In Big Publishing, The Word would be a “multi-platform brand available in a number of different iterations”. We see it as a community active on a bunch of different fronts. Once upon a time contact with the readers was a purely once-a-month thing. It’s no longer that way. In fact we estimate some "readers" may spend up to 200 hours in and around the world of The Word every year. How does that work?

The Magazine: We reckon it’s for people who value their reading time. We assume that these people can read without moving their lips and are capable of enjoying something more sustained than a caption. We compile the contents to reflect this. We would rather talk to people with something to say than people with something to sell. We like to pick out the big themes as well as the tiny vignettes. We have writers who have opinions, sometimes provocative ones. We don’t set out to be the same as everyone else. We write the magazine we want to read in the hope you might want to read it too. If you do, we estimate that there’s at least four hours of reading in the average issue, which adds up to fifty hours a year.

The Now Here This CD: Our monthly Now Hear This! CDs are made up of new music by up and coming acts. If you listen to each CD only once – and the indications are that many people listen to some of the tracks more than once – that would occupy 12 hours over a year. You see where this is going?

The Podcasts: We try to do the Word Podcast most weeks and in the near future we’ll be adding extra podcasts, featuring guest stars like Neil Hannon and Robert Forster. We want to keep the conversation going and there are many things that are better spoken than written down. If you were to listen to every podcast, you would thereby occupy about 40 hours of previously dead time in the average year.

The Word Website: The Word website is quite unique. It’s a 24-hour conversation on everything from rock trivia to reality TV, from football to home electronics, from the tea rooms of Mars to the hellholes of Uranus. If you were to pass only 20 minutes a day looking at the site – and its various digital extensions – you would be spending over 100 hours in an average year in the company of the Massive.

Add it up: That’s over 200 hours of information, entertainment and amusement we’re providing. All we ask in return is that you take out a subscription. If you take up this offer it costs just £38. It saves money, trees, trouble and time, and ensures that you never miss an issue. If you’re one of the people who’s been thinking about subscribing but never got round to it, maybe you should get round to it.

Pick up the phone, call +44 (0)1795 592 853 and quote OCT10 to order, or click the link below. From next month you’ll be able to look forward to the magazine arriving on your welcome mat without the requirement of your personal intervention. It can only add to peace of mind. Ours and yours.

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To buy old issues of The Word, click here.