Progress Report

It's been a mere six months since we began offering electronic subscriptions to 2600 via the Kindle, and not much longer since we created our first digital edition last autumn.  We mentioned in these pages that this was an experiment for us, and perhaps for the publishing world in general.  We also promised to keep our readers in the loop as we tested the waters and experimented a bit.  While there is still much to be learned, what has already happened is fairly enlightening.

The response so far has been nothing short of staggering.  It only took a couple of months for digital subscriptions to shoot past paper subscriptions in number, with many more coming in every day.  We attribute this to several factors:

• It's extremely easy to subscribe.  Literally, a couple of clicks and the content is there on your Kindle and automatically updated.
• There has been a lot of word of mouth.  We've been trying to approach this in our own unique way so that our readers are involved in the process and ensuing evolution.  This has gotten a good degree of attention from the public as well as other publications since the results we get could very well portray what the future landscape will be.
• We stand out in a relatively small field.  What we're doing is dangerous in the eyes of those who fear innovation and change.  Unfortunately, that represents a large number of existing publishers, as well as entities used to an older way of doing things.  This is why, to this day, there are only a few dozen magazines represented on the Kindle.

To us, this proves beyond any doubt that readers will support a publication electronically as well as physically if the content is of interest and the price is reasonable.  Neither of these conditions is a given, however.  We've encountered books and publications that obscenely overprice their electronic content.  We've seen downloadable CDs that are more expensive than the physical CD itself - often from the same online source.  There is no better way to drive people away than to treat them with this kind of disrespect.  Rather than fear the consumer and try to take advantage of them as much as possible, publishers of words, music, film, etc.  Need to connect with them and remember why they're doing this in the first place.

All of that said, the Kindle is but one device with certain limitations.  There are a number of other devices and formats that we're trying to work with as well.  But there are some inevitable growing pains.

Every format requires a different conversion process and all sorts of potential for mishaps.  This will have to improve over time.  What's a lot more annoying is the way we have to get embroiled in the battles that providers like Amazon, Apple, and Google are having between themselves.  For instance, we have to provide the lowest price to Amazon or our payment from them gets cut in half.  Other services, such as the Barnes & Noble Nook, set the price of a subscription themselves, meaning they could undercut Amazon without our consent and then we'd be screwed.  So the solution for now is not to offer a subscription in that way, much as we want to.  (Issues can only be obtained individually on the Nook.)

As of press time, an agreement still hasn't been reached that would allow Kindle magazine subscriptions to be readable on iPads and other Apple devices.  Again, we're offering the issues individually in order to get around this.  Recently, it was announced by Amazon that we no longer supported Android devices when it was actually Amazon's decision (or mistake) to do this.  We were pretty outraged, as were many of our readers who had already subscribed using those devices.

By the time Amazon got it sorted out, we had already amassed enough negative reviews to knock us out of the Number One spot we had held in customer satisfaction.  (Apparently, you can only rate the publisher, not the provider.)  In addition, to this day there's a prominent notice on our subscription page that says "We [Amazon] will share the name, billing address, and order information associated with your newspaper or magazine purchase with the publisher, who is under obligation to keep that information confidential."  We can assure you that we've never had access to any of this information and have been told - in direct contradiction to the above - that it's against their policy to share this information.  It would be rather handy if we had access to it, as we could then be more inclusive of our electronic readers by offering them subscriber-only features such as free marketplace ads.  These kinds of bumps in the road make things harder than they really have to be and they can't be doing much to encourage more publishers to try out the new technology.

We've also been experimenting with new formats, such as our annual 300 page collection of articles and expanded pictures in PDF format.  The reaction to last year's Volume 26 was strong enough to get us to do it again for Volume 27.  For each of these projects, it's vital that everything be done properly, which takes more time than we had ever anticipated.  But in the end, that's a good thing because we wind up with something unique that we're proud of and it provides a service for those who want the magazine in this format.  We also have a bit more control over pricing and publishing conditions, meaning that we can do this cheaply and with absolutely no Digital Rights Management (DRM) controls.  (We insist on this for all of our projects, but sometimes a provider does something that goes against our wishes, in which case we're forced to complain and drag their name through the mud.)

It doesn't have to end there.  This is a new landscape and we can populate it with original ideas and features that would have been difficult before.  As always, we're open to feedback on this.  It may take time to get things working just right, but we seem to be well on the way, and in a relatively short amount of time.

All of this is not meant to take away from the importance of our trusty paper edition.  We believe there will always be a strong market for our kind of material in a printed magazine and that there's something special and unique about our publication when it appears in mailboxes or on bookshelves.  We don't want to ever lose that thrill.  But that's how things change in a positive way - new facets of technology merge with the old ways of doing things and we end up with multiple outlets that complement each other and make the entire experience that much more fulfilling.

We've learned so much in the last half a year and it seems there is a good deal more ahead.  We need to take this method of achievement and apply it everywhere else that our interests lie, not just in the places where we're expected to go.  For example, rather than accept limitations of technology as defined by our own expectations of how the door will be closed in our faces, why not start the dialog and reach for something new?

If, say, hacker conferences in Europe can get phenomenal amounts of bandwidth donated to them by their phone companies, why must we assume that such a thing could never happen here?  If the media continues to misunderstand and misreport what the hacker world is all about, why do we conclude that we will never be able to sway the perspective in a totally different direction?

Sure, any such achievement is an incredible challenge and requires a lot of people working together.  But it can only be attained if the effort is expended and if there is a belief that those things everyone believes are impossible can be completely doable with some determination and cleverness.  This is how hackers have always accomplished things.  We know how to do it on an individual and local level.

Naive as it may sound, we can reach much higher and eventually see even more accomplished.