LEGO Magazines : Blocks, Bricks & Bricks Culture

caperberry

I have to 'clock off' now and there are still changes needed before we can make the planned announcements. A team member is still working so I *hope* they can announce tonight.

SirKevbags

I think clocking off at 6:34 on a Saturday, especially when its a holiday weekend is showing dedication to the cause. Take a well earned break!

AndyPol

I have worked for 16 years, and will continue to work 24/7 365 days per year. I have been at work at Christmas, Easter, and New Year, and missed numerous family celebrations because of work. I may sound harsh, but you'll get no sympathy from me I'm afraid.

I thought that if profit, reputation, and success were at stake, the candle got burned at both ends?

SirKevbags

@AndyPol if you can work constantly without sleeping, eating and all the other things needed to survive then we need to get you off shift and into a lab, you have super powers.

I'm sure we can all recall lengthy working spells when we have gone beyond our normal role, my personal best was 88 days straight for 12 hours. It became counter productive though and just wish at the time I had stronger management above me telling me to take time off. 

So sure make the sacrifices but also realise when to stop and return refreshed and actually achieve something.

AndyPol

SirKevbags
@AndyPol if you can work constantly

No, I realised that I should have put "shifts" before 24/7 but the edit
time cut-off prevented me from editing it, so it is rather a cheap shot
to ridicule my comment in this way.

The fact remains that this was so easily resolved by getting things worked out before they made
grand annoucements. AFOLs might be great at discussing LEGO, but you
need the skills to run a business and I'm afraid this looks amateurish
at best.

I might also add that I have sent e-mails to bricks and
all they had to do was reply and I wouldn't have even commented on the
forum, but it would appear that the bricks staff prefer to reply on this
forum and not to their customers who have provided nearly £100 so far
(12 months subscription for the two mags) in supporting them.

I want this venture to succeed, I really do, but all this angst has been
caused by them, not me.

SirKevbags

@AndyPol To ridicule wasn't my intention and if it has caused that feeling then I apologise. To me it felt a cheap shot being critical of someone taking a break, anyway let's park that and shake hands.

I can't offer any insight into why email responses have been lacking but I do know a tremendous amount of effort has gone in so far and will continue to do so in getting issues resolved. Hopefully everyone will be satisfied soon and we can all concentrate on the merits of the content rather than the logistics.

I'm knocking off myself now and see a wee dram with my name on it :-)

AndyPol

SirKevbags said:

Hopefully everyone will be satisfied soon and we can all concentrate on the merits of the content rather than the logistics.

Enjoy the dram, but the whole point is that we would have concentrated on the content if they had got the logistics right........

caperberry

Just to clarify @AndyPol, I'm not directly coding the website myself, so my clocking off has not delayed matters. As I said there was still a team member working tonight so yes the candle is being burned at both ends.

AndyPol

caperberry said:

Just to clarify @AndyPol, I'm not directly coding the website myself, so my clocking off has not delayed matters. As I said there was still a team member working tonight so yes the candle is being burned at both ends.

Nice touch to issue this at 12:31am just to prove the work is going on.

It is strange that everyone who is involved in this magazine and posting here, are distancing themselves from any of the issues. They are all happy to say that they know lots of work is being done, apologise for the delays, and ask us to be patient, but nothing else. I hope that if you have employed IT experts to run the website, you have a service level agreement with them?

However, that aside, it appears to me that I have become the scapegoat for those involved to target me and avoid answering the issues that have been rasied and pointed out by me and others? I also would imagine that any embarrassment for bricks (which was entirely preventable by good planning) will mean that this thread will be locked soon to prevent the wheels of democracy working any further.

You said yesterday that the decisions had been made, so why not tell us?

BTW, your website is still not ready this morning.

drlmiles1

@AndyPol you are not the only one posting in vain. There are now 8 days until the first issue is released (13 days if you believe the Bricks website ;-) ) The only way to order is online - you cannot go into any newsagent and buy Bricks there.
Subscriptions normally start with the Next issue, unless there is a means to specify which issue you start with (there is none that I can see on the website). By the time we have enough information to make a decision about subscribing (I know you have already) the first issue of both new magazines will have been released. So will subscriptions ordered after that start with Issue 2?
It makes no sense to rush the release of Issue one of Bricks and Bricks Culture when their release has been so badly implemented. Despite that, they are insisting against financial sense in keeping to their original date announced to the world on 21st March. I despair...

AndyPol

Just noticed, the website has some information now! It's a start, thank you bricks team, good communication is all we wanted. Still showing 13 days to go, but you can't have everything!

Kleiovous

AndyPol said:

I have worked for 16 years, and will continue to work 24/7 365 days per year. I have been at work at Christmas, Easter, and New Year, and missed numerous family celebrations because of work.

How do you find the time to read magazines?

AndyPol

Kleiovous said:

How do you find the time to read magazines?

OMG, such humour, pure comedy gold...... :neutral: 

Huw

Here's the latest from the Bricks/Bricks Culture team which clarifies postage costs, release schedule and so on:
I
http://republic66media.com/2015/04/05/new-offers-and-site-update/

cheshirecat

@Huw Theres a space at the end of that link that takes you to 'Page Not Found'. Without it it takes you to the correct page.

cheshirecat

Great to see the information there and free UK postage is a great bonus especially as theres a chance to see what the magazines looks like, then subscribe and still get the free postage offer.

I did notice the 1 issue EUR and RotW prices for Brick Culture appear to have some typos in.

mrbradford

Why is one issue of BricksCulture so expensive outside of UK? The math doesn't add up.

binaryeye

Why the repeated use of extremely tight tracking in the headlines on the sample spreads? I can see using it once to set apart an article, but it hinders readability, so using it everywhere is a bit tiring.

slyreptile

Yet again, the digital editions are as much as the print editions.  This makes no sense.  Yes, there are some costs related to bandwidth and storage, but there are zero costs in printing and postage.  Pure money grab.

theLEGOman

Online have VAT I believe.

BooBooLand

I applaud the Bricks/Bricks Culture team for providing free P&P to those in the UK, but what about those in the EU or Rest of the World?  Are we paying "full" P&P or is that already "discounted" P&P as indicated?   

CCC

cheshirecat said:

Great to see the information there and free UK postage is a great bonus especially as theres a chance to see what the magazines looks like

They look like this ...

EvilTwin

The first two sentences on the website news page are...
"So what is inside our launch issue of Bricks, here is a little taster. More will be released over the coming week, its a packed issue."

Hopefully the standard of writing inside the magazines will be higher than that shown on the website. Blocks was marred by poor quality writing. You can get away with this kind of thing in fandom websites and so on but I hold printed media to higher standards.

Generally questions require a question mark, and I have never seen any magazine writing guidelines in which comma splicing is acceptable. And, "its"... come on guys, it's three letters. Sort yourselves out.

Ian_S

I'd love to have placed orders for the both magazines, but the website is holding me back.  Is there an alternative method for subscribing?  Not that I'm saying the website doesn't work I hasten to add, but rather I'm not happy having my personal details submitted without an SSL wrapped connection which at present appears to be the case (although I'm happy to be convinced otherwise), is this likely to be rectified before the launch date?  Also, is there any chance that issues might appear in Lego stores given the teams favourable relationship with The Lego Group?

drlmiles1

The whole way these magazines have been released is quite unprofessional, and I can completely understand many people not wishing to order. 
I have today ordered a 4 issue subscription to Bricks Culture and a 6 issue subscription to Bricks. The website does not allow you to register an account, so you have to place the order as a guest. Without a link to an account for the order, it calls into question the lauded Loyalty Scheme, as how will "points" be awarded to guests?
Even more unprofessional is the requirement to accept the site's terms and conditions when you are at the last stages of the order - because clicking on the link for Terms and Conditions takes you to a page of Latin gobbledegook!
It makes me wonder if I have just thrown away £60...

drlmiles1

Here is what the Terms & Conditions are:

binaryeye

That's common placeholder text. Some graphic design packages (e.g. InDesign) even have a function to automatically add it.

Legoboy

Strange.  I placed my order a couple of days ago and have an account with my order of two items showing in it.  Am really looking forward to receiving my first issues.  From what I've seen and those I've spoken to who've handled the mags, we really are in for a treat.  I have no reservations about handing my kids' inheritance over.

drlmiles1

binaryeye said:

That's common placeholder text. Some graphic design packages (e.g. InDesign) even have a function to automatically add it.

I realised that - but they haven't bothered to replace it with the proper content! 

CCC

^ surely the magazines are their inheritance.

Legoboy

If I were to leave them lying around, I imagine I'd find their school text books with pretty new LEGO covers.

TechnicNick

Saw a copy at work today, very impressed. Looks a whole lot classier and less messy than Blocks, with more and longer articles and a simple, attractive layout. Less impressed with the website - it looks good but doesn't quite work right; still, well worth an order even as a guest...

tedward

I would love to try it out but a digital copy is $20 here in Canada. Now I don't know what you Brits are paying for magazines in general but for the same money I could go to a movie or buy a hardcover book and have change left over.

And no one has explained to me yet why a digital copy costs the same as a printed copy? Is paper, ink and labour free in England?

CCC

^ printed magazines and books don't have vat, whereas electronic copies do.

Better quality hobby magazines tend to be £4-6 here.

cheshirecat

And bookazines more.

MinifigsMe

I've had chance to look through both magazines, and they're pretty stunning to look at, and read very well.
I'm sure those who've subscribed will be very happy with the mags. :)

Huw

I don't know what platform is being used for digital distribution but I suspect there's up to 30% to pay for the privilege of using it, which is probably the cost of the paper and printing.

nexander

After watching the mark guest video it makes a lot of stuff clear and I'm just about to stick a sub order in for both mags!

Nibbos

Was there going to be an announcement about a possible deal for Blocks subscribers who have discovered that the editorial team they had been subscribing to had moved to this new publication called Bricks?

I have emailed Bricks magazine but have heard no reply.

Are we going to get more announcements from Bricks staff about this, please?

or have I missed them already?

thanks in advance.

Nibbos

TheBrickLadd

Has anyone received their copies yet? Or a link to the digital one?

MrGudz

Waiting for a link. Received nothing as of now.

Kevin_Hyatt

Had a read of both mags yesterday at our LUGmeet. Both nice, especially the culture one. Not sure the main man is that much better than the Blocks one but the culture one has some gorgeous stuff in it and some nice interviews.

AndyPol

I am away at the moment and although I have received an email to say my print copy is on its way, but had assumed that I might be able to log into my account and get the digital. However, when I tried to reset my password (I had forgotten it as I am on my tablet not pc) the website let's me reset my password but then doesn't recognise my new one. So even if I could get a link in my account, the website password reset doesn't let me get in anyway! I have emailed Bricks, but we all know how long that takes! At least the print copy should be on my doorstep when I get home....

tedward

CCC said:

^ printed magazines and books don't have vat, whereas electronic copies do.

Better quality hobby magazines tend to be £4-6 here.

OK, so a tax I don't have to pay as an international customer is at a rate of 40-50%?

I would pay maybe £4 for an e-version of a magazine but £10 is just too much. There is no justification for charging the same price as the printed version.

glosminifigfan

Are digital versions available to read yet? What is the viewing method? I saw a mention of an app, but which one?

danstraindepot

I ordered print versions from the US.  Reluctantly.   I guess my curiosity and love of LEGO magazines won out.  And ultimately I do like to support folks who do these types of projects.  I have a soft spot for what goes into these'labor of loves'.

I was not happy with the website, never did work right, someone suggested checking out as a 'guest' and that did work.

Also the reneged on the free shipping to USA offer.  Don't offer it if you can't afford it.  If it ended up being more than you thought, offer at least a partial discount.

So I'll wait on the magazines for the final verdict.  

slyreptile

I subscribed to the print version back in March, partially because of the no shipping to the USA.  At the same time, I ordered one copy of the digital version.  There has been zero contact from Bricks regarding the order and the digital copy is nowhere to be seen.  Piss-poor launch in my opinion.  I'll give it a bit more time to see what happens.  Otherwise, I'll be getting a refund.  Really, as I've stated before, the digital versions are quite simply a money grab and shipping to the USA is far too expensive to justify.

CCC

slyreptile said:

 Really, as I've stated before, the digital versions are quite simply a money grab and shipping to the USA is far too expensive to justify.

They are charging P&P £3.50 for the US.

Shipping magazines worldwide is expensive. Take a look at the Royal Mail's price guide.

www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/Royal-Mail-UK-and-international-parcel-and-letter-prices-30-March-2015.pdf

I don't know if they are using standard Royal Mail postage for each magazine, or shipping a bulk lot to the US and have it re-distributed. But either way, £3.50 is not bad at all.

Consider that to ship a copy BRICK JOURNAL from the US to the UK, it costs:

$16.75 for priority (equivalent to £11.39)
$8.00 for surface (3-8 weeks) (equivalent to £5.44)

Bosstone100

^ Yeah, but it's only $3.95 for a digital copy of Brick Journal.

drlmiles1

Has anyone received a print or digital copy of their subscription to either magazine?