The subscription process – on the web
In one afternoon, I signed up for two subscription web sites. I had very different experiences. Both are tech sites. Both have WordPress engines. Both appear to have a home-rolled system. I steered away from that years ago, as the code updates depend on the whims of a hardcore programmer, and they can be, at times, more flaky than me.
When I signed up for the The Brooks Review, I popped in a card number, and I was logged in within minutes.
With the other site, the answer was less elegant, and oddly enough, less money, but it took the administrator three or four emails plus checking backend stuff to make it work.
Not a complaint, just an observation. My current process is working, so I’ll leave it alone for now. Stepping through the process elsewhere was valuable for me.
The linked article is more interesting, I’ve used Apple’s iBook creator, and it’s a first daft of that software. Like an original iPhone, good, but both speak to a future. However, all of my books are available on Apple’s iBooks, and they have, in the last few months, sold better than the same books on Kindle. Weird stats, but what can I say?
There is a need for something in the Apple ecosystem for an, as the article alludes to, an iMagazine-type of creator. With room for subscriptions.
Every year, my dad used to give me a subscription to The New Yorker, and my mom has continued the gift. A paid, paper subscription comes with an electronic one, too, which I don’t access often. But sometimes? Very convenient.
It would be nice to “push” my column out each week to the Apple iPad ecosystem.
Currently, qualified subscribers to astrofish.net can pick up the RSS feed, which works the same way, in a favorite RSS reader.
I didn’t know I could add astrofish.net to an RSS aggregator. I’ve done it now, and I’ll see if it picks up the next scopes. You see, you CAN teach an old Sagittarius dog new tricks.
Yeah, happy belated birthday…