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Expanding into Print This is part of a few memories from the founders of SQL Server Central, celebrating 25 years of operation this month. When we started SQL Server Central, our goal was to build a great resource that helped other people advance in their careers and also made some money. Our decisions in building the site were based around the digital world and treating the community as we would want to be treated. Over time, however, we realized that continuing to grow this business was hard in a digital-only world. We experimented and proposed helping others build similar sites, like ReportingServicesCentral (which would have been great) or NotificationServicesCentral (which would not), but ultimately, we weren't experts enough in those areas and couldn't find people willing to partner. Everyone thought they could do it themselves and that the knowledge was the hard part, and execution was easy. The truth is that the reverse is the way it works. In any case, there was a point in time when we were sending 6 newsletters a week (Monday through Saturday) and we didn't think there was much room for growth there. Andy suggested that we compile all our articles into a Best of SQLServerCentral book. I didn't think they would sell well (they didn't), but we did enjoy giving them away at our annual SQL Server Central Party at PASS. We even added a second series where we compiled the Question of the Day series into books, based on the Two Minute Mysteries I read as a child. We called them SQL Server Stumpers. Those were hard to manage, and were multi-month long projects that I had to toil away at almost every week. Then came the magazine: SQL Server Standard. In the early 2000s, the Professional Organization for SQL Server was trying to grow as well. We knew magazines were popular and profitable back then, so we proposed helping them produce a magazine every other month (6 times a year). They were charging an annual membership fee and needed to give members more value, so we agreed to produce, publish, and ship a magazine to all their members. It was both a source of tremendous stress for me to manage, as well as a proud item I could point to every month. I wish I had some online links, but this was intended to be a real-world, analog item. We hoped it would grow to be a substantial revenue item, but it never did and PASS shut it down after around a year of publication. I was glad because these projects were a never-ending source of stress. Managing book projects that were 4-6 months, along with the every-other-month magazine, and a daily newsletter was overwhelming at times. Our forays into the print world provided me with a lot of education about how books and magazines work, and gave me a few mementos. Steve Jones - SSC Editor Join the debate, and respond to today's editorial on the forums |
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