First off what is PaperWall? It's a pay-only-for-what-you-read system where a paywall shows up on each article registered against the PaperWall network. These tickets can be purchased by readers on PaperWall, and redeemed with as few as 2 clicks, providing as streamlined a reading experience as possible. The paywall that shows up may display an image (the Poster) along with a link to redeem the article.
The idea behind the posters is to showcase how the article being viewed has been received by all the readers thus far. With a name like PaperWall, it makes sense to lean on the “wall” metaphor - but to get through a wall, you typically need a door. Or a gate. Or a window, if you’re unconventional or sneaky. But in this case we chose a door. So, each poster was created with a door. And beyond each door shows a glimpse of what the reader is in for - but not based on the article’s contents, but how it’s been received by others and how it’s trending. Which poster shows is determined from 4 attributes: unique reads, how old it is (since published), visits within the past 24 hours, and ratings (if available).
Below is the list of posters that may show up, along with a quick description of what each conveys.
It is highly rated by a lot of people.
It is sustaining an exceptional rating by lots of readers.
There are over 100 reads within the past 24 hours.
There are over 1000 reads, but it has mixed ratings.
Has over 1000 reads and has an exceptional rating.
When an article has 100+ reads overall
When an article has been published in the past week.
When an article was published over a year ago and has a high rating.
When it’s not a new release and there hasn’t been a lot of traffic yet.
Those are all the posters for now. They are expected to change and evolve over time, so keep an eye on this page for any updates. We want to make sure they're bringing people to your article and hopefully conveying what the reader is getting into.
Any updates to the posters will both be reflected on this page, and will be communicated in the PaperWall newsletter.
Get started with PaperWall, or sign up for the newsletter here.