Hi,

Is there only one bonus project this issue? You've been spoiling us with several in the past.  Let me know if I'm not interpreting this web page correctly and there are more bonus projects for this issue (DEC-JAN 11-12).

Carol Rightnour

Subscriber

I agree with Carol, where are the other bonus projects you've led us to expect

Elaine Correia - subscriber

Yeah, where's the rest of the projects?

When I susbscribed to Beadwork, I was told it included bonus projects (Quick & Easy?) to download with every issue.  Each previous issue has included at least 10 deisgns, some very intricate, and now, this issue has just 1 design that is quite reminiscent of a bracelet I made when I first started beading 15 years ago.  What gives?

Is there going to be a Super Beadwork available for this issue on news stands?

lindasubscriber

I agree with everyone else. what gives?

I agree with all the comments : I'm a french subscriber, and I hope this is just a mistake. It would be nice if Beadwork explained us what happened.

I am glad I am not the only one. I opened the magazine a second time to check for the pictures of the bonus projects and did not find them! How do we find out? Karen

That's it?  Just one?  :-(

I certainly hope that there are more on-line projects for this issue.  Or if the on-line content is changing they should at least have explained it in the magazine so that we wouldn't be so confused.

Carla---subscriber

Just got off the phone with customer service.  Was told that there would be no more "Bonus Projects".  Told her I am very disappointed that the subscribers were not advised of this decision.  She told me that "they" got a lot of input and "they" decided to cancel the bonus section.  My reply to her was that "no one asked me"  :-(

Joannie - subscriber since the first issue

No more bonus projects!!!!!!!!!!  That just SUCKS!!!!  The bonus projects was the sole reason I renewed my subscription for 3 years!  What a huge disappointment and a waste of good money that could have been spent on more worthwhile magazines.

It really would have been nice if they had advised everyone that they bonus projects were being discontinued effective at a certain date instead of just not putting any in the magazine at all and letting everyone believe there would be.

One extremely dissatisfied customer,

Debbi Tower

I am hoping that this is just a mistake, that maybe Beadwork does not have any contributors for the extra downloads.  I love my Beadwork and truly have looked forward to having that little extra, or maybe they are having to cut back like everyone else is.  I would hate to lose the mag all together, so if we are just to have what is in this issue be happy you have a great magazine to look at at all.  However, I really was looking forward to the extra touch we subscribers got and am sorry that we did not get it.

What a let down!!! and what a boring project. Is ther a superbeadwork available with more projects and if so how do overseas subscribers get it????

Ditto, I am in Australia and subscribed for the added bonuses. 

I'm disappointed. I don't understand the decision to offer more projects to people who buy off the shelf and fewer to subscribers. We subscribe because we don't want to miss anything. If there are going to be no online projects for the lower price subscription, they should offer two different versions, one of which would include ALL projects, still for lower than the cover price.

Kassie Inman, The Beading Butterfly

subscriber and contributor

How come only 1 project.... so not right!

Aw devo! I'm in Australia too (I only just got MY magazine in the post yesterday) and I agree with Karn McGuire.. The front of the magazine clearly states 'free bonus projects'.. with an "S" on the end! Implying plural, more than one!

I was not consulted of any changes and I am very sad to not have my bonuses =(

I am definitely not happy about the lack of bonus projects and even more unhappy about the apparent decision to exclude them in the future without any warning to, or input from, subscribers. Beadwork, I've been a loyal subscriber for ten years but I can't help feeling as though I've been lied to.

Christina C. - subscriber

Mmm, add my voice to this protest. Was definitely expecting more than one project. It's not making me want to renew my subscription, of which I've been very happy for the last several years. 

The front cover says "Download free bonus projects at....../bonusprojects"   That means more than one  bonus project. 

What did they do with the Dec/Jan issue at the magazine stands? They included the bonus projects in those issues. 

Beadwork magazine, saved money on printing, and mailing, by creating the online 'Bonus Projects' .

 We had the added expense of printing out the projects we were interested in.  

My subscription just came up for renewal, and this definitely makes me give it some thought before I do.  I don't do much wire work and was finding all the magazines had too much for me.

Like Beads Baubles and Jewels, ever since Katie Hacker has been hosting the show,  there's no more beadweaving.   A lot of metal work from Rio Grande, one of the sponsors. I don't mind some, but they haven't had any beadweaving for the last 12 episodes. I mess Leslie Rogalski.  I've pretty much stopped watching, and it's the only bead show on TV!! 

Janet - Subscriber

I was sure I was doing something wrong when I went to the download. Glad everyone had a comment. Wow, another kick to consumers and loyal customers.

Hi Carol,

I wanted to let you know that you are not misinterpreting anything—we are now offering one bonus project per issue, not ten. Let me explain: Last year, we decided to try something new—we created Super Beadwork, a newsstand only magazine that included the exact same content available in regular Beadwork (the Beadwork you receive as a subscriber), plus an extra section of Quick & Easy projects. This magazine sold for $12.99 per issue. Anticipating that our loyal subscribers would wish that they, too, could see the additional content, we decided to offer them complementary access to the content online without any increase in subscription price or without charging an additional fee. When it became clear that market conditions weren’t favorable for a newsstand-only publication like Super Beadwork (you’ve probably heard of Border’s bankruptcy and store closures), we decided to revert back to selling the original version of Beadwork on newsstands, which has the same great mix of projects at the same great price as in years past. Because we are no longer producing Super Beadwork, we no longer have ten additional projects to offer as a complementary gift to our subscribers; instead, we are posting one bonus project as we did in the past. I hope you can understand our situation. Thanks to you and everyone else in this thread for being a loyal Beadwork reader.

Kind regards,

Danielle Fox

Editor in Chief

Hello everyone,

I also wanted to follow up with a response to the comment about our cover advertising bonus "projects" (plural). We say that because within this subscriber bonus area, you have access to not only this new project, but also past bonus projects. With all sincerity I can tell you that we did not mean this to be deceiving, but reflective of the fact that there are multiple projects available for free.

Danielle Fox, Editor in Chief, BEADWORK

Thank you for explaining that the Superbeadwork was no longer an ongoing project. As I am an international subscriber, I had thought I would not be able to access these projects at all, as the larger issue was not to be on offer. My main disappointment was in thinking I would be missing out on the extra projects promised because of this other issue of the magazine. Since that is no longer the case, then I am fine. But it might have been good to make this clearer from the start. Unless I missed the post about this, so please excuse my reaction when I felt I was left in the dark. Thanks again. ;-)

I really look forward to getting Beadwork and have subscribed for many years.  I am also an occasional contributor and I wish that the magazine staff would let everyone know what is going to happen with the magazine.  Super Beadwork was a surprise and now not having the additional projects is a surprise.  I don't really mind but I think communication is important.  If you are only going to  give one bonus project it would be nice if it wasn't quite so simple..

I understand that the publishing market is awful right now, especially for a niche magazine, but as both a long-time fan and subscriber of Beadwork and as someone who makes a living in Public Relations (for small businesses, natch) I have to be honest: I feel like you have really cheated your subscribers. First you make printed content available through newsstands only so that the subscribers have no choice but to either pay their subscription fees plus $12.99 a month for a mag on the newsstand or own/beg/borrow a color printer and be prepared to use up, in my case, at least a quarter of my ink jet toner (because it's pretty hard - if not impossible - to read beading diagrams in b&w). And now not only have you taken away half of the content that people paid their subscription fees for, you did not tell your subscribers that there would only be one project this month. The fact that there is no explanation or disclaimer on the subscriber project page (save for a reply to distressed/angry customer posts buried in this comment section) just makes it seem like you're trying to put one over on us. It's all around not good business practice and I sincerely doubt that I will renew my subscription to your magazine at this time.

Jamie Rubin

Subscriber

And the comment I've copied below is rather insulting in the face of, going by the Better Business Beaureau's standard definition, is False Advertising and Unethical Business Practice (due to the lack of notice or options given to subscribers).

<<<I also wanted to follow up with a response to the comment about our cover advertising bonus "projects" (plural). We say that because within this subscriber bonus area, you have access to not only this new project, but also past bonus projects. With all sincerity I can tell you that we did not mean this to be deceiving, but reflective of the fact that there are multiple projects available for free.>>>

oops! That last post should read:

And the comment I've copied below is rather insulting in the face of what is simply - according to the Better Business Beaureau's definition of the terms - False Advertising and Unethical Business Practice (due to the lack of notice or options given to subscribers).

<<<I also wanted to follow up with a response to the comment about our cover advertising bonus "projects" (plural). We say that because within this subscriber bonus area, you have access to not only this new project, but also past bonus projects. With all sincerity I can tell you that we did not mean this to be deceiving, but reflective of the fact that there are multiple projects available for free.>>>

And I'm sorry to be so scathing - I'm so sick of being bombarded with corporate rhetoric. It's really disturbing to get it from Beadwork, though...

I think the main problem is that silence about the demolition of the extra downloadble projects. I loved them myself also, despite some designs quality were quite not as expected, and they're full of advertisement  - well the newspapers live out of those, OK, understood. But if the editors would have sent a letter to their subscribers about the situation, I'm sure all of them would have been understanding. With this step Beadwork will lose more (more or less satisfied) readers than with a polite, regretful message. We would have deserved at least a notification.

At least in this last case it'd have been stylish and fair to provide the additional 10 extra projects, and start the year 2012 with the news. The name was projects, not one project. 

This process in unfair and unworthy from a 15 year old prestigous magazine.

Viktoria Nadas
Subscriber from Finland

Hi Debba - Just wanted to send along a big Thank you for this design, it reminds me very much of the Star of David... a perfect gift to make for my Jewish friends! I decided to make it a set: one star only for the necklace (but using the rest of the design elements so as not to distract from the Star), the bracelet exactly as you designed it, and a bookmark consisting of a length of 1/8" wide satin ribbon with a star and a set of elements on each end. Thank you thank you!

This comment is for the Powers That Be: I too renewed my subscription because of the 'extras' for subscribers - something that was meant only for subscribers and not the general public. I too am disappointed only one project will be available per issue; and I have to wonder if the people who designed the 10 'extras' were able to come up with that many per issue, how difficult could it be to have, say, 5 or 6 projects for just us subscribers.

I would like to give those same Powers That Be some 'food for thought':

Take a good, hard look at the unhappy subscribers here who have taken the time to comment about their unhappiness, add to this any e-mailed comments and reconsider: Is your decision to cut back hard really worth the negative feelings here and on blogs that just might result in much fewer subscription renewals by current subscribers?

With so many other beading magazines 'out there', competition is tight for subscriber dollars. Personally I prefer Beadwork to the other magazine that's been published for a few years longer than BW - they've been stuck in a rut for about 5 years now because they're using the same formula for articles and the same 6 or 7 readily identifiable names such as Kummli, Serafini, etc to the point where new artisans are not being spotlighted for their techniques and works of art. It's at the point (for me at least) that when I opened the other magazine I'd wonder if I'd see the same names and...yup. There they were.

So I decided now to renew that other magazine, but to renew Beadwork because I found it superior. But be careful - the Editors are beginning to fall into the same complacent modus operandi: More Kummli and Serafini et al.

There are several phenomenal artists in Israel that are worthy of publication. There are artists in Ukraine and Russia that have invented or who have improved upon quite a few beading techniques. Showcase them. (The research is fun and even though using translation software can be choppy at times, the diagrams are pleniful so language isn't a barrier.)

Anyway - this is just food for thought for you Editors. Having just renewed my subscription one issue ago, my subscription won't run out for a few years from now so I'll decide if I'm going to renew after that.

So to review - is your decision to cut back really worth alienating a loyal consumer base - especially at a time when the economy is awful?

Give us all an incentive to renew. Publish at least half a dozen subscriber only projects per issue. It's not impossible considering up to 10 have been published per issue.

FYI.

To be honest, the whole December/January issue was a big disappointment to me. It was full of advertisements and even the bonus project(s) is a rather simple piece for beginners. I hope the next issue will compensate us otherwise Beadwork will surely lose quite a lot of subscribers.

Niki - a subscriber from Hungary

Total cop-out.  On the dec/jan magazine cover is clearly states: "download free bonus projectS" (plural), not project (singular).  False advertising, disappointing project (singular).  Who do you think your readers are?  Total disappointment.

I am glad an explanation was offered.  I was one of those who subscribed to the online version of Beadwork and searched and searched for the "Bonus" projects and only found one.  I just checked again today and saw that there were 40+ comments.  I am not happy about the bonus projects missing either.  I specifically subscribed to the online version JUST to get the online projects with the magazine.  I felt it was unfair to have to a subscription to Beadwork and then have to go online to get the bonus projects.  Especially since they would only be available for 6 months and then removed.   I prefer getting the paper magazine so I can read them at my leisure or take them with me to work on projects.  (Not everyone has a printer).  I have duplicate copies of most of the Beadwork magazines from last year - one with the bonus projects and one with out.   I think the original intent was well meaning but, I would have prefered paying to get the magazine WITH the bonus projects as a subscription rather than buying it twice each issue. 

I am still waiting for my Dec / Jan Issue after numerous E-Mails it has still not arrived. I took out another subscription because of all the great patterns it would be a great help to just get the magazine. The one bonus  is very disappointing and it is more like a beginners pattern after the really nice and challenging previous ones.Just want what I paid for and was promised. Regards Carol......

I too am shocked at BW only offering one bonus project - NOT what was represented upon my renewal. Is this the new, and less, format??????????????

Elizabeth Fox

Long Time Subscriber

I also agree with everyone, specially  tic@5 .  I recently extended my subscription a few years - primarily based upon the extras that BW offered.  In this despressed economy,  magazine subscriptions are a luxury, bonus offers are my number one reason for justifing the expenditure.  I feel betrayed, cheated and conned.  From everything I've read, you evidently knew you were going to discontinue the 10 bonus projects; therefore, you had a responsibility to inform new subscribers as well as your "Bread and Butter" renewal subscribers, of your intentions. 

 I believe, as many other comments indicate, that should you have informed us - after all you have a whole magazine in which to do so - we would have grumbled, but accepted.  Now,  I think you will lose many subscribers - because you have lost faith with them.  It's a matter of principal.

Karen Parker - subscriber