Remember the old adage, No news is good news? Well, in the case of Colored Stone, the adage should be changed to, No news is bad news.
Everybody is reporting the death of Colored Stone - everybody, that is, but Interweave Press, the magazine's publisher. I don't mean to sound like the proverbial Jewish mother, but I haven't even received a postcard from the company officially confirming the sad truth every subscriber already knows, or should know. When I spoke last month with David Pyle, the Interweave vice president / division publisher in charge of Colored Stone who had already laid off editor-in-chief David Federman, I asked if and when subscribers would be notified of the closure of the magazine and he assured me that notice would come in the final edition. It didn’t.
I received my final copy of CS, and found no mention that this was the last issue. In fact, the front cover still said “going digital”, and on the classifieds page Interweave placed an ad asking readers to “keep in touch with your customers in our all new and exciting digital version of Colored Stone.”
Indeed, Interweave Press hasn't yet instructed all of the subscription services which offer Colored Stone to cease and desist taking money for new subscriptions or renewals.
As of Friday, Jan 15th at 12:45pm, I was able to add a Colored Stone subscription to my shopping cart at 4 different online subscription websites. I know some news travels slow, but this is ridiculous.
As of today, January 19th, we have received several reports that CS subscribers are still getting renewal notices from Interweave.
But there's a twist.
These renewals are not for the late, great Colored Stone, but, instead, for Lapidary Journal/Jewelry Artist. A number of these reports come from people who have never previously subscribed to LJ/JA. I too received this renewal notice and it has been more than a year since let my subscription to that crafts magazine lapse. One can only assume the "detour" to Lapidary Journal is deliberate and will allow Interweave a pretext to add remaining CS subscriptions to the new LJ/JA subscription. Keep in mind that Pyle did tell me that Interweave would “fulfil their subscription obligation to CS subscribers with LJ/JA.”
If you're like me, you will accept no substitutes for Colored Stone. You want what you paid for - and only what you paid for. You want a business magazine not a crafts magazine. You bought apples and you don't want to be paid in oranges.
So if you're like me, you might be interested in learning the way I got a refund of my subscription money.
The back of Colored Stone has a “how to contact us area." Although the subscription line listed is not in service, don't be deterred. Just dial the small-print phone number to the main office in Colorado (970-669-7672). A message system will answer, and give "subscriptions" as an option. After choosing that option, listen for the name of Colored Stone, then follow the prompts.
I reached a very helpful, courteous young lady, informed her that I had been a subscriber for a few years and in September had renewed my subscription - only to find out recently that the magazine had been discontinued and would like a refund, please. She took my information, found my account, reminded me that I had a two-year subscription prior that had not yet run out and that I was due a partial refund for that one as well. She then apologized sincerely for having to process my $35.00 refund by hand; the reason, she said, was that the magazine was out of print. I didn’t mind, and was told my check is on the way.
It is a shame that Interweave has decided to close Colored Stone and GemMail - and an even greater shame that they chose to let Federman go. To add insult to injury, they took both actions without notifying the people most affected by them: the subscribers. Maybe if Interweave knew that subscribers like me would be willing to pay twice the subscription price to continue to receive Colored Stone and GemMail, provided Federman is at the helm, they might have seen gains in circulation revenue as the magazine's salvation. No matter how tough times get, there are some things a jeweler can't live without. Chief amongst them is the news. Living without the news is simply too much of a handicap, even when the news is as bad as the loss of Colored Stone.