Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Someone showed me this game… It’s a game that’s something like billiards. It’s a addicting and fun game. I tried it a bunch of times since the games are quick and short but also strategic. If you can hit two or three or even four balls out with one shot, then you’re golden. After playing it a bunch of times, I got good enough to be number 497 of 500 high scores of the day! That score is pretty good as you can see the nickel and dime numbers that are higher than mine. But who’s Tu Puta Madre?
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Someone showed me this game... It's a game that's something like billiards. It's a addicting and fun game. I tried it a bunch of times since the games are quick and short but also strategic. If you can hit two or three or even four balls out with one shot, then you're golden.
After playing it a bunch of times, I got good enough to be number 497 of 500 high scores of the day! That score is pretty...
Continue reading
After playing it a bunch of times, I got good enough to be number 497 of 500 high scores of the day! That score is pretty...
Aside from winning our softball game once again by 7 runs, and still hitting away… I’ll still make more comments about Punk Planet. It was mentioned in a comment, that’s it’s too bad we have to make a brand to survive… but we’ve all heard the words, “there’s no money in publishing.” Well? What the heck does that mean? It means, there’s no money in it. So a brand developing out of a magazine is important. If it’s not a brand, then it’s some form of consulting, it’s throwing parties, it’s becoming a design firm, it’s more than just a magazine, and as Paper magazine’s art editor, Carlo McCormick once asked me, and a group of publishers, “What’s your scam?” He did preface it with saying that for a small mag to make it, there’s more than just publishing the magazine. Well, that’s what it takes to make it, and we’ve all been warned. But! Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just make a magazine and not worry? Can it be done comfortably? I’m still not sure. It would be nice if GR was retail $10, and we were able to sell each copy direct to customers. Then we’d still need to get ads, but a plan like this would be nice. Business sense counts in this racket, and I think that’s something you have to consider if you’re going to be in publishing.
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Aside from winning our softball game once again by 7 runs, and still hitting away...
I'll still make more comments about Punk Planet. It was mentioned in a comment, that's it's too bad we have to make a brand to survive... but we've all heard the words, "there's no money in publishing." Well? What the heck does that mean? It means, there's no money in it. So a brand developing out of a magazine is...
Continue reading
I'll still make more comments about Punk Planet. It was mentioned in a comment, that's it's too bad we have to make a brand to survive... but we've all heard the words, "there's no money in publishing." Well? What the heck does that mean? It means, there's no money in it. So a brand developing out of a magazine is...
A day later. On Punk Planet. I had time to think about it, and I didn’t get into reading the many eulogies or blog posts that I’m sure exist for this fallen magazine. It’s been 13 years for them, and actually the same for us as well, and I do know their magazine will be missed tremendously. It seems like they fit well into the world of indie publishing. They’ve probably won a few awards at the hands of UTNE reader. If you go into any indie record store, and many mainstream ones as well, you’ll see their magazine with that special look that they created. Punk Planet was more than just a music magazine, that seemed like the last bit important about them. They covered the rest of a punk rocker’s life, from politics to design to finances, and that’s something most music magazines won’t touch. Unfortunately, the last one, finances is what ultimately ended this publication. The same distributor we used, Indypress, AKA Bigtop, went under leaving PP in a world of debt, and believe it or not, left us in a quandary as well. (This isn’t about us, and I seriously doubt people would give that much care if we ceased to exist as compared to PP) The debt of a distributor going down and not paying for perhaps 3 issues is huge, it’s over a year’s salary for most people, and where’s that money going to mysteriously appear? You’re pretty much fucked, and that’s what happened. It’s a shame that the demise of a magazine isn’t from shitty journalism, but it’s from the business of distribution – the part that’s largely out of a publisher’s control if you’re a newsstand magazine. The next parts that I’m sure helped their end, is the huge amount of crap online. There’s so much, that people are reading less in print, and just taking quick looks at blogs, and “tidbits” of information here and there. Are print mags actually in trouble as a whole? Ads are going the way of the internet more recently since the technology of online advertising has improved as has internet video and tv type of content. Maybe that’s another culprit. It’s not lack of funds by the readers, that’s for sure, since everyone seems to have enough to buy a beer or a boba, which is just about the cost of a magazine. So, I lied, this will be a little about GR, since I’m now thinking about our situation. Imagine, GR with no stores or restaurant – just a magazine. Are we in the greatest shape ever? Probably not. Is advertising in print down? Maybe some. Are subscriptions up or down. Maybe a bit down. So what’s going to happen here? What can we do to prevent ourselves from being the next Clamor mag or Punk Planet? I’m not sure if I have any answers to this, except I feel good about making a magazine, and I do feel that our work is important...
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