THE TREND OF MISSING COVER DATES
Over the past few months I've noticed more and more publishers (English and Thai) opting not to include the month of publication on the cover of their title.
I can only speculate as to the reasons behind these decisions, however I can say with certainty that it's not unknown for some "monthly" magazines to simply skip an issue if they don't get enough advertising. Another scenario is when a magazine waits for enough ads to come in, and hence gets so far behind its deadlines that a month disappears here or there. From the retail side not having an easily identifiable date on the cover might lead to extra time of the shelves and more chance of a sale.
At best it's confusing for readers, and at worst it's just unprofessional.
5 comments:
It's more simple than that. with the amount of state (privy council) interferance, the issues are missed by delays caused by clearance permissions from the government departments involved.There is a major lockdown in place now on free speech. EASY !
In so far as magazines are concerned, I have to disagree with you David.
There's no requirement to send a copy of any edition to any Government or State bodies prior to publication. Yes - there is a still a need for permission to be granted by the Royal Thai Police to obtain a license to publish, however that's only needed for the first or a dummy edition.
And I'm saying this as publisher of the number one or two ranked business magazine. We've had zero interference from anyone on Thailand.
Missing cover dates is just another example of the Thai print industry in decline - trying to cheat the customer to make extra sales. Together with extortionate cover prices of imported magazines (admittedly this is probably import tax), the industry will succeed in killing itself. I don't think I've bought a newspaper or magazine in Thailand in over two years. The quality of the Bangkok Post and Nation is appalling, and a subscription to The Economist is a waste of time if they don't get delivered due to lese majeste or theft.
Whenever I visit my local Bookazine (in Ari) all I see are Thai customers reading imported magazines, but nobody buys anything.
I would say part of the intention by excluding a cover data is to prolong the shelf life so, essentially, yes it is cheating.
Everytime I go into a library, sorry bookshop I am constantly frustrated by the lines of people reading and then replacing magazines. It really makes me wonder whether Thai magazines do actually sell many copies at all ?
leosia hits it on the head. Prices are way out of line and the national English language papers are very poor and in decline (my experience from 15 years buying them).
I actually wonder how places such as Bookazine survive as most people are as reported, just browsing. Then again, the price of some English language books is set far too high for many.
The issue of lese majeste is ludicrous and can perhaps be addressed with the next generation. It is not a 21st century law.
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