Closing of Scribd document store

We were advised on February 1, 2017, that the Scribd document store would soon be closing. Today is its official closing day. The business change appears linked to Scribd's repackaging as an e-book subscription service.

Informer issues and articles had been available for purchase through the Scribd store since the fall of 2010. Thousands of readers used the Scribd store to access Informer documents. We regret access will no longer be possible through Scribd, but this is entirely out of our control.

Fortunately, Informer electronic and print editions remain available for preview and purchase through the MagCloud/Blurb service. All Informer issues - from the very first issue back in September 2008 - can still be acquired through MagCloud/Blurb. MagCloud/Blurb is our "go-to" service for Informer distribution, but we will be checking into other document sale and distribution options.

Click to visit Informer on the MagCloud/Blurb service.

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Informer total readership tops 33,000

Readership of all Informer issues and indexes published to date has topped 33,000. The July 2010 issue, already accessed 412 times in print and electronic editions, has brought the publication's total readership figure to 33,191*. The total jumped more than 40 percent in the three months between May 6 and August 7, 2010.

Indexes remain the most popular of Informer's publications. The two indexes published to date have combined for about 13,000 readers, leaving the non-index issue readership total at 20,131 (a three-month increase of just under 40 percent).

The single most popular Informer issue remains April 2009. That issue, focused on the Mafia in Chicago, has a readership of 4,094. Currently, the issue with the quickest growing readership is April 2010, focused on Giuseppe Morello and Ignazio Lupo. Its numbers have nearly quadrupled since May. The seven non-index issues - excluding the one just released at the end of July - have averaged 2,817 readers.

Informer's print and electronic editions - distributed through MagCloud.com and Scribd.com - remain available indefinitely. Over time, the issues become incorporated into Internet search engine databases, resulting in dramatic increases in readership.

Issue reader totals as of August 7, 2010 
(compared with three months earlier):
Sep 2008 issue - v1n1 - 3738 readers, up 18.8%
Jan 2009 issue - v2n1 - 3051 readers, up 19.8%
Apr 2009 issue - v2n2 - 4094 readers, up 31.2%
-Index v1n1 thru v2n2 - 7059 readers, up 29.4%
Jul 2009 issue - v2n3 - 3294 readers, up 34.2%
Oct 2009 issue - v2n4 - 2335 readers, up 36.2%
-Index v1n1 thru v2n4 - 6001 readers, up 59.1%
Jan 2010 issue - v3n1 - 2357 readers, up 90.1%
Apr 2010 issue - v3n2 - 850 readers, up 388.5%
Jul 2010 issue - v3n3 - 412 readers.

* Note: The Scribd.com service shows a higher total. It calculates that the electronic edition alone has accumulated 34,340 readers.

Mattix, Hunt combine to lead new Informer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

      July 29, 2010 - The publishers of two quarterly true-crime journals plan to pool their resources in a new, combined publication. Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement, set to launch in October, will provide informative and well-documented historical articles on crime, organized crime, policing and penology.

      Rick Mattix (right) has been publisher and editor of the On the Spot Journal of Crime and Law Enforcement since fall of 2006. Thomas Hunt has held a similar role with Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History since fall of 2008. Mattix’s publication specialized in the history of the gangster era - the 1920s and 30s, while Hunt’s dealt exclusively with the history of the American Mafia.
      “Though I never thought of us as being in competition with each other,” Hunt said, “it’s clear there was considerable overlap in our publications. In fact, before launching Informer, I wrote several Mafia history articles for On the Spot. So, this seems a natural combination.”
      Mattix said, “I am pleased to participate in the new Informer, which I believe will be a worthy successor to both its parent journals as well as expanding our previous horizons in the history of American crime and crime control.”

      Hunt (left) will serve as publisher of the new Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement. He also will perform copy editing and page design tasks. Mattix will serve as editorial director and will be responsible for article acquisition and issue contents.

      The new publication will be distributed in electronic and print editions. The low-cost electronic edition will be distributed through the Scribd.com document sharing service. Individual electronic issues will be priced at $5 (US), with annual subscriptions available for $18. The high quality print edition will be produced and shipped by HP’s international print-on-demand service MagCloud.com. The cost of individual print edition issues, including shipping, is estimated to be just under $20. Annual subscriptions to the print edition will be offered at a price of $75.

      For more information on the publication, return to this website. Informer can also be found on Twitter (ID: informerjournal) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Informer/63288650969).

Contact:
mailto:tphunt@gmail.com
mailto:rickmattix@yahoo.com

###

Informer issues available for iPad

Special announcement:
Issues of Informer can be read on your iPad device using the new MagCloud app downloadable from MagCloud.com . All Informer issues are currently available free of charge (limited time).

Informer readership figures

The average readership of individual Informer (non-index) issues has grown to 2,057, a jump of 17% since Feb. 4. That average was held down by the recent release of the April 2020 issue, which has reached just 174 readers to date. Excluding that April issue leaves an average readership of more than 2,370. Readership of Informer's two published indexes climbed to 9,229, a jump of nearly 38% over February. Informer publications (regular issues and indexes) to date have totaled 23,627 readers. Most of Informer's readers - more than 99% of them - prefer to read the electronic edition of the periodical than to order its print edition.

Sep 2008 issue - v1n1 - 3147 readers, up 13.2%
Jan 2009 issue - v2n1 - 2547 readers, up 21.9%
Apr 2009 issue - v2n2 - 3120 readers, up 34.8%
-Index v1n1 thru v2n2 - 5456 readers, up 20.5%
Jul 2009 issue - v2n3 - 2455 readers, up 30.4%
Oct 2009 issue - v2n4 - 1715 readers, up 56.5%
-Index v1n1 thru v2n4 - 3773 readers, up 73.6%
Jan 2010 issue - v3n1 - 1240 readers, up 217.1%
Apr 2010 issue - v3n2 - 174 readers

Average readership for a (non-index) journal issue:
2057 readers, up 17% from February 2010.

Informer readership figures

Readership of existing Informer issues climbed by another 12.8 percent during the month of December (Dec. 12 through Jan. 6). In that period, special interest was shown in the April 2009 issue - vol. 2, no. 2. That issue focused on the early history of the Chicago Mafia. Its readership jumped 17.2 percent, as it became the second most read Informer issue to date.

Sep 2008 issue - v1n1 - 2641 readers, up 06.1%
Jan 2009 issue - v2n1 - 1923 readers, up 09.0%
Apr 2009 issue - v2n2 - 2019 readers, up 17.2%
-Index v1n1 thru v2n2 - 4119 readers, up 09.6%
Jul 2009 issue - v2n3 - 1668 readers, up 12.8%
Oct 2009 issue - v2n4 - 0889 readers, up 37.2%
-Index v1n1 thru v2n4 - 1557 readers, up 56.0%

Average readership for a (non-index) journal issue:

1,828 readers, up 12.8% from January average.

Informer readership figures

Readership of Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History grew dramatically during the month of November. Average readership of a non-index journal issue grew by more than 66 percent from 972.4 on Nov. 6 to 1620.8 on Dec. 12.

Circulation figures for Informer are shown below. These figures represent readers of the journal's electronic edition and purchasers of its print edition as of Dec. 12, 2009. (Note: Web search engines provide greater exposure for issues as time passes, accounting for the generally greater reader stats of older electronic issues.) No effort is made to approximate the sharing of Informer's downloadable electronic edition.

Sep 2008 issue - v1n1
2490 readers (2060 Scribd, 416 other online, 14 print)
Increase of 11.8% over November's 2226 readers

Jan 2009 issue - v2n1
1765 readers (1469 Scribd, 282 other online, 14 print)
Increase of 82.9% over November's 965 readers

Apr 2009 issue - v2n2
1722 readers (1536 Scribd, 173 other online, 13 print)
Increase of 117.1% over November's 793 readers

Index v1n1 thru v2n2
3757 readers (3757 Scribd, print edition not offered)
Increase of 14.4% over November's 3282 readers

Jul 2009 issue - v2n3
1479 readers (1294 Scribd, 160 other online, 25 print)
Increase of 130.3% over November's 642 readers

Oct 2009 issue - v2n4
648 readers (635 Scribd, 4 other online, 9 print)
Increase of 174.5% over November's 236 readers

Index v1n1 thru v2n4
998 readers (996 Scribd, 2 print)
Increase of 698.4% over November's 125 readers

Average readership for a (non-index) journal issue:
1620.8 readers (1398 Scribd, 207 other online, 15 print)
Increase of 66.6% over November's 972.4 average

Informer readership figures

Circulation figures for Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History are shown below. These figures represent readers of the journal's electronic edition and purchasers of its print edition as of Nov. 6, 2009. (Note: Web search engines provide greater exposure for issues as time passes, accounting for the generally greater reader stats of older electronic issues.) No effort is made to approximate the sharing of Informer's downloadable electronic edition.

Sep 2008 issue - v1n1
2226 readers (1797 Scribd, 416 other online, 13 print)

Jan 2009 issue - v2n1
965 readers (670 Scribd, 282 other online, 13 print)

Apr 2009 issue - v2n2
793 readers (608 Scribd, 173 other online, 12 print)

Index v1n1 thru v2n2
3282 readers (3282 Scribd, print edition not offered)

Jul 2009 issue - v2n3
642 readers (462 Scribd, 160 other online, 24 print)

Oct 2009 issue - v2n4
236 readers (224 Scribd, 4 other online, 8 print)

Index v1n1 thru v2n4
125 readers (124 Scribd, 1 print)

Average readership for an Informer journal issue: 972.4

Electronic edition is now FREE

Informer is temporarily offering access to its electronic edition at no charge. Visit our Scribd site using the link below. (To download electronic (PDF) Informer issues, you will need a free Scribd.com account or an OpenID. To read the issues, you will need a free Acrobat-format Reader.)

Print edition issues remain available for purchase through the MagCloud.com print-on-demand service. Use the link below to visit our MagCloud site.

Purchasing becomes quicker and easier

Some online magazine purchasers objected to having to open an account with MagCloud in order to purchase magazines. The publishing service has responded by allowing "anonymous" purchases. Here's MagCloud's announcement:

"We like it when shoppers become members - it allows us to give them order tracking pages, address books, and other fun features - but if you just want to pick up a magazine, we don't want to stand in your way. So now anyone can buy a magazine with a credit card or PayPal without having to become a member."

MagCloud also introduced a quicker checkout process and speedier shipping options. We're confident that these changes will make ordering a copy of Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History significantly easier. Click here to visit the journal on MagCloud.

Informer now available in US, UK, Canada

Preprinted copies of Informer can now be shipped to addresses in the United Kingdom and Canada, in addition to the United States. When the Informer print edition was first announced on Sept. 24, 2008, copies could be shipped only to U.S. addresses, due to restrictions imposed by the MagCloud print-on-demand service. MagCloud recently expanded its service area. We are not yet able to offer UK or Canada subscriptions to the print edition.

CLICK TO VISIT MAGCLOUD

Informer print edition is on sale at MagCloud

We are happy to announce that the print edition of Informer's first issue is on sale through MagCloud.com. The printing service, a branch of HP, also provides an issue Table of Contents and an online preview. Issue 1 can be purchased for $11.60 plus $1.40 shipping (only to U.S. addresses at this time).

CLICK TO VISIT MAGCLOUD

Print edition ISSN: 1943-7803
Electronic edition ISSN: 1944-8139

Printed version of Informer available soon

In response to many reader requests, a professionally printed version of Informer will soon be available for purchase within the U.S. At this time, we are estimating a sale price between $11 and $12 per issue plus postage for U.S. mailing addresses.

This is an exciting development for Informer - one we hadn't anticipated happening quite so quickly. We remain committed to providing the low-cost electronic option for all Informer issues. But we agreed with readers that a printed version should also be available.

"Stay tuned" for updates.

Informer downloads total 150 in first week

Downloads of Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History have hit the 150 mark, according to statistics on Box.net. Issue 1 of the electronic journal has been available for free download for one week and will remain available (as a sample issue) for the foreseeable future:

Click here and then select the Download option to get your copy.
(Caution: the "Preview" option is not entirely compatible with Informer's Adobe PDF format.)

Informer will be distributed on a subscription basis beginning in January 2009.

Distribution

Informer is published in electronic and print magazine editions. Both are sold and distributed through the MagCloud service. Subscriptions are not provided.

Readers of the electronic edition will need a free PDF format reader to open their issues. Free readers of PDF files are available for various computer systems. The more popular readers are shown below:

Adobe PDF Reader
(Windows, Linux, Mobile, Mac)
Foxit Reader
(Windows, Linux, Mobile)
Apple Safari Web Browser
(Windows, Mac)

Select issues of Informer are available as print paperback and hardcover books through Amazon and as ebooks (Kindle and EPUB formats) through Amazon and Google Play Books.