What it Costs to Keep GoNaked Afloat Each Month
Let’s get naked about money.
Someone recently asked how much it costs to run GoNaked Magazine. Because it’s online, they assumed it must be cheap.
It isn’t.
So I finally sat down and ran the numbers.
Every month, before a single image is published or a single newsletter lands in your inbox, these bills show up:
Monthly expenses (as billed)
- GoNaked Magazine Platform: $120
- Newsletter / Email Platform: $105
- Magazine Publishing: $350
- Group Calendar: $8
- Member Map: $20
- Canva: $12
- Remini: $20
- Credit Card Processing: $34
- ChatGPT: $20
- Leonardo.ai: $20
- Ideogram: $20
Monthly subtotal: $729
Annual fees converted to monthly
- Visa: $1,000 ÷ 12 = $83.33
- Mastercard: $1,000 ÷ 12 = $83.33
- Zoom: $160 ÷ 12 = $13.33
Annual fees (monthly equivalent): $180.00
All in, it comes to about $909 every month just to keep GoNaked running.
At $3 per issue, I need to sell 303 magazines every single month just to break even. That doesn’t include taxes, and it definitely doesn’t include paying myself.
A few intentional choices I’ve made along the way:
I don’t charge small businesses for ads in the magazine. As a small business owner myself, I know how heavy advertising costs can be, and I want GoNaked to be a place that connects the community, not another toll booth.
I also don’t run ads on GoNakedNews.com. Between ad blockers and banner blindness, most people never see them anyway, and I don’t want the site cluttered with noise that doesn’t serve us.
I’m not sharing this to complain or guilt anyone. I’m sharing it because transparency matters, and because GoNaked exists because of community support, not corporate money.
Subscriptions help. A lot. They create steady income and keep the lights on. But I’m also open to evolving how this works.
So I want your honest input.
How could I generate more revenue?
(Transparency: I have no intentions of closing up the magazine. The revenue more than covers the monthly expenses. I'm just looking for new ways to put more money in my pocket!)
- Raise the price of the magazine
- Add a tip jar
- Launch an OnlyFans
- Find a buyer for GoNaked and sell it to someone who can take it to the next level
- Something else I haven’t thought of
If GoNaked adds value to your life, I want to hear how you think we keep it alive and growing.