SCEPCOP Forum

Dear all,
What do you all think about the idea of starting a SCEPCOP Inquirer magazine, like CSICOP's Skeptical Inquirer? We have many articles already that could be used, and content that could be utilized.

The questions I have about it though, would be:

- Should it be a real print magazine or just an online one in a PDF file?

- What are the startup and publishing costs for a printed magazine?

- Do most magazines make their money from subscription fees or advertising fees? How would you decide what to charge for both?

- I would imagine that since subscription fees tend to be low, that magazines must make most of their money from advertising. But how would you find advertisers? Must be damn hard.

- Would it be better to do it just in an online PDF format? That would eliminate any publishing costs or overhead of course. But I couldn't charge much for subscription fees of course.

- Anyone know of any software I could use that can publish magazines in template formats?

Anyway, we have a ton of material. But something tells me that I can't do this kind of thing alone, and that it'd require a team of people, since it'd a lot of work and involve a lot of projects.

We could feature critical thinking articles, spiritual stories and lessons, discoveries in quantum physics, wise quotes, etc.

What do you all think about this idea?

I love it personally, but there are so many obstacles to it.

Winston

I think that it would be worth the time to check out sources to find out your answers.

I do a montly newsletter for a group through a free service. I'll PM you with the information so you can check it out. It might be a good way to start off slow and see what develops.

well personally
i like this site

but i wouldnt pay for a magazine supporting paranormal stuff.. not again

i used to buy those magazines when i was a child and even in my teens.. but i wouldnt go back to that
is fun and all.. but nah..
way better things to spend my money into

but please
dont let my comment bother you
go ahead if you want
is a new year!

I like the idea and think that it has possibilities.

A print magazine would be nice, but the costs of such a venture would need to be researched closely.

However, I agree with Ninja, it's an interesting enough idea to justify doing the homework.

I did a teeny tiny bit of set up for a 3 page freebie 'magazine style' website to see if my usual venue could be modified enough to get us started on line.

Since I am not a writer I am naturally lacking articles to make it resemble a magazine. If anyone here has original material that they would like added to this freebie, please... either copy and paste, PM me or link to your information so that I have some meat and potatoes to see if this will get us started.

Once I have a bit of reading material, I'll post the link.

I think that an Inquirer type emag is essential for a site like this. I would like to see it combining everything from the scientific method applied to the paranormal, UFOs, etc., and having a lot of things like the site Unexplained Mysteries (http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/). I find this site to be a true skeptic site in that it is full of hard core skeptics to 'woos' and all points inbetween. What I like is that the skeptics are giving fair and just consideration to things the JREFers ridicule on site.

I have already posted my "Rules of Pseudo" list and it is only part of my writings. If you get this rag started I would be very happy to contribute in certain areas such as UFOs in particular. If you want to PM me so we can talk, please do. I would like to start out with you requesting certain topics that you think would round the mag out and then I could complete the assignment.

So please, feel free to harness my enthusiasm.

We definitely have enough material for many issues. I'm sure that the writers of other counter pseudoskeptic articles, such as the ones on skepticalinvestigations.org, would not mind having their articles used in a SCEPCOP magazine. Eteponge and I have lots of material on hand as well.

Material isn't the problem. It's cost, time and manpower. It'd take a staff of people to do that, not just one person. So at this point, it's just a speculative venture. It would definitely be something to aim for, as that would raise our influence to a more respectable and formidable level.

Well then you will just have to subscribe to the magazine.

Check out this magazine publishing service. What do you think? Is it worth it?

http://www.magcloud.com/about