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2000ad Subscriptions

Started by jabish, 20 April, 2012, 11:43:04 AM

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jabish

Hi all,

Today I got a letter from the 2000ad subs department to say that the price is increasing. This is fair enough and is just a fact of life.

I was thinking though. A good incentive to get subscriptions or to keep them up might be if people with subs could download a digital copy of the Prog as well.

What do ye think?

Best

JB

Colin YNWA

Marvel are doing something like this now aren't they? Mind that's on books that are $3.99, what about £3 for 20 pages of story typically, so the need for an incentive might be more!

It'd be nice not sure of the economics of it.

a chosen rider

Alas, it seems it's not on the cards:

Quote from: Molch-R on 01 April, 2012, 07:13:43 PM
Quote from: oshii on 01 April, 2012, 04:14:15 PM
Molch-R, are there any plans to introduce dual paper and digital subscriptions?

No.
On Twitter @devilsfootsteps

IndigoPrime

I think it would be a great idea, and several of the paper magazines I write for (such as .net) now offer such a service. As noted, according to Molch-R, 2000 AD isn't (at least now) considering the same, however. (Personally, I'd even be happy to see a joint sub that's a bit more than the existing one, which would enable you to grab the PDFs—I'm not expecting 'free'.)

Trout

I have some experience of this in newspapers.

The problem with digital versions of printed publications is the resources they use up. It's costly to set up, and it takes up the time of staff who, in these difficult times for print, are already insanely busy.

Then the take-up tends to be lower than the print version that everyone is already used to and there is always the fear - and some evidence - that it damages the circulation of the print version. It is true that, certainly in newspapers, the print and digital markets are pretty much separate, but that means you need to invest in selling the thing to an entirely new group of people, which again takes up resources.

What I'm getting at is: it's not as easy as it looks, and there is no guarantee that there will be any benefit. It's easier just to keep trying to make the exiting product as good as possible. I know that's not very forward-looking, but when the present is applying pressure it's hard to look to the future.

(There will now follow the usual wearisome argument of print versus digital, with lots of people describing their own buying habits as if they automatically represent the mass market. I'll read some of it, then bow out in a mixture of boredom and irritation.  ;))

- Trout

Trout

*existing, not exiting.

Freudian slip.  :)

IndigoPrime

Quote from: Trout on 20 April, 2012, 12:30:14 PMThe problem with digital versions of printed publications is the resources they use up. It's costly to set up, and it takes up the time of staff who, in these difficult times for print, are already insanely busy.
True, but in Rebellion's case, this stuff is already set up and already being sold. I can't see how "subscribe to 2000 AD and get a [free/half-price] digital subscription" would hurt things. Circulation-wise, I imagine 2000 AD's not in an entirely dissimilar place to the magazines I write for, and offering PDF archives to subscribers hasn't hurt them—it's just made subscribers happier and encouraged more people to subscribe.

Mudcrab

A good incentive for me would be to return to proper envelopes. Some of my progs are arriving in a hell of a state, last week's one being ripped at the spine side and the top from the postie's feeble attepts to shove it through the letterbox. One one hand, it doesn't get soaked anymore on occasion, but aside from that, there's no protection from damage. For the Megazine it's fine cos there's some strength to it, but not the prog cos it's a lot thinner.

Not that it's stopping me resubbing, the prog itself is incentive enough, just saying.
NEGOTIATION'S OVER!

mrketch

I've been reading 2000ad on iPad for some time but have found it to be a bit of a hassle having to buy it every week then download it. A digital subscription is what we need so that we pay monthly and the prog downloads when available. I decided to restart my printed subscription recently and wondered if something like what I suggested was made available would people have the option to convert their printed sub to a digital sub?

monsterx

Today I received my last print copies of 2000ad, starting this week I'm going digital! I've been reading 2000ad since prog 950 and I still have them taking up space in the house, I think digital is going to be pretty kool!