From: dark@microsoft.com (Dar Korra'ti)
Subject: Re: Hepcats news (ish
Date: 11 Dec 92 23:42:01 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation

In article <9212110111.AA14615@lynx.corp.frame.com> jrd@frame.com (James Drew) writes:
>>$3 overhead per issue if I subscribe rather than buying them in the
>>shops.. <ow> )
>I'll say, OW.
     I'd like to mention at this point that, speaking as one who knows
what this is like, that running a subscription services is a _monumental
pain_. For a larger-scale magazine, I wouldn't do it. (Wouldn't if
REFRACTIONS and LOW ORBIT were a lot smaller, either.) Plus, the domestic
postage is really offensive if you can't get up to the low three's in
circulation.

>The publishers sell to the distributors at about a 50-60% discount.
     Marvel gives 65% off cover. I give 55% on LOW ORBIT, more on
REFRACTIONS. If you can give just 50%, you're a better negotiator
than I. :-)

>Thus, on a $2.50 comic, they might receive as much as $1.25 from the
>distributor.
     Highly unlikely. Nobody I've talked to gives less than 55%. Most
give 60%, some 65%. So make that $1.00 and hit the average. Then subtract
shipping from that. (It is _not_ a trivial expense, even shipping at
UPS's wholesale rate. And the distributors won't let you mail things;
you have to UPS it.)

>Thus, they can offer you a subscription
>for the same price you pay in the store, and make a little more than they
>would through the distributor.
     At the expensive of several times the work per copy. A single
subscription bundling for LOW ORBIT or REFRACTIONS takes a good three
days, once you've counted out everything (database maintenance, the
extra trips to the post office, affixing all those stamps! And no, it's
not easier to let the post office put meter-strips, as that takes
_longer_, and you have to stay there for every one of 'em). And _none_
of it is fun.
     Hell, even the labels probably cost three or four cents each once
you add it all up...

>But in charging you an extra $3.00 per issue (well, you're in the UK; some
>of that is going for the extra postage)
     Hoo, boy.
     You ever priced air-mail costs to England? It'd probably be about $3.00
for a comic book and heavy envelope, now that I think about it. First-class
air-mail to England for a copy of REFRACTIONS, assuming I don't weigh it
down with cardboard (hence the extra charge if you want cardboard) is
US$5.45. It's less if I go surface rate, or if they'll give me BPM rate
(which they've been a lot more willing to do lately - I think the rules
changed).
     Think about it. 50 cents first HALF oz, 45 cents each additional
HALF oz. Weigh your comic and the envelope in which it came and see what
you came up with. If that comic book weighs three oz (a good bet), then
add in the cost of the envelope and label, and - ping! - he's barely
breaking even on cost. And he's losing money if you count the time
involved.

>The point of a subscription is to make it *easier* for you to get
>the comics
     No such thing. The economic reason to do it is to get advance
money, so you can afford to print the next issue. Well, that and...

>to assure them of a continuing assured market for each issue.
     This much is true.

>the publisher is getting 2 or 3 times as much per copy.  I can't blame
>them for trying, but I can't support them via subscription if they do.
     Sheesh. Check out the costs before you accuse somebody of price
gouging, will you?
                                                  - R'ykandar.

--
R'ykandar Korra'ti | LOW ORBIT PUBLICATIONS
dark@microsoft.com | I hate accounting _really_ a lot...