Otaku USA Lowers Price, Gets Rid of DVD...Sorta
Dec 21, 2008
I was at Barnes and Noble this morning and was looking through the magazines when I spied the newest issue of Otaku USA. I instanty noticed that it wasn't in plastic so I knew something was up. I hesitated on buying it because money isn't exactly falling off trees these days, but when I picked it up I was pleasantly surprised to see that the price had been lowered to $5.99 instead of the usual $9.99. It even has a little blurb by the price heralding "New CHEAP Price!". I thought it was kinda funny that "CHEAP" is in all Caps. I really enjoy the magazine even though the writers sometimes engage in excessive tips of the hat to each other, as though they are writing the articles to give a wink to their clique instead of to anime and manga fans. And the fact that it can't go an issue without comparing at least one anime to a role playing board game gets quite old. Aside from these minor complaints, it blows away the insipid Anime Insider, with its imaginary battles of Naruto versus Ichigo and "Dream" live action movie castings of anime shows with actors about 20 years too old to play the roles.
So anyway, to get the price down, Otaku USA got rid of the DVD that came with each issue. Apparently, you can still watch the cyber DVD at the Otaku USA website with a code inside the magazine. Of course, that means you can access the content without buying the magazine, but I imagine a lot of people find the content for free on the internet on their own anyway. I have never watched any of the Otaku USA dvds. They're just sitting in a stack collecting dust. When I accumulate enough, I give them to a kid I know that likes anime. So losing the DVD is no loss to me. It's a smart move to cut costs what with the crappy economy we have right now. I wouldn't even have bought this issue if the price had been the usual $9.99. But I wonder if the price point has anything to do with the fact that they're not selling enough magazines?
Sorry for not updating my site lately. I've been exhausted with work. But now I'm off for two weeks for Christmas and I look forward to posting some reviews, both text and podcast.
Yeah, one hundred thousand magazines in circulation is good. I had forgotten about the monthly thing. It will be cool to see the mag more frequently (although I admit I\'m two issues behind: I\'m just now finishing reading the October issue). I still buy the newest issues even if I\'m not done with the previous ones. Hopefully this won\'t be a Newtype deal. I remember they dropped the dvd as well and said it would only be for subscribers. A month or two later they again started including it for non-subscribers, BUT raised the price of the mag by three dollars.
But I wonder if the price point has anything to do with the fact that they\'re not selling enough magazines?
Not sure exactly why the change was made but according to some public releases OUSA has a circulation of more than 100000 which isn\'t that bad.
Also the next issue should be coming next month. Not sure how often we will pull the back to back month deal, but I think it\'s a welcome challenge.