The award-winning literary science magazine Nautilus has successfully increased its membership numbers seven-fold since coming under the Fragment Media Group umbrella in 2019, and investing in our reader-first model.
Over the past three years, Nautilus has launched a broad campaign to bring in new subscribers—using paid social media, the Nautilus website, and Nautilus newsletters to get the word out.
The membership drive was spearheaded by serial media entrepreneur, Fragment Media Group founder and CEO Nicholas White.
Publisher and Editorial Director John Steele said after Nautilus joined Fragment Media Group, the magazine had access to a wealth of new resources to drive up the value of a Nautilus membership.
One investment the Nautilus team made was expanding its various channels—including Nautilus Ocean, Brain, Cosmos, and Earth—which are assisted by collaborative partners who provide financial support and editorial input.
‘It’s scaling up to give them more enticing opportunities to invest in Nautilus.’
“We went through kind of the low hanging fruit of getting people who were already engaged with Nautilus to subscribe because the price was going to go up and there was going to be more content,” Steele said. “The idea was to do whatever we could to expand the newsletter as the entry point into Nautilus.”
Nautilus continues to use captivating newsletters as an entry point for subscriptions. Our team is also exploring the promotional possibilities of tiered subscriptions, for super-fans who want exclusive perks—like access to in-person and virtual events, partnerships, and more.
“It’s scaling up to give them more enticing opportunities to invest in Nautilus,” Steele explained.
We also recently revamped the Nautilus website, completely rebuilding it with a new content management system. Our goal was to put our readers first, vastly improving user experience on the site.
“Reader-first is about offering our members product, services and experiences to generate as much revenue per member as possible,” Steele explained.
As we look to the future of Nautilus, we hope to continue to pursue a reader-first, membership-driven model.
