On the Home Front

On the Home Front

With this issue we begin our fourth year of publishing EBN. The milestone gives me an opportunity to reflect back over our short history and tell you about some developments for the future. It has been a good three years—no, make that great. We’ve had our share of ups and downs and financial struggles, to be sure, but positive feedback from subscribers and the realization that we are having an impact on the building industry have been tremendously gratifying.

When we sent out the first mailer announcing the newsletter in 1992, we didn’t know if it would succeed—if there would be enough demand for information on sustainable building to support a newsletter. You proved to us that indeed there is a need for this information. Our circulation has grown steadily to its present level of 2,000, and our impact—through stories picked up by other publications—is far wider. Thank you for the support.

I must also announce, however, that we are raising our subscription prices. We have worked hard to keep our subscription price affordable, and have been able to do so only by subsidizing the newsletter with other (related) work. We have resisted the temptation to accept advertising or sponsorship because we want to remain totally free of influence—real or perceived—in our coverage of environmentally responsible building materials and techniques. But with the increases in postal rates, paper costs, health care, and general costs of doing business, we are now forced to raise our rates.

Our subscription price for individuals and small businesses will increase from $60 to $67, and our price for institutions and larger businesses (over 25 employees) will increase from $95 to $127. You can see that we are keeping the increase for the little guy as low as possible, while accepting a larger increase for those who we hope are more able to afford it. The price increase will be effective September 1st.

To ease the transition, we are allowing current subscribers to extend their subscriptions for up to two years at the old rates. A letter will be sent out shortly to offer you this opportunity—call the office if you have questions.

In the next year we also hope to offer some additional services, including access to some material via the Internet, and a mail-order bookstore. Stay tuned!

Thank you for understanding our need to raise subscription prices. And thank you for doing such a great job telling colleagues and friends about the newsletter. It is those efforts more than anything that have made EBN a success. We look forward to providing you with accurate, useful information for many years to come.

– Alex Wilson