The last year has been dreadful for so many people, and as we keep saying it, but DUCK means very little in the great scheme of things. But we love it, and we hope you enjoy it, too. But it’s coming to a time when this magazine in print won’t be a viable option any more, purely for the reason that from March 2020 to the present day we have made a pretty big loss on running the mag, and there’s no way that we can continue to do so.
Staying digital-only is the ONLY option at present for the immediate future of DUCK magazine and for it to continue. Even crowds at matches someday soon won’t claw back the money lost from the past 12 months, and it may even be that we can’t sell at matches again anyway, cash sales being all but obsolete etc.
We are looking at the possibly of producing print copies for subscribers and online sales only every 3 or 4 months or so, with digital issues in between. That might be a goer, but it would be difficult to make any profit at all even from that route. Personally, I’ve had a really tough year with one thing and another, and at present have no work contract after this summer, so making a loss on this magazine simply can’t happen. Breaking even has to be the bare minimum for DUCK, but we are swimming against a rapid tide to even do that. DUCK was never there to make a profit. Plaudits > Pounds. But for the time and effort put in, to make a financial year loss is heartbreaking to be honest. Even in a good year, we only make a pretty small profit, but that justifies the time and effort. A year like we have just had is a tough one to take from a magazine point of view though, especially after our last print issue (Ryan interview) was our second best-ever seller, sold before the 5-1 demolition of Hull.
We are bringing out a new DUCK website, which has thankfully been sponsored by some great companies, so we can keep putting out regular, semi-decent content. But I’d be a liar if I was to promise that me and the team will be selling outside the ground any time soon. It’s simply a risk that is too great at present. We hope you all understand.
We love producing DUCK, and will keep bringing out regular digital issues, this I promise. The rest is in the lap of the financial and footballing gods.
We will keep you fully up to speed with any developments, and it’s always Twitter that gets the news first (@DUCKmagstoke)
Take care, stay safe, keep loving Stoke.