Within the next month, Our Town Temple will be delivered in a new way with new options and added value for paid subscribers.

“Our Town Temple is my livelihood,” OTT publisher David Stone said today. “For the past year, I have offered free options, but I think I have proved the value of my work. Starting next month, the focus will be on high-quality paid content.”

Since June 2021, Our Town Temple has been delivered via a Substack newsletter and through social media platforms. Although Substack will no longer be the primary source of delivery, emails will remain a vital part of the delivery system. Posts on social media sites such as Facebook will continue but will significantly decrease in frequency.

Starting in August — the exact date will be announced very soon — Our Town Temple will offer two levels of participation.

“There will be a Basic level, which will be available by the month or by the year,” Stone said. “The yearly rate, of course, will be a better bargain.”

“The Basic tier will feature at least five newsletters per week and have all of my stories, access to the calendar of events and select stories by our part-time writers,” Stone said. “It will be very similar to the current email product, and the cost will be $6 per month or $65 per year.”

The top value will be the Premium package, which includes everything in the Basic group, plus access to a brand new website that will feature all stories and photos produced by staff and guests, new locally produced videos, expanded Temple Trivia features, flashbacks to Temple history,  an archive, a radio-style playlist featuring local musicians and much more.

The website will be updated multiple times every day with fresh photos, stories and breaking news.

“This is the product that I have envisioned from the start,” Stone said. “Premium members can contribute stories, events, photos and more, and they will have access to all newsletters, the website and social media content.”

The price structure for the Premium will be $7.50 per month or $75 per year. Compared to other daily news sources in the Temple area, this will offer unparalleled value and convenience.

“We’ve never offered the Premium package before, and since we have a lot of loyal subscribers, everyone who is a subscriber when we make the switch will be automatically upgraded to the Premium tier,” he said.

OTT staff already is working on sweetening the pot even more.

“We currently have an agreement with Texas Tribune in place to run state features, and we are working on a deal that will bring additional news and sports to our website,” Stone said. “Other plans that will soon be moved off the back burners are video and audio newscasts. Video is going to be a big thing with us.”

“Make no mistake about it — Our Town Temple is going to remain hyper-local with a strong slant toward the arts, events, history, locally owned businesses and the people who make this area great. We will continue to focus on extraordinary people doing extraordinary things.”

“In the past 18 months, Our Town has moved from a Facebook-only presence to additional social media to a news magazine-style delivery. Now we are taking a big step forward, and we still have a few irons in the fire.”

Advertisers will also have more options for promoting their businesses. Ad spaces will be available for both the email newsletters and the website. Several sponsorship features also will be available.

“A business can sponsor the calendar of events or a business spotlight, the playlist of local musicians or even a weekly fishing report,” Stone said. “I’m still working out the logistics, but I can promise to keep advertising affordable.”

Substack provides a decent product and has been a valued part of the Our Town Temple team. But, it limits the number of photos and advertisements that can run per issue.

“After the switch,” Stone said, “that problem will no longer exist.”