Not good news
The Royal Mail has been allowed (by a rather weak regulator) to increase its charges. As a result, all basic postage costs will go up at the end of this month by a relatively huge amount. A large letter (i.e. ST size) sent by second class post will cost 69p instead of 58p. As it happens ST is over the standard letter limit of 100g (it's about 150g) so each issue will cost me over a pound to send to a UK subscriber. A similar increase will apply to overseas postage, which is via surface mail. (Air Mail is very pricey and not especially reliable.)
Put in perspective, the cost of posting the magazine accounts for roughly one third of all costs i.e. printing ST, getting it delivered to me, buying the envelopes I put it in. Other costs are also rising, but it's postage that seems set to keep rising, year on year, for quite a while.
I can't see any way to keep ST going other than by increasing subscription costs. I realise this will lose a few people, and that's perfectly reasonable. Everyone has different circumstances and not everyone can treat a magazine subscription as a minor indulgence. I know I can't.
There is an alternative. I could retain the current subscription but reduce the size and quality of the magazine to roughly where it was when it started i.e. a stapled booklet with card covers, running to maybe 75 pages. This would be much like the old Ghosts & Scholars magazine, of fond memory. I could even include the same amount of fiction by the simple expedient of reducing the font size (never a popular move, I know).What do you think? Keep it as it is but increase the subs to around £16 for the UK and £20 overseas? Or make it a cheap 'n' cheerful production?
Comments
Would you consider getting some extra £s by also publishing an ebook version, or is that not something you're into?
OR, if you go to "cheap and cheerful" make sure it's as handsome as Ghosts & Scholars or as some of the Swan River Press stuff Brian Showers does--that is, pay attention to paper stock, use cream or gray, consider stitching rather than staples, toss in some vellum for good measure.
Don't reduce the point size. Less is more in terms of stories published, not in terms of text size!
Kimberly
But, if so, then I agree.
One more vote here for maintaining your quality and font size and charging more. But I will still subscribe if you need to make a different choice.
But I confess I do like the current format of ST. It's quite a handsome magazine. The raised price would not deter me from re-subscribing; and the higher quality makes it easier to keep long term.
With respect to the Kindle version, I did notice that at least in issue 19, I was unable to navigate story-to-story via the directional pad. This is a big deal to me, as having only the table of contents and one-at-a-time pagination makes for a rather linear reading experience. As long as printing & postage costs are increasing, and you are looking to keep ST alive, whatever the venue, I would look into that.
Just my two cents. And long live ST!!