[Michlib-l] SLJ Price increase

[Paul McCann]

Hi Connie,

I'm not seeing a general news announcement of this morning and the SLJ 
web site is showing an introductory subscription price under $90 and 
print+online for $130.  It looks like you can only subscribe for one 
year at these rates.  It might buy some time if you cancel through your 
vendor, get a refund for the unused portion and subscribe direct.  It 
seems like only in the vendor world can publishers raise prices 
mid-subscription and expect to get paid.

Who is your magazine vendor?  A good question to ask is what is your 
current subscription end date.  With claims, combine and extends for 
renewal overlaps, etc., you may be paid out 1.5 to 2 years currently.  I 
would think of refusing to pay the "increase" until such time as the 
current, paid subscription ran its course.

(***Limited applicability)  Another thing to investigate is how much of 
this content we are paying for twice.  The SLJ reviews are available 
through Syndetics but I'm not sure how quickly these appear in our 
catalog or whether they are linked to the pre-pub records.

Dexter will still subscribe one way or another.  My bigger concern is 
how this will affect other titles by the same publisher.  This may be a 
trial to see if they can bump LJ, Horn Book, etc.  If this price bump 
comes to fruition, I could see us going to a direct subscription and 
waiting for the discount renewal mailers to roll in each year.  Claiming 
would be a pain, but so is being gouged.  With a direct subscription, 
there would be mid-year price changes, but probably less notification as 
well.  At $20 an issue and considering the level of advertising and 
complementary content generation (reviews) the increase seems excessive.

Paul

Paul McCann				Dexter District Library
Library Director			3255 Alpine St.
Phone: 734-426-4477			Dexter, MI 48130
Fax: 734-426-1217			www.dexter.lib.mi.us

On 10/5/2017 9:03 AM, ConnieJo Ozinga via Michlib-l wrote:
> We have just been notified of a huge price increase in the cost of 
> School Library Journal.
>
> "This is an FYI that the publisher of 801-459-009 School Library 
> Journal is making a large price increase from $136.99 to now being 
> $249.99."
>
>
> We are still going to renew but we had to think about it.
>
>
> What was/is your reaction? Will you still renew? Can you afford to 
> renew? I was really surprised by the size of the price increase.
>
>
> Connie
>
>
>
> -- 
> Connie Jo Ozinga
> Library Director
> Commerce Township Community Library
> 180 E. Commerce
> Commerce, MI 48390
> (248) 669-8108 x101
> www.commercelibrary.info <http://www.commercelibrary.info>
>
>
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