I wrote for one of the early issues of Flagship (back in the 80s), when it was devoted to PBM gaming. Its a pleasure to have found out about it again. I took a long break from gaming, and am back to playing Midgard a PBM game that I believe I first heard about either via Flagship or Paper Mayhem.
rgrassi Wrote:Will there be an update of back issues available for downloading?
Rob
I should mention that I do have printed copies of many back issues. We normally sell these at a price set mainly to cover the cost of postage, which of course varies from country to country. In the UK, we charge £2 per back issue, with the fourth one free if you order a group. In the USA it would be £4 per copy, in Europe £3.
However, I don't have enough copies of every issue to guarantee that I could send one, so check with me first.
Cheers, Carol
I think that what rgrassi meant, Carol, was whether there would be more back issues made available for download from the site?
According to the exchange rate as of the time that I post this message, Americans purchasing back issues at a rate of £4 per copy would equal $7.93 ($7.92811 USD).
Now, I don't know how many back issues that you sell, either to Americans, Europeans, or others throughout the world, but many would likely balk at paying almost 8 bucks for non-current issues.
While you have no control over postage rates, and especially in light of the fact that postal rates always seem to increase over time, I would suggest that you consider making back issues available in electronic format for purchase at a reduced cost. It would do nothing to reduce your existing stocks of already printed back issues, but it would put you in a position to make back issues accessible and available at a reduced cost to the end consumers of your product.
Currently, there are 25 different back issues of Flagship magazine available for download for free, by anyone who wants to download them. That certainly is sufficient to give people who might be interested in the magazine a decent selection to choose from, to determine if the magazine is something that they would be interested in purchasing, either via a subscription to the print copy of the current and future issues, or additional back issues in electronic format.
Otherwise, Flagship's future will continue to be governed, to a large degree, by the costs that have traditionally been associated with its creation and distribution. You can still make print copies of back issues available at whatever rate that you deem appropriate, even while simultaneously availing yourself of the benefits that electronic format could provide.
There are 98 issues out of 123 that are not currently downloadable in electronic format. If some of these issues are on either your computer or on Colin's computer, then those copies could be saved to PDF format and made available for sale and download. For issues that you do not have a copy of on your computers, then scanning those issues will require manual labor and may be time intensive, unless you had someone with more capable equipment to do a mass scanning effort. That would likely involve additional costs, though, which could translate into that option being cost prohibitive.
I scanned and compiled issues # 1, # 2, and # 3. Who did the other 22 issues that are available for download, Carol? I suspect that it was Colin or yourself.
Ultimately, it boils down to whether the investment in time and effort can be recovered in some way, shape, or form that you view to be tangible and worthwhile.
For the back issues to be converted into electronic format, someone is going to have to actually do it, regardless of the particular way in which they do it. If they have to be scanned by hand, then that is a time consuming task. But, if someone simply scanned just one back issue per week, then in approximately two years time, you would have a repository of the entire published history of Flagship magazine in electronic format.
Electronic back issues, or even electronic current issues, could be made available for purchase on a by-issue basis, or discounts could be offered for purchasing multiple issues at a time. Issues, whether back issues or current issues, or both, could also be made available for purchase in CD format. Perhaps you could toss in a bonus issue or two, if someone opted to purchase issues in CD format.
CD format would hold appeal for people still on dial-up Internet access, and for which downloading many megabytes can still turn many people off. The downside to CD format is that it would still entail some type of postage charge, since the CD would have to be mailed from the point of CD production to the purchaser.
One of the biggest downsides to making your magazine available in electronic format is the potential for unauthorized dissemination of copies. The potential exists, certainly, for such a practice to negatively impact both current and future subscriptions. You guys have had some back issues in electronic format available for free download online for a number of months, now, on both this site and on the previous Flagship website. Have you noticed people canceling their subscriptions, or not renewing their subscriptions, or the rate of new subscriptions falling off, during the time since those electronic format back issues have been available for any site visitor to download for free of charge? You and/or Colin would know the answer to that question better than I would, Carol.
Personally, and this is just my personal opinion, mind you, I think that the primary appeal of the back issues of Flagship magazine are two fold. First and foremost, I think that the appeal is one primarily of nostalgia, of the "good old days of the PBM heyday." And two, some people may want to catch a missed issue, to read portions of multi-part, multi-issue articles that they have only read some portions of, but not others, at various points in the past.
With regard to unauthorized duplication and unauthorized dissemination of electronic format back issues, no one wants to open a Pandora's box of problems for themselves and their companies, of course, but even if it happened, in order for it to happen, someone would have to have an interest in the product, itself. There are probably worse things that could happen for Flagship, than millions of unauthorized copies of electronic format back issues were to suddenly start finding their way around the Internet. At a minimum, more people would be exposed to the product, which, in turn, could theoretically generate new interest, where none previously existed, in your product. This, in turn, could potentially lead to new subscriptions.
It's a double-edged sword, I guess, but then again, many things in life are.
If you view your existing subscriber base to be a loyal subscriber base, then I would speculate that your existing subscriber base would not be likely to abandon ship, and simply sit on their haunches waiting on future issues to be made available for free in electronic format.
There are three primary costs that are passed on by Flagship to its customers. The cost of materials (paper and ink), the cost of a printer's services, and the cost of postage for mailing issues to your subscriber base. For you guys to mail a free sample copy to someone who might request a copy, to get an idea whether they would have an interest in subscribing (assuming that you guys ever do that sort of thing), you guys have to absorb those three costs for that one sample copy. In essence, you absorb the risk, upfront, to take a gamble that you can recoup those costs over the long run, by gaining some new subscribers now and again.
The core problem, however, is that those very same three core costs are the primary things that price your product out of the market for many who might otherwise could be attracted to becoming a part of your subscriber base.
Flagship magazine has a website, so you do have an online presence, of some sort. Flagship has had several different websites, over the last several years, however. While the appearance of these sites have changed, I like to think that your website's functionality and usefulness have gradually increased - both for yourself and for your site's visitors and repeat visitors.
However, to a large degree, Flagship does yet benefit from the potential that the electronic medium could bring. Again, that's just my own personal, unsolicited opinion, mind you, so take it with a grain of salt for whatever it is worth, if anything.
I like print versions of magazines as much as the next guy. But, I don't think that it has to boil down to a choice of whether Flagship produces a print version or an electronic version of its magazine. All other things being equal, I would choose a print copy of a magazine almost every time over an electronic copy.
But, maybe it boils down to a question of whether, here in the 21st century, all other things are truly equal? I guess that I tend to see things more in terms of the electronic medium being a whole range of tools that could be used to supplement a print magazine, rather than to necessarily supplant it.
The USA is a much bigger potential market than the UK, but the current cost structure makes it twice as expensive to purchase print format back issues, if one is in the USA instead of in the UK. That creates a very large obstacle to expanding your magazine's readership in America - a nation that is predominantly English speaking.
Your current print version of Flagship magazine features color front and back covers, and an occasional color ad or color photo within the pages of the magazine. The electronic medium can make full color capability on every page available at no extra cost.
To increase a production run of the print version of Flagship magazine incurs additional costs. The electronic medium can provide you with unlimited production runs at no additional cost.
These are only two examples of advantages that the electronic medium has over its print medium counterpart. Both yourself and Colin are probably as well aware of these types of advantages, as myself or the next guy, I'm sure. You're both online, and neither of you live in a vacuum detached from the Internet and the 21st century.
Ultimately, though, the only ones who can position Flagship to enable your publication to better reap the rewards, benefits, and advantages of the electronic medium are yourself and Colin, Carol.
I think that what you lose is the undeveloped and unexploited potential, more than anything else. If the cost of materials, printer's services, and postage were to never increase, again, I still think that Flagship is boxed into a corner on the cost portion of the equation. If past experience is any indicator, then I think that cost increases in those areas are likely to continue to occur, from time to time, into the foreseeable future.
The name of your magazine is Flagship. I would encourage Flagship to chart new waters of the electronic medium. I think that it would be a win-win-win scenario for yourselves on the publishing end, for your subscribers on the reading end, and for your advertisers on the advertising end.
On the print end, I would suggest that you re-look your existing strategy for targeting and increasing the audience for your magazine.
I'll back Grim up on this one....if I could buy an electronic version of the current issue, I would subscribe to that.
But, I think it kind of silly to print a mag in Europe and mail it to me here in the US when the mag is already in electronic form to send to the printer (I assume that is how it works now).
In a perfect world, I can get it electronic and kill no trees or use no fuel shipping it here. We'd make Al Gore so happy. And, we all want that.... don't we?
Global_Supremacy Wrote:Anymore on the possibility of an electronic version of the magazine?
Grimfinger offers plenty to think about in his well-argued message, and I will indeed consider it all. I reckon that an electronic version would kill the paper version. And could someone who'd paid a subscription then proceed to distribute it widely himself to friends & family, out of the goodness of his heart?
In the past, readers have opposed switching to an electronic version, but of course times change.
It worries me that our approach isn't really suited to electronic presentation, which can make an in-depth article just seem boring...
Carol
None of what I have previously argued was done with the aim nor the desire of killing off the paper version of Flagship. I don't have an interest in Flagship ceasing to be a print publication. I would encourage you, Carol, to explore an electronic version of Flagship to supplement - not to replace - the paper version of Flagship.
There are different ways to approach an electronic version of Flagship. It doesn't have to be tantamount to committing suicide with the print publication. The grand object, of course, is to increase either sales or to increase readership, or both.
The electronic medium holds certain distinct advantages over the print medium. Production and distribution costs for an electronic version are negligible, compared to a print magazine. That much is fairly obvious on its face, I think. No printer costs and no real distribution costs, aside from web host expenses. Compare that to whatever you pay your current printers to print the paper version of Flagship, and the postage rates (both domestic and international).
But, many of your current subscribers may simply prefer the existing paper format. There's no reason to simply up and stop producing a paper version, just to try and begin to exploit various advantages that the electronic medium can confer.
A paper format magazine one can take with them wherever they go, and read it at their leisure and convenience. While laptop computers emulate some of the same convenience, the paper version is likely to retain higher marks in this area for the foreseeable future.
I, personally, much prefer reading a paper format magazine over an electronic magazine. But, cost considerations severely limit your ability to make sizable inroads in readership and subscribers, particularly in America.
Even in your existing print format, the larger your circulation, the cheaper it can be to produce your magazine. I don't know that your circulation is large enough to take advantage of economies of scale. If not, then you are basically at the mercy of the printers and the postal service, where pricing your product is concerned.
Yes, you could end up with people handing out free copies of an electronic version of Flagship. They might be in violation of copyright laws by doing it, but they could do the same thing by making photocopies of articles in your existing paper version. Additionally, they can pass around their paper version, anyway, after they are done reading it, without violating copyright laws. All things considered, I think that you are likely to benefit from someone sharing your magazine with others more than you are likely to be hurt. That's just one opinion, though, and the reason that I say that is because it means that someone finds your product interesting enough to share in the first instance. I wouldn't have known about either Flagship nor Paper Mayhem, if someone had not shared their copy with me many years ago.
As an example, Carol, you could take a teaser type approach to an electronic version, a slimed down length electronic version - something that could be used to possibly help you to get the word out. Maybe even encourage widespread dissemination with it, by allowing people to copy and distribute it, at will.
Or, you could use an electronic version as a sort of filler, something that you could send out to paper version subscribers in between regular issues of Flagship.
You could also produce bi-annual, annual, or special issues, too. It's all really about finding an approach that fits what you want to do and to achieve. Of course, if you don't want to do any of it, then that is always an option, as well.
My volunteer efforts in installing and sort of overseeing your new website and forums, and my interest in an electronic version, are not with an aim nor a desire to sink your magazine. To the contrary, in fact.
From my perspective, limited though it may be from across the pond, there are three basic things that I think that you have an interest in promoting:
(1) Presence
(2) Readership
(3) Subscriber Base
The grand object, as I see it, is not to sacrifice any of the three for the sake of the other two.
Your subscriber base gravitates around three basic things:
(1) Awareness of your product
(2) Interest in your product
(3) Cost of your product
Your website is not exactly a hive of activity, but it does seem to be slowly but surely growing a valid user base. Your website and forums constitute only a portion of your overall presence. Your paper version constitutes a portion of your presence. Your magazine's reputation constitutes a portion of your presence. Awareness of your product and your presence goes hand-in-hand. In order for people to subscribe to your magazine, they have to first become aware of it.
None of this is news to you, of course, Carol, but I say it here to underscore it. Take a glance at the following subscription rates converted into American dollars at the current exchange rate:
4 Issue Subscription (22.00 GBP = 44.2504 USD)
6 Issue Subscription (32.00 GBP = 64.3213 USD)
12 Issue Subscription (58.00 GBP = 116.582 USD)
If someone in America learns about your magazine, and is interested in it, but are in doubt as to whether they should subscribe or not, the pricing formula above does not exactly cause one on this side of the pond to jump at the chance to subscribe. The cheapest price for subscribing for those on this side of the Atlantic Ocean is now almost ten dollars per issue ($9.72). I think that that price range creates an almost insurmountable barrier for you to grow your subscriber base in the largest English-speaking market in the world.
Being an expat myself I would have to underline something that some people living in England have an issue comprehending (well my family back in England anyway)
For me over here living in the US, I always regard the dollar and pound as being in a ratio of 1 for 1. No matter what the exchange rate.
The cost of living may seem cheap over here but then you have to factor in US average wages, housing rents or mortgages, food, car etc.
I did a comparison with my brother a little while back working with percentages and we were very close to each other.
As an example he paid about 30% of his salary on his mortgage and mine works out at 27%.
Looking over other things it was all very close.
So to me I would be paying the equivalent of 116 pounds for an annual subscription.
When I can have an annual subscription to magazines for about $24 in the US you can see why overseas readers are put off.
I am sure the reverse is true for people wanting to subscribe to US magazines, the shipping can be crippling and you end up paying 4x the normal cost you would expect to pay if you subscribed to a magazine in England.
For holidays, yes everything is dirt cheap for Brits in the US.
Live here and you will find it is very different.