New Poll: SBS Format

[Shaun]

Alright, so the previous poll recently expressed a huge dislike for anything to do with electronic printing. So here is what I'm thinking right now:

We change the format of the SBS magazine to a biannual (potentially, depending on how well it does) anthology style book. Meaning we'd have it as a paperback book, as a sort of anthology (preferably biannual so it's more common than just once a year, obviously).

What this would mean is this: It'd still be a "magazine", but put together more professionally since we could use a private printer for it, which would make things easier. It would be a 200 page book and we could sell it at $11.00. This means we can take more work into each issue and, well, it'll be a lot easier and more cost effective (and convenient) than trying to print at home. After doing a lot of research I realized that trying to print at home probably wasn't going to work for the most part.

I know it's probably above what was expected, but the way I see it is that this provided a more professional route. Okay, I hope what I've said makes sense. This allows us to still pay you guys for your work via royalty, and it'll be published in a real book (6x9 Paperback, 200ish pages, depending).

This is a poll, for obvious reasons, but I also wanted to say that I may be able to get published authors to write for us. I know a few people rather well and they may be interested in writing a story to be featured in the "magazine" alongside our YWO members. So, let me know if you like that idea in the comments!

Anyway!

[Nyx]

I think it's a good idea...but isn't 200 pages a bit-much?

[Alex]

I agree, 200 might be a bit long

[Shaun]

True, but reducing the page limit doesn't affect the price that much. For a 100 page book it would be $9. Or you could get 200 pages for $11. The problem with smaller books is that they still cost a lot to print. The paper itself is cheap, it's the binding crap that's expensive.

100 pages would be fine by me, but would you all pay 9 bucks for 100 pages of stuff? I don't know.

[Nyx]

Why don't you go midway to 150?

[Shaun]

That comes to $10.00.

Why don't we treat it as a "depends what we get" thing? If we don't get enough stuff for 200 pages, then we don't make it 200 pages. And we adjust the cost accordingly. Maybe try to release this, or at least get close enough to release it by Christmas? If we can get folks to push other folks to submit :P. The problem right now is that we're not getting enough submissions, even though there is a lot of great stuff on YWO right now. We could fill two or three issues if people just submitted. But nobody is for some reason.

But I'd be happy with playing it by "ear". I think right now we have about 35-40 pages worth of stuff.

[Shaun]

Alright, so it seems like most of you like the idea of a printed book, so that is what we're going to do. Thanks you guys!

Now submit :D. I need more stuff!

[Rouge]

Question:

How do we get the books?

[Shaun]

When it officially goes to "press", as it were, it will be available on Lulu.com. I might try to get it into some bookstores, but no guarantee on that.

[Crocolyle]

I think it's a great idea, but I'm not sure if it would work (therefore I selected maybe, unless this problem can be remedied). Because a paperback would have about 200 pages, there's a lot of space that you'd need to fill, even if a few authors you know submit. I think too few people on this site have been submitting (to my knowledge) to make this idea, while cool, a viable option.

Edit: I should read comments before I instantly post my opinion; my views have already been stated.

[Shaun]

I think it's a great idea, but I'm not sure if it would work (therefore I selected maybe, unless this problem can be remedied). Because a paperback would have about 200 pages, there's a lot of space that you'd need to fill, even if a few authors you know submit. I think too few people on this site have been submitting (to my knowledge) to make this idea, while cool, a viable option.

Edit: I should read comments before I instantly post my opinion; my views have already been stated.

I'm still looking for other options, but Lulu is currently the best one we have, as in the only one that we know will work for sure, will work fast, will be reliable, etc.

If I can find something else, or someone finds something else and tells me about it, we'll look at whatever that is.

[Shaun]

Just thought you all should know that I think I found a method that allows us to print in a magazine format without having to spend a million dollars. It's called MagCloud and it works on the same principles as Lulu (print-on-demand), and it seems really reasonable thus far and only charges per page rather than a flat fee (and then our profit is just tacked on as our flat fee, which means we can reduce the cost somewhat I hope...still doing math).

Anywho, this is good news if it works out.

[Rouge]

When it officially goes to "press", as it were, it will be available on Lulu.com. I might try to get it into some bookstores, but no guarantee on that.


O.o We're ordering it online?

Mkay, thanks for answering that.

[Shaun]

Well, you'd have to. I don't know how else you'd pay for it. We're not big like People Magazine or something :P. I'd love it if we were, but we're small. One step at a time :P.

[Shaun]

Okay, upon further research on MagCloud I found out it's not going to save you guys any money at all. In fact, it would cost you more money, for less. True, we'd have full color pages and what not, but since it's 20 cents a page, that means something about 20 pages is $4 just to print, not including the profit base (which would probably be 2 bucks). Six dollars for 20 pages sounds like a lot to me. Lulu, however, would provide us with a cheaper format depending how much you put it in. 20 pages in a magazine is a lot of stuff, but it's not that much and when you compare that to say Realms of Fantasy (which is 3.99 for 100 pages) that really shows you the difference in pricing. MagCloud doesn't allow for bulk orders for a discount, unlike Lulu.

I want to keep this magazine under $10 while having a fair amount of work in it. We're about halfway where I'd like to be for publication as far as submissions are concerned. Three stories, one poem. I'd like some more poems, and a couple more stories, and then non-fiction, so we have something between 50-100 pages, with a price, after adjustment going anywhere from 7.00 to 9.00, depending. MagCloud is a brilliant idea, but financially speaking I don't think it would work for us. YWO folks aren't rich, and I don't feel right charging a whole crapload for a first issue.

I'm rambling. If anyone has certain dislikes about using Lulu as a printer, please bring them up. And if you have other ideas or options I am open to them. I want this to be the best it can be.

Thanks!