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Bitch's fate is in your hands Bitch on Wheels blog post by Debbie Rasmussen, September 15, 2008 - 11:18am; tagged bitch, bitch magazine, feminist media, friends of Bitch, fundraising, independent media, nonprofit media, save Bitch. First the bad news: The print publishing industry as a whole is staring into a void. Across the board, newsstand magazine sales are in a slump, subscriber numbers are down, and paper and postal costs continue to rise. But it's not magazines like US Weekly or Vogue that you'll see disappearing from the newsstands—they have the parent companies and the resources to weather industry ill winds. It's the small, independent magazines like Bitch that will disappear, because the odds are already stacked high against us. And simply put: We need to raise $40,000 by October 15th in order to print the next issue of Bitch. Now the good news: While it's true that $40,000 is a lot of money, we know the number of you Bitch supporters is in the hundreds of thousands. And we're asking each of you who values independent, nonprofit media and intelligent feminist cultural analysis to contribute what you can to ensure that Bitch thrives. And while we can't say what form Bitch will take in the future (our direction will depend, in part, on your feedback), we can say that we've been hard at work to find an innovative publishing model that will allow us to maintain the spirit and integrity of Bitch while also reflecting the changing world around us. As a nonprofit, reader-funded media organization, our fate really is—and always will be—in your hands. We don't need a parent company. We just need you! ::: Please help us continue this important work by donating and sharing this message ::: UPDATE: Get banners for your site here! UPDATE: Here's the transcript of the video: Bitch Video Transcript (music) Bitch Feminist Response To Pop Culture Save Bitch (music cuts out) Debbie: We are coming to you from the Bitch headquarters in Portland, Oregon to share some bad news that we’re hoping you’ll help us out with. We’re holding here the current issue of Bitch that was just released a couple weeks ago, and this issue might be the last issue. Andi: The fact is, we need to raise $40,000 by October 15th. D: And we know that sounds like a lot of money, and it is a lot of money, but that is about the cost of producing one issue of Bitch. (music) A: We were going to tell you about the minutia of the publishing industry and how that consistently impacts Bitch in a negative way. (music cuts out) D: But the important thing is that you know that in every step of the way in the magazine publishing world, Bitch, as a small publication, as an independent publication, and as a feminist publication is at a disadvantage. And everybody probably knows by now that the magazine industry is declining. Bitch has been lucky to fly in the face of those trends for quite some time now, but we are finally seeing those trends affecting us. And so your support as donors is more critical than ever. A lot of people don’t realize that we are a non-profit and that we depend heavily on donations from our supporters, and a lot of people also don’t realize that the bulk of those donations come in the form of $10, $20, and $30. So, any amount helps. A: You know, if you have a lot to donate, that would be fantastic, we would never turn that down. D: When we became aware of this financial crunch, we sat around in our staff meeting and brainstormed different ways to share the news with our supporters. A: We thought about highlighting the many fine magazines that in the past year or two have folded because much like us, they are in a constant state of financial precariousness. [Shows magazines that have folded: Punk Planet, Clamor, No Compromise, Stay Free, LiP, Herbivore] We also thought about just having our staff dogs sitting here on the coach, and focusing only on the staff dogs and their sad puppy eyes to get you to give us money. [Picture of staff dogs, “We needz ur dollarz 2save Bitch”] D: What we decided to do instead, to keep this campaign really transparent and hopefully to motivate people to keep checking back and spread the word is to make a thermometer in the shape of a wiener dog. A: And then of course we came up with all sorts of wiener related puns like, “Help our wiener grow,” “Our wiener needs to get much bigger…” D: “Feed the bitch to save Bitch” [Bark bark] A: “Wiener people going to realize that independent magazines need money?!” [laughter] A: The wiener dog graphic is very cute though, so if you can, get to the website and check it out, you’ll not only hear a lot more about the details of this particular situation and why we need your help, but you will get to see that very cute graphic and in fact, help the wiener dog grow. (music plays) A: So subscribe D: Donate A: Support D: Keep Bitch alive. A: Thank you. D: We love you. [Laughter] D: It always goes back to the love. Save Bitch Donate Now! www.bitchmagazine.org (music cuts out) Directed, Shot and edited by Dawn Jones Written by Debbie Rasmussen and Andi Zeisler Art director Briar Levit Music by Bitch for the Birds. Read 112 comments

First the bad news: The print publishing industry as a whole is staring into a void. Across the board, newsstand magazine sales are in a slump, subscriber numbers are down, and paper and postal costs continue to rise. But it's not magazines like US Weekly or Vogue that you'll see disappearing from the newsstands—they have the parent companies and the resources to weather industry ill winds. It's the small, independent magazines like Bitch that will disappear, because the odds are already stacked high against us. And simply put: We need to raise $40,000 by October 15th in order to print the next issue of Bitch.

Now the good news: While it's true that $40,000 is a lot of money, we know the number of you Bitch supporters is in the hundreds of thousands. And we're asking each of you who values independent, nonprofit media and intelligent feminist cultural analysis to contribute what you can to ensure that Bitch thrives. And while we can't say what form Bitch will take in the future (our direction will depend, in part, on your feedback), we can say that we've been hard at work to find an innovative publishing model that will allow us to maintain the spirit and integrity of Bitch while also reflecting the changing world around us.

As a nonprofit, reader-funded media organization, our fate really is—and always will be—in your hands. We don't need a parent company. We just need you!

::: Please help us continue this important work by donating and sharing this message :::

UPDATE: Get banners for your site here!

UPDATE: Here's the transcript of the video:

Bitch Video Transcript

(music)

Bitch

Feminist Response To Pop Culture

Save Bitch

(music cuts out)

Debbie: We are coming to you from the Bitch headquarters in Portland, Oregon to share some bad news that we’re hoping you’ll help us out with.

We’re holding here the current issue of Bitch that was just released a couple weeks ago, and this issue might be the last issue.

Andi: The fact is, we need to raise $40,000 by October 15th.

D: And we know that sounds like a lot of money, and it is a lot of money, but that is about the cost of producing one issue of Bitch.

(music)

A: We were going to tell you about the minutia of the publishing industry and how that consistently impacts Bitch in a negative way.

(music cuts out)

D: But the important thing is that you know that in every step of the way in the magazine publishing world, Bitch, as a small publication, as an independent publication, and as a feminist publication is at a disadvantage. And everybody probably knows by now that the magazine industry is declining. Bitch has been lucky to fly in the face of those trends for quite some time now, but we are finally seeing those trends affecting us. And so your support as donors is more critical than ever.

A lot of people don’t realize that we are a non-profit and that we depend heavily on donations from our supporters, and a lot of people also don’t realize that the bulk of those donations come in the form of $10, $20, and $30. So, any amount helps.

A: You know, if you have a lot to donate, that would be fantastic, we would never turn that down.

D: When we became aware of this financial crunch, we sat around in our staff meeting and brainstormed different ways to share the news with our supporters.

A: We thought about highlighting the many fine magazines that in the past year or two have folded because much like us, they are in a constant state of financial precariousness.

[Shows magazines that have folded: Punk Planet, Clamor, No Compromise, Stay Free, LiP, Herbivore]

We also thought about just having our staff dogs sitting here on the coach, and focusing only on the staff dogs and their sad puppy eyes to get you to give us money.

[Picture of staff dogs, “We needz ur dollarz 2save Bitch”]

D: What we decided to do instead, to keep this campaign really transparent and hopefully to motivate people to keep checking back and spread the word is to make a thermometer in the shape of a wiener dog.

A: And then of course we came up with all sorts of wiener related puns like, “Help our wiener grow,” “Our wiener needs to get much bigger…”

D: “Feed the bitch to save Bitch”

[Bark bark]

A: “Wiener people going to realize that independent magazines need money?!”

[laughter]

A: The wiener dog graphic is very cute though, so if you can, get to the website and check it out, you’ll not only hear a lot more about the details of this particular situation and why we need your help, but you will get to see that very cute graphic and in fact, help the wiener dog grow.

(music plays)

A: So subscribe

D: Donate

A: Support

D: Keep Bitch alive.

A: Thank you.

D: We love you.

[Laughter]

D: It always goes back to the love.

Save Bitch

Donate Now!
www.bitchmagazine.org

(music cuts out)