Guy LeCharles Gonzalez's page

>>>

1) Erik Mona's editorial direction needs to become clear very quickly and very cleanly. Piecemeal changes over the next six months will ensure that I remain a newsstand browser from hereon out.
>>>

The last several editorials haven't been clear enough? Take a look at 329 and 330, and you'll see where we're headed.

I don't plan to abandon the magazine any time soon.

--Erik

Erik,

While your editorials - as well as your admirable input in this forum - may make your intentions clear, I'm referring to the actual results of those intentions becoming clear, and quickly. Sernett wrote some promising editorials when he took over, too, but it took a while for his changes to come to pass, I'm assuming partly due to a backlog of already-committed articles.

My main point there was that, with the unfortunate timing of my subscription expiring with #329, I was faced with the choice of gambling another $40 on your stated intentions, or waiting to see how they play out over the next few months. In light of my actually liking where Sernett seemed to be taking the magazine, and new issues getting to the store before my mailbox, it became an easy decision.

Also, while I sincerely appreciate your responding to my post, I am a bit disappointed that you only dealt with one of my points, and rather defensively at that. Please understand that I am a big fan of the magazine and D&D in general, and am a big supporter of the hobbies I love and the products that go along with it. When something is worth it to me, I not only happily spend money on it, I try to spread the word wherever possible. (Check my Amazon reviews for various WotC products.) Lately, however, Dragon has drifted over to the not-quite-worth-it side of the ledger sheet.

I was particularly hoping someone at Paizo would address my point about your ad sales. I was finally able to get to your media kit today and was disappointed in what I found. One of the biggest problems is that it's designed more for fans who might be interested in subscribing to the magazine, not the media buyers who stand in the way of the big accounts. There's no real information on Dragon's circulation - numbers or demographics; are you guys audited? - and your rates are appallingly low for such a targeted publication, suggesting one of two things: low circulation numbers or low self-esteem.

I would welcome the opportunity to engage in a dialogue about this, whether here or backchannel.

Sincerely,
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Three reasons:

1) The editorial inconsistency of the past two years, with Matthew Lee Sernett being replaced just as his mostly positive changes were starting to settle in. While Erik Mona will very likely be a good thing for the magazine, $40 is too much to take the risk of another year of a mixed bag of tricks.

2) The lousy shipping schedule that often sees my issue arrive in the mail as much as two weeks AFTER my local comic book store has it on the shelf! Unacceptable.

3) The price, as I mentioned above, is simply too expensive for anything less than a must-have subscription. I work in magazine publishing so I understand the plight of niche magazines, but $7/copy and $40/year generally only works for niche trade magazines, not consumer-oriented ones. Along with the editorial shuffling, Paizo needs to get its ad sales department in order and tap into better advertisers. Or value its audience a bit more and raise its ad rates to a level where they can provide more support for the magazine, instead of asking subscribers to bear the burden. I'd offer more specifics on this but for some reason I am unable to access Dragon or Dungeon's rate cards.

How to get me back? Three ways:

1) Erik Mona's editorial direction needs to become clear very quickly and very cleanly. Piecemeal changes over the next six months will ensure that I remain a newsstand browser from hereon out.

2) Figure out a way to ensure subscriber copies arrive before they hit the newsstand. It's one of the main reasons, besides price, that people subscribe to magazines instead of buying them individually. And please don't blame the Post Office, either. I live in a major city and get all of my other subscriptions in a timely fashion.

3) Offer a better deal on subscriptions. The current 54% discount sounds like a great deal on the surface, but for a magazine that can easily go a couple of months without containing anything critical, or even useful, for some portion of its subscribers, it's simply not good enough. Or, better yet, make a deal with WotC for some promotional swag and offer two types of subscriptions: $24.99 for the magazine only; $39.99 for the magazine and free swag with EVERY issue.

I envy your subscribers who have already received your Issue #327. Mine has yet to arrive. Bummer.

Yeah, still waiting over here, too. Not a good feeling with one issue left on my subscription... :-(

PS: Great shipping time, hope it continues :)

Really? I still haven't gotten mine! And this isn't the first time I've seen it at my comic book store before it's made it to my mailbox.

Shipped to subscribers Nov 30
Appears on newsstands Dec 21

What gives?

Dragon is not, exclusively, a magazine for players. It is a magazine for D&D enthusiasts, most of whom happen to be players. That means that there will, occasionally, be articles that seem to speak more to the DM than to the players. The goal is to publish interesting, insightful articles first and foremost.

I really hope so. As someone who's subscribed for nearly a year now, and bought off the newsstand for about six months prior to that, I'd hate to see Dragon become the crunch factory many old-timers seem to want it to be. I've really enjoyed the past few issues in particular and, with my current subscription expiring with issue #328, I have to admit to being a little concerned about renewing every time I see your subtle references about what's going to change in the near future.

I've actually been carrying issues 324 and 326 around with me every day for the past couple of weeks as I begin working on a new campaign for my gaming group (along with Libris Mortis, one of the best supplements WotC has put out yet) because they both featured some of the most useful, well-written information you've published since I came back to D&D 18 months ago. More importantly, though, I've enjoyed READING both of those issues more than any previous ones and that's what will keep me coming back.

You'll never please all of the people all of the time, but I'd caution you on giving complaints about "things aren't as good as they used to be" an inordinate amount of attention, especially at a time when D&D needs to move forward, not backwards. It doesn't mean you abandon the long-time reader, of course, but we all know that's not where Paizo's growth is going to come from. Dragon, Dungeon, et al, need to reach new audiences - or, like me, old audiences returning after years away - in order to remain successful publications, and success comes not from simply giving the people what they think they want, but rather having the courage and vision to give them what they don't yet know they want.

At this point, I'm planning to renew my subscription, but I'll be doing so with the caveat that issue #330, which you seem to be staking your vision for the magazine on, will decide whether or not I cancel that renewal.

I'm hoping for the best, of course.

It's actually the first article in the First Watch section: steelsqwire.com

Personally, I want a pair of the fuzzy dice!

I prefer the "man in motion" style myself as Rogue's are typically my favorite characters.

I try to avoid characters better suited for ranged combat as I like to be in the middle of a fight, not taking potshots from the sidelines.

You know, once upon a time, I had an Atari game system. I played Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Breakout, and thought this was the greatest invention the modern world had ever known. Nowadays, you can't find Atari at a garage sale, let alone new cartridges on the market for old diehard fans like me. It's all new technology, XBox, and Gameboy, and Playstation 32.6 (or whatever number they're up to by now). They don't make new stuff for Atari anymore because they've moved on. Wizards doesn't make new stuff for earlier editions of AD&D because THEY'VE moved on. And we too should also move on. If you try it, you will like it. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Play your older version; no one will stop you.

Exactly! I bought an Xbox this summer and was amazed at how far the technology had come since my last system purchase, a Nintendo 64. I would have bought a GameCube had Nintendo not gone with their bonedheaded proprietary, non-DVD-compatible format. I didn't dump my N64, though, as I still like some of the games I have for it and pull it out every now and then to play. Going even further back, I have a Vectrex game system in the closet that I pull out every now and then for a spin. I don't expect Electronic Gaming Monthly to cover either of those systems, though! (Or, to be more specific, Nintendo Power, which solely focuses on GBA and the Cube these days.)

When I got back into D&D last year, after a nearly 20-year break, I picked up the 3.5 core books and absolutely devoured them, amazed at how the simple game I'd played in high school had evolved into a more versatile, highly-customizable system that, suprise, was now compatible with a wide range of 3rd party material thanks to the D20 system.

Change happens, and in this case, it's for the better. I'm glad to see Dragon (and Dungeon) keep up-to-date with those changes instead of narrowing its focus by waxing nostalgic over the "good old days."

While I like the idea of getting a regular dose of fiction in Dragon (4-6/year works for me) I'm of mixed emotions on the established writer vs. newcomer debate. Ideally, I think it would be great if Dragon could be a place for aspiring fantasy writers to break into the market, but I can understand the strain of reading through piles of unsolicited manuscripts would put on the editorial staff.

On the other hand, considering Dragon's established-only policy and my total lack of interest in the fiction that's been published over the past year or so, I have to say I'd rather those pages simply be given over to more game-specific content. IMO, a better variation on the established-only policy would be to print excerpts from new WotC novels, most of which seem to be the equivalent of expanded fluff, written specifically to tie into the latest game supplements anyway. (ie: Lisa Smedman's VENOM'S TASTE, aka the novelization of the Psionics Handbook and Serpent Kingdoms.) At least that way, the fiction is integral to the overall gaming experience while providing a marquee name to slap on the cover for a boost in sales.

As someone who works in magazine publishing, I fully understand the underlying economic debate between unobstructed covers and attracting new readers on the newsstands.

While 326's cover art looks great, if I weren't already a regular reader I can't say that I'd be drawn to pick it up at the newsstand as it's rather generic-looking and doesn't adequately communicate what's inside. And what's inside is a pretty useful collection of articles, including solid features on dungeon delving, sewer exploration and labyrinths - representing something of a theme that's not captured on the cover.

Lacking the usual cover blurbs below the magazine logo - which personally, I don't understand all the gnashing of teeth over; it's clean, distinctive and scalable - standalone artwork has to do double duty to draw new readers in. Of course, that requires a solid, long-term editorial vision that offers artists enough lead time to create appropriate artwork.

Not sure how feasible it would be from a budget perspective, but one option would be to produce an unobstructed cover for subcribers, and a separate one, with cover blurbs, for newsstand distribution. Even gives a little added incentive to subscribe, while not potentially losing newsstand sales because of ineffective artwork.

$.02

I also don't know what convinced you that you are the History Channel- The history lessons are not adding anything to the articles. Not when they CONSIST of most of...

I've actually enjoyed the recent addition of historical context to many of the articles and hope that's not something that's walked away from under the "new master." Some might consider it fluff but I think it adds to the overall experience.

Overall, I like what I've seen from the relaunch and look forward to the kinks being smoothed out in the near future.