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Post by grodog on Sept 5, 2008 21:49:44 GMT -6
Sean---
Have you and Iggy talked at all about putting together year-long subscription rates for FO!?
Just curious.
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Post by Finarvyn on Sept 6, 2008 5:54:05 GMT -6
I'd like to hear the answer to this as well. If I have to go pick up an issue at a time I'm less likely to bother until a couple issues come out, then buy a stack and catch up at one time. If I have a subscription then I tend to stay current and read 'em as they are created.
I'd rather go the subscription route if such an option would become available.
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Post by calithena on Sept 6, 2008 10:39:33 GMT -6
We'd love to offer subscriptions. We'd have to get a stack printed up for ourselves each time to do it though. Also, I don't know that the subscription rate would be much/any lower than the regular purchase rate, though it might be if good local print options were found.
We'll keep mulling it over, feel free to keep posting suggestions in this thread.
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Post by grodog on Sept 24, 2008 20:08:44 GMT -6
If you were able to standardize the size/price of the issues, I think that would make a subscription easier in general to manage??
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Post by Melan on Sept 24, 2008 23:29:55 GMT -6
I do not believe this is a good idea. Plus, ordering something via Lulu can't be any easier.
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Post by calithena on Sept 25, 2008 3:01:58 GMT -6
Well, it's not currently feasible in any case. Part of what's nice about the way we're doing this (and lulu in general) is that there's little to no up-front cost. If I can figure out a way to manage subscriptions that doesn't put us too far out on a limb and doesn't create too much hassle I'll do it, but I haven't thought of anything yet. I'll keep people posted.
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Post by coffee on Sept 25, 2008 9:51:36 GMT -6
I don't really see a need for subscriptions.
As I understand it, this is a Fanzine, not an actual for-profit magazine. Sounds like some people want to change the status of that.
I'm not sure that's a good idea.
Is that what the staff of the 'zine wants?
Is the 'zine going to be put on a strictly 'professional' basis, i.e.; advertising, paying contributors, setting up offices, etc?
Or is the thing going to stay the way it is, a fan-produced, fan-oriented, fan product that we can all get up off our lazy bottoms and actually order individually from Lulu (like that's a hardship...), and which we all enjoy?
I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I've bought both issues so far and I'll continue to buy every issue until it gets corporate sponsorship and becomes a shill for 4e. (Which I hope never happens...)
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Post by James Maliszewski on Sept 25, 2008 10:42:27 GMT -6
I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Agreed. I'd like to see FO! remain more or less exactly what it is. The last thing the hobby needs is to see one of its most vibrant, creative outlets in years turn pro. Not that subscriptions would necessarily mean "selling out" or anything of the sort, but I much to see the 'zine stay as it is and let things like schedules, release dates, and the like be left to soulless corporations. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2008 15:39:42 GMT -6
Speaking from personal experience, offering subscriptions is a very bad idea.
And that's all I have to say about that.
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jrients
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Post by jrients on Sept 25, 2008 18:55:37 GMT -6
It breaks my heart to hear that from you, James.
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Post by calithena on Sept 25, 2008 19:43:13 GMT -6
On the other hand, it's great to see you here, Mr. Mishler! James has written a really nice piece for issue #3.
There's no intention to make this a professional publication. We can't afford it, for one thing. I would like to use it (and our reader-base, which is still growing I'm happy to say) to help launch and promote some of our own projects, which themselves may turn out to be more 'professional' by the end. But FO! is as coffee describes it - there is no incentive to do anything else, and it's pretty much the way we want it to be anyway, though I am trying to learn a few things here and there to make it even better in the way it's good now.
That said, I would offer easy subscriptions if there were a functional way to do it, but right now I don't know of one.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2008 23:01:34 GMT -6
It breaks my heart to hear that from you, James. It did mine, too. Frankly, this whole last year has been just nightmarish. The problem is, when things go awry (and eventually, they do, always, unless you have a well-capitalized company with a full-time team of writers, editors, artists, graphic artists, and sales people like, say, Paizo) that the whole schedule can turn into a nightmare. I love my subscribers. I really do, and I want to serve them the best I can. The problem is once things go awry, getting them back on track is nigh impossible. And when you have a series of disasters (legal delays, deaths of friends and partners, financial failures, and simple writer's block), it all adds up, and all you have left is unhappy subscribers. If I had it to do over again, I would never have offered subscriptions, and most definitely never, ever have promised any sort of production schedule. I would simply have offered my products for sale as they were completed, probably with a "Regular Customer Discount," say, every third product you order has free shipping or something along those lines. But a regular schedule with pre-paid subscriptions is, today, a recipe for disaster for a small publisher. I had wanted the AGJ Subscription to develop into something along the lines of the Judges Guild Membership of old. Unfortunately, I combined that with regular promised (and now invariably missed, some drastically) release dates and a specific product line-up (i.e., three issues of Adventure Games and three Campaign Installments, or six of each) whereas the old Judges Guild Membership (originally) simply promised x-number of products; heck, the Journal was simply a freebie at the start, then it grew into a magazine subscription. And that's the biggest problem on a personal creative level with having a subscription service that is limited in format; I'm tied to the AGJ... CI/Gaz... AGJ... CI/Gaz... AGJ... CI/Gaz... release format. If, at any time, I get a hankering to write a separate adventure module, or sourcebook, or whatever, and act upon it, I delay the release of product that people have already paid me for. As if all the other issues I've dealt with weren't bad enough, this one is crippling on the creativity (and subsequently, is as bad or worse than writer's block). Anyway, as pertains particularly to Fight On!... Keep it fannish, keep it simple. I would strongly suggest not ever going to a subscription format. It will transform a fun fan-based labor of love into a must-complete-every-quarter-on-time-to-spec chore. |
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Post by Melan on Sept 26, 2008 0:23:31 GMT -6
Wiser words haven't been said. Have an exalt, James!
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Post by grodog on Sept 27, 2008 23:53:11 GMT -6
Well, I certainly wasn't trying to stir up a hornets nest of professional vs. fanzine approaches, renting office space, and turning the magazine into a house organ for WotC  I was thinking that it would be nice to already have sent $$$ to Iggy, so that when FO!#3 is done that it'll automagically wing its way to my mailbox. I also thought it might be a way to get some up-front capital into Iggy's hands, to help with production costs for the magazine, or the Adventures Compilation, or whatever. Sounds like that's not really an issue, so... I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. ;D |
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Post by robertsconley on Sept 28, 2008 8:32:42 GMT -6
I was thinking that it would be nice to already have sent $$$ to Iggy, so that when FO!#3 is done that it'll automagically wing its way to my mailbox. I also thought it might be a way to get some up-front capital into Iggy's hands, to help with production costs for the magazine, or the Adventures Compilation, or whatever. Sounds like that's not really an issue, so... Until James' comments your proposal was a reasonable point to make. However James point about being obligated to send out issues once people sent money is very true and could turn the project from a labor of love to a ball and chain. Frankly I never considered that point of view. Thanks James for sharing your experience) My suggestions would be to raise the price by a buck or so and use that to establish a 'art' or 'capital' fund. Boot strap your way into having more resources. Yes this process will not be as immediately gratifying however it may be more sustainable in the long run. I rather be able to buy issues of Fight On! two years from now than have three Pazio quality issues then nothing. |
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Post by badger2305 on Sept 28, 2008 20:44:24 GMT -6
Well, I certainly wasn't trying to stir up a hornets nest of professional vs. fanzine approaches, renting office space, and turning the magazine into a house organ for WotC Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria...  |
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