For MagWeb.com, 2004 was a lot like the weather--an example of extreme swings. Most of the time, it's bright and sunny with pleasant temperatures. And then, along comes some freak front and we're in the middle of a hurricane or worse. We're looking forward to 2005, in part because we're well-rested at the end of 2004. That's right, the elves took a little over a whole week to recuperate--and they deserved it.

Bigger Archive--Same Price

No price increase for 2005! We're adding electronic books (MagWeb ME-Books) to our archive, but keeping the price the same. The same 10% discount applies if you renew before your membership expires. And of course, the Charter members (those with us since 1996) retain their charter rate as long as they keep their membership up.

We'd like to thank you for your continued support, and stable prices with more content are two ways we can do our part.

Looking Back at 2004

On the plus side, MagWeb.com posted a record 310 issues -- 25.8 issues per month! We're up to 125 magazines and more coming on the horizon. We launched MagWeb ME-Books at Thanksgiving and have 3 of them already in the archive...and more coming of them. And we've added to the battlefield travel, news, reviews, and other "bonus" sections. More history, more weaponry, more battles, more products, more interaction--no other archive hosts the depth and breadth of military history information we do.

We also upgraded our server in 2004--perhaps you've seen the articles pop up a little faster? We have a lot more space and capability. If we were a big company, we should pass the costs on to you, but we're a small friendly company and will just absorb them. Of course, we also had other costs rise, for example, our credit card processing costs increased by .11%, the bank is tacking on fees (especially for non-US checks and such), and advertising and other prices have risen, but so far, I think we can absorb them.

The downside of the server upgrade is a series of mighty programming battles behind-the-scenes. The techs tell you the benefits, but often underestimate the time frame. In any case, we're in excellent shape going into 2005.

How Went the Predictions for 2004?

Maintain 25 issues per month:

Still tough to do, but we worked hard to increase the amount--posted 310 in 2004 (25.8 issues per month)

Redo the Home Page and Associated "Free" Side Components

Not as much as I had hoped...

Detonate the M-Bombe:

Success! We changed the name to MagWeb.com Military E-Books (ME-Books) to put the emphasis on you, the E-book part, and make the title match the description of the content better.

We launched at Thanskgiving and have put up one book every two weeks. That's a bit tough to maintain as well, but we're going to try to put up something every week or two...

More Magazines:

We pushed the total to 125, which is pretty good...Next stop, 150, although that may take a while.

Survive and Prosper:

This may be every business' resolution, but with an up and down year, we're still around and growing.

Collectible Mug:

Our first was in 2003, and we brought out another in 2004. We have plans for another in 2005.

Promotional and Other Efforts:

We advertised in all the major military history magazines and will continue to do so, although at a reduced rate. We are increasing out electronic advertising in 2005--as a study of our new members finds many more coming from the electronic world than the paper world.

We launched one special project (MagWeb ME-Books) and continue to work on others, though these ahve been placed a little more on the back burner as we work out schedules for everything we are currently doing.

We hired a new scanning person, who has worked out very well the last couple months of 2004.

We are not going to co-sponsor the Origins War College--it was great for Origins but generated a large loss for MagWeb.com when we tallied the final totals. It was a good effort, but fell short of our expectations. We have some hazier prospects for TV collaboration, but these are in their infant stages.

A Little CEO and Chief Historian Travel:

Well, I did a little more this year, hitting some interesting museums and battlefields over the course of the year. All of that appeared in MagWeb.com, so you get to visit along with me.

What's Ahead for 2005?

We're going to hammer on the back issues, pull in more magazines, and load up on the ME-Books to ensure a steady stream of the best in military history and related content on the web. I believe we can push over the 26-issues-per-month mark, keep to one ME-Book every couple weeks, and make sure you always find something new, interesting, and exciting on MagWeb.com whenever you log on.

A Note About E-mailing MagWeb.com

With all the spam spinning into our hard drives, and believe you me, we get a lot (FYI: the record is 432 e-mails in one day!) I want to ask a favor. Please make sure that when you e-mail us with a question or comment, you make the subject line something military history-oriented or a specific magazine. Subject headings like: "Hi" and "A Question" get dumped into the trash can without being read. "A Question About Napoleonics" or "WWII MagWeb.com" will be read. I've been fooled into opening spam with generic headings too many times. I know I may have ditched some legitimate e-mail, but too many viruses and spam are making me a little pickier in what I open.

Obviously, if you're responding to one of our renewal e-mails, that subject line is A-OK. But if you're sending us questions and comments, please use something a little more specific to MagWeb.com.

Thank you.

To you...

And that's the resolutions for 2005 greatness. All of here at MagWeb.com wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year. And again, thank you for all your patience, your word-of-mouth advertising, and support.

This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com