| Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Yokohama, Japan Posts: 1,045
|  A few words to put things in perspective
Looks folks,
I'll try to make this as upfront as possible, so that there's no misunderstanding here. First off, as I've said before, nothing personal and no hard feelings. I've met Tom on a few occasions and he seems like and upstanding person. I don't think I'm taking anything out of context, and if a mistake is a genuine one, then sobeit. No big issues there.
Now on to what I want to convey to everyone here. Regardless of what anyone thinks, Koi-Bito magazine is a business. I make no claims to the otherwise. Now, I'm not sure how many of you run your own business, but believe me...it's hard work. You have suppliers to pay and if you are short of revenue, then you have to pay out-of-pocket meaning from your personal funds. I've invested enough personally in this magazine in terms of cash, sweat equity, and time away from my family to the point where I don't really feel that I need to explain why I get upset when I feel that people are taking advantage of my efforts. I think that more than a few people don't see my side, so that's why I will take the time to explain a few things here and now...hopefully once and for all.
The core product that I'm selling to my subscribers is a magazine. A magazine in and of itself is just a magazine. I'd like to think that my magazine has content that you can't find anywhere else, which puts it head and shoulders above the rest. I know what else is out there, and I'm confident making this statement with regards to the content. The only other magazine that generated much interest in the past 3 years is now defunct. After subtle innuendos that they would "bury me", they're not in business anymore. Anyone care to venture a guess why they called it quits? It's quite simple really. They couldn't collect what was owed to them by their advertisers. I can only assume that the magazine wasn't producing a profit, so they made a very difficult, but financially prudent decision to collapse the company.
So does this begin to ring any bells with anyone? If you look at Koi-Bito, there are very few adverts. The other magazine folded because they couldn't collect advert fees, but I've managed to keep plugging along without them. I think that should tell you a little bit about my character, how much I like koi, and more than anythin, how much I like getting good knowledge out to those that thirst for it. I make literally pennies off of each issue I sell. This gets better each time that a koi professional decides to get behind me and support the magazine with either a banner or print ad, but the reality is that I am personally subsidizing the magazine out of my own pocket through my full-time outside job. It's as simple as that. I don't have another income stream that I can rely on to make a living, so the magazine is going to have to stand on it's own two legs soon.
Now, I don't mind this too much, except when I feel that people are taking advantage of the fame of the Koi-Bito site and name. Quite frankly, the more I see people freeloading and undermining me and my advertisers, the more I think I'd rather just pack it all in and spend more time with my family.
What Tom did isn't so bad, and probably is just a simple mistake. At least he was upfront about the promotion. There are others, some of them that compete with Koi-Bito in one way or another, that are more clandestine about how they promote themselves off of my back, and this disappoints me to no end. I notice this, and so do others...witnessed by the amount of PM's that I receive asking me why I put up with it.
I'll try and make it simple. If you are selling anything, and are showing, mentioning, informing, generating interest through this website and you are not a paying advertiser, then what you are doing is wrong and it hurts me and the people who PAY to advertise. I don't have a gold tree that I can go to everytime I need to pay the printers, postal service, designers, photo providers, web hoster, designers etc., not to mention get some renumeration commensurate with what I put into Koi-Bito. It takes money to make things run, and anyone that wants to poo-poo that notion is being dishonest to themselves and disrespectful to me and my supporters. And no, just because you buy the magazine to read as an individual, it doesn't entitle you to have your business promotion expenses subsidized by me. As rough as that might sound, I'm pleading with you all here to consider the future of Koi-Bito magazine. I won't continue to put my blood, sweat and tears (not to mention money) into it anymore if I can't reap some of the rewards, and if the free advertising continues to undermine my ability to earn a modest living.
I'm sure that this post is bound to step on a few toes, but unfortunately that's just how it's going to have to be. I think I've been very reasonable so far, and we have very reasonable packages to fit all budgets so there's really no reason for the free advertising to continue. You'll notice that none of the folks that do pay to support the magazine are on the forum here tooting their horns. They recognize the value of service rendered, and leave that task up to me.
Well, all that being said I'm now open to comments. Whether you realize it or not folks, this is your magazine as well, and it is what you make it. If you're alright with people blatantly debasing the only viable income stream that the magazine has, then you can't reasonably expect me to continue on for much longer.
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Brian Sousa
Koi-Bito Magazine
Last edited by Brian; 09-26-2005 at 09:34 PM.
Reason: mispelled word
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09-26-2005
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