Pathfinder 1E Paizo: What the Heck? (Amazing and Undefeated???)

[Kiln Publications]

Subscriptions shoudl generally be better for a company than customers who buy the magazine off the rack. Why?

1. Circulation. It is much easier to plan circulation when most of your customers are subscribers. That way, you don't end up with a bunch of unsold copies.

2. Predictive income. Subscription money, though possibly smaller than income from magazine stores, is certain, and paid in advance. That counts a lot in just about every industry.

3. Fewer middlemen. If the magazine company isn't a distributor, they have to sign a distribution contract. That's it. Postage costs are nowhere as great as other costs related to transportation and storing. That, and the magazine store doesn't get a share of your profit.

So, with these three points in mind, I don't see how "too much success" can be a bad thing in magazine publishing.

My day job being for an international hobby magazine that has a subscription list of over 17,000+, yes subscriptions are better....HOWEVER you need to watch out for spikes in the year where more renewals go out....gift subscriptions, big marketing deals, etc....

 

[WizarDru]

And to me, that makes it a perfect fit for the miniature game as opposed to the Dragon Magazine which is a RPG magazine.

I agree 100%. What I don't understand is why some folks are implying that Undefeated should be cancelled, since some dropped minis content in Dragon. There already IS minis content in Undefeated...but it's not just about miniatures games. It's about pretty much everything except RPGs. I'm not sure what correlation is being made, there.

 

[frankthedm]

It does. That Dragon has had minis articles in it is irrelevant to Undefeated's quality, whatever you think of it. I like Undefeated for giving good, concise reviews to games like Attack Vector, Memoir '44, Ticket to Ride, Lunch Money, Puerto Rico and so forth...something it does quite well, IMHO.

That is good to hear. At title says a LOT about a magazine and "Undefeated" sounded like a magazine for the [have mommy and daddy]BUY BY THE CASE AND WIN! crowd of collectable gamers.

 

[HellHound]

*sigh*

I like games like RISK 2210 and Avalon Hill games in general, and was very happy with Undefeated being in print to tell me about these games...

Oh yeah, and to buy my articles on RISK 2210 Strategies and Tactics. To me, the name isn't about the CCG 'buy the case & win' crowd as much as the wargamers. And wargames are a wonderful thing in moderation.

 

[HellHound]

Well, I don't see why they need to keep publishing Undefeated, since they keep cluttering up Dragon with all those D&D Miniatures articles anyway.

As long as you don't mind putting more non-D&D articles into Dragon - like RISK 2210 strategies, CCG deck building ideas, reviews of boardgames & wargames - then sure.

But you may notice that D&D Miniatures has that D&D in front of the name... Whereas non of the Avalon Hill, german boardgames & CCG products has that. Thus Undefeated.

*le sigh*

 

[Dogface]

I couldn't care less about the fate of Undefeated but for Amazing, Hugo's own magazine, to go under is a sad thing.

 

[philreed]

I couldn't care less about the fate of Undefeated but for Amazing, Hugo's own magazine, to go under is a sad thing.

What "amazes" me is that the magazine keeps dying and then being brought back. How much good money has been thrown away (over many, many years) on this title?

 

[takyris]

More than on magazines that have died and not come back?

 

[CarlZog]

Subscriptions shoudl generally be better for a company than customers who buy the magazine off the rack. Why?

Your list of answers bypasses one of the most important reasons. Subscriptions mean guaranteed future circulation. And advertising, which is usually sold in multi-issue contracts, depends heavily on the ability to guarantee readers for those issues.

I didn't find much use for the latest incarnation of Amazing Stories, but I am curious what the real reason behind the "hiatus" is.

 

[Demonix]

It looks like Paizo have more problems than just Amazing and Undefeated - basically theres loads of Subscribers to Dungeon/Dragon magazine in Europe who have not had any magazines in months. Theres many angry customers (including myself) on the forums trying to find out what is happening... not good PR for the company really.