Cara,
You will still be able to purchase back issues as long as we have them. We always order extra copies of each new issue specifically for this purpose and will continue to do so. Our only caveat is that when we do eventually sell out, we don't go back on press to produce more paper copies. The
LensWork Extended version, however, we do produce more, so they will be available in perpetuity -- or until I go into the final wash.
The pre-order program (our "Virtual Newsstand") does have the advantage that we pay the shipping costs. Essentially, you can still purchase just one issue at a time and pay the cover price just as you would at the newsstand. We ship these with the subscriber copies and can take advantage of the lower cost "periodicals rate" for postage. Once they are back issues, however, we have to charge for shipping and handling the single issues, one at a time.
As to new subscribers, we have always relied on word of mouth advertising rather than big ad budgets. Most of our new subscribers come that way rather than the random discovery of
LensWork on the newsstands. Along with the rest of the periodicals industry, we've seen a steady decline in the importance of newsstand sales ever since the birth of the Internet. It's just time for us to let go of an old business paradigm that is no longer working and at the same time reduce the waste of resources I mentioned in the announcement in the current issue.
We are hopeful that those people who were still buying on the newsstand will come on board as subscribers, but we do understand that for some folks this is just not an option they will choose. Hopefully they'll keep us in mind at some point down the road. We'll still be here!
Brooks Jensen
Editor, LensWork Publishing
so you have to opt-in or just keep checking the website.
Linear Mode
