Could you explain the huge price difference between the hard copy of The HP Palmtop Paper and the HP Palmtop Paper On Disk?
--Jini Scammell-Tinling CompuServe ID: [73240,1310]
[The time, energy, and resources that go into producing The HP Palmtop Paper for a limited market make the paper version of the issues underpriced. Since we began publishing, our costs have increased by 40%. (Last year we added two new issues to the subscription the PC Card Review and Best Tips without raising prices. This year's postal rate increase and skyrocketing paper costs have added another 20% to our cost.)
Also, because people are used to PC Magazine or Time with 200 times our circulation, and paid for by advertising, they still perceive The HP Palmtop Paper itself (8 issues and a disk per year) at $39 as expensive. PC Magazine contains roughly 65% ads, where our goal is to make that ratio about two-thirds editorial content to one-third ad space. Advertising has been good to us but doesn't come close to supporting the publication.
The HP Palmtop Paper On Disk is a full text version of the Paper; detailed advertiser information; and all the shareware/freeware mentioned in the Paper for those who don't have the time or easy access to CompuServe, AOL, or Internet.
We think The HP Palmtop Paper On Disk is an excellent value for our subscribers. Especially at the two year rate. $199 for 14 disk sets translates to $14.20 a disk set, including U.S. postage. Almost all our disk sets are at least one 1.44MB floppy (equal to four 360K floppies). Two to three times a year the disk sets have been two 1.44MB floppies. That's a lot of Palmtop Paper information, templates, freeware / shareware, and advertiser information.
Thanks for the question. I hope that helped --Hal.]