Digital Only Linn's Editions And New Scott Stamp Monthly

In the Feb 20, 2023 issue of Linn's, Jay Bigalke, editor of Linn's made the following statement:

"Responding to the shift toward digital news consumption, Amos Media Co. announced in January the following changes starting with the March cover-dated publication.... A Scott-branded monthly magazine will debut in March. The March Scott Stamp Monthly magazine will replace the Linn's Stamp News monthly magazine and will be published once a month, for a total of 12 issues a year. This new print publication will largely focus on feature articles and will continue to include the Scott New Issues update section.....Regarding content for both publications, readers can anticipate new features and additional news
coverage."

So now 52 Linn's issues and 12 SSM (as it used to be called).

If the online version is the same as what's been published to-date, this will be another example of Amos Media's complete failure. Scanned pages in a PDF format do not a utile online offering make.

"Responding to the shift toward digital news consumption...This new print publication"

So this is the end of Linn's Stamp News .

Sad. I remember back in the day eagerly waiting for the weekly issue in the mail. Full size format, 100 plus pages full of features. Looking over all the pages of offers, in awe of the rarities shown.
Then the format got smaller and smaller until it was magazine size.
Somewhere along the way, lost interest in it. The internet probably had something to do with it, and it was at an ebb in my collecting.

Can't remember exactly when, but at some point my wife gave me an ultimatum on all the boxes (20+) of past issues in the garage. So I loaded them in the van and donated them to the Redwood Philatelic Library. Still there. If you're ever in the area, it's an interesting place. I'd call first.
https://www.fwpl.org/
Pat

Patg 23 -------- I also got it each week , $5.00 a year and then it was more but it had enough articles in each issue . I ran my first ad in the classified section . There was hundreds of offers in the back of each issue .

Yes, living in a rural area far from many other resources the fat, weekly Linn's was my primary interface with the hobby growing up.
Nostalgic? Absolutely.
But thank God it is no longer like that.
Don

Sorry, it is not new, it is a revived old publication.

I have a current subscription to the print monthly plus digital weekly package. When my subscription is up this July I'll re-up again for another year. More issues, not a bad thing.

Do I wish we were still getting a fat newspaper weekly? Definitely. I can remember picking those up from time to time as a kid in the early 80s because a couple local stores carried a copy. I remember pouring over every page, entranced by the ads and the possibilities they offered.

Sadly those days are long gone. But still I look forward to each Saturday when the link to a new issue hits my inbox.

Perhaps some of you, who show fairly in depth knowledge, could offer to write articles and share what you know? As a lowly, barely above beginner worldwide collector, I can say I enjoy reading much of what some of you share here on this forum. I'm sure others would feel the same way.

My two cents.

Dale

The circulation numbers were printed last October. A lot less than I thought. Very low number of digital subscriptions.

I do feel they have a role to play in the hobby. Given that APS has more members (thus AP subscribers) many are choosing not to subscribe. In my case, I do not buy through Linn's like I did until the 90s but I am part of the 250+ digital subscriptions..

15c Paid circulation: 8,357 (avg over 12 months)/ 11392 (nearest filing). I suspect the monthly has a higher subscription. I

16a paid digital 2,496, 2,859

16c total paid printed and electronic 10732 / 14100

A rough swap on subscription revenue is around $1 Million. I am not how many discount subscriptions.

Yes, Linns stamp news changed... and quite awhile ago too.

I used to subscribe when it was in the large paper format. It came regular every week for years. It had interesting news and adds and was the way I stayed up on stamp news.

Then I started getting 3 weeks worth in one day. Linns said there were no delays on their part. Then it got worse and there were many issues that never arrived... up to one months' worth missing in a year, so I quit getting Linns. I found out years later it was a postal problem.

Later still, at a stamp show, I saw Linns at booth. I was really surprised at the pitiful resemblance to what it was. I think it was only about 10 small pages with a cover. But by then the internet had arrived, postage and paper costs had skyrocketed. And I guess they had little news to report.

Today SCF is about the only current stamp info I read.
I also get monthly, bimonthly or quarterly subscriptions for more specialized stamp info or view other blogs and videos. But I still miss much news that I eventually learn about months or years later. Changing times, I guess.

We stopped subscribing to Linn's back in the late 90s when the weekly papers started stacking up and we had no time to read them. It was about then that we cancelled the local newspaper too, for the same reason. I've taken a look at it over the years and have never had any interest in resubscribing.

The announcement summarizes it as follows:

Linn's 52 issues: 24 printed/digital, 28 digital only
Scott branded monthly - 12 printed and digital.

I paid $44,99 for digital only last year when I renewed. What I am curious about is know is how much of the non-print cost (editorial)) I am paying percentage wise compared to the advertisers. On the website, the subscription rate is still $44,99 for 52 issues but no mention of additional issues will increase rate,

I do not buy from dealers in the ads (not since 1990) and do not care about new issues information or the latest errors. The Washington report column covers the political scene so find that interesting since I do not believe it is reported anywhere else.

For years Linn's was printed on ancient printers that had poor color capability. I liked the "Stamp Collector" when edited by Wayne Youngblood but that disappeared when Amos Media bought Krause. It was printed on newsprint too but very good color. "Stamps" and other prior publications were in magazine format.

Back in the day, when Linn's was a fairly large newsprint style pub, I enjoyed my subscription very much. It was funny, when I was enlisted in the Coast Guard in the 1980s, my mother maintained two subscriptions, sent to the ship, for me: Linn's Stamp News and the Bartlett Express - my small town weekly paper. Many members of the crew carefully read both when they arrived.

I still subscribe to Linn's - weekly digital and monthly in print. I also pay for a sub to American Stamp Collector and Dealer. And of course, get pubs to a couple of societies to which I belong.

I still enjoy reading Linn's and usually turn to E. Rawolik first. Funny little story, When I was 16, a dealer just gave me a box full of stamps - probably 15 pounds worth. Not knowing what to do, I got my mom to place a classified ad and sold them as off-paper mixtures by the ounce. This was 1984, I think? I lived in terror every week that E. Rawolik would review my mixtures and just tear them to pieces.

Once again, those in charge over at Amos Media seemingly suffer from a terminal case of rectocranial inversion.

Not in the decision to transition more to digital content delivery, but their utter incompetence with respect to their messaging and communication (or lack thereof).

So let me get this straight... it's quite possible I'm misunderstanding what the changes actually are here:

1. It *appears* that the number of printed issues of Linns is being reduced from 52 to 24.

2. There has been no communication to existing subscribers about this, only a column on linns.com.

3. Their online subscription form still (as of today) promotes and offers the 52-issue-print subscription option moving forward (see image below). It appears their online form does not encompass these new changes.

4. What about those of us who prepaid for 52 print copies of Linns? Will we get refunds for the undelivered print copies we paid for once the transition occurs in March, or will our existing subscriptions be extended to compensate, or will we also be given a print subscription to the new/returning monthly print magazine? My current sub runs through January of 2024, so that is almost a full year of lost print issues.

A real company would have planned and organized messaging across all channels (email, website, press release, social media) to have clear messaging at the same time, ideally notifying existing subscribers BEFORE columns and announcemnts are published.

This company really is clueless from a marketing perspective.

You guy's are crying about what happen . .........that is not what new collectors and new readers want to read about .........They want to know WHAT HAPPEN .!!!!!

What they read here -----"Sadly those days are long gone " and "I use to subscribe " and "back in the day "


ok -what happen ???? The newspaper changed and with this change they lost their customer base then their advertisers started leaving and those two feed on each other .

They were no longer having articles from philatelist who would discribe what they were doing . They quit putting in articles from 10 ,20,40,or 50 years ago that expanded your education . What was I reading each week was articles written by one or two year stamp collectors talking about cars on stamps or space stamps . Then they had college grad's who took journalism in school , writeing articles about visiting Spain and maybe 10% of the article was about Spanish stamps . Basicly they lost their long time more experience collectors . The advertisors lost their $50.00 or $150.00 buyers ,so they cut out those expensive ads when all they were getting is the $10.00 mixture lot buyer . This all feed on each other .

For 30 years I kept articles ,i would cut them out of the newspaper and make reference files , but as the year went by less and less of what they published was worth saving to my files . Articles about fluff are not wanted .