I usually send out a newsletter whenever I have a new thing-of-interest on the website. Under normal circumstances this would mean a new newsletter every week or so. This month, though, I've added a lot of stuff to the site. I've already sent out five newsletters this month. I can see from my newsletter stats that I'm still getting a satisfying number of people siging up. But at the same time I've been seeing a few people unsubscribing. A couple of people have taken the time to let me know that I'm sending out too many newsletters - hence their unsubscription.

So the question is, what should I do? I have a modest plan. Two newsletters. One, constantly updated, perhaps linked to the Workshop Notes blog. The other limited to once a week at most, containing a disgest of the more regular newsletter.

What do you think? How do you feel about the current frequency of newsletters, too many, too few? Have you changed to the new server yet? (If not, sign up top left of this page) Any other suggestions.

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Web work today. I've been working on a page with all the subscriber downloads on it. I still need to add a few more items to the database and write the code which lets subscribers download files but I reckon it is looking promising.

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I'm still thinking about the Subscriber's area. There seems to be a fair bit of confusion between paid subscription and newsletter subscription - the problem being that the word subscription is the same in both!

So what do you think about 'Extra' or 'Plus' as names for the subscriber's feature. Or do you have any other ideas? Comments or emails both welcome.

Off to take the dog for a walk.

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According to my admin page I've had the current incarnation of the www.robives.com website up for 19 weeks and 22 hours. My aim in building this website has been to build a place where I can share my enthusiasm for paper engineering.  In the process I'm aiming to make a modest living, entirely from this website, so that I can follow my interests and enthusiams and work on the projects I choose. At the moment I'm working on paper design projects for other people as well as running the website. Ultimately, I aim to be designing solely for this website, at the current rate, it shouldn't be long.

The process of building the www.robives.com business has been fascinating. I've had to learn all kinds of new things from web database programming to online marketting. From graphics design to the intricacies of copyright and creative commons. There is no template to follow, no book on running a website selling paper model designs. I've spent a lot of time talking and emailing friends all round the world, receiving wise and knowledgable advice but in the end. I'm making it up as I go along.

One of the things they don't tell you, in these non existent books, it pricing. Just how much is a downloadable model worth? How much for an ebook? How much for a subscription? I fixed on £14.95 for a 12 month subscription more by informed guess work than anything else. I decided after some chatting with friends, that I should open with a special price of £9.95, to test the water and encourage the first subscribers. The initial phase, the £9.95 bit, went fantastically, I have had literally hundeds of subscribers and have had some very positive feedback, even when, through my own mistake, I managed to un-subscribe everybody!

At the start of the new year I put the price up to £14.95 and although I'm still getting a satisfying number of new subscribers, I have also been receiving some emails which gave me pause. I've had emails from people saying they were enjoying being subscribers but were sorry to say that they would be leaving after a year as £14.95 was just a bit too much. I've also had emails mainly from educators and students asking if there would be an offer price again as they would love to join but just couldn't afford the new higher price.

This all got me thinking. To a degree the £14.95 price was plucked from the air. I ran though the numbers a couple more times and, as you may have already guessed by the graphic at the top of the page, have decided to revert to the original £9.95 subscription fee. For those people who signed up for £14.95, don't worry, I'll be refunding the difference. you should have you money back within the next ten working days. Any, I hope this helps the waverer and the undecided and I look forward to welcoming new subscribers to the website!

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I'm still polishing the Subscriber's system. One problem that has come up is, how do subscribers get hold of downloads that were released before they subscribed? Surely they shouldn't have to pay full price?!

So now, if you visit the store as a subscriber you will be given a code which gives you a 50% discount! All subscribers get 50% off the price of existing downloads. I'll streamline the system soon, just working on the technology. Meanwhile subscribe to claim your models half price.

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Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment or send emails about the robives.com subscription plan. In the light of all your comments I've made a few changes:

I've dropped the price to £9.95 a year or £5.95 for six months.

When you first subscribe, you'll have access to the two most recent downloadable models for free. (Currently Reindeer Ride and Dog Ate My Homework) this will roll along as new models are introduced. You'll be able to download any new models introduced for the duration of your subscription.

As a subscriber, you're taking a chance that I'll produce new models over the course of the year. The subscription costs about the same as four downloads from the shop. As a guarantee for subscribers, if, for any reason, I don't produce a model in any three month period, I'll send all subscribers a token so that you can download the model of your choice from the shop.

How does that all sound?

The subscriber area is available to join now!

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I think I've mentioned before that I'm thinking of adding a subscription system to the website. My plan so far is as follows: (I'm looking for feedback here so please let me know what you think)
You'll still be able to buy downloads and access the website as before and the website will still be open access. On top of that, there will be two types of subscription

Standard Subscription:
A standard subscription will give you free access to all the downloadable models that I create during the lifetime of that subscription. It'll also give you access to the pdf extras that I have been adding to the Workshop Notes blog - these will be restricted to subscribers.

Premium Subscription:
This will be the same as standard subscription but will add access to all the downloadable models in the store with the exception of the education kits (Only the Bridges Pack at the moment. I have plans for more school type projects in the future.)
How much? How does £14.95 a year for standard and £34.95 for a year of premium sound? I guess that after a year of premium, most people will switch to standard as they'll have downloaded the archive. I could also add a reduced subscription period for the standard subscription - say £4.95 for three months standard or £8.95 for six months or both, or all three. I'd really appreciate any feedback you have on this - thanks!

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