smallformat ends its run

[etimh]

Just recieved the latest issue of smallformat in the mail--wow! An excellent issue all around, but check out that dismantled 1014XL-S! That is mind-blowing! What a great feature. I've never seen anything like that before.

So let me add my voice to the others in saying the end of smallformat is a real disappointment. You did a great job on it, Juergen. But let me ask: is there any possibility that it could be continued by someone with perhaps lower expectations on the profit margin side? I know the magazine was a serious professional endeavor with a commercial publisher, but maybe some folks could continue it with a more infrequent publishing schedule, cheaper production values, voluntary work assignments, etc. Or maybe produce a nice, high quality "annual," or something like that--the "best of" culled from the German edition and some new material as well?

I don't know, maybe I'm being naive. Maybe there aren't enough people seriously interested in continuing with such altruistic ambitions. But it seems that the infrastructure is there with the German edition, the contacts are there, and there is at least some advertising to inject some funds into it. Why not continue it as a scaled back "labor of love," publishing it when you can? Or maybe even just increasing the cover price, gearing it towards a true "specialty" audience willing to pay for it (I, for one, would be willing and would pay quite a bit more for an "annual").

Regardless, it was a great thing--be proud of what you accomplished while it lasted. I look forward to the final issues!

Tim

[mr_x]

would be great to see something evolve from all this creativity - would favour a low-budget 'alternative culture' type magazine, like the sort of things which appeared in the late 60's/early 70's, but devoted to 8mm film-making , bit like the late lamented Helen Hill's film "Cookbooklet"?

Ric

[reflex]

But let me ask: is there any possibility that it could be continued by someone with perhaps lower expectations on the profit margin side?

smallformat was already running as a labour of love on a number of levels. As Juergen alluded earlier in this thread, it was being published at a loss.

An annual would be an interesting idea, except for the perennial problem with advertising - there are very few companies involved in the industry these days, and the vast majority of them are very small operations. The end result would be that it would be extremely expensive, and potential readers would whine about being gouged.

[CineGuerrilha]

that's soooo sad. I wonder if we couldn't do a subscription marathon or something...

[Juergen]

nice idea, but I am afraid that it will be difficult to find 300 new subscribers or instead of this some more companies for ads inside smallformat.

[CineGuerrilha]

You have potentially 1 already

[S8 Booster]

allthough i never really saw it materialize and never read a single copy i think it would be sad to see it go so if it helps you to keep it running you can add me as a subscriber allthough it will cost you a copy of the 1014 xls disassembly article...

i think you have done a great job with it. no doubt about that.

shoot...;)

[Juergen]

thanks for your two subscription offers - but as you can see: it is till a loooong way for another 298.

[super8man]

There are probably only about 30 people on this board as it is...and then with all the craziness with the pass the cart stuff when you can't even get a set of 8 people to do what they say they promise they would do, I would not base a business venture on any promises. Money up front is the only way to go.

Just keep looking to publish like you did with your books. Those are classics and I refer to mine often. A high gloss bi-annual summary of small format filmmaking would be well received...though only you know how well your books sold...I would base any decisions on those sales numbers, not on subscriber promises.

Cheers,
Mike

[ECNtoo]

It could be an electronically delivered magazine or the printing could be a lower quality. Fit and finish is much less important than the content.

Either option cuts costs and would potentially save the publication.

[aj]

It could be an electronically delivered magazine or the printing could be a lower quality. Fit and finish is much less important than the content.

Either option cuts costs and would potentially save the publication.

It was already possible to subscribe to an electronic version. Did you?

Didn't you read the thread??? People who work on the publications need real money as a pay for their efforts. 'Free' publishing doesn't earn any money as nobody wants to pay at all for electronicly published content.

This has been tested with many publications on the web. As soon as a cent would be charged people rather go elsewhere because there always seems to be somebody who thinks it is fun to work for zero. Albeit with lesser fit, finish and soon shriking lust in and quality of work. Because it is not all that fun to work hard or to do excellent things for nothing.

BTW a few weeks ago I mentioned to a friend an interesting article in a magazine I subscribe to. Later he had read it, not by reading my copy or by buying the then current issue. Apparently somebody is subscribing too and scans the full magazine and posts the content of the magazine on a website. I wonder (rhetoricly) how this kind of people would react if 10 cents were deducted from their monthly (benefits) pay. By 100's of people, of course

[etimh]

Because it is not all that fun to work hard or to do excellent things for nothing.

While I understand most of your points and agree in principle with some of them, I have to disagree with the statement above. Lots of people work hard and produce great things for very little financial compensation. And some even do things for "nothing," as you say.

Just look at most of us here--we continue to make films at great expense for absolutely no monetary payback. We do it because we love it and it is satisfying in other ways. The same could be said for the million of little hard copy zines and web blogs that exist with no profit motivation.

Just a thought.

Tim

[super8man]

I need advertising on my site! It's preventing me from moving from DSL to Cable...

[etimh]

I need advertising on my site! It's preventing me from moving from DSL to Cable...

I wish I had something to advertise, Mike...

But your site is a perfect example of what I was saying--one of the greatest, most useful places to go related to all things Super 8 (and other stuff), and its basically been a labor of love, right?

Well, hope you have some luck getting some ad revenue--it should be a no-brainer for somebody, since the site gets so much traffic.

Tim

[reflex]

While I understand most of your points and agree in principle with some of them, I have to disagree with the statement above. Lots of people work hard and produce great things for very little financial compensation. And some even do things for "nothing," as you say.

The problem is that you'd have to convince a dozen or so contributors to write stuff for each and every issue, and editing and layout requires a lot of effort. The time required to produce a good magazine (even in electronic form) is too much to donate as a labour of love. Very few people are in a position where they can give weeks of their time to a project every couple of months. It's a romantic notion, but something has to pay the grocery bill and mortgage.

I run into this issue on a weekly basis when writing the Retro Thing gadget site. I invest over 10 hours a week to keep it running. Over the course of a year, that translates into about 12 full-time weeks of labour. I'd love to do more, but it's impossible.

James