From the Editor: Spiel 09 Preview, and Membership Drive Results

The beginning of July has historically been the launch date for the Boardgame News Spiel preview, and I’m continuing the tradition with today’s unveiling of the Spiel 09 preview, which once again has been divided into four sections to speed downloading times on both your part and mine. In case you can’t wait until the end of this message to check out the pages, here are links to publishers A-D, E-M, N-R and S-Z.

If you visit those pages and see only introductory paragraphs not followed by huge tables showcasing publishers and their promised new releases, then either you’re not logged in or you’re not a BGN member, which makes it impossible to log in! The Spiel preview is available only to BGN members as their financial support allows me to put in as much time on the preview – not to mention the site as a whole – as I do. Some of the extensive game write-ups included in the Spiel preview will be published later on BGN as standalone items, but if you want to see them all now in one place, you can become a member now for the low, low price of $25.

Still not convinced of the awesomeness of the BGN Spiel 09 preview? Then consider this: If printed in its entirety, the Spiel 08 preview would reach 400 pages, and I fully expect the Spiel 09 preview to reach that size by the time Spiel opens on October 22. To fully appreciate the scope of the Spiel 08 preview, you should visit the Convention Previews page, click through to one of the Spiel 08 pages, and start reading. Even I’m amazed when I look over those files – and I’m the one who put it all together!

On another topic, my spring membership drive is over, and the bottom line is that there’s no way I can remove ads from the site. My goal was 400 new members, which would permit me to adopt the Consumer Reports model of relying only on member support, but the count barely crossed 100, with roughly twenty of those payments coming in the weeks prior to the debut of the Spiel preview.

While I appreciate the support of each member, whether new or renewing, those payments on their own aren’t enough to allow me to ditch the ads. Heck, even with the ads my yearly income is less than what I’d earn from writing for magazines and other clients. Thus, the ads will stay in place, and I’ll start adding other writing work to my schedule when possible. If you run a game publishing company and need someone to edit your rules and other material – and I think you do – write me and we’ll work something out.

Comments:

< Back Home