Membership
Everything beyond the daily article
Writesides of History publishes free, in-depth history articles every day — and always will. Nothing behind a paywall, no adverts, no tracking wall. Membership is what keeps that promise affordable, and it buys you everything we make beyond the free daily article at a fraction of the à-la-carte price.
Every article open to everyone; every item in the media library with a named creator, source and licence you can click through. These counts come from the repository that runs this site and are re-checked on each deploy, so they cannot quietly go out of date.
Where your membership goes
Most of what it costs to run this site is invisible from the outside. Here is the honest breakdown of what your money actually pays for.
Writing and research
A new article every single day, researched against primary sources, with further reading that we have actually checked. This is the largest line, and it is the one that never stops.
Pictures with a paper trail
Every image, map and film in our media library carries a named creator, source and licence you can click through and check for yourself. Where an article is illustrated with an AI reconstruction instead, the caption says so. Doing it this way costs more than taking whatever is lying around online — and that difference is exactly what membership pays for.
Keeping it free and online
Hosting, the daily publication pipeline, and the checks that stop a broken or unsourced page from ever reaching you. Unglamorous, and the reason the site is here tomorrow.
The archive, deepening
Dossiers, e-books and the growing map of people, places and events that ties articles together. Members get these first — and they stay free to read for everyone else.
Whatever you contribute goes to the same work: the writing and research behind a new article every day, publishing it properly — sourced pictures, checked links, alt text — and the upkeep that keeps all of it online and free to read.
Choose your membership
Member — €5/month
Every Member Dossier free as it's released, plus the full dossier archive. 20% off all e-books and novels in the shop. Early access to new guides by e-mail, and a vote on what we cover next.
Patron — €10/month
Everything in Member, plus every E-book free as it's released (and the archive), 35% off novels, and early chapters of each novel while it's being written.
Discount codes for the shop are shared with members on Patreon.
What we hold ourselves to
This is the part we would rather be judged on than any traffic figure.
- Every item in the media library states where it came from. Creator, source and licence, on the page, next to the picture — all 394 of them.
- An AI illustration is never passed off as historical evidence. Most of our article headers are reconstructions rather than photographs. They illustrate a piece; they are never offered as a source, never used to support a claim, and never dressed up as a document, a portrait from life or a photograph of an event.
- We show both sides where the subject has them. It is in the name, and it is a structural rule in how articles are built, not an aspiration.
- No article is published without a verified image and a sources check. If either fails, nothing goes out that day.
What we make
€9,95 each
Member Dossiers
A new dossier every week, free for Members and Patrons.
2 out nowAll member dossiers
€29,95 each
Novels
Written under the Writesides flag by William Turner, 20–35% off for members.
First one comingAll novels
Just released
E-book · PDF & EPUB
The Dominate: How Constantine and His Heirs Turned Rome into a Christian Monarchy
Book Three of The Shape of Roman Power, completing the trilogy. Constantine's reunification of the empire, the founding of Constantinople, the…
EUR 14.95Get itE-book · PDF
Sworn Craft: How Europe’s Guilds Ran the Economy
Ten chapters, roughly 6,000 words, written as one continuous argument: what a guild actually was, how a man became a master, the cities that banned…
EUR 14.95Get it
Browse everything: E-books · Member Dossiers · Novels · the shop
Early access
Dossier buyers are on our members list and receive new guides and dossiers by e-mail before they appear on the site.
Vote on what we cover next
Members receive a short poll with each mailing: which topic should get the next dossier — the Cold War? The Roman army? The VOC? Your vote sets the writing calendar.
Newsletter
A free weekly digest of everything new on Writesides of History — plus a free Member Dossier as a welcome gift. Sign up and never miss an article:
Not ready for a membership?
A one-off contribution helps just as much, and so does every purchase from the shop. It all goes to the same place: the writing, the publishing, and keeping the site online and free.