For the past five months, I’ve been charging 99 cents per story for the biographical profiles  featured in my One Person’s Journey series on this blog. This is about to change. Starting Feb. 1, 2014, I will be charging $3.99 per story. Why? Because after PayPal takes its fee, I am left with a net return of only 66 cents per story. This is no longer sufficient to make the venture worth my while.

The charge of $3.99 per story is still a good deal, when you compare it to the prices charged by other publications. If you were to buy one of my stories from The Globe and Mail, for example, you would pay $4.95 plus relevant taxes. If you were to buy one of my stories from FPInfomart, the largest newspaper database in Canada, you would pay the same. If you were to buy one of my stories from the Toronto Star, you would pay a minimum of $9.95, because that’s what the Star charges for a week’s access to its online archives. So $3.99 is a better deal than you’ll find anywhere else.

When I say I plan to charge $3.99 per story starting on February 1, that does not mean every story will cost that much on that day. It will take me some time to change the pricing on every story, so there still be some 99-cent items on the site for probably a couple of weeks after February 1. So take advantage of the lower pricing now. Ninety-nine cents is a bargain not to be missed.