Wednesday, June 22, 2011

I Did Yudu

For some time now, I've had an ongoing email thread with reader Angy from Texas. Thanks to Angy, I'm a much smarter person today.

Angy is a subscriber who receives our magazine digitally. There has been intermittant problems with this service and following her most recent email, I became determined to find the source of the frustration. I wasn't going to stop until I did.

The only natural thing to do was to reinact what she was doing and hopefully these problems would surface. And they did. When printed, the magazine appears disjointed and content views obstructed. Yudu is our service provider for the digital magazines and having been informed of another issue (excessive spamming once becoming a Yudu registered user), I went to battle.

Surfed to Yudu, registered with Yudu and bought my digital version of Irish Quilting. (Note to other business owners: never wait to buy your own product! Be your first customer, it tests processes and you know firsthand the quality product is the result!)
Of course within a second or two of getting my digital version, I had questions. I am the MOST skeptic customer, in every part of my life, personal and business. The customer help at Yudu probably thought I was insane. I was saying, Why can't I get this? Why not? He actually said, this is your business, do you really want it given away like that? Oh. Right, put my business cap back on.

(We had been discussing why a simple downloaded PDF file didn't fulfill my purchase. Rather Yudu makes you download an application that runs the magazine on an offline utilty. This app confirms your registered name. His point was a PDF would mean one reader could forward it to one, two or 52,000 other readers. Not good for business.)
I reread Angy's latest email. The inability to have a PDF did not bother her.

Remembering customer feedback and realising I'd just registered, I envisioned spam emails filling my inbox. I had the customer helper direct me to my profile and options within where I could un-opt for special offers. Done. It is a bit hidden and not in the registeration process, so word up on the anti spam process. Check your profile settings.
I reread Angy's email. She said nothing about spam--she was probably smarter than the average (me) and un-opted in the beginning.

Finally I went to print as Angy had. My printer behaved just the same and printed disjointed and obstructed content. Back with customer help, we determined it was the original design settings on the source file. Customer help was kind enough to fix the back issues. Our designer is going to ensure going forward we avoid this problem.

Whew! I actually think we solved the problem presented for Angy and more!

Also, I now have a digital subscription to a fabulous magazine!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Reward Offered for Most Wanted Readers

Update: FOUND One Reader
Our unsung winner of the Janome blocks has been identified as Vicky Parsons. Now, Vicky, you winner, where are you?


We've lost two readers. Have you ever heard of anything sillier? It's not.
You see, it's happened and well, we're hoping you can help us find them.

One reader was lucky winner Robena Tyndall of County Antrim in our last issue. She won the book Charmed Beginnings by Jo Baddeley. Somewhere between the name draw and the packaging of her winning, her address was misplaced. Anyone who knows her and can put us in touch with Robena,will be rewarded with a year's subscription to Irish Quilting.

Worse, but funnier, is how we came to lose our next reader.

This reader sent in the block below, a winning block! Somehow, there was the wrong name credited to this block in our Janome competition. We were so delighted to receive 70+ blocks for judging; I actually thought, for a moment, that we should photograph each one with a name placard as they arrived in the post. Oh! but I didn't. (People, always follow your gut!)I suppose it is most upsetting because the winning block is in the magazine mis-identified and oh, how I wish this reader would phone us.

If you know someone who knows this block, please put us in touch and we'll reward you with a two year's subscription to Irish Quilting.

Time to network friends. We always want to find readers, but I'm particularly attached to these two.
Thanks!



Monday, June 13, 2011

Spotted: Craft Challenge

Are You Interested?

Inspired by the sea and the underwater world? Show your maritime colour, texture, pattern and force. This exhibition is calling for contemporary designs in any textile media and technique. Literal or abstract interpretations accepted.

Coming to an exhibition in Dublin!



For more info, visit here.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Irish Quilting in New Jersey


The Ireland Show Secaucus, New Jersey U.S. A.

Roisin O'Coineen, harpist