Dear Backpacking Light Subscriber,

I'd like to share some exciting news with you about the future – both short and long term – of BackpackingLight.com* and Backpacking Light Magazine**.

=== ABOUT BACKPACKING LIGHT ===

* BackpackingLight.com is our subscription based Website. Subscriptions to BackpackingLight.com are sometimes referred to as "online subscriptions", or "Premium Memberships". New content is published weekly.

** Backpacking Light Magazine is our quarterly print magazine. Subscriptions to Backpacking Light Magazine are simply referred to as "print subscriptions". New content is published quarterly.

=== YOU WILL RECEIVE ISSUE 9 IN EARLY JUNE! ===

You will receive Issue 9 in early June!

First, I'm pleased to announce that Issue 9 of Backpacking Light Magazine is en route from the printer to our warehouse and will arrive in your mailbox in the first two weeks of June.

=== BACKPACKING LIGHT MAGAZINE GOES TO FULL COLOR! ===

Starting with Issue 9, Backpacking Light Magazine will go to full color, featuring wonderful photography from cover to cover.

=== OUR QUARTERLY PRINT PUBLISHING SCHEDULE IS ON TRACK ===

After eight issues, I think we're finally figuring it out! Issue 9 is a landmark issue for us, and it reflects a magazine that is growing up. We're now back on track with a quarterly publishing schedule. In fact, we are now wrapping up Issue 10, which is scheduled to deliver on time in August 2008.

=== BACKPACKING LIGHT MAGAZINE GOES DIGITAL! ===

In response to feedback from our loyal subscribers, Backpacking Light Magazine will be available in a digital edition (in addition to the print edition) starting with Issue 9. The digital edition will now be included as part of both the BackpackingLight.com Premium Membership, and the Backpacking Light Magazine print subscription (with no extra charges).

Best of all, the digital edition of the print magazine will be released several weeks in advance of the print version. All print and online subscribers will receive an email when the digital edition becomes available.

=== DIGITAL EDITION OF ISSUE 9 TO BE MAILED TO YOU TODAY! ===

That's right - check your email. You'll get a link to the digital edition of Issue 9 in just a few hours! In fact, Premium Members and Print Subscribers will continue to receive the digital edition well in advance of the print issue landing on newsstands or in your mailbox.

=== A NOTE ABOUT ONLINE ADVERTISING ===

Recently we began advertising sponsorships associated with our Weekly eNews and Podcasts. Our goal is to continue to improve our online content, bringing you the best writing, reporting and analysis about backcountry travel. We are working to refine this program to keep the messages streamlined, but allow a select set of companies to make a connection with the passionate BPL community. Online advertising is not a core sales activity of Backpacking Light. But because of the high costs associated with our rapidly growing bandwidth usage, and email syndication, it does allow us to keep our weekly newsletters, and podcasts, free to the public. We welcome your feedback on this program. Consistent with our long standing commitment to provide a rich editorial experience, we have no plans to allow any other types of digital advertising at BackpackingLight.com.

=== BACKPACKING LIGHT'S FUTURE ===

Our December subscriber survey was very enlightening to us. This is how you responded, and this is what we're doing about it:

-------
What You Want: "If I buy a subscription (Premium Membership) to the website BackpackingLight.com as a Premium Member, I want at least a digital version of the print magazine included as part of my subscription!"

What You'll Get: "When you buy a subscription (Premium Membership) to the website BackpackingLight.com, you get the digital version of Backpacking Light's print magazine as part of your subscription."

-------
What You Want: "When I buy a print subscription to Backpacking Light Magazine, I want the choice of selecting either a digital or a print version."

What You'll Get: "When you buy a subscription to Backpacking Light Magazine, you'll get both digital and print editions."

-------
What You Want: "Higher quality podcasts that are still free, and HTML (not text!) email newsletters!"

What You'll Get: "Both! Be sure to read the section above about "Online Advertising".

-------
What You Didn't Want: "Please don't republish the same content in the print magazine that you publish online at BackpackingLight.com. I buy the print magazine because of its unique flavor, and I appreciate its unique content, and look forward to reading it, knowing that the stories within its pages are new and exclusive!"

What You Won't Get: "Republished content! Backpacking Light Magazine will continue to remain exclusive and won't regurgitate old stuff already published online. However, some of you have asked us to republish some of the classics here and there (perhaps 1-2 stories per issue), so we'll leave that option open."

=== THANK YOU ===

Finally, I want to personally thank you for having faith in Backpacking Light, being patient with us, supporting us by giving us your comments, suggestions, and valuable feedback, and helping us celebrate the future of the most exciting movement in the outdoor industry!

Godspeed and Go Light,
Ryan Jordan
Publisher

-------
What You Want: "If I buy a subscription (Premium Membership) to the website BackpackingLight.com as a Premium Member, I want at least a digital version of the print magazine included as part of my subscription!"

What You'll Get: "When you buy a subscription (Premium Membership) to the website BackpackingLight.com, you get the digital version of Backpacking Light's print magazine as part of your subscription."
-------

Wow, Dr J, I gotta say I highly appreciate this. All I've really wanted all along is some kind of discount on an electronic version to go along with my premium subscription (paper simply doesn't appeal to me, so discounted paper subscriptions don't due me much good). I've always held that my membership is worth it as is, but really wanted access to some way to get a digital subscription at a discount. So, all in all, this is a huge value-added bonus to us Premium Members.

Thanks!

Having subscribed to the print version 6 months ago and never having seen one... This is... news.

Thanks for the update. It all sounds great!!!

JRS

It's great to see things get back under control at BPL headquarters! Faith in the online/print magazines has been slowly slipping away, but I'm glad I held out. Great news! Can't wait to see the new mag! Congratulations on overcoming your growing pains!

Perhaps it would be good to see that those of us who subscribed to the print magazine receive at least three or four actual magazines per subscription. I've received just one, issue 8, and believe my subscription was initially paid for sometime last summer.

"First, I'm pleased to announce that Issue 9 of Backpacking Light Magazine is en route from the printer to our warehouse and will arrive in your mailbox in the first two weeks of June."

JUNE!!!??? This is mid-April!

Ryan, are ya'll hiking it over to the publisher and horse packing it back? What could possible take that it long to show up in our mailboxes?

I was wondering if anyone else had a chance to read BPL Digital Magazine and what they thought of it.

I'm still waiting for it to show up- I can't wait to see it!

Nice to hear you are listening...

I had already decided that when my membership expired, I wouldn't renew... but the digital Edition being added is enough of a carrot to keep me subscribing. A win/win as I see it!

I had a quick look at the online edition and was quite impressed!

FANTASTIC!

Nice to see our feedback digested so well.

Thanks

: )

Apparently Zinio doesn't support Linux :(. That means I'll have to wait to read it at work or use my girlfriend's computer, which isn't a huge deal but is an inconvenience.

I know there are only like three Linux users here and its probably pretty low priority, but is there any way another service could be used to distribute the digital magazine?

If not, I understand. I'll just resort to hacking away at it until it either works or I get frustrated and install XP in a virtual machine.

Adam

Zinio edition looks pretty sweet... just showed up.

Note to all, you don't have to pay anything to Zinio to maintain your library indefinitely. It's a hella-sweet e-delivery platform.

Also, Adam, doesn't Linux support flash? Brilliantly, BPL set up the Zinio version to support online reading... so if you have Firefox / Flash on Linux you should have no problems reading it (though, admittedly, it won't be available for offline reading)

It's real easy, click the link in the BPL email you recieved. Setup a Zinio account, go to my library and click the little green arrow above the BPL magazine.

Also, there's a chance WINE could make the offline reader work... I'm not a Linux-head though...

PS - I can now see why my my post BPL in Vinio.com? went completely unreplied to (well, it could be because I mispelled... but... still...)

Edited by jdmitch on 04/18/2008 08:41:56 MDT.

All -

Anyone having trouble can contact Zinio tech support at these numbers/addresses:


support@zinio.com
888-ZINIO-NOW (946-46663)

You should be able to view Issue 9 through any standard browser.

Don

still waiting for the email notification and link........

Great job. Keep up the great work!

So I read the issue here at work. I'm pretty impressed, and it was a really good read.

Oh, and I was able to read it online with one of the Linux computers here at work, so that issue has been resolved.

I don't know why I couldn't get it work on my computer at home last night. Maybe it was an issue on Zinio's end. Oh well.

Adam

I love being able to download it! I've got a business trip coming up in a couple of weeks and it will be nice to be able to download it to my laptop to read on the plane. Well done BPL!

Ryan

Interestingly, I read the magazine from work yesterday on my linux box, and now today, from that same computer I can no longer see the green arrow to view the magazine online.

But yesterday my experience with the online magazine was very enjoyable. I'm glad to be receiving access to the print magazine, thank you.

Fantastic issue got it today and I am impressed with the depth of information, the digital Edition is the way to go. More of this and will BPL books in the future be available as digital download as well as print?