Free subscription strategy

Question

I have a monthly magazine in review with Apple that will appear in Newsstand, but while fixing a little bug, I realized that my subscription strategy may need to be revised.
The goal is to have a monthly magazine free to all users for the first year while the reader/subscriber base is built and then offer a paid subscription starting in year 2.
Originally, I set up a Free subscription assuming I could convert to paid at a later date. Once it is in paid mode with a number of paid subscription options (as well as single issue purchase), the magazine would also offer occasional free supplements along with the paid content. It would also offer a free 30-day trial.
However, from what I'm reading on this forum, once you utilize the Free Subscription in iTunes Connect, all subscribers who sign up for that this year will forever more be free even after the magazine converts to paid next year.
Is there a strategy to do what I'm after? Can I start with retail subscriptions (auto-renewable, for instance), but mark them free for the first year in pricing in lieu of using the free subscription? Some reading here shows that Apple may reject that.
Thanks for any insight.
Rob

Answer 1

Thank you Bob for those links.
After reading them, I think I may still have to go with messy for this particular publication. I'll be launching into a resort environment among a number of already free print newspapers, style/celebrity magazines, and a number of free content websites for this region. This will be the first tablet-only magazine in the area (content will not be replicated in print or the web, other than through sharing). Though some of the other media are paid, like a few of the local newspapers, paying for a subscription would likely only work once we had enough of a subscriber base to compete with some of my competitors' readership numbers (and by competitors, I don't really mean content so much as their ability to attract advertising). So 30-60 day free trials, first issue free or even pushing publication dates out doesn't seem practical since it will be at least a year before I could really attempt a pay model at the scale that would be appropriate.
This really is a test in my particular market to see if paid advertising can support an app like this, but in order for that to work I need differentiated content (check) and a subscriber base that grows quickly (hence, the free for first year theory). I may always want this particular magazine to be free as long as the readership is growing and the advertising can support it. Pushing for a pay subscription model too early would likely slow the speed of readership growth I need to be able to adjust advertising rates upward in the future. If the magazine was already established or extending a legacy product, I would be more apt to offer the sorts of free tools provided by the retail options. I think in the beginning, on an untested product, I might be better off with simply free. But I do understand your point. I'd like to offer additional titles down the line, and this experience, I think, will let me understand when charging for subs is appropriate, and when it is not.
If I did choose, at some later date, to go to retail subs, with first issue free or trials, I can still do that, correct? I clearly see the downsides, but it might be a path I have to take in the environment I publish in. In that case, what are my options?
Thanks. Your tips and tools have helped me very much getting to this point, so I am very appreciative of your insight. Just trying to find the best way into my market with the best effect. This new magazine will be very different in our marketplace than what has gone before.
Rob