PixInsight Magazine

[RBA]

Been over a year since the 1st issue. Wondering what are the plans for coming up with #2...

[Juan Conejero]

Hi Rogelio,

Sadly, PixInsight Magazine is a dead project. I had put a lot of hope in this project, but unfortunately we lack the resources necessary to continue it. It is a lot of work which requires some people dedicated to it, and this is something we cannot afford.

After the first issue, we contacted virtually all CCD and telescope makers to see if they were interested in advertising with us on PI Mag at very reasonable prices. Just a few of them responded, negatively of course, and in a few cases in arrogant ways. We made a second attempt lowering our prices to ridiculous levels with the same result, and even more disrespectful in one case. It is evident that hardware providers don't look at PI as something of interest.

PixInsight Magazine was a very nice project, perhaps the nicest one we have started besides PI itself. Our intention with this magazine was, besides a communication means for the PI community, to start a professional-level periodic publication specialized in image processing, software development and observational techniques for astrophotography. In my opinion, there is currently no periodic publication covering image processing for AP with the required rigor and depth.

Perhaps some day.

[cs_pixinsight]

This is sad to hear, especially about the arrogance of the vendors.  Without the software side of things, the hardware is worthless!  Too bad they didn't get in on the ground floor with this, I see great things for PI if it continues improving on the already solid foundation provided. 

Keep up the fine work and don't let this discourgage you - maybe the concept is just a bit ahead of it's time...

Craig

[chris_todd]

I was not a PI user when this was released.  Are any back issues still available for purchase?  Sounds like it was worth the reading...

[sleshin]

Very disappointing news. The first issue was informative and very well done. I had been looking forward to the follow up article that Vicent was going to write for the next issue on Local Contrast Normalization Function. Vicent, how about writing something about this and releasing it as a tutorial or perhaps in a post for the forum.

Chris, the magazine was only offered digitally and can still be downloaded. There's a link to it on PI's home page in the list  along the right side.

Steve

[vicent_peris]

Very disappointing news. The first issue was informative and very well done. I had been looking forward to the follow up article that Vicent was going to write for the next issue on Local Contrast Normalization Function. Vicent, how about writing something about this and releasing it as a tutorial or perhaps in a post for the forum.

In fact, 3/4 of the article is already done, so I plan to publish it, surely on the web. It's a long article (if I remember well, it was around 20 pages), covering only the star mask and small scale structure isolation topics.

This article series is not abandoned at all. Just give me the time... Second part is coming.


Regards,
Vicent.

[sleshin]

That's great, Vicent. Look forward to it's completion.

Steve

[RBA]

Perhaps some day.

Things will change.

[caliu]

No entiendo como al cabo de tantos años de demostrar que esto es lo mejor de lo mejor, todavía quede gente arcaica, anclada en el pasado a los que lo único que les importa es ver las nebulosas de Ha bien rojas como un tomate y las de reflexión, azules como el mar Mediterráneo, no lo entiendo, de verdad, pensaba que este tema ya estaba zanjado y que la inteligencia de la gente servia para algo útil, pero parece que la tozudez de ciertos sectores arcaicos, sigue erre que erre, pues ellos se lo pierden, que carallo!!. 

[marekc]

I'm going to agree with RBA here... I think he's right, and things will eventually change.

It's sad to hear that vendors weren't interested in advertising in PI Magazine. Not only sad, but a bit surprising - I would have thought that RBA's APODs, if nothing else, would have made them more interested in `getting in on PI early'.

I haven't been able to shoot any new data for some time, and I'm a pretty basic imager, but even someone like me can see that there's so much power in PI. I think that if people like Juan and Vicent can somehow continue to put in their 36-hour days, writing more documentation and putting out more updates, the momentum may get to a `tipping point' in favor of PI. Some of the new scripts are really promising, too. Also, we're seeing some well-known `PS people' posting on this forum and investigating PI. (I even saw a post the other day that made me think the author was Craig Stark, for example.)

I think RBA is right... the time will come.

[Geoff]

After the first issue, we contacted virtually all CCD and telescope makers to see if they were interested in advertising with us on PI Mag at very reasonable prices. Just a few of them responded, negatively of course, and in a few cases in arrogant ways. We made a second attempt lowering our prices to ridiculous levels with the same result, and even more disrespectful in one case. It is evident that hardware providers don't look at PI as something of interest.

Maybe you should name the disrespectful ones so we know which products to avoid!
Geoff

[RBA]

Advertising is a tricky business, especially at times when budgets are tight, but ad prices is not the only issue... The distribution is also important. Also, advertisers LOVE statistics. How many people (unique readers) downloaded the first issue? How many are expected to read the second? Any demographics? How often they will be issued? If there's one thing you CAN'T tell an advertiser is "our next issue will be out POSSIBLY in 2-6 months"... Timing is very important for advertisers as I'm sure you know. Depending on who you deal with, if you don't speak their language, they'll ignore you - in the worst case, might even mock you (although that's just saying they're worth your time as much as they say you're worth theirs)...

If PixInsight Magazine was a work of love - it surely seemed that way - and you just don't have the resources or time to produce a second issue for now... that's one thing. If you want to sell ad space in an electronic publication, even one so specific as PixInsight Magazine, in order to support the product... That's a whole other ordeal, and perhaps you weren't ready? Maybe you were, I just don't know. Sending a mass-email to a bunch of vendors - even if the messages were personalized and sent one by one - is probably not the formula I would have recommended as a first step FWIW.

I'm just saying this because although it's very easy to conclude "OMG such an excellent software, how come nobody wants to advertise?" I wouldn't go on a vendor witch hunt after reading Juan's email unless I had all the facts. In the end, it's also true there are many idiots out there anyway.

In any case, Juan, the fact that you just said you don't have the time needed for this project, tells me that advertisers and some extra money aren't going to solve that problem anyway.

[vicent_peris]

Advertising is a tricky business, especially at times when budgets are tight, but ad prices is not the only issue... The distribution is also important. Also, advertisers LOVE statistics. How many people (unique readers) downloaded the first issue? How many are expected to read the second? Any demographics? How often they will be issued? If there's one thing you CAN'T tell an advertiser is "our next issue will be out POSSIBLY in 2-6 months"... Timing is very important for advertisers as I'm sure you know. Depending on who you deal with, if you don't speak their language, they'll ignore you - in the worst case, might even mock you (although that's just saying they're worth your time as much as they say you're worth theirs)...

If I remember well, we had about 12,000 downloads of the first issue long time ago, 7,500 of them during the first week. I haven't an idea of demographics though...

In any case, Juan, the fact that you just said you don't have the time needed for this project, tells me that advertisers and some extra money aren't going to solve that problem anyway.

Time is also a matter of money.


Regards,
Vicent.

[RBA]

Time is also a matter of money.

It always is, but the ability to transform money into a product does require some effort/management/logistics that in the case of this magazine I'm just not 100% sure are fully in place in Pleiades Astrophoto, also considering everything else what's going on and the team's priorities. This is of course a very subjective opinion and I could be wrong.

[Juan Conejero]

It always is, but the ability to transform money into a product does require some effort/management/logistics that in the case of this magazine I'm just not 100% sure are fully in place in Pleiades Astrophoto, also considering everything else what's going on and the team's priorities.

For a project like PixInsight Magazine to be possible, it has to be self-sufficient. It cannot depend on Pleiades AP economically. Basically, the magazine has to generate enough money to hire two persons dedicated to make it as a quarterly publication. This involves a lot of work: gather community information (both inside and outside the PI community), look for articles, perform article revisions (coordinating scientific consultants when necessary), look for advertising/partners, professional desktop edition, etc. We would do just the tasks of editorial direction and design/art direction. All of this requires advertising and partnership.

Sending a mass-email to a bunch of vendors - even if the messages were personalized and sent one by one - is probably not the formula I would have recommended as a first step FWIW.

Probably you are right. However we have what we have. Most hardware vendors are in the US, and the only way we have to contact them is by email. We cannot talk to them personally. This is one of our handicaps.

I wouldn't go on a vendor witch hunt after reading Juan's email unless I had all the facts.

That is not what I intended to communicate, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I understand the fact that most of them didn't even respond. After all, we are very small and our visibility is even smaller, especially for hardware vendors because they are not in direct touch with software users. So the "OMG such an excellent software, how come nobody wants to advertise?" idea is not in my mind. This is just another nice project that turns out to be an illusion. A bit painful but we are accustomed