From: jrd@frame.com (James Drew)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.furry
Subject: Subscriptions (was Re: Hepcats news (ish)
Date: 15 Dec 92 01:44:49 GMT
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

R'ykandar Korra'ti (dark@microsoft.com (Dar Korra'ti)) writes:

>     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.

If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.  A publisher must balance
doing a subscription service against the reward.  If a publisher must charge
more than cover for a subscription than cover price, then they must feel that
that is what is required to offset the effort.  For me, if I cannot get at
least as good a deal by subscription, then the reward isn't worth the effort,
especially if I get a *worse* deal.

I do Ciao!, currently buidling to it's sixth issue, and I know about doing
a subscription service.

>     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.

Fine.  Then from every $2.50 comic Martin sells via a distributor, he can
expect $1.00 back.  I established that postage and envelope will cost about
$1.00; less, if there is a bulk of subscriptions sent at a time.  Hire a temp
at $5/hour, uses labels off your printer, you can turn out 30 an hour.  Thus,
a profit can still be made on subscriptions.  Not much, but you can still
be assured of at least that $1.00 per issue.

>     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.

Yes, I have.  Let's assume the $3.00 is right.  Then the publisher is making
the full $2.50 off of you, less envelope and wages to have it stuffed.  Even
worse than domestic, perhaps.

>>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...

The point of a subscription from the "user's" point of view *is* to make it
easier to get the comics; that way you don't have to visit the store all the
time, and hope you don't miss it.

>     Sheesh. Check out the costs before you accuse somebody of price
>gouging, will you?

I have.  And I still state: if the publisher has to charge more per copy for
a subscription than cover price, then that publisher should not be offering
subscriptions.  Anyone who orders such a subscription is either (a) unable
to receive the material through other channels, (b) desiring to help
financially support the publisher beyond just buying the product, or (c) a
fool.  I fit into none of these categories, so I won't subscribe in such a
situation.

------------------------------
                             |      Ron's eye was caught by a booth featuring a
Jim Drew                     | clothing catalog claiming to feature "The Look.
jrd@frame.com                | The Lifestyle."
(Furry: Randy Puritan)       |     Ron picked it up, and put it down just as
"Innocent, but not naive."   | fast.  "Not *my* look," he said.
B(2)h t c k s g+(p) rv p e   |     I had to agree.  "If that's the *look*, I'll
S8/5 g l+ y+ o+ a+ u++- j++  | just take the feel."
{opinions: mine != frame's}  |     Ron looked at me with arched eyebrows.
                             |     "I really have to watch what I say around
                             | you people, don't I?" I said, blushing.
                             |		- Marc Lynx, "Awl's Fare"
Newsgroups: alt.fan.furry