Following the example of our friends at A to B, Velo Vision has joined Exact Editions to offer an online subscription service.

I've had various requests over the years, particularly from overseas readers, for a 'paperless' version of the magazine, mostly on ecological grounds. I've resisted so far, as I've never been completely happy about just sending out full issue PDFs, and also I was concerned that offering a digital copy might erode print sales. As print costs are almost all about set-up and don't reduce much as you print fewer copies, keeping paper sales up is vital for the economics of the business.

However, the Exact Editions system seems to offer a good solution, as you'll see below. I'm hoping that having an online edition available will be a useful convenience and addition for existing print subscribers, as well as being a way into the magazine for new readers and for those who are trying to cut down on paper publications.

Click to visit the digital edition!




How it works

- Exact Editions produce a digital version of the magazine from the same PDF files which we send to our printer. Layout is identical, and in addition their software automatically detects (almost all) website links mentioned in the text and makes them 'live', so you can simply click through to the sites mentioned. The text is also fully searchable.

- This means that the digital online version will be available a few days before the print mag is out. Overseas readers in particular will get to read the latest issue much sooner than they can on paper.

- Subscribers can access the online editions from any web browser anywhere in the world. An online subscription also get you access to our full back issue collection, from Issue 1 onwards. Your access to back issues persists as long as you remain a subscriber.

- You can even save complete issues as PDF files for offline reading. Image quality is fairly low, but acceptable I think.

- This is all explained in much more detail on the Exact Editions website.

Subscribing

- You can subscribe to just the online edition (via Exact Editions) for £20, or take out a joint subscription to both print and digital magazines via the Velo Vision online shop.

You will note that the online edition price isn't that much less than the print edition. That's partly to protect print sales, and partly also to reflect the extra content included in the various back issues which you get when you subscribe. But for print subscribers, I've made the online edition available at relatively little extra cost to encourage those who like the idea to choose both.

- If you're an existing print subscriber who would like to convert to a combined print-digital subscription, then I'd suggest you wait until your print subscription runs out, then take out a combined subscription when you renew. At this stage, I don't think our systems will handle 'out of synch' print and digital subs. If you can't wait, just take out a 'pure' digital sub at Exact Editions, and they'll handle renewals in due course.
- When you subscribe to the digital edition you'll receive an email from Exact Editions detailing how to log in and access the various issues of the magazine.

- The same applies to joint print-digital subscriptions taken out via the Velo Vision online shop, but in this case you'll get the email as soon as I process the order, which could be a few days, or more if I'm away. If there's likely to be any significant delay there'll be a note on the website front page.


Finally

Well, fingers crossed this works out. It feels like a bit of a leap of faith putting so much of Velo Vision onto the web, but it's the way of the future, no doubt. As ever, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Click here to visit the digital edition!

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