California writers cafe changes the business model for coworking spaces
California writers cafe changes the business model for coworking spaces
Coworking spaces for writers typically have only as many members as they desk, but in a city like San Francisco, where rents are extremely high, small and intimate groups don’t make for a sustainable business model. So, Janis Cooke Newman, an author herself, opened up Page Street in an old cafe in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco using a subscription model.
“The beauty of this model allows me to price it cheap enough for writers who don’t typically have a lot of money, but also to do it in a tiered format,” Cooke Newman said. “So for $160 a month, you have unlimited access 24/7. For $80 a month, you are a half-time member, and you have access six times during the month. For $50 a month, you’re a drop-in member, and you can come in three times a month.”
Luckily enough, Cooke Newman saw an explosion in demand for her space. She said she receives two to three applications every day, but to be accepted, there is a bit of a process, which includes a questionnaire and a Zoom interview.
“The person does not necessarily have to be published yet, but they do have to be serious about their writing. And they do have to just be nice because we are all together in that space, and so their personality counts for a lot when I interview them,” Cooke Newman said.
Ultimately, she’s happy to offer such a unique space to both up-and-coming and published writers in a city that has become the hub of the tech industry.
“I think that it’s especially, in San Francisco, important to have spaces that are not devoted to tech, to go back to the idea that there are spaces devoted to the arts,” Cooke Newman said. “Because the goal is to make Page Street not just a coworking space, but also a community, a place where writers are there supporting each other.”
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