by Zombiezilla » Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:17 pm
I let my subscription slip some time ago, and I feel terrible about it. Now that I have started my own print 'zine up, I see more than ever how important the subscribers and buyers are. Though at the same time, as long as a heart stays with a 'zine, you can always survive. That's the nice thing about it, even if sales take a serious dive, if JD has the heart for it still, you just adjust your print run and style to accomodate the demand. We in the 'zine world are not depending on these things for food on the table, and as long as the "hobby" stays a hobby, and you feel you can afford it, then you will survive. Someday if sales are terrible, but JD still feels the desire, I am sure he would still be doing it as a little itty bitty digest sized 'zine.
The main problem I see is that after G-Fan becoming the monster it did become, if the sales do start to drop severly, I could see it breaking JD's heart and him just finally throwing in the towel. There will always be an audience for the 'zine though, just no telling how large.
I find the comment about the price being too high quite a surprise. I am guessing people have not seriously looked at how much this stuff costs to do. Plus until you have tried doing one of these things you have no idea how time consuming it is. I run a 32 page 'zine and it takes quite a bit of my 3 months up. Granted mine is a one man operation, but it is nowhere near the monster G-Fan is.
As for what needs to be done? Without having read the 'zine for a bit (a problem I plan to fix very soon), I really can't say. I know I wasn't crazy about the comics portion of it, but I do know many do like that. I think in the end JD will be facing a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation, as there are two pretty distinct sides to G-Fandom and you will always get one of them up in arms.
(the two sides being "uber-family friendly" and the other being a little more "hardcore")