rts@well.sf.ca.us (Tyler Sperry) (05/21/91)
Several previous postings here have reported difficulties in qualifying for
a free subscription to Embedded Systems Programming. As editor I have only
a vague knowledge of the inner workings of the subscription fulfillment
process (and I'm quite happy to keep it that way, thank you) but in the
hope of clearing up some of the confusion let me offer a few "insider"
suggestions.
First off, a few facts on how controlled-circulation magazines operate: as
nice as magazine people are, they don't offer "free" subscriptions to
qualified readers as philanthropic gestures (TANSTAAFL, after all). The
advertisers pay the freight, because they expect the qualification process
to weed out readers who aren't interested in their products and hence make
their advertising more effective. Given that a targeted magazine is likely
to have a limited pool of potential advertisers, it should be clear (from a
combination of integral calculus and spreadsheet magic) that we can
calculate an advertising rate structure X, for which there will be a
corresponding optimum number of readers, Y.
Such is the case for ESP. As of the May issue we've boosted our magic
number to 30,000 "free" subscriptions. The economics of publishing dictate
that after we've signed up those 30,000 readers, we have to put the
remaining requests onto a waiting list. Unfortunately, (or fortunately,
depending on your perspective) very few embedded systems developers seem to
retire, die, or otherwise lose their enthusiasm for the magazine. So if
you haven't gotten on the freebie list by the June or July issue you might
have a long wait. (By way of comparison, the waiting period for weeklies
like InfoWorld or PC Week can be a year or more, with over 100,000 queued
proto-readers.)
So how do you get the magazine? The same way your get any other
controlled-circ magazine: you fill out the card -- intelligently -- and
send it in. This means answering ALL the questions, hopefully in a way
that is simultaneously honest and within the criteria of selection. What
are the criteria? Well, advertisers like to believe that big shot
professionals at big companies will see their ad and then buy lots of
stuff. Therefore, you'll probably like to emphasize how you're a
professional developer who specifies or approves mongo purchases of all
sorts of hardware and software. (I'm told there's no specific weeding of
consultants, but experience suggests it doesn't hurt to include your
client's employees in the size of *your* reported company size.)
What do you do when you've tried all these tactics already and you're still
not getting the magazine? Well, we won't complain too loudly if you can
get your boss to spring for a subscription. <g> But if that route isn't
open to you, then fill out another sub form per the guidelines above and
send it to either Ted Bahr (the publisher) or Tyler Sperry (me) at 600
Harrison St, San Francisco, CA 94107 along with a short, non-abusive note
explaining the problem and we'll personally walk your form through. Fair
enough?
My apologies for not catching this thread earlier, but I've been offline
for the last few months taking care of details like a magazine and lining
up conference speakers.
Tyler
/*
** Tyler Sperry
** Embedded Systems Programming, (408) 905-2305
** rts@well.sf.ca.us or {apple,hplabs,pacbell,ucb}!well!rts
** Although Compuserve (76703, 4323) & BIX (tyler) work too.
**
** "If I'm not psychic, then how'd I know you'd read this?"
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