Last week, I went and saw author Dave Eggers speak at the Tattered Cover bookstore. I have been a fan of Eggers since reading the book, “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,” the memoir that put him on the map back in 2000. During the hour-long discussion, Eggers talked about 826 Valencia (a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for kids in San Francisco he founded), advocated for higher salaries for teachers, and read from the screenplay he recently wrote for the movie “Where the Wild Things Are.”

But the one thing he mentioned that caught my attention was how McSweeney’s, an independent publishing house founded by Eggers, recently released a one-time prototype of a newspaper called the San Francisco Panorama. It was a broadsheet paper that resembled a Sunday edition, but stood apart through its innovative design, articles by well-known authors and amazing content. In Eggers’ words, the reason he and his staff decided to do this was to show what printed newspapers are capable of.

The newspaper’s content was built around serious journalism such as an in-depth feature on forced confessions that occur in Iran, a long-form story on marijuana cultivation in Mendicino County, and a piece on how San Francisco is outsourcing the construction of a new bridge to China. It also contained some less serious items: a “Ramen Done Right” profile, full-page comics and an op-ed on how Michelle Obama’s eyebrows are too angry.

Even though this was a one-time publication that enlisted the talent of top writers and designers, I think it succeeded enormously in demonstrating the value of newspapers that deliver good content and how they inform the general public (which should be more concerned about this in a time where newspapers are struggling to survive).

The other unique thing that Eggers and his staff did was show the economics behind creating the paper and how this could be used to estimate the costs of actually producing a daily newspaper. Using these estimates, the staff did some rough math and found that if you sold 30,000 copies of a 48-page paper each day for a $1, along with some advertising, a paper could survive.

The challenge in today’s world is a fight against an “information wants to be free” mindset with expectations on getting content for free online. Producing good, quality journalism costs money and right now, the business model to do this effectively has been turned upside down. This is an issue we should all care about and consider carefully. For the cost of less than a Starbucks coffee, you could contribute to the power of solid journalism.

Information may want to be free, but what is always needed are those who research, verify, edit and compile this information into a format that tells us something and does it accurately. Good, informative writing matters today more than ever, and this is something we should all support.