#diyweekly

[stephenackroyd-blog]

Did making DIY Weekly free make sense? On week one's figures, I'd say it looks very good.

We've been pushing with a lot of social and web support (obviously), a few cleverly placed targeted online ads, and the first flyers and posters (yes, physical!) should have been around our stage at Sŵn this weekend. More of that kind of stuff in the near future.

NB. Those numbers above don't include iPad downloads, 'FYI'.

[stephenackroyd-blog]

I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeee to be whatever...

"The new issue of DIY Weekly, available from today (Monday 14th October), marks a big change; from now on our weekly digital magazine will be free and available to all.

Previously only distributed via Apple Newsstand, you'll also now be able to read on any mobile device or computer, as well as in an interactive format through the existing DIY Weekly iPad app. Our slimmed down iPhone specific version will be discontinued, with the full fat version available to all readers.

This week's edition also represents a bigger than ever format, packed with interviews, features, news and reviews. Los Campesinos! take the cover, we speak to Of Montreal and Metallica's Lars Ulrich, check in with Swim Deep and Wolf Alice in Birmingham, follow our #STANDFORSOMETHING tour to Bristol and profile the hottest new talent in an expanded Neu section.

You can check it out via thisisfakediy.co.uk or the DIY Weekly iPad app now. Further new distribution channels will be added in the coming weeks.

Available every Monday, those with outstanding paid subscriptions should contact [email protected]."

As of today, I'm making DIY Weekly a free publication.

The reason I'm doing this is pretty simple - in fact, there are two major ones. We've put out 31 paid for issues (almost) exclusively via Apple Newsstand, available to read via iPads and iPhones. We get good numbers that we're quite proud of, but when we have made a new issue free, we've had great ones. That should surprise nobody.

Not only do we get ten times the downloaders via Apple, but we're able to distribute via other channels, such as Issuu, meaning those without a particular handset or device can read. We spend more time on DIY Weekly than anything else (myself and my Deputy Editor Viki do almost all the design work ourselves), and so we want the results of that hard work to be available to everyone. A print run for a publisher as small as DIY on a weekly is near impossible, especially when we have the established monthly already, so this is the best way.

Secondly, and more selfishly, we were eager to stop doing the iPhone specific version. I realise this may be something readers used to that format may be disappointed in, but logistically it was taking twice the hours of the main tablet version to produce a product we, honestly, believed wasn't even half as exciting or engaging. To get techy for a moment, iPhone required two sets of extra templates for every page - one for iPhone 4, and one for the elongated iPhone 5. If we wanted to add Android phones and tablets to our distribution network using our existing platform, that would be an extra five or six. With a team as small as ours doing as much as we do, that just isn't viable, and when charging for a product we felt it absolutely had to be optimised for whatever screen it was purchased on.

By distributing as we will from today, the full magazine will be viewable, zoomable and scrollable via any mobile, tablet and desktop device. The DIY iPad app will still provide the premium, interactive version - and is the one we'd recommend if you have the gear - but nobody will find themselves unable to read what we're publishing if they're interested enough to give it a go.

Sure, I expect there is an argument about money and media here - how we create value for words. I believe as a small publisher you need to make sure you're not tying yourself in knots to deliver copy when you could be using that time to do something more creative. However, any reader who wants it needs to be able to access that copy where they want, when they want. That's part of the reason we publish the different formats and publications we do under the DIY banner - why we launched a print title off the back of a website, or why we produce a weekly version at all. This makes that more possible than ever.

Please share DIY Weekly with anyone you think will love it. Tell us what you like, tell us what you don't (but nicely). You can read it on Issuu.com here.

Oh, and it's dead good too. Obviously.

P.S. Reasonable advertising rates are available, etc etc.

[stephenackroyd-blog]

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Just made this week’s DIY Weekly live on Apple Newsstand. Some things about it that will be repeated via ‘official channels’ tomorrow by people less tired than I am now.

1. It is quite different. Not just in design (Less standoffish! Colours! Big pictures!), but also tone. It’s the first step in the way we’re going now. Everyone wants to be cooler, we’re going to tell (very) bad jokes. Repeatedly. Until someone gives us a slap. The AlunaGeorge photoshop gag is amazing (and I didn't do it, so I'm not a mad egotist).

2. It's bigger. Quite a lot bigger, in fact. Loads more words, sidebars and ideas.

3. It's cheaper. This week, for seven days, it'll be 69p. That's only this issue, though, because we want people to see it. Next Monday it'll go up - but to the new price of £1.49 (before it was £1.99 - so that's still cheaper!). After a month all archive issues will be 69p each, so you can delve into the past without fear of being skint.

4. There's also a free teaser issue EVERY WEEK, comprised of a few pieces and a cut down cover feature. It's only a very small taste of what the full issue contains, so if you like it, feel free to buy the full one. If you don't, it'll still be worth having the app. If you let it, it'll download a new one for you every Sunday night ready for your Monday morning commute. That's quite clever, I think.

5. The slightly bad news - this week's iPhone version will be late. Mostly because someone (me) has been doing solid dawn to dusk days this week and still hasn't got the final templates quite right. It'll be ready very soon, though. We really want to get mobile right.

Basically, if you haven't checked out DIY Weekly (and can, not everyone has an iPad or iPhone, obviously) - or have, but haven't for a while - please give this one a go - even if it's only the free one. And let us know what you think. We only made the decision to do this last Monday (as in less than a week ago) - no plan, no working things out in advance, most of it made up as we went along - but I'm quite proud of it. The next few weeks and months will be Quite Exciting.

Get the app here.

[stephenackroyd-blog]

Why Photoshop 'the faces' on Disclosure, when you can get them to draw on a sheet of glass and do it all in frame? We can't be the first people to do this, but I really like the end results. It's on the cover of tomorrow's Weekly, with a few more shots in the print mag on Friday.

[stephenackroyd-blog]

DIY Weekly! New issue! Merchandise! iPhone! iPad! App store! Cool.