I built Jottings with a specific vision: make it possible to run a personal publishing empire without drowning in subscription fees. One of the features I'm most excited about is PRO slots—a flexible system that lets you run multiple sites on a single subscription.

Here's how it works, and why I think it changes how you approach creating online.

One Subscription, Multiple Sites

When you upgrade to Jottings PRO, you don't just unlock features for a single site. You get a PRO slot—a permission to run one PRO site at a time. But here's the key: you can have as many free sites as you want, and you can promote any of them to PRO whenever you choose.

This means you're not locked into a decision. You can experiment with different site ideas without worrying about costs, and when one resonates with your audience (or with your goals), you flip a switch and activate it.

How Slots Work in Practice

Let's say you've got three site ideas brewing:

• A technical blog about building with AI
• A personal journal about running a software business
• A link collection of interesting articles you've read

With Jottings PRO, you can create all three as free sites. They work perfectly fine—you get basic theming, custom domains, and the ability to publish. But they don't have PRO features like markdown rendering, SEO optimizations, or site-wide analytics.

One month, you decide the technical blog is the one you want to focus on. You promote it to PRO in your dashboard. The link collection drops back to free, but it stays published and accessible. Anytime you want to switch focus, you demote one site and promote another.

You're paying once. You're publishing everywhere.

Why This Matters

I designed slots this way because I got tired of subscription overload myself. The old model forces you to choose: either commit to a theme upfront (and be wrong) or pay multiple subscription fees to experiment.

With PRO slots, the math changes. You're not choosing between two subscriptions or five. You're choosing one thing to focus on at a time, and everything else continues to exist in the free tier.

Here's what this unlocks:

Experimentation without guilt. Start that new project without opening your wallet. If it takes off, promote it. If not, you're only out the effort.

Portfolio flexibility. Keep your professional blog, personal journal, and project documentation on the same platform without multiplying costs. Each one is a separate site—separate branding, separate domain, separate everything—but one payment covers your ambitions.

Pivot easily. Six months in, your interests shift. Your old site is still published and accessible, but your attention (and PRO features) move to something new. No contract, no cancellation drama.

The Mechanics

Promoting and demoting is simple. In your Jottings dashboard, you'll see all your sites listed. A single click promotes a free site to PRO or demotes a PRO site back to free.

When you promote:

• Your site immediately gets access to PRO features
• Markdown rendering activates on all past and future posts
• SEO configurations and custom domains work at full power
• Analytics (when available) start collecting

When you demote:

• Your site continues to be published and accessible
• Posts still display beautifully (just without markdown features)
• No content is deleted or hidden

The PRO site you're currently using doesn't get deleted when you promote something else. It just stops being "the PRO one." You can flip back anytime.

Real Talk About Limits

I'm keeping PRO slots simple: one active PRO site per subscription. Not because it's a hard technical limit, but because I want PRO to feel like a focused tool, not a fire-hose of features.

If you're running a media company with dozens of publications, you might want multiple PRO subscriptions. That's totally valid. But for the creators I'm building Jottings for—people with one or two serious projects plus some experimental sites—one slot is the sweet spot.

The Future

I'm already thinking about how to expand this. What if you could promote specific features (like markdown rendering) to free sites? What if you could distribute PRO features across multiple sites instead of concentrating them in one?

These ideas are brewing. But right now, slots are clean and simple. One subscription. Multiple sites. One active PRO site at a time. Switch whenever you want.

Start Small, Stay Flexible

The beauty of PRO slots is that they reduce friction. You don't have to commit to one site forever. You don't have to pay for every project idea. You can publish freely, experiment boldly, and only unlock PRO features when you're ready.

Create three sites today. See which one you actually stick with. Promote that one. Keep the others alive as ideas percolate. Demote and promote as your interests shift.

That's the slot system. That's the whole philosophy behind it: give creators the flexibility to grow without betting the farm on any single idea.

If you've got questions about how slots work, or ideas for how we could make them better, I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me directly at hello@jottings.me or find me on my site at jottings.me.

Ready to start your first site? Create your account and publish today.