A few years ago Autoweek decided to change their publishing schedule from weekly to bi-weekly. This was coupled with a complete, and quite nice, redesign. Why? They gave a lot of reasons at the time. They mostly made sense.
I was a little annoyed. I've been an Autoweek subscriber for nearly 25 years. I was quite addicted to Autoweek landing in my mailbox every Saturday. Even though I'm in the business of web software this is one block of paper that I like keeping analog. So when I read the announcement I said, "Well, it's their business," and didn't think much more about it.
However, someone out there thinks that cutting the issue count in half was a violation of the contract between the publisher and the subscriber. Someone with a lawyer. Which is why I got this card in the mail last month.
Ridiculous. Crain owes their Autoweek subscribers money because they made a business decision? Are the complainers really that empty of auto-related news two Saturdays a month that they needed to SUE?
If you're a subscriber and agree that this is nuts then you should call the number above and get yourself removed from the Class for this suit by May 15th, 2012. If you're a subscriber and you agree with the sentiment on this card, then call Crain and unsubscribe.
I might have a bunch of ideas about how I would've dealt with the changes in the publishing industry, or updated the design, or communicated the change in frequency. But then I'm not in the publishing business. So I don't know if my ideas or Crain's were the right thing for the Autoweek.
But I do know that $22.95 per subscriber will not make Autoweek a better magazine.