Time to Subscribe

Only $25 Will Keep Mullings Strong and Independent!

(click here to go directly to the secure web page)

The Issue

Mullings, despite all outward appearances, is a business. And, as a business, Mullings is suffering the same pressures as any other medium which depends upon advertising which, as you know, is very, very soft.

In the case of Mullings, advertising has dropped nearly 50 percent year-over-year in spite of a continuing growth in e-mail recipients and web site page views.

Many publications - on-line and printed - have had to fold: Voter.com last year, and Talk Magazine last month. Most, even major magazines, like Newsweek, have had to lay off significant numbers of staff. In January, Yahoo! reported its revenues down almost 55%.

In large organizations expenses can be cut: staff reductions, smaller offices, delaying equipment purchases, and so on. A Washington Post piece recently focused on the dot-commer, "Stamps.com" which, the paper reported, cut its workforce from 550 to 60 people and cut its cash-burn rate from an eye-crossing $14 million per month to approximately zero.

Mullings has been very efficient, right from the start. The only employee is me. I work out of my house, so there is no office space to cut, and I produce and publish the whole thing on two laptop computers which I already own.

So, my focus has to be on the revenue side of the equation.

Subscriptions

Last February I ran a subscription drive and generated a significant amount of marginal revenue, but not enough to keep the column afloat. Frankly, it was not a serious effort.

This is serious.

I am very, very resistant to make Mullings a subscription-only column. Part of the fun of doing the column is its broad reach - the e-mail list stands at about 22,000 people and page views now regularly exceed 70,000 per month.

However, there is going to have to be a substantial subscription component if Mullings is to continue to publish.

I could help you decide to subscribe if I made special features - like the Travelogues - available to paid subscribers only. Another alternative is to make the e-mail version available to paid subscribers and force non-payers to go to the web page. But, again, like any writer I enjoy having my words read by the widest possible audience. And, I think the wider the distribution of Mullings the more impact it has on public discussion of the issues.

I don't care, by the way, if you forward Mullings to your friends, relatives, and political enemies. In fact, as I don't intend to make Mullings "subscription only," I encourage you to keep forwarding the columns you like along to others.

The Pitch

So, the choice really rests with you. Becki Donatelli and Tom Hockaday have created a secure web site which will permit you to pay for a one-year subscription with a major credit card: Visa, Mastercard, or Amex. I don't think your Saks or Home Depot card will work.

Here is the link to the Mullings Secure Subscription page.

A note about the form: The address, as I understand it, it necessary to match up with your credit card for safety purposes. The phone number is not absolutely necessary. Just put in your area code and leave it at that, if you want.

If you prefer to send a check here's the address:

      Mullings
      Box 19057
      Alexandria, VA 22320-0057

After a good deal of thought, I decided the annual subscription fee should be $25 which works out to about 12.5 cents an issue.

That, I think, is a pretty good bargain.

I understand that twenty-five bucks isn't chicken feed and not everyone - especially students - will be able to afford it and I don't want to guilt you into anything. If you are a student, someone on a fixed income, or in the military (redundant, I know) and want to support Mullings at less than the $25 regular rate, feel free to sign up for whatever feels comfortable.

But if you can afford it, and you think this has been a worthwhile trip, then please give it serious consideration.

If you are running a PAC, a government affairs office, an association, or other similar group, you might add up in your head how many people in your office are reading Mullings - directly or forwarded - and purchase a subscription for each person. This is a pretty good way to support the Mullings effort without actually purchasing an ad.

Send me an e-mail (rich@mullings.com) if you need an invoice to pay for your group subscription.

Thank you,
Rich