First class or whatever is fine.... my only mail-trouble is with the carrier that folds everything in half-HARD, right before shoving into my mailbox.
First class or whatever is fine.... my only mail-trouble is with the carrier that folds everything in half-HARD, right before shoving into my mailbox.
Given the current situation of mail and gas and economics I don't see the continuance of mail orientated magazines as being profitable. The good magazines have become thinner and thinner with more and more ad's.
To sell a large format magazine in which an advertiser requires digital ad's while the content is still trying to reach an "analog" audience is self destructing. I stopped getting and reading Lenswork because of the mix of digital. If it's going to be digital then do a digital magazine.
Large Format magazine is at the cross roads, I don't subscribe because I don't like a torn up magazine. I wouldn't be interested in an online because I don't have Internet for my laptops. No online wireless card. If I did then it would be an option.
Until time moves on a bit and the Internet can be had anywhere then an online magazine would only be for the rich. Wireless Internet is expensive. Now if you were truly space age then you would be the first to offer a magazine with a laptop card and wireless Internet, say on a yearly subscription?
Sorry, I'm not following your train of thought here. What is a "torn up magazine"?Large Format magazine is at the cross roads, I don't subscribe because I don't like a torn up magazine.
Thanks,
Kirk
at age 73:
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep"
Go Green, save us some money, and increase your profits....
I'd make it online only, for $2 per issue via PayPal with a discount for annual subscriptions and post the first 33% of the magazine free.
After two years automagically make the paid articles free as a perpetual online resource for the LF community and as a marketing ploy to attract customers who find VC through web searches. Right now most of VC is hidden from Google searches so Photo.net gets all the hits ;-(
If you can't sell the entity before you die, then your estate could make the entire site free and pop $1000 for infinite (well, 20 years maybe) of continued webhosting until some next generation decides to take it over.
I'd avoid using PDF formats to replicate the print design. Instead hire a real web design and technical team that understands they need to concentrate on legibility, web standards, and ease of use.
Make it ADA compliant so the visually impaired can use it. That's something the print version could never do....
Make it easy for users to change the size of the type and even the font.
Make the photos linked to larger files for closer inspection, but use low bandwidth versions in the main section for your mobile and dial-up customers.
Make it easy to print with a properly coded page using tagged images -- then the stalwarts can have their hard copy. For that matter they only need to print what they are interested in, only a few pages sometimes. (Sell an expensive embossed leather clipboard for those who want a more tactile experience, lol)
You could also offer a "print on demand" version from lulu or someplace for those who just have to have a print version, but by going that route you can outsource the entire production headache for the couple hundred print junkies.
By taking it online properly you could reduce your overhead and eliminate all those nasty complainers who pester you about late or missing issues. When you find a typo you could fix it immediately instead of leaving them in the print issue forever... and with a nicely designed template you can avoid all those silly graphic design gaffs that sometimes crop up in the print version. Heck you might even get the advertisers to spring for new artwork for their banner ads!
Plus, you'd be saving a few thousand trees, since most of your readership is comprised of tree-huggers it would be a good thing for the environment and your marketing.
If, at the end, it is unsatisfying not to have a print version, why not take "The Best Of" photo-wise and do a really nice coffee table book every few years? After all, you have some great photographers in VC and the magazine repro has never done them justice, so why not do something high-end for that work, and leave the musty old ads, chemistry articles, and camera reviews to the online version where they rightfully belong.
Steve,
Great Magazine. I have subscribed for years. I like paper and ink. Don't care how long it takes to get here (the extra postage is unwelcome), and an on line archive would be nice. I agree that out of sight might be out of mind.
K
HTML Code:Sorry, I'm not following your train of thought here. What is a "torn up magazine"?
I don't subscribe (I buy each and every issue at the bookstore in the mall near my house) because I don't like torn up magazines (magazines I have received through the mail, in my mail box at my house, have torn, ie cut, folded, and ripped up covers and have arrived in very bad condition.).
If they came in a tube I would subscribe, (pay in advance for several copies), and enjoy them without having to go to the mall and buy them there.
Often in the past the issues were on the book shelf in the book store, at the mall near my house, before it arrived in the mail box, torn up, with pages missing, folded and in bad condition.
Go Green, save us some money, and increase your profits....
I'd make it online only, for $2 per issue via PayPal with a discount for annual subscriptions and post the first 33% of the magazine free.
After two years automagically make the paid articles free as a perpetual online resource for the LF community and as a marketing ploy to attract customers who find VC through web searches. Right now most of VC is hidden from Google searches so Photo.net gets all the hits ;-(
If you can't sell the entity before you die, then your estate could make the entire site free and pop $1000 for infinite (well, 20 years maybe) of continued webhosting until some next generation decides to take it over.
I'd avoid using PDF formats to replicate the print design. Instead hire a real web design and technical team that understands they need to concentrate on legibility, web standards, and ease of use.
Make it ADA compliant so the visually impaired can use it. That's something the print version could never do....
Make it easy for users to change the size of the type and even the font.
Make the photos linked to larger files for closer inspection, but use low bandwidth versions in the main section for your mobile and dial-up customers.
Make it easy to print with a properly coded page using tagged images -- then the stalwarts can have their hard copy. For that matter they only need to print what they are interested in, only a few pages sometimes. (Sell an expensive embossed leather clipboard for those who want a more tactile experience, lol)
You could also offer a "print on demand" version from lulu or someplace for those who just have to have a print version, but by going that route you can outsource the entire production headache for the couple hundred print junkies.
By taking it online properly you could reduce your overhead and eliminate all those nasty complainers who pester you about late or missing issues. When you find a typo you could fix it immediately instead of leaving them in the print issue forever... and with a nicely designed template you can avoid all those silly graphic design gaffs that sometimes crop up in the print version. Heck you might even get the advertisers to spring for new artwork for their banner ads!
Plus, you'd be saving a few thousand trees, since most of your readership is comprised of tree-huggers it would be a good thing for the environment and your marketing.
If, at the end, it is unsatisfying not to have a print version, why not take "The Best Of" photo-wise and do a really nice coffee table book every few years? After all, you have some great photographers in VC and the magazine repro has never done them justice, so why not do something high-end for that work, and leave the musty old ads, chemistry articles, and camera reviews to the online version where they rightfully belong.
__________________
Great ideas, do the online thing and print the entire magazine in one book, soft or hard, without the ads on an annual basis.
Don't like online or PDF magazines. Tried it with LensWork, have DVD's I've not even looked at yet. Also I tend to read my magazine on the john. Only time I get some piece and quiet. ;-)
I have every single issue of View Camera. Subscribed on day one but went to in-person buying at the bookstore soon after (to avoid mangled copies). Would I subscribe if no longer available at the bookstore ? Yes. Would I subscribe to an on-line VC ? No chance.
As View Camera isn't exactly the New York Times, a First Class subscription adds nothing for me. I've never missed an issue due to the Post Office. Receiving it a day or 2 weeks earlier isn't worth the $$ to me.
Yes, I prefer the paper version.
Just my 2 cents
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