Closure of Amigaville.

[zerohour1974]

Hi Brian here...

Well lets just say sadly I am deciding to close Amigaville forthwith. Issue 4 just is not going anywhere. Normally by now I would have had over 400 downloads when it was free.

Well I will admit this I have sold 21 copies of Issue 4. Which is soul destroying.

So I hereby stand down ...

Trust me there has been some amazing comments and people have been nice about the magazine. I really can't thank those people enough.

It was fun... See you people around

[Amigajay]

Dont get too downbeat, if you did it for the love of it and grateful 400 read it everyissue, then carry on releasing it for free, things dont always turn out the way we wont them esp with niche marketplaces, even if was a £1 it still would have only sold 21, believe me people want most things for free nowadays even if it means adverts lol

Please dont give up though, have a break and remember what you did it for in the first place, the Amiga scene needs more people like you :-)

[amadama]

Brian, not sure why you are throwing in the towel so quickly. You released this issue four or five days ago. It's understandable to be frustrated by low response, but not after less than a week.
What were your expectations? How are you marketing your magazine?

[prowler]

Hi Brian,

I'm absolutely gutted by the closure of Amigaville magazine.

I've really enjoyed reading your insightful comments and was looking forward to your sharing many more.

Surely you didn't expect Issue 4 to be taken up immedately by all those who downloaded the free versions?

I would strongly urge you to reconsider. I suggest you wait until at least the end of the month before making a final decision and, in the meantime, you could upload some low-resolution shots of various pages from the magazine to give those non-subscribers a taste of what they're missing.

And to all those deserters who haven't bought the last issue:

Why the hell not?

Look what you've gone and done!

[Greyfox]

I agree with everyone here, I spend time creating the cover for this issue and would hate to see it disappear as fast as it appeared, I also sent on preview mockup images from the magazine in helping it get promoted, which I haven't seen publicly yet, if you have got them Brian, me check your email.

Secondly after releasing three fully fledged digital magazine series commercially, you need to continuously bomb bard Facebook, Twitter and mainland forums, not just Amiga forums, also to mention, this was the only forum I have seen post about issue 4 of Amigaville, other than the news I posted on RVG and that IndieNews posted about. So you haven't exactly get the word out there, maybe this due hoping that it would simple escalate to its sales pitch, or you didn't have the time?, I can say it is hard, but if you believe in the magazine, promote it better, people will come, throwing in the towel is the worse thing you can do.

So like the picture of the cat hanging off that clothes line "Hang in there" give yourself time to reflect on your work and effort and those newly found contributors you got for this issue, think or get advice on a strategy to learn to promote it, I mentioned podcasts to you and I also mentioned getting it mentioned on some popular Amiga YouTube channels..so it's time reboot and get yourself out of that Guru Mediation your in

[zerohour1974]

Ok.... thanks to everyone for their support.

It seems I may be a little hasty in my shutdown. The site is still up and will remain so until the end of the month run. So in the first week of March I will make my decision which way to go.

As Greyfox said he did me some incredible prevews... so here they are...





Available here :-
http://www.amigaville.com/downloads/...le-here-for-2/

[prowler]

Thanks Brian, I'm mighty relieved to hear that!

I'll try to post some feedback on the site in the next couple of days for you as well.

[Minuous]

Originally Posted by zerohour1974

Normally by now I would have had over 400 downloads when it was free.

Well I will admit this I have sold 21 copies of Issue 4.

That's probably the problem right there, it is competing against other similar mags which are free. Also there is no indication of the number of pages, filesize, list of contents, etc. so buying it would be a gamble. Seems to be mostly re-reviews of old games, that's probably not compelling content for most people.

[LuMan]

Hi Brian. Glad you reconsidered pulling the mag. I've read all of them and am more than happy to pay such a low price to support what is a great publication.

There are a number of people who have already expressed an interest in submitting work for the mag, so why not incentivise them and reduce your workload at the same time. This will give you more time to be creative with aspects of the publication, while also concentrating on marketing, instead of typing so much.

Some ideas:
1. Incentives
For every person who submits a published article, give them a free copy. They'll surely get friends to read it if they have their work published, and this could lead to more sales.

2. Adverts
As well as the old ads for by-gone Amiga kit (which I really enjoy seeing, btw) offer advertising space for current tech, software, projects, meets, music, cars, dogs, whatever! Even if it works out at just £1 for half a page, folk may well pay it to support the project, and they also get a bit of cheap advertising too! It's worth remembering that a huge chunk of any magazine's production comes from ads.

3. Sponsorship
Offer sponsorship of the whole mag, or the cover, or certain pages. It would be great to see my name sponsoring some great artwork (Greyfox's covers for example). Be sensible with the charges and ensure it covers the cost for a copy of the mag.

4. Preview
Post the proposed release date and content in the News section of this forum (and as many others as you can find). Check out how Amiga Future approach this: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=81100. It's a great approach and really whets people's appetites. Even if the content changes, it doesn't matter too much, as long as you state that it is a proposed listing.

5. EAB Reference
Add a section about current hot threads in EAB (this is an ideal task for someone else). List the forum locations and an overview of what is being discussed. Or even just mention a section that you think people may find entertaining - such as the OT forums. Then be sure to mention your mag in those forums (ahem.. actually, be sure they are in topic.. can't upset the mods.. ).

Finally, don't make any decisions based purely on the sales run of this mag. You must release a good half a dozen to really get a feel. If sales go up, then stick at it. If sales slump, then have a re-think. Rome wasn't built in a day

I hope some of these ideas help and please don't fold the mag yet, as I'm sure you've got plenty more to offer

[zerohour1974]

Yep some great ideas there...

Minuous ... I would love to have more up to date reviews such as the OS4 stuff. I just don't have the hardware.

[Aegis]

Hi Brian - I didn't even know this magazine existed unfortunately (but then I have been away from the scene for a while). I've just downloaded issues 1-3 and I'll be purchasing issue 4 later today.

When WinUAE 3.3.0 is released I'll be putting together a little optimization guide for AmigaOS 4.1 so that users can get the most out of it - if you like I could create an expanded guide (with a nice layout/formatting) for Amigaville?

[Lord Aga]

Well, it's good to have things stir up a bit.
I, for one, wasn't aware that we had this magazine up for a download/sale. Someone else will see it for the first time too.

Having cheap ads is a great idea. It will add up.

Organize a "Win an Amiga 4000" game, then blame Amiga inc for not supplying it

Just persevere. It will pick up steam.

You wont get rich, but you'll eventually get enough to cover your efforts

[Daedalus]

Nice idea, Aegis I've put forward a draft for the first part of a Blitz Basic tutorial. Time-permitting I might also be able to review OS 4 (or MorphOS for that matter) stuff since I have the hardware here to test it, as well as a couple of A1200s of various levels of expansion. If anyone has a suggestion software-wise, I'm happy to have a go at reviewing it.

[eroom72]

Missed this somehow. But have just downloaded issues 1 to 4. Looks good

[SkulleateR]

Hey ho .... just gimme time to read through all your articles, have been away for a while

But this looks good, keep em coming

[Amon_RA]

I was not aware of the existence of this magazine, downloaded 1 to 3 and just purchased 4. I'm "old" so I prefer a real paper magazine instead of pdf though ;-) *hint

[TenLeftFingers]

I have no social media presence myself, but I'm thinking it would be good to:

Contact all Amiga podcasts to let them know. Send them a freebie for review.
Join Amiga groups on Facebook, Google+ amd whatever else is used these days.
Ask all retro commercial sites for support by offering them the option to supply it, maybe receiving a cut of some cents?
Publish on Amazon for Kindle fire. I'm told by an author its not hard to self publish. Same for Android. Apple Newsstand?
Kickstarter to fund future issues in advance? (Do the others first thoughfor the awareness)
Create Twitter etc accounts so people have a way of spreading the word easily.
Create a presence on all the Amiga forums. Not just this one.

I'm happy to take ownership of some of these. But I wouldnt forward a copy of the pdf to anyone. I think tge ones sent for review should be specially branded to prevent redistribution.

I've read some free ones. Theyre not the same. Also, its good to support enterprise here. A community of people unwilling to pay even a little for quality is not healthy IMHO.

[idrougge]

Another option would be not to ask money for something that doesn't cost money, or to contribute to an existing Amiga magazine instead of competing.

[McTrinsic]

Team up with the folks from Amiga Future...

Cheers,
McT

[dreamkatcha]

Over the years I've embarked on a number of time-consuming, arduous projects for no monetary gain. Sometimes no-one cares, and sometimes you are pleasantly surprised by the level of appreciation. As long as you find some intrinsic value in what you're doing, the public response isn't the be all and end all, and you can't be crushed by it.

Some of the articles you cover may be unique to this particular format, but more than likely the same information is already out there on a blog or forum, and for free, so it's quite a big ask to expect people to pay for it in my opinion.