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I've had a subscription to National Geographic for about ten years. Each year, for the low price of $19.70, National Geographic sends me two feaux leather slipcases to hold that year's collection of magazines. The magazines slide into one side of the case and on the other side, there looks to be actual binding. In the end, the magazines are well-preserved and look much more attractive stored in their protective slipcases on the bookcase than otherwise. (For reference, check out the National Geographic website. Look for the "Deluxe Slipcases.")
The point of my writing this to you? Why not do the same for Dragon (and Dungeon) magazines? You could do the same with some sort of feaux leather slipcase, with Dragon (or Dungeon) on the "binding," as well as the year (and Issues). I'm sure you all have enough creative talent to make the slipcases look really sweet. (And feel free to back date the slipcases as well! National Geographic has. ... Not that you're National Geographic! Personally, I like your magazines better, but now I'm getting off track!)
In the end, I think it's a brilliant idea and I'd be a guaranteed customer. What say you?
I like it!
That would be nice! An index for them would be sweet too.
Yes that would be most sweet and to further the idea how about make DRAGONS look like dragon scales and color them a different color every year for each spieces of such and with DUNGEONS you could make them different colors and patterns of stone both natural and man made such as cobblestone, paver block, rough hewn stone, cave floors marble and what not and even at the end of the year make the whole year and the slipcase available as a gift set deliverable in time for christmas that would be sweet heck just the slipcases would be cool come on powers that be? what say you???
Chief Technical Officer
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Sigh. I spent quite a bit of time beating the bushes to find a reasonably priced vendor for exactly that sort of thing last year. I was really, really hoping to get to a $19.95 price point, but the best deal I could find would require us to charge $25 per box. (Unlike National Geographic, we don't own our own printing plant.)
-Vic.
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At $25 per box, how many do you have to sell to make it economically feasible?
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Sigh. I spent quite a bit of time beating the bushes to find a reasonably priced vendor for exactly that sort of thing last year. I was really, really hoping to get to a $19.95 price point, but the best deal I could find would require us to charge $25 per box. (Unlike National Geographic, we don't own our own printing plant.)
-Vic.
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Heck, I'd still do $25 per box. Others might not. Perhaps one way to make such a product more attractive would be to provide generic slipcases, not for each year. You could have a little window where we could slip an index tab on the "binding" of each slipcase. (Maybe have little stickers, too, with the name of the product and year numbers (or issue numbers) for the purchase to adhere.)
I do like the notion of creating specially styled slipcases for each product, but this just may not be as economically feasible. In any event, I hope that Paizo didn't abandon the idea completely. Please take a second look. Please.
It's a great idea.
I'd buy em in a heartbeat. Even at the $25 price point. I need something to protect my mags from my two-year-old imp. I was thinking about buying a protective magazine file, but something custom would be much cooler.
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Chief Technical Officer
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At $25 per box, how many do you have to sell to make it economically feasible?
Well, the quotes I have are over a year old now - but at the time, we were talking about needing to sell a thousand units. I think we could move a few hundred at $25, but I just don't think we could sell a thousand at that price.
To be clear, what we were talking about is a two-piece slipcase, with a sort of drawer that slides inside an outer box - necessary because the size of the mag has changed over time - in a thick cardboard that feels kind of like padded leather. It could be a solid color or a single overall design, and could include an embossed foil logo on the spine or face. They wouldn't be dated, and don't have a place to insert a date card, though they could be designed with a space to write or add your own label.
-Vic
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Well, if they're undated, then you're able to sell multiples to individual people. What kind of interest were you predicting to get the "couple hundred" estimate? I'd probably guess that you'd sell on the order of 2-3% of the number of mags sold monthly, assuming 1% of the monthly readers buy a set buy but some of those people buy multiple sets. What's the monthly circulation of each magazine? Were you looking at 1000 for each magazine, or 1000 total? If so, you'd only need 500 of Dragon and 500 of Dungeon, which would be a lot easier to reach.
Just tossing things out, I probably don't know what I'm talking about so I'll be quiet now. :-)
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At $25 per box, how many do you have to sell to make it economically feasible?Well, the quotes I have are over a year old now - but at the time, we were talking about needing to sell a thousand units. I think we could move a few hundred at $25, but I just don't think we could sell a thousand at that price.
To be clear, what we were talking about is a two-piece slipcase, with a sort of drawer that slides inside an outer box - necessary because the size of the mag has changed over time - in a thick cardboard that feels kind of like padded leather. It could be a solid color or a single overall design, and could include an embossed foil logo on the spine or face. They wouldn't be dated, and don't have a place to insert a date card, though they could be designed with a space to write or add your own label.
-Vic
The fact that they wouldn't be dated certainly gives you the possibility of having individual subscribers be multiple purchasers.
Do you have any idea what sort of dimensions we're talking about? With the new Dragon in mind, how many do you think would fit into one slipcase? Obviously, the more the better. 6 months to a case is how National Geographic works it. You may even be able to do 12. If it seemed like a good purchase, i.e., not over-priced for under-storage, you'd likely be able to draw people who have been collecting for years.
Moreover, if you provided some sort of discount with numbers of purchases, you could even create more incentive for purchases.
Last, if you advertised the slipcases in the magazines, this would also work to your advantage. (Heck, you could even give subscribers an additional discount upon subscription. You know, for $20 more dollars, get-this-neat-slipcase-for-this-year's-subscription-type thing.)
I might add that having labels are nice. But if this drove the cost up, I'd certainly be willing to forego it. Better yet, I do like your suggestion of potentially having a place where someone could stick a label.
I've had a subscription to National Geographic for about ten years. Each year, for the low price of $19.70, National Geographic sends me two feaux leather slipcases to hold that year's collection of magazines. The magazines slide into one side of the case and on the other side, there looks to be actual binding. In the end, the magazines are well-preserved and look much more attractive stored in their protective slipcases on the bookcase than otherwise. (For reference, check out the National Geographic website. Look for the "Deluxe Slipcases.")
The point of my writing this to you? Why not do the same for Dragon (and Dungeon) magazines? You could do the same with some sort of feaux leather slipcase, with Dragon (or Dungeon) on the "binding," as well as the year (and Issues). I'm sure you all have enough creative talent to make the slipcases look really sweet. (And feel free to back date the slipcases as well! National Geographic has. ... Not that you're National Geographic! Personally, I like...
You can get cardboard magazine boxes fairly cheap. What I would like is an annual index.
I'd buy it too....and when thinking of the market remember there are plenty of us that have years of issues....I'm talking early eighties (roughly from issue 67 to 104) and then the last three years (it took the D&D movie's DVD to get me hooked again after all those years). I hate the cheap boxes.....I want something that would be like the case on the LOTR Extended DVD's, and that would look like it belongs on a book shelf.
-Dave
I'd go for it despite the cost of getting them in Oz. The article index is a really good idea but. If such an index was just put in as a single page at the end of a December issue, it would really save time finding a given article.