Anyone here read Harper's Magazine (1 Viewer)

Yesterday, while shopping for a few last minute holiday meal items, I decided to stop at the news stand in the market and pick up a magazine to get me through a dull and listless afternoon. I perused the new edition of Harper's: a cover story about the possibility of convicting BushCo for unconstitutional acts; a long short story by Robert Coover called "White Bread Jesus"; Robert Frost, Will Rogers, and John Gray on the financial crisis. I was sold, even at the somewhat steep cover price of $6.95.

I got home, settled into my easy chair with the magazine, and no less than four subscription cards fell into my lap. I almost discarded them but the wording caught my eye:

A one-year subscription to Harper's Magazine for $15.00. Save 82% and get free access to Harper's.org with an archive of every issue since 1850.

I searched the subscription card for a catch. There had to be a catch, I told Lela. There was no catch. Clearly this is a distress sale -- a fevered attempt by a venerable old literary institution to increase subscribers (and, hence, ad dollars).

I didn't even wait to fill out the card and mail it in; instead, I jumped online to harpers.org and signed up for my one-year subscription of fifteen bucks before they come to their senses. There's even an option for a BILL ME LATER feature but you have to search for it a little bit.

Clearly, Harper's, like all newspapers and periodicals, is hurting. If you give a damn about fine arts, literature, and poetry (and I know most of you do), please grab a subscription. You can even buy a gift subscription for a friend or family member at this price.

(Disclaimer: Carver's Dog is not affiliated in any way with Harper's Magazine or the Harper's Magazine Foundation, etc., etc., etc.)
 
(Disclaimer: Carver's Dog is not affiliated in any way with Harper's Magazine or the Harper's Magazine Foundation, etc., etc., etc.)

Dude: The upshot is if we could get an article
published, and get paid to subscribe it would be a coup.

Offer noted, and thanks.
 
C-Dog, A good deal to be sure. The cover/news stand prices of Mags are just crazy! Publishing since 1850, quite an impressive run and hopefully they will continue. I'll keep an eye out and consider a subscrip. for myself! Thanks, CRB:)
 
Well, FL, let's turn this into a goddamn pledge drive then. Tell a friend. Reader's Digest just recorded record profits. Readers-Fucking-Digest, the friend to constipated 50-year old homemakers (that's their key demo, by the way) in red state America. We can't let lit mags like Harper's drown while Reader's Digest gets a rescue line thrown to them by gun-toting Wal Mart shoppers.

Please do consider it, CRB. It's a great mag. How can you go wrong with Walter Cronkite, George McGovern, and Nikoali Stevenson on the board of directors?
 
Well, FL, let's turn this into a goddamn pledge drive then. Tell a friend. Reader's Digest just recorded record profits. Readers-Fucking-Digest, the friend to constipated 50-year old homemakers (that's their key demo, by the way) in red state America. We can't let lit mags like Harper's drown while Reader's Digest gets a rescue line thrown to them by gun-toting Wal Mart shoppers.

Well, we are talking about the AmericanReadingPublic, 6th grade level and all. Also do not forget that Vampire Romance is now one of the biggest fictional genres going!:eek: But I really am going to grab a subscription, I don't buy magazines usually mainly because of the cost. I love the little Lit./Poetry Mags., and buy when I can but most often they lose out to a book. I thought W. Cronkite was dead? :confused:CRB:)
 
That's a great offer! I guess it don't apply to non-US residents...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes, it's the postage. Still, for 12 issues (or is it 6?). Not bad...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I believe they publish monthly; it's been awhile since I read the mag, quite frankly, but I will be a regular reader from here on out. It's strange that with there being so much competition in the mailing and shipping sector these days that postage across the seas should still be so exorbitant (I read about the high cost of shipping from CL for your copy of "Portions")
 
It's monthly. Here are the US/Canada rates from the website:

2 years (24 issues)
$26.97 in the United States
CAN$39.00 in Canada

1 year (12 issues)
$16.97 in the United States
CAN$24.00 in Canada

I'm just waiting for my wife to get out her card...:D

Thanks, man. Just subscribed and have downloaded a few articles from the 1860s.

Sweet!
 
Also do not forget that Vampire Romance is now one of the biggest fictional genres going!

Arg... please, don't remind me... if I have one more sexually repressed housewife blather on and on about how she and her sexually repressed, inexperienced, and incredibly idiotic daughter bonded over that shitty series... I may just plant a bullet tree between my eyes... see what sprouts.

If I ever meet Stephenie Meyer... I'll beat her over the head with her own smugness and self-involved BS. Someone really needs to take her down a peg...

As far as Harpers goes... I read it periodically (I should write for SNL!) but not every month. Only magazine I read regularly is Rolling Stone.
 
Yeah the new RS is nice. I like it a lot more. Mainly because it doesn't tear so easily... Easier to store, easier to keep in nice shape.
 
When I was 22 years old, I bought a lifetime subscription to Rolling Stone for $99.

I'm 28 now, so I figure if I can stay alive for about 3 more years, I got the better end of that deal.
 
A one-year subscription to Harper's Magazine for $15.00.

Clearly this is a distress sale -- a fevered attempt by a venerable old literary institution to increase subscribers (and, hence, ad dollars).

Clearly, Harper's, like all newspapers and periodicals, is hurting.
There has always been a huge disparity between newsstand and subscription price for every "major" magazine I can think of. This is nothing new and I would not rush to take it as a sign of distress. It's business as usual.
 
[...] This is nothing new and I would not rush to take it as a sign of distress.

yeah.
I remember clearly, in the early-mid 90s, when I sometimes bought me 'Andy Warhol's Interview', they too had several subscription-cards in them with equally crazy offers.

It's all about catching regular readers to sell more adds.

Sure, if one likes a mag, there's no better deal than jump in on such an offer.
German mags wouldn't do such a thing. They only give you a cheap watch and a back issue or something.
 
Dude: The upshot is if we could get an article
published, and get paid to subscribe it would be a coup.

Offer noted, and thanks.

Well, FL, let's turn this into a goddamn pledge drive then. Tell a friend.

I thought a great deal about this. I'm going to
answer no. Here's why:


I have limited funds.

There is so much going on in the small press that I
find it more in standing with my values to support
the folks there. I still haven't purchased all of the
products offered at Bottle of Smoke Press, and Bill
has new children to feed. I haven't yet met anyone
from Harpers. Bill and I have hugged. Real man hugs.

10 point press is coming out with an outstanding
line of broadsides. YoW! justin.barrett (my favorite),
Christopher Cunningham, there are others. I have
corresponded with Sean Lynch, the crazy genius
behind the curtain. Sean is as fine as they come.
He wrote to me. Out of the blue he wrote to me,
and said he would like to reserve broadsides for me
because I asked when they would be available. He
emailed me! I don't even know who sits on the
board of directors at Harpers.

Literary Mary is coming out with a journal. Our
very own vodka has been hard at work learning
how to layout a book. When every friend she
thought she had suddenly had more important
things to do, she dug in and went to work and she
is putting out a Journal of a collection of
unknowns. I heart Jenifer. I don't know if I'd even
want to shake the hairy sweaty palm of Mr Harper,
or who ever.

The GPP has a store full of authors I have
been eagerly waiting to sample. Has Harpers ever
had any of those guys in them? Maybe. I'll keep an
open mind.

Rubyred and jordan have a book coming out. . .

Yeah. Thanks, man. But I have other places I want
to support.

No offense?

But if I ever publish in Harpers?
You bet I will use that payment to subscribe.

--
Okay,
Father Luke
 
Harper's kicks ass.

it's the only mag I subscribe to outside the small press...


Me too! & every year I give it as a gift to my Dad & Stepmom as well. You will ALWAYS find something that blows your mind in every issue. Between the INDEX, the FINDINGS, and the READINGS sections, you'll find plenty to roll around in the ol' noodle--then you read the articles & WOW!
 
I rarely read any magazines these days. When I was in a bookstore recently and I was over by the rack. Most of what I saw seemed to be too obvious for me to stand. I know you can't judge a book by it's cover or in this case a magazine cover. But I just knew what it all meant and there was no sense in looking into them to see if maybe something might be an interesting article that will grab my attention. I'd say the Internet has changed all of that forever.
 
I admire and respect your stance, FL. If the choice in your discretionary funds budget is between supporting small press and an institution like Harper's or National Geographic then, by all means, go for the small press.
 
Is Natl. Geographic on sale, too? Oh how the mighty have fallen.

You know, I'm making it a goal, now, to be published in Harpers, just so I can subscribe.

Wann'a co-author an article?
 
Is Natl. Geographic on sale, too? Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Funny you should say that. We just started getting National Geographic again after a 5 year break, and it looks like People magazine these days. A lot more advertising, short-attention-span info-nuggets up front, etc. The long articles are still there, but the whole thing feels dumbed-down.
 
I've subscribed to Harper's in the past, as well as UTNE Reader and Magnet.

I enjoyed all of them.

but I buy lots of small press stuff to assuage my white middle class liberal guilt. ;)
 
Funny enough, MJP, my choices at the newstand on Thanksgiving Day were either Nat'l Geographic or Harper's ... thumbing through the Geo, I noticed a plethora of ads and a lack of text so I chose the latter. (Although the article on why darkness is important to all living things on the planet did seem intriguing)
 
I subscribed for the first time in 2005 after I saw Lewis Lapham on LinkTV. He was the General Editor then, and described how the magazine was mostly independently funded to avoid the influences of, oh, forces like oil, telco, etc. etc.

It does have some fiction and poetry in it, but the heart of the pub is people with their heads (generally) in the right place who do investigative analysis of political and cultural trends and events. They have taken the Bush admin down a peg or two, and they are on the radar those minions (Karl Rove recently wrote a complaint letter to them).

And the Harper's index is almost worth the price of admission (subscription admission that is).
 
If Karl Rove wrote them a complaint letter, then they're definitely on the right track! :D
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top