š "DOIN' MY ZINE" OUT NOW! āļøāš„
Hello there!
Issue #6 of Train Songz, āDoinā My Zine,ā is out now!
If youāre not already subscribed, you can subscribe for the year. You can also buy a single copy. All zines are hand-numbered and come with two stickers, on top of 42 pages of delicious print-only content.
Hereās the Instagram post. It actually does help a ton if you give it a like, comment, and share. Itās a free way for you to help me appease the robo-gods and helps me get the zine in front of new people. Thank you!
Aināt she pretty? Our cover artist, Jeffry, hand-carved that graphic. Can you believe it was his first paid gig as an artist? Hereās to many more, my friend!
On our pricing
When buying a zine, we recommended $44 for the year or $11 for an individual copy. Giving more than $11 per definitely helps, as weāre suggesting our break-even price to pay our contributors and operate all things Train Songz. Anything above that allows us to invest into growth.
Keep reading this email to learn exactly how our finances work, why $11 is break-even at our current scale, and why each issue costs us $10Kā¦
We also have an option for free zines, where we give away one free annual subscription for every 10 sold. Keep reading to learn about that, too.
Listen while you readā¦
Tiny Train Concerts
Before we get into the remainder of this email and tell you more about the new zine, I want to mention we have three (count āemāthree!) different musical offerings for you to listen to while you read.
The first, our debut Tiny Train Concert, is a literal dream come true, and goes back to an idea I texted Promontory Paul on November 27, 2023:
501 days later, I couldnāt be more excited to share our first installment with Jay Faires (@jerrytonestore).
Special thanks to the Bay State Model Railroad Museum for hosting us. Look out for the second episode with Cahaba Roots coming soon. Choo choo, mf.
Train Songz Presentsā¦
For non-video music and longer sets, weāve got you covered with two new episodes of our radio show, Train Songz Presentsā¦ featuring Water Tower and High Country Hustle!
Those links go to SoundCloud, but if you prefer to visit our nascent YouTube channel, go here.
Both sets of music were recorded specifically for us, and each set begins and ends with a train songāthatās the only rule!
Thanks to Water Tower and High Country Hustle for their contributions into the TSP catalogue. I encourage you to toss both of these excellent sets of music on, totaling one hour 38 minutes and 20 seconds, while you regrettably but inevitably leave this electronic communication and go about the rest of your day. Might as well bring some good tunes with you.
Apply for a free zine
As I mentioned earlier, if youāre not in a good spot to pay for the zine, we give away one free subscription for every 10 sold. You can apply for that here.Ā
As of pre-sale today, we have 824 paying subscribers and 102 free applications. Weāve been able to fulfill 82 of those requests, and as we sell more subscriptions, weāll give out more for free!
A note on subscribing
If you do choose to subscribe for the year, youāll get a copy of #5 (our first issue of 2025) as well as #7 and #8 (our final two issues of 2025) as soon as they come out.
This is a recurring subscription, and it will renew in a year. We will remind you before it renews.
If youāre already subscribed for the year, remember we have a referral program. Log in on our site and hit āreferralsā to access your unique link. The more folks you refer, the more money Iāll give you towards concert tickets.
Whatās inside the zine?
I promise you this zine looks better than ever. Weāre still learning more and more each time, but this is by far the proudest Iāve been from a purely visual standpoint.
That being said, I donāt think weāre putting lipstick on a pig. Iām also very proud of the content! Hereās a sampling of what weāve got inside:
Getting wild and whacky with song data and analysis
Histories of olde tunes, with a special essay on the history of prison songs
Longform cartoons and illustrations
Missed connections & overheard at a show
Michael Daves writing about his favorite bluegrass album
The Train Songz Charts
Crossword puzzle
When will it ship?
In about a week! Weāll email you when it ships. Once it does, please allow two weeks for it to arrive. If you have a question about shipping, please email me rather than send me an Instagram DM. I am just one person, and I am trying my best. I have a much better handle on my email inbox than my Instagram DMs.
Go ahead, overshare about financesā¦
This zine, totaling everything from printing to contributors to labor to stickers to mailing, cost about $10,000 to make. (Exactly $10,009.96 spent so far.)
Minus $1,750 raised from sponsors, weāre at $8,250.
At our current scale of 824 subscribers, each zine costs $10.01 to make, which is why we suggest at least $11 per issue to help us replace our costs!
We care about making a quality zine weāre proud of and youāll want to hold onto for a long time, and thatās why we invest as much as we possibly can back into it.
Iām intrigued, be specificā¦
We have 824 subscribers paying an average of $45, which is a little over $36K of annual recurring revenue. Assuming $2K of ad sales for four issues, thatās another $8K. So weāre at $42K for the year.
If we sell some merchandise and some one-off issues, letās call it $50K operating budget for the year, conservatively.
We will no doubt spend at least $40K making zines over the course of four issues. ($10K perā¦times 4ā¦yep thatās $40K.) The leftover $10K in our estimated operating budget is for running the business, paying taxes, and attending a show or two.
This takes up a ton of my time. Itās a whole second job at this point. But I would rather invest into the zine (especially via paying artists and contributors) than pay myself at this point, so we can make it as good as it can possibly be. I think itāll pay off in the future.
Iām optimistic weāll make more money finding new subscribers and selling individual copies of this new issue. Iām also optimistic about finding bigger sponsors and raising more money there. Plus, if all else fails, I know I could sell a feet pics zine to raise funds.
All that is to say, donāt worry about us! I do want you to see that weāre eschewing short-termĀ gains in favor of building something for the long run that will last. For now, the greatest payment is seeingĀ this little ecosystem of artists, musicians, and fans thrive.
Giving back
We also do our best to give back to the community that gives so much to us. We were able to donate $4,033 last year and this year we committed to paying BMFSDBās web hosting fees, because the zine wouldnāt be what it is today if they didnāt share their setlist data with us.
Speaking of BMFSDB, that site seems to be getting better and faster every week! Check out their latest update and new logo.
Whenās merchandise out?
On Sunday Iām bringing back the 4-13-24 all-train setlist shirt for one day only, to celebrate the anniversary of a day us freaks will not soon forget. Keep an eye on your email for the link. Then on May 2nd, Iāll open the store for this zineās merchandise for a few weeks of pre-orders.
Sponsors
As I hope is abundantly clear, weād be losing money without the help of our sponsors. Please join me in thanking them!
Contributors
And please join me in celebrating and thanking the amazing cast of characters who dedicated their time and talents to making āDoinā My Zineā into something Iām proud to share with you today:
Promontory Paul, Co-Founder and Curator of Old Stuff
Liza Chaplin, Art Director and Editorial Designer
Brakeman, Copyeditor and Writer
Jeffry Luchies aka Kazoo, Cover Artist
Sadie May, Caboose Artist
Michael Daves, Featured Guest Sit-In
Max Bowden, Writer
The Bosun, Writer
Abby Henderson, Graphic Designer & Artist
TOON, Cartoonist
Morganne Allen, Artist
Sara Dennis, Artist
Funky Ian Lape-Gerwe, Artist
William T. Vennes III, Artist
Logan Walker, Artist
Noelle Volgewalde, Artist
Dr. Nora Flora, Locomotive Engineer
Austin, Locomotive Engineer
Jonsey, Digital Locomotive Engineer
Lexi, Sr. Slow Train Surveyor
Zach Alves, Astrological Scientist
Tara Butler, Puzzle Czar
Ryan McCahill, Playlist Curator
Allison Is My Hero, Caricaturist
My little idea to make an eight-page zine for my niche meme page has gotten incredibly out of hand. I love it. I hope you love it, too.
āThe Conductor