Getting the message across
We may have looked like teachers, or scientists, or perhaps a team of lawn bowlers who had gotten lost and had to ask directions, but the E-ON "Pub Team" at least managed to get our collective asses in gear and get some shirts made up for this year's Fanfest. And a good thing we did too, as it turned out that there were a few people who didn't realise that E-ON even existed, and, of a few who did, some never even knew it was an actual magazine, made of paper, ink and trace elements of sweat, blood and tears. We put them right, of course, and thanks to our high-tech E-ON lounge area, we managed to get some feedback as to what people liked about the magazine and what they didn't, in order that we can make things better and lovelier.
There were people who liked having player guides in the magazine, as it allowed them to not have to alt-tab between websites. Others had been enjoying the Chronicles (look out for an E-ON Chronicle Special in the future). Some even, for some inexplicable reason, liked reading the profiles and interviews with the various CCPers we've featured over the past couple of years. Not enough EVE history was one criticism that was relayed to me, which is something we had a year ago and plan to go back to. Overwhelmingly what everybody liked was the adverts in the magazine.
Now as an Editor I should find it slightly worrying when everyone universally praises the pages that are largely out of my control. Of course the ads in E-ON aren't like those in your common shelf-based paper-view product, but like everything else in E-ON, is created by people in the EVE community. Check out the sample below for the quality of some of the ads we have featured... (feel free to read through some of the editorial too, of course!)
Anyway, to cut to the chase, having spent some time since Fanfest thinking about the advertising in E-ON, we've decided that we would like even more corps, alliances and websites to be able to promote themselves, and for their ads in E-ON to be seen by everyone. Basically, if you lack the skills to produce a high-res A4 ad, we at E-ON can do it all for you...
SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO, BASICALLY
All we need from you is an idea of what you want to advertise. It may be to pimp yourself, some service or website you offer, to promote your corp or alliance, for recruitment purposes or whatever else might be appropriate. All we would need is a decent-sized logo (preferably in vector file format) and maybe some character or in-game images, some basic text and we can then get on and do all the design work for you (all elements must be in one zipped file). Alternatively you could design the ad yourself, which may suit you a lot better.
HOW MUCH?!
For two years now we have been charging 350m ISK per ad page, but inflation has been taking its toll and the E-ON wallet is not looking as full as it has been. So from E-ON issue 10, ad rates will be increased to 700m per page. If you would like us to design your ad, the cost will be around double, but no less than 1bn ISK (depends on how much work goes into the design). Of course you will only have to pay if the ad is published, and if we don't publish your ad (highly unlikely, unless it features unsavoury material), you don't have to cough up any ISK.
GIVING BACK SOME LOVE
What we do with all the advertising revenue is pay the writers and contributors. Until now that has been around 50m ISK per page, but of course that isn't quite the fortune it was back in 2005, so we'll be upping the pay in line with the increase in ad revenue, to around 100m ISK per page.
FOR ALL TO SEE
The other cool thing that we'll be doing with the ads that appear in E-ON is to redesign them to fit on the EVE splash screen (the one you have to enter you account name and password into). So for your 700m ISK, not only will your ad appear in E-ON for generations to wonder at, but your ad will be seen by the entire player base as they log in. You can't get better than that! The caveat here is that instead of print-ready pdf files, all submitted ads will from now on have to be submitted as layered Photoshop files, as we will need to rejig the ad elements to fit the landscape dimensions of the EVE splash screen - which we will do free of charge.
So basically, E-ON contributors will now be getting 100m ISK per page, and ads will now cost 700m ISK, but will also be shown to the whole of EVE, so long as we are provided with the right files... and if you don't have the time or the inclination to create your own, we will do it for you for the right fee.
And for those wanting dimensions and whatnot, here they are.
I look forward to hearing from you all. Any questions about this scheme, on becoming a contributor to E-ON, or on the magazine in general, feel free to [email me](mailto: richie@mmmpublishing.com). If you have any specific questions about designing ads, use this one instead.
Deadline for your ads to be considered for E-ON #10 is December 10th.
-Z
