Astronomical Get-Rich Schemes

Somebody recently asked me about astronomical publications that came
to quick halts, and I recalled the story of "Deep Sky Journal" from
the early 1990's. The editor/publisher was Richard Miles, who was
only able to reach Issue #6 of the quarterly publication before
running out of money. I think an annual subscription cost $24, and he
ran away with everybody's money without delivering any more magazines
beyond #6. As a major contributor to "Deep Sky Journal", I felt a bit
sorry for Miles getting in over his head, but not sorry enough to
defend his quick exit with no refunds. I think he peaked at around
2000 or 3000 subscribers. Deep-sky observing is still just a small
niche, after all.

Another magazine that wasn't meant to be was "Star & Sky", which
promised to be a very nice compromise between "Astronomy" and "Sky &
Telescope" around 1979-1981. It, too, made a abrupt halt after
hooking quite a few subscribers. I have been told by a publishing
insider that, unlike Miles, this case was more of a planned scheme on
the part of the publisher. Many people did not get the goods for
their money. I recently bought the entire run of "Star & Sky", and
found it to be an excellent hobby magazine for its time.

Much more recently, we have the case of SkyTent. I have one of these
excellent dome-tent observatories currently set up in my backyard. I
consider myself a lucky customer. A local friend is among a number of
people who will likely never get any product for their deposit money.
Without being apologetic, I would place SkyTent in the same category
with "Deep Sky Journal." They simply dug in too deep, and elected to
run away from the problem. Do a Google Groups search on SkyTent in
s.a.a. from late 2001 through the present if you're curious about
them.

There are certainly better get-rich schemes than astronomy products.
Still, I wonder if there are other examples of products where amateur
astronomers have been left with no product for their money.

Tom

Tom Polakis wrote:
There are certainly better get-rich schemes than astronomy products.
Still, I wonder if there are other examples of products where amateur
astronomers have been left with no product for their money.

I think that the Web has been great for amateur astronomy. Certainly
for a lot of things, but I think it particularly helps specialized
hobbies like amateur astronomy. Maybe it would have helped Deep Sky
Journal.

As many of you know, I enjoy writing in general, and about astronomy
in particular. Someone recently suggested that I write principally to
entertain myself and to show off. They might not have meant that in a
nice way, but the fact of the matter is that it is *true*. I enjoy
writing things in a way that make them clearer to me, too, and although
I always write with an eye toward answering the original question[1], I
answer quite a few of my own as well. It pleases me when someone else
finds what I wrote to be clear and helpful. I certainly don't do it
for the money. I have sold a handful of articles, but never for more
than pocket change. It is not a winning proposition in that sense.

But--and here is my point--it is only because of the Web that I could
possibly reach as many people as I do. (I wish it were a lot more, but
there's only so much I can do.) If I were writing 20 years ago, I don't
think nearly as many people would read the words I write. I'd still
write them, but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt

[1] By the way, you have John Steinberg to thank for that one. He once
pointed out that I had a tendency to bury my lead, so to speak, and I
have ever since tried to give a short answer to the question right up
front, before going off on whatever tangent I feel like that morning.
I don't always succeed, but I do try.

I know this seems pretty minute compared to your examples, but I'm in a
similar situation right now. My lovely wife gave me a $500 gift certificate
to a scope distributor. I won't mention any names, but suffice it to say
that their website name is similar to another one. She misunderstood what I
had asked for. I ordered an 8" newt. Naturally it's not in stock but they
said it would ship in 7-10 days. That was over a month ago. Every other
store that carries this brand has them in stock. So what's the problem.
Kinda got me wondering if I'll ever get my nice birthday gift. I've asked if
they have anything comparable to offer but so far I've got no answers. What
would you do?

Scott
Scottsdale, AZ
"Tom Polakis" wrote in message
om...
Somebody recently asked me about astronomical publications that came
to quick halts, and I recalled the story of "Deep Sky Journal" from
the early 1990's. The editor/publisher was Richard Miles, who was
only able to reach Issue #6 of the quarterly publication before
running out of money. I think an annual subscription cost $24, and he
ran away with everybody's money without delivering any more magazines
beyond #6. As a major contributor to "Deep Sky Journal", I felt a bit
sorry for Miles getting in over his head, but not sorry enough to
defend his quick exit with no refunds. I think he peaked at around
2000 or 3000 subscribers. Deep-sky observing is still just a small
niche, after all.

Another magazine that wasn't meant to be was "Star & Sky", which
promised to be a very nice compromise between "Astronomy" and "Sky &
Telescope" around 1979-1981. It, too, made a abrupt halt after
hooking quite a few subscribers. I have been told by a publishing
insider that, unlike Miles, this case was more of a planned scheme on
the part of the publisher. Many people did not get the goods for
their money. I recently bought the entire run of "Star & Sky", and
found it to be an excellent hobby magazine for its time.

Much more recently, we have the case of SkyTent. I have one of these
excellent dome-tent observatories currently set up in my backyard. I
consider myself a lucky customer. A local friend is among a number of
people who will likely never get any product for their deposit money.
Without being apologetic, I would place SkyTent in the same category
with "Deep Sky Journal." They simply dug in too deep, and elected to
run away from the problem. Do a Google Groups search on SkyTent in
s.a.a. from late 2001 through the present if you're curious about
them.

There are certainly better get-rich schemes than astronomy products.
Still, I wonder if there are other examples of products where amateur
astronomers have been left with no product for their money.

Tom




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"Tom Polakis" wrote in message om...
snip
There are certainly better get-rich schemes than astronomy products.
Still, I wonder if there are other examples of products where amateur
astronomers have been left with no product for their money.

Are you sure any of these folks that implemented any of these
schemes actually got rich or did they create small fortunes from
astronomical ones. The magazine biz has always been tough and is tougher
today than ever. Technology makes it look easy to get in but
the costs (editors, writers, sales staff, etc) are also high. And, you
need a critical subscription mass to break even.

But to answer your question, the most successful "astronomical" get
rich scheme has to be In**r**t***al S**r R*g****y.

--
Hilton Evans
-----------------------------------------------
ChemPen Chemical Structure Software
http://www.chempensoftware.com


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Hi, Tom,
Ah, sadness, sadness. I liked the early issues Star & Sky a lot, and so I
sent in money for a three year subsubscription. I heard a rumor that the
publisher fled to Buenos Aires with the deposits? Is this just a rumor or
is there some truth to it?
Clear skies,
Bill Meyers
Tom Polakis wrote:

Somebody recently asked me about astronomical publications that came
to quick halts, and I recalled the story of "Deep Sky Journal" from
the early 1990's. The editor/publisher was Richard Miles, who was
only able to reach Issue #6 of the quarterly publication before
running out of money. I think an annual subscription cost $24, and he
ran away with everybody's money without delivering any more magazines
beyond #6. As a major contributor to "Deep Sky Journal", I felt a bit
sorry for Miles getting in over his head, but not sorry enough to
defend his quick exit with no refunds. I think he peaked at around
2000 or 3000 subscribers. Deep-sky observing is still just a small
niche, after all.

Another magazine that wasn't meant to be was "Star & Sky", which
promised to be a very nice compromise between "Astronomy" and "Sky &
Telescope" around 1979-1981. It, too, made a abrupt halt after
hooking quite a few subscribers. I have been told by a publishing
insider that, unlike Miles, this case was more of a planned scheme on
the part of the publisher. Many people did not get the goods for
their money. I recently bought the entire run of "Star & Sky", and
found it to be an excellent hobby magazine for its time.

Much more recently, we have the case of SkyTent. I have one of these
excellent dome-tent observatories currently set up in my backyard. I
consider myself a lucky customer. A local friend is among a number of
people who will likely never get any product for their deposit money.
Without being apologetic, I would place SkyTent in the same category
with "Deep Sky Journal." They simply dug in too deep, and elected to
run away from the problem. Do a Google Groups search on SkyTent in
s.a.a. from late 2001 through the present if you're curious about
them.

There are certainly better get-rich schemes than astronomy products.
Still, I wonder if there are other examples of products where amateur
astronomers have been left with no product for their money.

Tom

Tom Polakis wrote:


Somebody recently asked me about astronomical publications that came
to quick halts, and I recalled the story of "Deep Sky Journal" from
the early 1990's. The editor/publisher was Richard Miles, who was
only able to reach Issue #6 of the quarterly publication before
running out of money. I think an annual subscription cost $24, and he
ran away with everybody's money without delivering any more magazines
beyond #6. As a major contributor to "Deep Sky Journal", I felt a bit
sorry for Miles getting in over his head, but not sorry enough to
defend his quick exit with no refunds. I think he peaked at around
2000 or 3000 subscribers. Deep-sky observing is still just a small
niche, after all.

Yeah, I got burned a bit on that one.....Miles lived a couple of hours
from me, and after several chats via email, we met at a half-way point
and he asked me if I would help him a bit. I was going to the Mt. Kobau
Star Party and he asked me to take quite a few back issues of "DSJ" and
give them out to everyone. Numerous folks there were impressed with the
magazine and subscribed to it. About a dozen didn't even wait till they
got home....they gave me the money and the subscription card to give to
Miles--which I did.

As I recall, there was never another issue, and all those folks lost
their money. It took me awhile at later Kobau's to live down my
presumed association with Miles.

Wayne Howell
Photon Phlats Observatory
Port Townsend, WA

On Thu, 25 Mar 2004 23:03:09 GMT, Hilton Evans
wrote:

But to answer your question, the most successful "astronomical" get
rich scheme has to be In**r**t***al S**r R*g****y.

Okay, kind of, but I was discussing cases in which the company disappears,
and you're left hanging. No matter what you think of the value of the ISR,
they do deliver a product.

Tom

On Thu, 25 Mar 2004 22:47:17 -0500, Bill Meyers
wrote:

Hi, Tom,
Ah, sadness, sadness. I liked the early issues Star & Sky a lot, and so I
sent in money for a three year subsubscription. I heard a rumor that the
publisher fled to Buenos Aires with the deposits? Is this just a rumor or
is there some truth to it?


I heard exactly that same rumor, and from a very good source.

Check out some of these names of contributors to Star & Sky, when it hit
its stride in the September 1980 issue.

Terence Dickinson - Editor

Jay Gunter, David Levy, Ron Morales, James Mullaney, James Oberg, Joe Rao,
John Sanford - Contributing Editors (okay, Richard C. Hoagland is in there
as well, apparently before he wigged out)

Rolf Meier - nice article on comet hunting

Robert Provin and Brad Wallis - RTMC 1980 recap

Glen Chaple - regular column on small scope astronomy

Leo Henzl - regular column on astrophotography


Not what you'd call a bunch of hack writers... My last issue was February
1981. Was that the end?

Tom

(Tom Polakis) wrote in message . com...
Somebody recently asked me about astronomical publications that came
to quick halts, and I recalled the story of "Deep Sky Journal" from
the early 1990's.

There was a "Deep Sky" magazine published by the publishers of
Astronomy Magazine (Kalmbach) up to about 1989. Kalmbach pulled the
plug at the same time they ceased publishing a magazine called
"Telescope Making" or something like that.

"Deep Sky" was really cool and I was getting a lot more use from it at
the time it was terminated than I was from either Astronomy or Sky &
Telescope. It had about 15,000 subscribers, if I recall correctly.

Hi, Tom,
Quite a group of luminaries, so to speak. John Sanford did a very nice book
on deep sky observing, complete with very nice small Tirion charts, (and
,unfortunately, almost unreadable constellation photographs, like the early
editions of Menzel) called Observing the Constellations. Somehow I wound up
with two copies. I have always liked Mullaney's columns, quite inspiring, and
I enjoy his new book Celestial Harvest. Glen Chaple's work was helpful and
simpatico for the new observer, though more recently Sue French's columns in
Sky & Telescope are much broader and heavily researched. I think Glen was
aiming for users of three inch refractors, and Sue was aiming for users of four
inch refractors, a big difference.
I have packed away the Star & Sky somewhere and when and if I find it, I
will post an answer to your question as to when it ended.
If one had several thousand subscribers at say $25 average, that was a lot
of money in those days.
Clear skies,
Bill Meyers

Tom Polakis wrote:

On Thu, 25 Mar 2004 22:47:17 -0500, Bill Meyers
wrote:

Hi, Tom,
Ah, sadness, sadness. I liked the early issues Star & Sky a lot, and so I
sent in money for a three year subsubscription. I heard a rumor that the
publisher fled to Buenos Aires with the deposits? Is this just a rumor or
is there some truth to it?

I heard exactly that same rumor, and from a very good source.

Check out some of these names of contributors to Star & Sky, when it hit
its stride in the September 1980 issue.

Terence Dickinson - Editor

Jay Gunter, David Levy, Ron Morales, James Mullaney, James Oberg, Joe Rao,
John Sanford - Contributing Editors (okay, Richard C. Hoagland is in there
as well, apparently before he wigged out)

Rolf Meier - nice article on comet hunting

Robert Provin and Brad Wallis - RTMC 1980 recap

Glen Chaple - regular column on small scope astronomy

Leo Henzl - regular column on astrophotography

Not what you'd call a bunch of hack writers... My last issue was February
1981. Was that the end?

Tom