My nephew came by the other day with one of those school fundraisers where they try to guilt relatives into buying magazines by threatening to not give the kid a SpongeBob t-shirt if the kid doesn't turn in enough sales.
Remembering that my Dragon subscription is in need of renewal soon, I looked through the list on the off chance it was there. Nope. No Dungeon either. No Amazing Stories. No Asimov's. No Realms of Fantasy. No Parabola. No sale. Sorry kid, you'll have to earn your t-shirt off someone with more "normal" interests.
This got me to wondering though, does anyone know how they go about choosing what magazines to offer for those school fundraisers? Are the Paizo and other sci-fi/fantasy titles not on the list because of business/financial reasons, because the publishers never asked to get on the list in the first place, or because the lists are decided on by some uptight schoolmarm who doesn't approve of imagination or fun?
Chief Technical Officer
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This got me to wondering though, does anyone know how they go about choosing what magazines to offer for those school fundraisers? Are the Paizo and other sci-fi/fantasy titles not on the list because of business/financial reasons, because the publishers never asked to get on the list in the first place, or because the lists are decided on by some uptight schoolmarm who doesn't approve of imagination or fun?
Publishers who have a strongly advertising-driven business model sign up for these deals. They break even - or often lose money - on their subscriptions, but if they sell enough of them, they get to charge their advertisers higher rates based on increased circulation.
Currently, none of Paizo's magazines pull enough advertising to make that model work for us, so we don't generally participate in those programs.
-Vic.
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Thanks for the info. I was hoping it was a business reason rather than an exclusion on the part of the school fundraiser company.
Though I'm not entirely abandoning the anti-fun schoolmarm idea because all of the computer and video game magazines they offered were versions that don't include the usual CD or DVD of demos and other goodies.
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Chief Technical Officer
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all of the computer and video game magazines they offered were versions that don't include the usual CD or DVD of demos and other goodies.
I suspect that's a financial hedge on the part of the magazine publisher. CDs and DVDs - even if the content is provided free - cost money to manufacture, more money to insert - especially if that requires polybagging a magazine that would otherwise not be bagged - and even more money in additional postage. So not inlcuding the disc means that they lose less money fulfilling the sub, yet still get the full benefit of increased circulation.
-Vic.
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