Yesterday I received the electronic version of freediver magazine (PDF) with the following email:
Dear Subscriber,
During the last few weeks we have had some people enquire when the next issue of Freediver Magazine will be out. Well the good news is ‘it’s ‘ready to roll’. However since Aquapics purchased the magazine last June there have been developments – some good, some not so good. The good has been the continuing support to the magazine by subscribers and also Freedivers and associates providing articles and features. The ‘not so good’ has been the continual drop off of subscribers – currently 25% with each issue which has resulted in less magazines being printed which increases the cost of printing and in addition the loss of advertisers due to the decreasing circulation . This situation presented Aquapics with a dilemma on how to continue to produce the magazine. As you know in the last issue we introduced underwater hockey in the hope that this would increase subscribers – as yet this has not happened maybe because of the time of year or maybe the underwater hockey faternity use websites as their preferred media … who knows. One suggestion we have had is a request to include spearfishing but we are unsure whether this is something that Freedivers would want in the magazine … it’s difficult to know what you want in the mag without feedback from you so come on give us some idea of what you want in your magazine … EMAIL US PLEASE. All suggestions welcome [well within reason!!”].
So where to go from here? This has been the topic of much discussion here at Aquapics as there are two options – to fold the magazine or, and this is the option that Aquapics have decided to go with, to run the magazine as an ‘E-Mag’ – an electronic magazine available to subscribers in Acrobat PDF format. Well after all this is the 21st century, the age of the computer and as we know you all have one and therefore email facilities it looks to be the way forward. Think about it .. you could have the mag emailed to your mobile, or your TV [ a little way in the future I know] but a whole new world is opening up and maybe now is the time to get in on the act!
So how will it work? Well once the magazine is ‘ready to go’ it will be emailed to you as an attachment – see password below. It’s as simple as that.
For current subscribers instead of receiving 6 issues, you will receive 8. Or if you’re a fairly new subscriber [ie subscribed since June last year] we can offer back issues to the sum of your subscription – please let us know which you would prefer. Unfortunately we are unable to refund subscriptions as the income generated since June last year only partially paid toward the cost of producing the last two issues.
We are aware some of you may not be happy with this but the simple truth is it is not financially viable to produce the magazine in paper copy at present. Obviously we hope this situation can be turned around but this won’t happen without a huge increase in subscriptions and of course the assumption that paper copy is wanted. Hopefully you all want the magazine to continue [in whatever format] so spread the word and get freedivers subscribing to the magazine – see our Website, E-magazine.
The intention is still to produce a bi-monthly magazine however at present I have received no articles or features for the next issue – No.27 – so come on, there must be things going on in the freediver world or are you all waiting for the weather to improve?
<<<Password and link removed>>>
Regards
www.freediver-magazine.com
freediver-magazine@blueyonder.co.uk
Ciao, Jorg Jansen
www.shark-bait.com
