Letters

If you don't mark your letter "not for publication" and you write
on a subject relating to adventuring or SynTax, I'll assume it's
okay for me to quote from it here.
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From Neil Shipman, Bristol

Happy Birthday to SynTax! I expect you'll get quite a few
congratulatory letters but I just wanted to record my thanks to
you, Sue, for all your hard work over the last two years in
producing such a great magazine. Thanks too to everyone who has
contributed in any way in making SynTax such a success. From the
results of the questionnaire it's obvious that a large majority of
readers are happy with the way things are and now that Amiga
owners can run it with an emulator I'm sure they will get as much
enjoyment out of it as we ST users have done in the past. Here's
to the next 12 months!

@~Thanks a lot, Neil. I've really enjoyed the last two years.
From Phil Darke, Camberley                              (extract)
First I want to say that I realise how much time and effort you
put into producing SynTax. I consider it excellent value for money
and I shall continue to subscribe as long as you keep it going.
HOWEVER I have also tried to look at it from the point of view of
someone who does not subscribe and has no idea what it contains
except possibly a review in a magazine.

First I think the disk should be double-sided and frankly I was a
bit surprised that there was no question on the questionnaire to
find out how many subscribers are single-sided. Several of the
glossies use a format which allows  single-sided users to access
the disk while still filling up the other side with other items
for DS users. Ok you may say, but what am I going to put on it?
Well, you have a large selection of PD disks available, how about
something from that? I don't know much about PD organisation but I
would have thought this would be a very cost effective way of
filling side 2. Since the disk and postage are already paid for
(correct me if I am wrong) the material is free and the only
additional outlay is time and cost of duplication.

Second point is your potential customer walks into WH Smith and
sees before him a selection of glossy mags, each with a cover disk
attached for about 3 quid. Now you and I know different but he
compares this with œ3.50 for SynTax, just a disk, no glossy mag
AND he's got the extra "trouble" of buying a stamp and sending off
and waiting (perhaps as much as two months if he's just missed the
last edition) for the next issue of SynTax.

I don't pretend to know what the answer is but something is needed
to attract more readers.

Again, referring to the glossies, a frequent offer that is made is
a free game with every new subscription. Someone in one of your
letters suggested a free game to the person introducing a new
subscriber but I don't think this is such a good idea as I am
already hooked and don't need the incentive but your potential
customer does. As for cost, I am sure this could be minimal if you
use one of the PD adventures or maybe you could do some sort of a
deal with one of the homegrown software houses. One other
suggestion, how about a free/cheap sample issue of SynTax to
anyone who is not sure. The disk box idea is also a good idea and
perhaps this could also be extended to new subscribers.

@~Phew, loads of points there; I'll try to cover them in turn.
@~Firstly, I don't aim to compete with the glossies as such. SynTax,
@~like all other fanzines, is something completely different, aimed
@~at a different market. For someone who is mostly interested in
@~adventures, the glossy magazines offer very little, perhaps a few
@~pages of adventure-related reviews and hints and that's it. As for
@~their cover disks, I have rarely found anything useful on them as
@~I don't have an urge for demos of arcade games or utilities which
@~I've probably already got anyway if I feel I need them.

@~I could make the disk double-sided and put a PD adventure on the
@~other side but I know from two years of producing SynTax that
@~different people like different PDs and the chances of me pleasing
@~a fair proportion of the readership are slim. They'd probably then
@~think - I've got a double-sided disk with a game I don't like
@~filling half of it ... what a rotten deal! I think the amount of
@~information given in each issue is worth the price asked, without
@~padding the disk further. And people only have to send in a small
@~contribution on disk to get their own choice of PD for free.

@~Next, if someone sends in an order, they get the current issue
@~by return of post whenever possible; if there's only a few days to
@~go before the next issue goes out, I hang on and send that with an
@~explanatory note for the delay.

@~The recent Zero offer gave Amiga owners an issue of SynTax and the
@~emulator for just œ2.50. A good deal, yes? At the time of writing,
@~I've had about 60 orders but not one has ordered a second disk. So
@~despite giving people a good trial offer, it hasn't made a scrap
@~of difference to the readership level. Sad but true.

@~I know you've played devil's advocate on this, Phil, looking at it
@~from the outside, but I think the decisions I've made are right on
@~these points. Basically some people will buy the mag and others
@~won't, for whatever reason, and no matter how cheap you make
@~something or how many inducements you offer, they still won't!

@~Finally some fascinating information, again from 
Neil Shipman, Bristol

How good is your classical education? I must admit that mine is
not very comprehensive, but a question and answer on a TV quiz
programme recently made me prick up my ears. It was to do with The
Three Fates and it so fascinated me that I was prompted to do a
bit of research. As a result I learnt something which not only
added to my store of knowledge but which might also interest
fellow adventurers.

The Fates are three gloomy, aged women who determine a mortal's
destiny by the following method. The first (often shown holding a
spindle) spins a thread, the second (who carries rods which she
shakes to decide a person's fate) assigns its length and the
third (with a tablet in hand on which she writes the decision)
cuts the thread. Sometimes known as the Daughters of the Night or
the daughters of Zeus and Themis, their names are.....

Clothos (the spinner of thread), Lachesis (the drawer of thread)
and Atropos (the cutter of thread). Players of Loom will
immediately recognise these as the names of the Elders of the
Guild of Weavers on the island of Loom. There's possibly a tenuous
connection, too, between the spinning wheel, magical staff and
Book of Patterns and the spindle, rods and tablet of the Fates.
And, as if all that wasn't enough, I also found out that Zeus
mated with Nemesis in the form of a swan!

For a long time I have held Brian Moriarty, the author of Loom, in
high regard. Needless to say, it's touches like this that push him
up a notch further in my estimation as one of the greatest
adventure writers.

@~I thought I knew my mythology pretty well and I also know the
@~names of the Fates from reading Piers Anthony's excellent
@~Incarnations of Immortality series but those links hadn't
@~occurred to me at all.