Flip version of BC magazine

[Tikvah]

I personally enjoyed the flip version.  I like it better than scrolling down through a PDF.  However, the PDF is great for archiving and searching articles. 

I can't think of any reason that the magazine can't be made available both ways.  The magazine can also be printed for those of use who prefer to sit down with a paper copy.  I'll pay extra for the paper copy, but still love the ability to search old articles through the PDF version, and the convenience of reading the flip version.

Once you've built the content, the production of various media is rather simple. 

* Print Magazine
* PDF Searchable
* Flip - easy read onscreen
* even HTML on your website for specific articles

I'm working on a magazine for one of my companies (not related) and intend to offer all four options.  Additional cost obviously for the print version.  All others have no extended cost.

Dave

[Mex-Busnut]

question if you had 1 of those smart toilets that is discussed in another thread could you read it on the can?

            Rick 74 m c 8

Rick: If the toilet was that smart, the toilet would read to you!

[mak]

Well, I do appreciate all the feedback.  In a perfect world it would be offered in all forms.... including audio, but, the worlds not perfect, and for the most part it is because of the cost of doing it.  If BCM was run by Uncle Sam... wow, would we have a magazine, I'm sure it would be printed in 17 languages (Just in California) and have a video addition in both Spanish and English.
    It seems a flip version and PDF would be easy to do. Both could be tied to searches and links.  The printed copy is the expensive item, that with the rising cost of postage. 
    When it comes to content, well, I quit writing years ago when it seemed like I wrote 10 stories on how to install a toilet, they all said the same thing, and it still hasn't changed much, has it? New content is great, and yet new folks to Bus Conversions still need to know how to install the toilet.
    If anyone wants to come to the rescue and 'save" the magazine, I'm all ears. But as it stands, the income from the last 4 months is not in the account, and things need to be getting done.  Phil, Chad and myself are working on a solution.
    Thanks again for all the feedback.  If we could only get nickle from every post and a penny from every page view, we would be set!

[Le Mirage]

I'm very confused!

Mike, you publish a «pdf version» for november magazine. I note that this version are similar at the magazine. True? Why may not received this magazine in my mailbox? I paid for 1 year and I have not received «all magazine». Now, I want «all magazine» that i paid. Like promised!

May be, november is in the airplane...so, last week (thursday 10th), I was at your office and I should pick up my copy! 

I wish the best for the magazine soon....

[Just Dallas]

OK Mike. How can I help?
The ball is back in your court.

No charge. The wife and I will be happy to do spell check on the magazine. I can put it into PDF 9 or newer form, readable from PDF 5. I can also resize photo's and make the whole thing searchable.

I haven't played with the other forms that are available now, but they can't be that hard to do.

When the magazine makes even one cent of profit, you owe me back pay.

[HighTechRedneck]

Here is a tip about viewing the PDF version most people don't know about - you can view it in a two page format.

www.BusConversions.com/november.pdf

Right click that link and choose "Save Target file" (or whatever your browser says to that effect) and save it to your computer.  Then go to where you saved it and open it.  It should open in Adobe Acrobat Reader (a free program that comes with most computers or can be downloaded free at www.adobe.com .

Go to the "View" menu and choose "Page Display" > Two Page View.  In the later versions it offers an option in that menu labeled "show cover page in two page view".  Making sure it is "checked" (click it if it isn't) will make sure the pages are paired correctly - for example the centerfold will be properly shown.

[Lonnie time to go]

OK Guys you need to read between the lines.

I like the print version but costs make the mag a little expensive from a sales point of view.

I think the flip version and pdf version is the best.

You can create a pdf version for pennies on the dollar.

That can be sold in volume cheap with touch of a mouse.

Lonnie

[grantgoold]

What ever happens to the printed magazine is most likely beyond my control. However, I honestly hope this very important and critical resource of practical knowledge from both "older" and "newer" busnuts remains intact. I can honestly say that without the content in both the magazine, and this board, I would not be anywhere near completion and most like would have sold the bus years ago. Currently, I am learning how to make granite counter tops and I give almost all the credit to members of this board and authors of the magazine. Each has directly helped me understand and become confident in converting a perfectly good bus into a home on wheels.

Again, thank you to everyone for all your help! I anxiously watch how this issue plays out in the near future. If the magazine goes away, please let me know how to pay for access to this board and the gold mine of knowledge from all of you.

Regards

Grant

[luvrbus]

Full-fill the obligation to the hard copy people then take it in another direction,we had about the same deal with the Eagles news letter people wanted the hard copy and now most have accepted the electronic version the paper version was costing us more than we were taking in for dues.

Draw the line in the sand Mikey don't worry about it the ones that leave 95% will return.

Me personally I would like it a lot better if you just said this is the way it is going to be for the magazine to survive like it or not maybe a little different wording lol

All of here should know that some kind of a profit or a break even has to be done or it is gone works that is way in our society.

I would ful-fill my obligations then let the chips fall

good luck

[JackConrad]

One of the kayak clubs I belong to is going through a similar situation.  The club has charged an additional $5 annual membership fee if you wanted a printed edition of the 5 newsletters. Only problem is that it cost the club about $13 per year to cover to cost of printing and mailing the printed version, and another postage increase coming in January. The members will be voting shortly on a couple options. Looks like it will probably end up costing the members desiring the printed version a larger annual membership fee.  Jack

[robertglines1]

What about the two yrs some of us have already paid for???    As or as mine keep it! and apply it to the cost of membership to the board. The main reason I subscribed was to help the board survive.  Just my opinion.  Bob Glines

[buswarrior]

oh dear...

PM on the way.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[rampeyboy]

Print form IMO should be the standard. That's why it is called a MAGAZINE. I look forward to getting my next issue in the mail. If it is online only, I don't see what makes it any different than any web forum that allows picture posting. In fact the forums can be more beneficial as they are "real time" and do not make you wait for months for your next issue. So, if you are gong to sell a magazine, price it accordingly so that you can at least break even. If the cost is too much, nobody will buy it, and it will sease. But please don't create an online only version and call it a magazine.

Boyce

[Paladin]

I'm of the old school where you fulfill contracts, obligations and agreements no matter what and after that you are free to make new changes. You made the deal, you stand by your word before making changes midstream. Settle all existing accounts first before new changes. I know it sounds callous but it's not my problem that cost obligations can't be met. I signed up based on the offer made, if the offer (subscription price) was not enough to cover costs then it should have been properly adjusted before being submitted.
This is like a contractor bidding on a job and then coming back and saying that his bid was too low to actually perform the job. It's not the other parties fault.

I don't like the direction that the "magazine" is going, now it seems we get an e-zine whether we like it or not and after money was paid and agreements were made. The decisions really seem to have already been made. If memory serves there was an option to buy the magazine in online form only or printed and I chose printed. I wanted a hard printed copy that I could take with me, read where I chose such as on trips etc where I don't carry internet and a laptop with me. That's what I paid for either way and what I expected to get. Now it's incumbent on me to print out an online PDF if I want to have what I paid for.
 
Now I doubt very much that I'll see my money again or a magazine and I don't plan to renew again, I'll just re-read my old mags and be glad that I at least got them.

Lesson learned. I'll go subscribe to another rv type magazine that I know that I'll get but I believe that there should be options offered for those who have paid already so as to start fresh. Either donate the monies paid to help keep the forum going (though I believe it's a separate entity or at least should be), roll the dice with an e-zine or whatever unfolds or a refund.

[bobofthenorth]

I'm sure MAK never intended to get the magazine back and he's likely making the best of a bad situation so maybe we should all just ease up and let him do whatever he is going to do.  I also don't buy the notion that the magazine subsidizes the board and therefore we should support the magazine or vice versa for that matter.  I realize that bandwidth costs money but this is a pretty small enterprise so it doesn't cost THAT much.  And there's plenty of ads hanging onto the site - gotta think that maybe its revenue positive or at least close to neutral.  Don't ever forget that we the busnuts generate the content - if we go elsewhere, so does the content.