More Layout Options for Paid Accounts

[iatrogenicmyth]

Title
More Layout Options for Paid Accounts

Short, concise description of the idea
As a benefit of becoming a paid account member, LJ users should have many more "paid account only" layouts available.

Full description of the idea
It is becoming increasingly difficult to justify the benefits of continuing to pay for a LiveJournal account, and many users are simply not going to go through (mostly inactive) LJ communities to customize their LiveJournal style. At present, many layouts are available, but very few in proportion are available only to paid account members.
An ordered list of benefits

• Potential for an increased number of individuals deciding to renew their paid accounts or sign up for a paid account.
• LJ users will be able to change their layout with a simple "click" instead of having to explore inactive communities where many layouts are unavailable and lack troubleshooting assistance.
• Tumblr has been extremely successful in offering a plethora of style options to members, and a surprising number of Tumblr users actually pay for layouts; however, if someone is already paying for a LiveJournal account, they should not have to pay extra for a customized layout.
• There are many established designers on LiveJournal who have either stopped making layouts because of the decline in LiveJournal's popularity or because it is very rare that LiveJournal announces new layouts. Talented users who have abandoned this site may be attracted back here if their layouts became part of the default layout system for paid users.
• Many of the active layout sites are in Russian/Cyrillic. This does not appeal to the English-speaking membership. If you truly want to make LiveJournal a global phenomenon again, this is a very small way to acknowledge those of us who have been here with multiple journals and priceless memories since the late 1990s.

An ordered list of problems/issues involved

• I assume that it will cost money to pay the LJ layout designers, but I also believe that the revenue coming in from featuring many paid-only layouts will offset this cost.
• It will require making LJ users aware of this new benefit. I almost did not renew my paid account this year, but I would have done so without question if more paid account only layouts were available; therefore, LJ will have to prominently feature these new paid layouts on the main page and in e-mail updates.
• One or two or even five new paid layouts a year is simply inefficient. This will have to be an ongoing process, with feedback from LJ users, and new layouts will take up more bandwidth.
• LiveJournal as a company does not seem to be invested in non-Cyrillic/Russian members, and even if gorgeous stylesheets are made available to LiveJournal users, many will still remain skeptical and may not purchase a paid account so they can have a theme that they truly love.