Bah, Let Them Eat ... Wait, Seriously?
OK, so I've been listening to the quiet rumblings from the Perigee readership regarding our recently instated dollar cover charge.
Susan Fellows, our advisory and contributing editor, has been fielding questions from a growing number of students and professors. "Again, remind me why we are charging?" she asked me in a recent e-mail. "I have had students ask me this—and they are not pleased."
A few weeks ago this sort of thing made me roll my eyes. I was in my "Bah, let them eat cake" phase.
"The idea was to put some money in the Perigee coffers to allow for compensation to writers/artists," I reminded Sue. "And also to fund moving to print, which is not a cheap endeavor."
Misattributed Marie Antoinette quotes aside, I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge disappointment at the number of readers (few) who are willing to part with a single dollar to read the complete issue of Perigee.
There were a few days of funky discouragement for me—just ask my wife.
But Perigee was not created to make money; it was created to offer a venue for quality art and literature. At no time has that changed.
Regular contributor and admired wordsmith Tom Sheehan shared recently that, "The $1.00 fee was a big departure from the norm, as I see it. The hardest part, from some people who have come back to me in sort of a report retort, has been the very manipulation of things to get into the site itself. I had a few pals that remarked on the difficulty."
Fair enough. The public has spoken. Since our primary mission has always been simply to provide a venue for writers and poets at a time when so many talented voices are overlooked, we will continue to do that in our own small way. Sans distractions. Sans complications. Sans cover charge.
(R Woerheide, Encouraged Editor)
Susan Fellows, our advisory and contributing editor, has been fielding questions from a growing number of students and professors. "Again, remind me why we are charging?" she asked me in a recent e-mail. "I have had students ask me this—and they are not pleased."
A few weeks ago this sort of thing made me roll my eyes. I was in my "Bah, let them eat cake" phase.
"The idea was to put some money in the Perigee coffers to allow for compensation to writers/artists," I reminded Sue. "And also to fund moving to print, which is not a cheap endeavor."
Misattributed Marie Antoinette quotes aside, I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge disappointment at the number of readers (few) who are willing to part with a single dollar to read the complete issue of Perigee.
There were a few days of funky discouragement for me—just ask my wife.
But Perigee was not created to make money; it was created to offer a venue for quality art and literature. At no time has that changed.
Regular contributor and admired wordsmith Tom Sheehan shared recently that, "The $1.00 fee was a big departure from the norm, as I see it. The hardest part, from some people who have come back to me in sort of a report retort, has been the very manipulation of things to get into the site itself. I had a few pals that remarked on the difficulty."
Fair enough. The public has spoken. Since our primary mission has always been simply to provide a venue for writers and poets at a time when so many talented voices are overlooked, we will continue to do that in our own small way. Sans distractions. Sans complications. Sans cover charge.
(R Woerheide, Encouraged Editor)
posted by Robert Woerheide at 3:46 PM
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5 Comments:
Congratulations on rescinding the access fee. That seemed to be moving in the wrong direction, even though you need money to go to print. Perhaps you could do an ANNUAL print anthology--Best of Perigee?---rather than a more frequent publication. I think that would sell, esp. among those whose work has appeared online.
Yes, once I got to the barriers, I too just clicked off---didn't want to wrestle with it on my slow computer. Human nature is pretty consistent.
Good luck with all you do!
Sincerely,
Joseph McLaughlin (appeared an issue or two ago.)
Thanks for the input and feedback, Joseph. The barrier you mentioned is one of the key reasons we've reverted back to the original methods; the last thing we want is to limit our audience, or the audience our writers/poets/artists receive. Everything else must be secondary if we are to stay true to our philosophy.
Your idea of an annual "best of" is a good one, and I have toyed with this idea in the past. Recent events considered, such a publication is MORE likely than in the past. And more democratic too, thanks to input like yours.
I regret that P's latest endeavour soured. It was a good idea, I suppose. Seemingly not counter to P's mission of providing good art.
That idea, a yearly print anthology, for a fee, sounds good. Maybe passing the hat around to the contributors to acquire the capital? If it didn't affect the editing process....
Always a fan,
L Lawson
Rob,
I did not and still do not see a problem with charging "a whole dollar" to read quality writing. I am shocked and quite disenchanted that people would complain about it. It's one little dollar to spare for writing that may change your life.
I think that you should reinstate the charge and gather funds for a print issue, the world needs it. As for the functionality of Perigee, no complaints here.
Keep up the excellent work.
Cheers from a long time reader,
Zak
http://faculty.palomar.edu/zpugh
Rob,
I did not and still do not see a problem with charging "a whole dollar" to read quality writing. I am shocked and quite disenchanted that people would complain about it. It's one little dollar to spare for writing that may change your life.
I think that you should reinstate the charge and gather funds for a print issue, the world needs it. As for the functionality of Perigee, no complaints here.
Keep up the excellent work.
Cheers from a long time reader,
Zak
http://faculty.palomar.edu/zpugh
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