A big change to tinyStudio in Print

Greetings to all! Welcome to a new year, which I hope will be creative, productive, and inspiring. I am here with some big tinyStudio news for 2022, which will herald some changes. This is quite a long post, but bear with me, there is important information for current print subscribers.

I was originally prepared to start print production of tinyStudio magazine, following a very successful two years of digital publishing, back in 2020. As we all know, Covid arrived and set the world upside down, so I put those print plans on hold in the face of major distribution uncertainty and production concerns.

By the beginning of 2021 it looked like things were settling down. We launched our first print magazine with Issue 11. We are now ready to print Issue 14, seeing in a year of tinyStudio in print. I love the quality of print production and binding, and it is always a special thrill to hold the print version in my hands!

2022 however, is bringing a whole new set of challenges. As you have probably seen, there are some serious supply chain problems and resource issues happening everywhere right now. Our printer has let us know that not only are there delays and problems in the supply chain, causing difficulties in sourcing paper, but paper prices have also increased as much as 20% in the last month. This does not only affects our magazine cost but also our packaging and distribution, which in itself is becoming more problematic as deliveries are incredibly slow, often double the estimated times if not more.

Because of this, I have made the hard decision to end our print subscriptions, and revert to digital delivery of tinyStudio magazine. I am determined not to compromise on the amazing quality we have achieved in our print production, but at the same time I am loathe to increase the printed magazine price to cover a huge 20% increase in paper cost, this is just not sustainable. I wish tinyStudio to remain a collectable, high quality boutique production. I can at least be sure that with our digital production, every image is beautiful, that I can do justice to the articles, authors, and sponsors, with a stunning presentation and no compromise on the quality, which would be necessary if we were to continue in print at the current pricing.

I also want to know that when we send out our gorgeous magazine, subscribers will receive it in a reasonable time. At the moment, magazines are taking up to 12 weeks to arrive to subscribers, this is far too long and the risk of being lost on the way increases with the time it takes to travel. Our digital subscribers however, receive their magazine on the day it is published, and it can be easily replaced if lost! It also looks amazing on devices and screens, is easy to store and search, plus all the links are live and interactive. I hope to increase the interactivity over time as well with galleries and videos embedded into the magazine itself.

There will still be printed issues…

I am sorry to bring you this news if you (like me) are also loving the print edition, while I have a heavy heart about it, I can also share a ray of hope! I WILL be able to print one, or maybe two ‘bumper editions’ each year, taking the best of our quarterly magazines and creating a one-off purchasable expanded print issue, with all our wonderful quality design features found in our current print issues! The difference will be that I will run pre-sales on these special editions, matched to the current production costs and distribution costs, and I will be able to print exactly the number we need, rather than committing to a full year ahead of print production with the risk of these unstable costs increasing over that time. The personal risk for me is much easier to manage if we can run pre-sales on bumper editions, and I will be far more confident of being able to bring you the high quality we have become used to with tinyStudio in print!

If you are a current tinystudio print subscriber:

Don’t worry! I will be refunding subscriptions for any remaining print issues beyond Issue 14 – which will be the last subscription print issue. (Coming up in Feb).  You can expect that refund to arrive back to you from mid-Feb on after I ship Issue 14.

If you are a Digital subscriber:

Nothing will change! If you are a current digital subscriber @ US$4.95 a month this will continue as usual, but you will see more videos and have more opportunities to join Subscriber only Zooms as I will have extra time away from the heavy print schedule. I like to think of this as our own version of Patreon, where we bring you extra content monthly.

If you are a subscriber with a Digital discounted Package

@US$2.95 a month, this subscription will soon be running out (it is a 15 month subscription). You should get an email before it ends to remind you to resubscribe, at which time we would love you to come back and resubscribe with the standard digital monthly subscription and all the benefits that includes.

We will also be looking at including some of our online courses in the digital package as well, later in 2022, with more courses to come as time permits.

I am sorry this has been such a long message! I have been struggling with this decision for a while and I wanted to share my thinking with you, because each and every one of our magazine subscribers is part of the tinyStudio community – it is because of you that tinyStudio exists and can continue on. I deeply appreciate the support you have shown for this magazine and have shared your enthusiasm and excitement at finding each issue waiting in the mailbox! I hope you will continue to enjoy the work and inspiration of the artists we are blessed to be able to feature via digital publication, and I look forward to creating our bumper issues in print in the coming year.

Wishing you a happy and creative 2022

Thank you for being part of the tinyStudio community!

Kind regards

Suzy

(Head over HERE to SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL)

Many thanks to our tinyStudio magazine sponsors, who’s continued support allows us to keep making gorgeous magazines!