Project of the month

[cjudas]

I'm not sure how to tactfully ask this question.... Is the price of the Project Of The Month subscription worth what you get? I understand it would cost way more if a person bought ALL the projects individually but some of them I wouldn't buy. Not because they are bad mind you, I am in awe of everyone's talent here but some just aren't me.

Also, with a subscription, do you have access to older/past projects?

My apologies if I offended anyone.

Chris Judas

[CW-HAL9000]

I really like the projects Michael makes but I also do not subscribe because of the upfront cost. Maybe someone who has subscribed will answer. I can answer the question about access to older /past projects. The answer is no. You get the current project of the month in which you purchase and 11 future ones. I think it would be great if you could buy a 5, 10 or 12 package deal then pick from the older past projects the ones you want. It wont happen but I think it could spur additional sales.

[fwharris]

The POMs are great for the projects themselves plus seeing how Michael has laid them out as a project. The instructions gives you all you need to know for the set up not to mention the finishing steps.

[lynnfrwd]

Did it go out today?

[aokweld101]

The way I understand it, when you buy the subscription it starts when you buy it and last for 12 consecutive months there is no pick and choose although I like the idea you gotta think of LHR as a business and how much of a problem that would become.

[Smoken D]

Did it go out today?

Was not in my mail box as of yet, Saturday 8:41am

[JoeinWestMich]

When I bought my Carvewright about 2 years ago now, I paid for the 12-month subscription. I ended up only using about 4 of the designs. All of the designs were quality ones but the other 8 just didn't fit with my tastes or for which when completed fit the taste of those I intended to give as gifts. However, as a new user, I got the designs whether I was going to use them or not. So I still opened them and studied them. I got good ideas I incorporated in my own designs that I would likely not have gotten had I not subscribed. If you are a new user, I would advise a subscription. You will certainly get some useful patterns that fit your taste and plans. On the others, you will be getting a monthly training exercise worth more that the price of the monthly cost. After the first year, or if you are an experienced user, decide if the cost is still worth it to you. Weighing the cost and the number of projects I actually used, I decided to forego membership after the first year. But again NOT because of quality issues. My suggestion to the Carvewright folks is to offer a package of 3, 5, or 8 in one year or 12 selections in a 24 month period. Because I did not renew, I am only assuming that each now POM is made in the "current" designer software so you would also need to upgrade Designer which I also have not done so far. Hope this helps a bit.

[mtylerfl]

Thanks for the great questions/answers/comments regarding the Project of the Month Subscription. One thing I should make clear...all of the projects can be run without upgrading from the Basic Designer software that is included with your machine. I design and run the projects using the Basic Designer software. So, no need to upgrade to higher versions, if you don't want to.

I am very glad to read that the projects have stimulated some ideas and 'technique learning' along the way. That really was the intent from the get-go...to offer a unique variety of projects at the lowest possible price (only $10 each, as a subscriber) and help users learn some techniques they might not have seen, used or thought of before.

Not every project will appeal to every person, and of course we know that. Hopefully, several of them during the 12-month period of time will appeal to all users, though. Time has seemed to bear this out, so I believe the plan has been successful. At only $10 for each project, we trust most people would agree that's a fair bargain.

The idea of other "Project Choice Packages" has been discussed many times over the years. For example, a few years ago I was thinking of something like a $150 to $180 package price to choose any 8 or 10 projects - past, present or future, as long as the purchaser made their selections within 12 months of the date of purchase. This sounded like a great idea, but when we all thought about it some more, it got to be much more complicated from a bookkeeping standpoint than we imagined, so this was 'retired'. From time to time, it's brought up again, but it would still require a lot of work to manage that kind of thing (three-prong data to monitor...LHR, me, and the purchaser), so I'm not sure if it will happen at some point in the future or not.

In the end, we felt it was simpler and more economical for most everyone to stick with the existing program...$120 for 12 projects during a 12-month period of time. Even if half of those were not appealing to a particular user, the prorated price would still only be $20 apiece, so I'm hoping everyone would agree that's still a very good investment.

Thanks again everyone! You are all very encouraging to me!