VCBC is Alive again!

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Posted By: runscott

I saw this and gave them a call - looks like March 29 is the mail date for the next issue!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1813299891

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

....

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Posted By: runscott

When I called to ask, I ordered a bunch of back-issues I don't have, just in case the wait's longer than expected.

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

Was the new issue mailed on March 29th?

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Posted By: runscott

...but I'm still waiting

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Posted By: Tom

How can they possibly be selling 12 issue subscriptions on ebay for buy it nows at $49.95 or thereabouts. I'm all for giving people breaks--especially given Don's circumstances over last 6 mo to a year but get the issues out on time, then push the subs......At the rate they're going, 12 issues is a 3 year subscription.

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Posted By: leon

Seem to be agreeing a lot today....gave Don my money for a subscription 3 months ago and was told the new mags were at the printer. I can totally empathize with his situation but do not think you should embellish things regardless..... and still don't have the most current one....if there is one?? Just a little disappointed.....regards all

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Posted By: TBob

No book in the mail yet, as of 4-9-02

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

but I will be the last one to get #30, because of Berkeley post. VCBC is the only thing that's ever gotten totally lost, actually. Just one issue. Others came so late that I'd already ordered another one Priority Mail.

This has nothing to do with present problem--we all want to know if #30's been sent. I wrote: "Is it is or is it ain't?" (perhaps not the most exact enquiry)

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Posted By: warshawlaw

but I haven't seen my issue. Of course, being in LA, the mag seems to get to me via slow hamster delivery every time.

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Posted By: Jeff Obermeyer

I checked out the VCBC web site this evening, and there is an image there of the cover of issue #30. This is the first time the site has been updated in any way in a long, long time. Has anyone out there received their issue yet?

Jeff

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Posted By: TBob

nm

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Posted By: Tom

but the picture at the website looks like a mockup of what it's supposed to look like. The font at the bottom of the screen isn't a printed font..........hope it all works out........

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Still nothing here. I've gotten cards from Australia faster than this

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

Nothing yet.
Any contact from VCBC is welcomed.

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Posted By: runscott

each time they say shipping will begin at the end of the month...no matter what month I call.

It would be great if someone else would call and see if the response is the same. The do seem sincere when they speak with me, so maybe it's just a total breakdown of their ability to continue running the company.

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Posted By: leon

Nothing in Texas yet....and once I clean my igloo up I will let ya'll know if it's made it to Alaska ....seems like I might have seen it before I went ice fishing yesterday.....best regards from 3rd igloo on left

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Posted By: brueso

...sure isn't making me want to buy a subscription- but it does make me want to check out some old issues.

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

So don't hold your breath.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

And I am getting really tempted to raise a little hell with the postal and other authorities. I can understand a delay or two (or three or more) but not while you're still selling subscriptions. I feel really sorry for the innocent buyers who are ponying up good money now for a magazine that doesn't seem to exist anymore.

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Posted By: David

My guess is that the current publisher discovered why Dennis Purdy sold the magazine-- it's a lot of work for little money.

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Posted By: jeff

I want to throw an idea out there.

It seems like VCBC is well-loved in the community, and it is probably a reasonably specialized, small community. VCBC is certainly not about to be taken in by Krause and turned into a money-making machine.

But...it's important. To us, anyway.

Would there be support for a replacement of sorts to VCBC? I don't like the idea of stepping in, telling this guy to stop pretending that he can run a magazine and buy it from him, because given the size of the readership (and its close-knittedness, as evidenced on this), the magazine name & subscriber list aren't worth much.

I raise the question because i'd be interested in taking a leading role in such a project. I have a bit of publishing/editing/writing experience, and know lots of folks in academia who publish similar magazines with full knowledge that they're not going to make a fortune, yet recognize the importance of a specialized forum.

I'm very interested in what any of you folks have to say about this. My guess is that the expertise on this board, combined with some of the people we know and deal with (the Lipsets, Knouses, etc. of the world), would be enough to get something like this going.

Comments?

I might even be willing to arrange an alternative delivery method for Julie!

Jeff Sackmann
jeff_sackmann@hotmail.com

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Posted By: David

As someone who does an email newsletter and has self-published several books (at good profit) over the years, it is my firm beleif that a printed magazine is not viable. The audience that exists won't support such an endever. This is what Dennis Purdy found out, this is what the current publisher has found out, and this is what the next potentual publisher would (eventually) find out. I understand that someone will step and sincerly say 'I will do this for fun, I don't care about the money,' but I promise that that sentiment will last about five monthes at the most (burn out).

This small but devoted hobby will have to accept the fact that it cannot support a quality printed magazine, or a pay site ala 19thcenturyonly. I think that the mistake that VBCC and other book publishers make is to try to apply the traditional large-scale methods of printing and distribution for this tiny market, and that won't work. In part it's a mistake because it isn't working for big publishers/magazines like Time and Mare Claire. One reason I have had sucess with my own books, is that I don't try to emulate Time Magazine or Simon & Schuster. If I emulated their practices I would have been broke a long time ago.

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Posted By: David

Just to give my three cents worth (Leon earlier gave his 'one cent worth' so I'm borrowing a penny from him). If you wanted to produce a viable magazine, where money is not a big concer, I recommend you produce an online or via email newsletter. You can produce a nice looking magazine/newsletter with, for example, adobe acrobat that will have text and pictures and can be printed out by the receiver into their own printed magazine. There will be almost no financial liablity (I'm not talking legal e's here, I'm talking printing costs, mailing costs), no hassle with shipping and printing (and beleive me those are not hassles to be dismissed). Your only worry would be getting people to write nice articles.

If you were to produce a magazine in this manner, I would happily help in its production and will acceptable) contribute and article or two. I also have a large readership for my own email newsletter, which would certainly help facilitate distribution.

I undestand that, at first, potential publishers and readers have their heart set on a printed magazine, but think that the above or similar type magazine is the only viable way to go.

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Posted By: jeff

You're absolutely right, David -- especially about the viability of any kind of print magazine. It takes an SCD-style business model (9 of 10 pages are advertising) to be profitable at all.

What about a Salon-style online mag? Some of the same problems exist, of course (Salon and its cohorts are making little if any money), but a mag like this wouldn't do much large-scale publicity -- the sort that costs Salon, etc., so much.

It seems like what we need is some happy medium between VCBC and this board -- something that does more than just provides a forum for banter, but also keeps that side of things open (in a way a print magazine cannot).

Jeff

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Posted By: Robert Silverman

I had a brief conversation with Dennis Purdy after he sold the magazine and he said that Mastro had wanted to buy the magazine and that the current owner (I believe he's also the owner of Jay's Sports Connection) either made his offer and/or closed the deal first.

My assumption was that Mastro wanted to buy it to expand his qualified leads for his auction catalogs and to keep his lists updated between auctons. I wonder if the time is right for him to make another offer?

Mayeb something can be done that combines print and online zine -- with every other issue or quarterly issues in print and the remaining ones Web-only...

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

He used what he earned from his shows tio support the magazine.