To update our readers on our current situation:
 
Thanks to the diligent efforts of our wonderful supporters, Petco
management has been convinced that ferret owners do want to see Modern
Ferret magazine available at Petco.  Now our problem is: "How do we get
the magazines into the stores?"
 
Unfortunately, Petco does not buy magazines directly from publishers.
The only distributor authorized to supply Petco with magazines is Fancy
Publications (which publishes a competing publication).
 
Due to Petco's encouragement, Fancy Publications has decided they will
offer to distribute Modern Ferret.  They just sent us a distribution
contract to review which seems to me (I am not a lawyer) to be extremely
one-sided (against us).  It requires us to pay Fancy Publications an
enormous amount of money up-front while seeming to allow Fancy Publications
to cease distributing us at any time after we've paid them.  Although we've
often felt as a publisher that distribution contracts are rather unfair to
publishers, we've never been asked to pay a distributor in order to get
them to carry Modern Ferret.
 
We do not know what to do at this point: we want ferret owners to be able
to purchase our magazine at Petco, but the amount of money we need to come
up with is enough to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
 
If you are a lawyer and would be willing to look over an 8-page (of large
type - it's not actually that much reading) contract for free (we do not
have any money to spend on legal fees) and give us your thoughts on it, we
would truly appreciate it.  Please e-mail me your phone and fax number and
your mailing address.  Under other circumstances, I would not request free
legal assistance - but at this point we really can't afford to do
otherwise.
 
This is a very major decision for us since it will determine if Modern
Ferret is ever seen in Petco again (or any other pet stores for that
matter).  As it stands, spending such a large amount of money without any
guarantee that the magazine will be distributed could potentially put us
out of business (not a power we want to give to the publisher of a
competing magazine).
 
>As a rule, it is wise to beware of any company that makes multiple petfoods
>(for different types of animals).  Having spent years "associated with" the
>pet industry, I know that once a company has a foothold in a market, it's
>easy to just add more lines of products and then expect consumers to assume
>all of their products are thoroughly researched and tested when rarely is
>that the case.
 
If you replace the word "petfoods" in the first sentence with the word
"magazines," it changes the passage to reflect my feelings about other
magazines - which is why we intend to make every effort possible to
continue to produce Modern Ferret.
 
For all who have called, e-mailed, etc.  their support - we thank you.  We
are currently finishing off the book we talked about in issue #26, after
which we will start figuring out how to produce issue #27.  Hopefully we
will sort all of this out enough that we can keep on going.
 
- Eric
 
Modern Ferret Magazine - For ferret owners. By ferret owners.
Mary & Eric Shefferman & the Fuzzies: Sabrina, Marshmallow, Knuks, Trixie,
Bosco da Gama, Balthazar, Cauliflower, Koosh, and Gabrielle
http://www.modernferret.com
[Posted in FML issue 3006]