Hello Reader,
Last Thursday we received some distressing news--the kind of news that made our very bones ache when we heard it; the kind of news that felt so significant we simply couldn't function after it sank in.
With a few days time and the ability to process it, we decided it's news worth sharing: It was a letter from the president of the Independent Press Association, the not-for-profit organization that owns the company
that distributes the majority of Punk Planet's copies, BigTop Newsstand Services. The letter acknowledged the truth of a rumor that had been running through indie publishing circles for months now: the distributor was having cash flow problems. Payments to publishers for magazines already distributed had been and would continue to be effected for an unknown amount of time. In case you don't operate a magazine, the money coming in from newsstand sales is vital to publishers' bottom line. For a magazine like Punk Planet, where our ad rates remain very low to cater to independent businesses, those distributor payments are even more
critical.
This news leaves us in a tight spot: BigTop is the last distributor in
the country that specializes in distributing independent press magazines
like Punk Planet. When we started 12 years ago, there were close to a
half dozen such distributors; each one that has gone belly up dragged a
few magazines with it. Because BigTop is owned by the IPA, an
organization whose mission is to "amplify" the voice of the independent
press, we don't expect that they will go out of business; but we also
don't know when we will see the money we are owed.
What does this mean for the future of Punk Planet? The truth is we don't
yet know. But we do know there are things you can do that will help us
in both the short term and the long term.
1. Please consider subscribing (or resubscribing) and purchasing some
merchandise from our webstore today. The new issue~Rs out now, and it's
awesome! (http://www.ppmerchtable.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv) If you have
a product, idea, or event to advertise, purchase an ad.
(http://www.punkplanet.com/pages/magazine/advertising.html) An immediate
influx of cash will allow us to pay off back debts--to contributors,
printers, web hosts, etc--and better enable us to weather any coming
storm caused by nonpayment from our distributor. Our annual end-of year
subscription sale is just starting now -- get a whole year for only $18, or
really help us out and buy a couple of them!
(http://www.ppmerchtable.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=PPMT&Category_Code=S)
2. Please forward this information--or this whole email--on to your
lists and friends, and specifically ask them to subscribe or buy
merchandise from us. In addition to a two-year subscription for only
$30, you can pick up any of our amazing books~WJoe Meno's Hairstyles of
The Damned, Bee Lavender's Lessons In Taxidermy, Mark Anderson's All The
Power, or Jay Ryan's brand-new 100 Posters 134 Squirrels now available
for pre-order! We've also got Punk Planet T-shirts, hoodies, underpants,
and the awesomely cool PPAP: Punk Planet Artists' Prints wearable art
series.
(http://www.ppmerchtable.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=PPMT)
3. Consider donating to the Community Supported Journalism Fund. It's a
small-fund donations program, made up almost exclusively of donations of
less than $20, but it's already allowed us to bring you the amazing End
of Radio cover story of PP69: four full articles on different aspects of
radio creation and tons of teeny interviews with audio experts:
(http://www.independentsdaymedia.com/csj/). It wouldn't have been
possible without your support!
3. Please continue to support independent print media. The payment
issues affecting us are not singular--there are others in the same
predicament that need your support as well.
Your loving magazine-friend,
Punk Planet
this has been a message courtesy the fine folks at www.independentsdaymedia.com.
thank you for reading it.
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website are those of the individual members of Chicago Media
Action who authored them, and not necessarily those of the entire
membership of Chicago Media Action, nor of Chicago Media Action
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