A few years ago, subscription services were all the rage, and it seems like every stationery company had one. Field Notes started the trend, originally known as the “colors” series. Write Notepads and Baron Fig got in on the game, launching a separate subscription service for each of four different product lines (pens, pencils, and hard and softcover notebooks). Blackwing launched its “Volumes” series, where they would issue a quarterly limited edition pencil that subscribers could receive before anyone else had a chance to buy. Supposedly, the rationale behind these subscriptions was that they would allow small makers to have a guaranteed revenue stream up front from subscriptions, which they could then use to make smaller runs of more experimental products that would otherwise be too speculative or cost-prohibitive. Originally, this was a good idea. It allowed Field Notes to test ideas for pocket notebooks beyond the original Kraft Paper design, and now the special and limited run products make up a majority of the Field Notes line. Similarly, the Volumes program allowed Blackwing to “field test” different pencil finishes and graphite grades that eventually made their way into the standard lineup. (Hello, Blackwing Natural and the Extra-Firm graphite!)
The last four editions of Blackwing Volumes, from left in no particular order: Blackwing 3 (“Ravi Shankar”); Blackwing XIX (“19th Amendment”), Blackwing 6 (“Neon”), and Blackwing 223 (“Woody Guthrie”).
So where do things stand today? Honestly, apart from Blackwing and Field Notes, it seems like the subscription model could be losing momentum. Write Notepads and Baron Fig discontinued their subscription programs after 1-2 years, in favor of releasing special editions on their own schedules. This could partly be due to the businesses stabilizing and becoming established in the industry, and there for no longer needing to rely on subscriptions to fund their manufacturing, but I can’t help but wonder whether the market for this sort of subscription product is saturated by one or two companies. For example, how many pocket notebooks or pencils does one person actually need? I’m sure there are people out there who go through six or more notebooks and a dozen-plus pencils per quarter, but it can’t be the majority of subscribers. Plus, as companies like Field Notes and Blackwing become established (if not omnipresent in mainstream retailers), the key rationale that drove many to subscribe - that you have to support your favorite small brands through a “guaranteed revenue” program - becomes less compelling. I’m sure that both Field Notes and Blackwing continue to have legions of hardcore fans and healthy subscriber bases, but given how large some of these recent runs are, I do wonder whether the majority of the sales from the special editions comes through retail channels or direct sales to non-subscribers. Are even the Field Notes and Blackwing programs becoming less relevant?
Field Notes recently released “Fifty,” their fiftieth limited edition release. (Disclaimer: The Gentleman Stationer does retail select Field Notes Products)
Personally, the only subscription service to which I still belong is Blackwing Volumes, but even that I’m questioning. Not that I don’t like Blackwing, it’s just that I have so many pencils I would prefer not to receive them by default and only purchase those editions that really strike me as special. My recent favorite special editions have actually been the Blackwing store-exclusives, “Eras” releases, and non-Volumes “Blackwing X” collaborations, such as the Third Man Records pencil and the “Hardest Job in the World” edition. While I think the last four Blackwing Volumes pencils have been “good,” I can’t help but wonder why they are moving so much good stuff outside of the subscription program, away from those who are, presumably, their most devoted fans?
I’d be curious to know how many of you still subscribe to stationery subscription services. What do you like and dislike about the option to subscribe? What keeps you coming back?
(This is not “market research”, just genuine curiosity. I have no desire to launch or participate in any sort of subscription service, so I’ll get that out of the way up front. As you all know, I’ve previously written on what sometimes feels like the stationery industry’s fixation on limited and special releases, so this post is intended to continue the discussion along those lines.)