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A Letter from the Publisher of Nautilus
- lunchladydoris 9y agoMr Steele is, on the surface at least, running Nautilus from his heart. For that, I am grateful, although I'm sure his freelancers see it quite differently. I've read a lot of excellent content there over the years. I hope that there is a way that they can pay off their debts and carry on in a similar fashion.
- cma 9y ago(removed, it shows they paid a company fully owned by him, but there is no way to know where that company spent it's money)
- pvg 9y agoYou should stop saying this, or if you are going to say it, you should be able to back it up specifically and clearly. 'Filings show' is no good for that kind of accusation, especially since you got your info from some comment someone else made.
- pdabbadabba 9y agoNot true. See my comment above. The filing shows a payment to another company that he owns, not to him. These could just be publishing costs.
- Theizestooke 9y agoThought this was about the Gnome file manager.
- patkai 9y agoWe need an alternative to free content on the web. I often read Nautilus and never pay them anything, it's wrong. Any SV-based disruptors interested in this? These contributors are special, they contribute a lot to society and they are probably underpaid and under-appreciated.
- robin_reala 9y agoSo pay them? $24/year for ad-free membership: http://nautil.us/primeuser http://nautil.us/primeuser
- RBerenguel 9y agoI agree, long time prime user, and have gotten some friends to join. Also donated a while ago. It’s dirt cheap for the quality of the issues. If you read one article online a month, it’s 2$ per article you give them and get all the digital editions as a bonus
- LunaSea 9y agoIf you really do read one article per month, $2 is nowhere close to being dirt cheap. Especially if you look at how many articles you read on average per month.
- Fnoord 9y agoThat's going to differ from person to person and financial situation to financial situation. Come to think of it, I'd actually be interested in a way to analyze my browsing history to tell me which sites I visit most. With pie charts and all. So I can be told which sites I apparently visit/read a lot. I bet I'll be surprised about a thing or two.
- robin_reala 9y agoMozilla had something like this, but it seems like it died a few years ago: https://blog.mozilla.org/labs/2012/10/about-profile-analyzing-data-in-firefox/ https://blog.mozilla.org/labs/2012/10/about-profile-analyzin...
- reeteshv 9y agoI have voted with my money! It is one of the best science magazines out there.
- lukego 9y agoMe too. I resisted in the past because they ask for a phone number and I don't want magazines to have that in their CRMs (fool me once...) but it seems like they can accept an obvious fake.
- tbatchelli 9y agoI am a print subscriber. They do an important job and the articles are mind expanding and very high quality. If you ever read their articles you should consider a subscription, it’s well worth it for what you get and for what you support.
- tanto 9y agoJust voted for Nautilus with http://nautil.us/primeuser http://nautil.us/primeuser Its definitely one of the best sources for long reads and tbh I never thought about it. They should display a support us banner like theguardian does.
- stingraycharles 9y agoJust did the same. It’s one of the few sources of quality content, and voting with your wallet makes sense.
- samschooler 9y agoJust got the print subscription. One of the best outlets I've ever read from; I'm glad to support them.
- earenndil 9y agoCan you mention if you actually receive it? Some others were complaining that they never actually got their print subscriptions.
- maaark 9y agoWhy is he paying them in full, one at a time? "7 of you get to enjoy Christmas, Fuck the other 12?"
- sylvinus 9y agoSome may not need it short-term as much as others?
- pjc50 9y agoPart-paying an invoice is such a pain to both parties that it's hardly ever done. I suspect he's paying in the order that they were recieved, longest-standing debts first.
- kristofferR 9y agoSounds like a decent idea for a startup.
- dcposch 9y agoHN comments are full of terribad startup ideas, but this has to be a new record It's an extremely niche saas business. You have to build billing and banking integrations. You have to make a bunch of enterprise sales. And all your potential customers are by definition on the verge of bankruptcy, already behind on invoices You've found it; the Worst Startup Not hating, I just think it's hilarious, happy holidays
- napoleoncomplex 9y agoMight be an absurd proposition, but according to their website, the publisher is a non-profit called NautilusThink, meaning it's eligible for the Pineapple Fund (https://pineapplefund.org/ https://pineapplefund.org/). Now I don't know what the odds are, but considering there's about $79m left, I'd say they aren't too far from the odds of the potential acquisition talks coming through. It won't solve the underlying issue, but it will make possible to at least think about better ways of solving it.
- zanedb 9y agoWow, that's very interesting. I hadn't heard of it before. As a minor technical note: If the site is truly hosted by GitHub Pages as it proclaims, how does it have HTTPS support on a custom domain?
- SanderMak 9y agoI've done that by putting Cloudflare in front, as discussed here: https://blog.cloudflare.com/secure-and-fast-github-pages-with-cloudflare/ https://blog.cloudflare.com/secure-and-fast-github-pages-wit...
- tgragnato 9y agoThe domain resolves to IPs in AWS. If they’re using Pages, there’s a caching layer with TLS.
- OisinMoran 9y agoThere are workarounds for this, but as I understand it GitHub won't validate an SSL cert for a custom domain. I found this tutorial [1] very helpful when setting up my own site [2] (which you can see is HTTPS and served by GitHub Pages [3]). [1] https://www.jonathan-petitcolas.com/2017/01/13/using-https-with-custom-domain-name-on-github-pages.html https://www.jonathan-petitcolas.com/2017/01/13/using-https-w... [2] https://oisinmoran.com/ https://oisinmoran.com/ [3] https://github.com/OisinMoran/OisinMoran.github.io https://github.com/OisinMoran/OisinMoran.github.io
- 9y ago
- jocatalin 9y agoI'm a prime member for nautilus for 2 years now. I can't support all the good journalism sites I visit. But that doesn't mean I (or you) shouldn't support any. Just pick one.
- Rabei 9y agoI find the publisher morally reprehensible, i understand that he had a dream a wanted to pursuit, but he gambled on unwilling parties money. Hope he solves it, not for his sake but that of the people he owes money.
- pjc50 9y ago"Still, my over-confidence that a merger was around the corner prompted me to over-promise, continually, when payments would be made" This sounds very similar to trading while insolvent to me. It happens a lot in small businesses and it's a major pain to freelancers who have to wait for payment.
- andai 9y agoFrom what I've gathered in this thread, people support the writers, not John Steele, but he ends up with most of the money they give.
- monster_group 9y agoTheir annual digital Prime subscription is on sale for only $12. That's dirt cheap for such quality content. I just bought one. I encourage others to take advantage of this sale price and buy their subscription. (Note - I am not affiliated with them in anyway - just want to support good content.)
- kasey_junk 9y agoI got the yearly print subscription this year. They managed to get me one copy & it was 4 months delayed. I too just want good content but if you can’t provide it without stiffing the content creators or your customers go away.
- wut42 9y agoKinda the same. Brought a 2year print subscription in May. Haven't received a single issues, contacted them a couple of times, said to wait & then they "shipped themselves". Still got nothing. :(
- wut42 9y agoWOAH nevermind just got the July/August issue! woow!
- Omnus 9y agoSame here - I got my first issue about 4 months late, and then never received the 2nd one, then the 3rd magically showed up on time.
- ejp 9y agoI'm at 50% delivered for my year-long subscription, one of which I had to specifically request through their support site. These delivery issues are the key thing that has prevented me from extending my subscription or buying Prime for other people. I want them to succeed and really like the content, but success is self-reinforcing in media.
- newscracker 9y ago
- koliber 9y agoMr. Steele, thank you for being forthright and explaining the situation publicly. I am a reader and your open letter has prompted me to buy a subscription. I empathize with you. Making predictions about the future is difficult and there are times when they will be incorrect. When these predictions concern incoming cash and they fail to materialize, the situation becomes frustrating. I wish you all the best and hope that you will be able to overcome this challenge, as well as any future ones that come your way. I do so for the very selfish reason of being able to continue to read quality content in the future.
- engi_nerd 9y agoWhy would you give him money after this?
- koliber 9y agoIt made me realize that I have been freeloading the entire time. The backpay issue arose because they do not have enough revenues. I was consuming their content for free without contributing. This letter explained the issue plainly.
- febin 9y agoIf they would accept bitcoin donations, I am sure a lot of people here would help.
- 4h53n 9y agoAs a reader and supporter, sad to read what's going on at Nautilus, one of the best science magazines ever. I hope they get over this in no time.
- jawns 9y agoI find Steele's argument that his staff never knowingly commissioned work that they knew the magazine couldn't pay for to be a total red herring. It may be true that his staff were in the dark, but he wasn't, and to the extent that he authorized them to commission that work, he permitted them to commission work that he knew the magazine couldn't pay for. Nautilus might be a first-rate science magazine, but it's only first-rate because it commissioned first-rate writers. Do you think it will ever be able to attract and retain that caliber of writers now? I certainly don't. Definitely not with Steele at the helm. EDIT: I looked up NautilusThink's 2015 IRS Form 990 (the latest available on GuideStar) and found an interesting line item. In that year, John Steele was paid $2,408,000 for "consulting fees" for the publication of the magazine. (The previous year he was paid a more modest $134,000.)
- Angostura 9y agoI read it very much as a ‘don’t blame them, blame me’ statement, no?
- saidmasoud 9y agoThat's how I read it.
- pessimizer 9y ago> John Steele was paid $2,408,000 for "consulting fees" for the publication of the magazine. That can't be true, and if true, disgusting. That's half a million more than they claimed to have paid for the totality of their content from the start of publication. If an editor who made millions from a publication by extracting what must be a majority of its revenue as personal income allowed it to go $180K into arrears with the low-paid providers of its content without even making a personal loan, I'm grossed out. I'm deciding this isn't true. You should add a link.
- dmethvin 9y agoHere's the 990: http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/463/463485787/463485787_201512_990.pdf http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/463/4634857... See the bottom of PDF page 8 under Independent Contractors and the bottom of page 27. Note that p27 is NOT saying that all that money went to John Steele, just that he is an interested person in the transaction. It looks to me like "Nautilus Ventures" is a for-profit that actually publishes and the non-profit pays that entity. All the operating expenses are there so the 990 doesn't really tell you what they spent.
- zitterbewegung 9y agoI find it very disturbing that other commentators on this post are encouraging to subscribe to this magazine. If you don’t pay your employees that’s pretty bad. If you actively mislead people into thinking that you can pay them that’s even more horrible. I find this behavior reprehensible and we should wait for this joke of a magazine to end.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- volkk 9y agoi don't know, i wouldn't call this magazine a joke. I think the quality of the writing is top notch, and the level of the topics is extremely interesting. i don't disagree that what's going on financially is pretty reprehensible, but at the very least i can still attempt to support the writers who probably spent a lot of time writing these awesome pieces by reading their work.
- zitterbewegung 9y agoI would rather figure out who the writers are and send them money directly . Maybe then they could feed their family.
- djsumdog 9y agoIf anything it's a call to go back to individual sites/blogs and finding some kind of micro/subscription architecture that works. Flattr kinda failed, but Patreon has at least made some headway.
- volkk 9y agoyou know, i just went straight to patreon to check out their writers section and they have a bunch. i wish more writers would take advantage of this tool. i actually also just went to check out some of the writers on patreon. first name that came up is jim davies who seems to be a professor amongst other things. another is george musser who is a contributing editor to scientific american. now i dont know who hasnt gotten paid, but i wonder if the people that are writing for nautilus are mostly all already very accomplished and have no need to use things like patreon.
- room271 9y agoIs Mr Steele being paid himself during this period?
- postit 9y agoThey stopped shipping my magazines to Europe. I believe I'm two numbers behind since august. I've sent a couple of emails complaining about it and got the same response all the times - "we're facing delays". Regardless, I believe I got at least 10 emails about donating to the magazine in the last 6 months. Maybe they're just broke, which is sad.
- brudgers 9y agoThis is what a company looks like when it runs out of money...except for the part of admitting it. I know it sucks for the writers that haven't been paid, but a business not paying $50,000 across more than a dozen contractors is hardly news.
- nwatson 9y agoHere's an incredible "How I Built This" podcast with Stonybrook Farms (yoghurt) founder Gary Hirshberg. He over-promised for years to suppliers, customers, investors on things he couldn't deliver, but made it work anyway. It's about the grittiest founder story I've heard. They ended up selling to Danone (I think) and did very well, but the company was on precarious footing for around 10 years. EDIT: clarified industry
- sigil 9y agoThat Stonybrook Farms episode is a wild ride! Pretty much the opposite of my entrepreneurial style, but that’s why I love “How I Built This” so much — you get exposure to a wide variety of strategies that worked, including some you never thought would.
- Allower 9y agoJust because it 'worked' doesn't mean it was a good thing to do
- QAPereo 9y agoMy family was a very early investor in (Stonyfield btw) that venture, and honestly Gary got lucky, not smart.
- nwatson 9y agoYep, sorry about that ... "Stonyfield" not "Stonybrook". Also, I forgot to link to the podcast: https://www.acast.com/howibuiltthis/stonyfield-yogurt-gary-hirshberg https://www.acast.com/howibuiltthis/stonyfield-yogurt-gary-h...
- acqq 9y agoFor those who ever read the articles of the magazine and wondered why the special flavor of doubt in scientific knowledge is often present there, as well as veiled "spiritual" agenda, see: http://nautil.us/about http://nautil.us/about Nautilus has received financial support from: "John Templeton Foundation" Which themselves state: "By supporting multi-disciplinary scientific, theological, and philosophical research, we aim to deepen our understanding of the possibility and purposes of the divine." https://www.templeton.org/funding-areas/science-big-questions https://www.templeton.org/funding-areas/science-big-question...
- hackinthebochs 9y agoThe low bar for evidence some have these days is appalling.
- chiefalchemist 9y ago> "I want to again make clear that nobody on the Nautilus staff commissioned any work that they knowingly thought wouldn’t be paid for..." On one hand I feel for the guy. This is every dreamer's nightmare. On the other hand he sounds naive, if not a liar. To commission work on a deal that was still 100% unfinalized isn't exactly playing fair. Entrepreneurs are by definition optimistic. They see the opportunity as brighter and risk dim. That's great when things are going well. However, it's a dangerous trait when things go sideways. Perhaps he should have been more transparent sooner? Ya think?
- yostrovs 9y agoThanks should also go out to the moral legions whose ad blockers are their swords and shields against the man. They showed him, didn't they? Their precious attention was not disturbed as they read the content that someone had to give attention to write and pay for. And so they live in harmony with the world. Since Nobel Peace prizes are now given to groups and movements, the community of ad blockers should nominate themselves, given how proud, adamant, and important they think they are.
- yetanother1980 9y agoI block ads for many reasons. One of which is indeed that I don't want to see adverts. Others include malware protection (Google will provide citations for this) another is tracking protection.
- bachmeier 9y agoAnd now you understand why George Akerlof was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. The only rational response for readers is to block ads on websites that don't take security seriously. Because there's no way for a website to signal that they've taken precautions to ensure ads are safe, it's rational for readers to assume all websites with ads are unsafe, and block ads everywhere. Ad-supported websites cannot exist.
- yostrovs 9y agoYou must be a concealed carry pistol holder by the same arguments. You can't trust anyone out there. If one person is dangerous, anyone else can be.
- xcryogenicx 9y agoWhat a wildly inaccurate analogy. The odds that the sometimes dozens of ad networks are collecting your data without your consent (which is legally not your property once they have it in the US) are hugely more likely than randomly needing to defend yourself. Why would you even say that? Are you implying it's paranoid to block ads like there arent huge corporate and governmental data collection apparati in place?
- engi_nerd 9y agoI am so disgusted that I have given this guy money. What a ridiculous non-apology.
- solongnautilus 9y agoHard to feel sorry for a media outlet that publishes blatantly unscientific feel-good drivel like this: http://nautil.us/issue/48/chaos/what-both-the-left-and-right-get-wrong-about-race http://nautil.us/issue/48/chaos/what-both-the-left-and-right...
- a13n 9y agoThe deal's not done till it's done.
- satyajeet23 9y agoAs a reader, this is sad to hear. Nautilus provides real quality content. One of the best magazines out there.
- __strisk 9y agonautilus was the first publishing company that I subscribed to... Although I feel bad for the company, I feel worse to have given money to an organization whose owner is gambling the livelihoods of their employees.
- tptacek 9y agoIf you don't know that you can pay for work that you contract, there's no high ground to seize over not knowing that you couldn't.
- desireco42 9y agoSome form of Kickstarter campaign would be nice. Only to bridge current situation. Nautilus is seriously good source, I would hate to lose it.