2 cover versions coming for Jan. 2017 issue ~ NGM

[Scott T. Shier]

here:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/01/

[George Thomas Wilson]

Thanks for the heads up, Scott.

[George Thomas Wilson]

I just got mine today.  The cover is of the transgender girl in pink.

[Philip Riviere]

Got mine today also. And the same cover too..

[Scott T. Shier]

...got the same as you guys on Tuesday.

[Harold Woron]

I got the girl in pink also.

[Scott T. Shier]

yeah.... Harold, I am thinking now that all us members are going to receive strictly the "pink girl" cover on this one . . . 

[Scott T. Shier]

Supplementary observation: 

I am wondering if the cover w/ the group of people is (going to be) exclusively newsstand release, and our solitary young Miss is the only version being mailed. 

I would be interested to hear from anyone else as to which cover they receive. So far, I only see the group shot cover on the racks, and online, the only one I see w/ ISBN is also the group shot. 

I also find it interesting that --and this is a "first"-- this issue is being offered all by itself as a special & stand alone issue in the online NG Store, for U.S. or Canada, or International order/purchase ----> 

https://shop.nationalgeographic.com/search?_dyncharset=UTF-8&Dy...

Staying tuned....

[George Thomas Wilson]

Scott,

I just picked up my newsstand copy today.  It has the group shot and, of course, a barcode.

I also ran an eBay search for "National Geographic January 2017".

Of the 15 hits, only 7 were for this issue:

3 were the pink girl without a barcode,

3 were the group shot with barcode, and

1 was the group shot without barcode.

The caveat with the last one is that the photo looks suspiciously like the stock photo from NGS.

Good luck in finding if any members received the group shot version.

Tom

[Harold Woron]

It would be nice if the NGS would let members know that there are differences between member and newsstand magazines.  Since the NGS had joined the newsstands to sell magazines, which I think is when they changed publishing companies (?), is when a bunch of changes started happening like cutting down or stopping supplements. I hope that business managers are not running what goes in the magazine rather than Society people, or that would ruin everything like administrators have hurt the medical field.  Cartography and geography are what it's all about. Map supplements are needed the way boundaries change and country names change, or new ones are created.   Supplements should not be called posters! I can understand if a newsstand cover is different if is it says "Poster Inside" to help sell the magazine, but not different covers,

Harold

[Scott T. Shier]

Harold,

Well, to cover some aspects of these items you mention and allude to, I can reply w/ a somewhat abbreviated reply:

• - sometimes, NGM has indicated there are more than one cover for an issue,
• - yes, there was an element of the "tail wagging the dog" in terms of going through the 2000's the marketing/ad dept. folks were making decisions about the covers (layout, text, photos) that the editorial side would sort of admit they had nothing to do with (to me, read: didn't have control over). But you have to do digging and research and such, this is not spelled out on a NGM.com, Letters, or Editor's page anywhere of course
• - it's a bit ironic to me that maps are making a return now while under the Murdoch umbrella...
• - as for publishers, NGM owned its own printing press facilities until around the 2000, when they reverted back to 3rd party printers. I'd have to go back and clarify a few things to be more precise on this point,
• - as for the Customer Service (aka membership services) aspect of NGM (and the other Society products), it was in 1997 that they moved everything out from their stellar Gaithersburg, MD, HQ under their own direct management to mainly, that 3rd party Subscription & Fulfillment entity in Tampa, Florida. Their name went off the tip of my tongue again.... but you know, they are the ones who manage MANY MANY magazines in this country, and including alas, Smithsonian as well. 
• - NGM quite some time ago completely gave in and turned the entire NGM (per issue) into a glorified photo-essay compilation. That wonderful array of in-dept illustrations, artwork, maps, supplements, etc. all got pushed to the side, downgraded and almost eliminated. Your prior words elsewhere: // they dismantled that wonderful balance between the text and photography that they for so long cultivated // Now, there's been an editorial shift again under the latest Editor (Goldberg), and the new regime (G. Knell), and they are trying to regain elements of the resource and newsworthiness of NGM, the websites, etc. To wit: to make the NGM a reference worth keeping....something completely belittled by Johns, Fahey, Murphy, Lyle, etc.
• - the supplement maps were also downgraded before they disappeared -- now that they seem to be returning, I hope they re-upgrade them (I mean from the physical production aspect), such as thicker paper, but I am not sure that'll happen. You know, "staying green"

-- Scott

[Harold Woron]

.Agree.  I hope they return to having supplement maps. I finally bought one of their maps for sale of Europe and one of Africa to have updated maps.BTW, the supplements that came with the reprint issues, do you know if they have "reprint" printed on them?  I bought a copy of the "Nuremberg Chronicle" map a few years ago and it didn't.  Of course. it was on plastic rolled paper. I know the reprint NG magazines say reprint on them.

Harold

[George Thomas Wilson]

Harold,

I remember a discussion on this site some time ago where it was stated that most, but not all, supplements that come with reprint issues are labeled as reprints.

Tom