expecting more in return? That top tier is there for you!
Yes, people are choosing this tier. I launched the new plans mid-2023, and was amazed and gratified to see the “awesome” plan get some real traction. ❤️
My daring “no membership refunds” policy 🙂
While I do offer refunds for books (and always have), I do not offer membership refunds. Membership is supportive patronage with good perks, not a satisfaction-guaranteed “product.” Please vote with your dollars for good science journalism with conviction! If the content turns out not to be a good fit for you, please just cancel and consider your money well-spent on a good cause.
