At the end of last year and the beginning of this year, Brightsolid cancelled two online family history magazines that it had been publishing for three years. Discover my Past Scotland ran for 39 issues, whilst its younger sibling, Discover my Past England, ran for 24 editions. With the exception of the first two issues of the Scottish title, I had the pleasure to write the monthly news and book reviews columns for both titles for the duration of their run, and contributed many articles on all sorts of subjects, as did other genies based in both countries, working to editor Hilary Bowman.
The titles have both been cancelled, but the magazines themselves can still be purchased online at www.discovermypast.co.uk. Although the site is apparently offering Discover my Past England at "a special rate" of £2.50 per issue - so special that it was actually sold at that exact rate when it was in production! - there is a more genuine offer for back issues of Discover my Past Scotland, in that you can now download all 39 issues in PDF format for a fee of just £15 in total (instead of the £97.50 that the 39 issues previously cost at £2.50 each).
Those of us who worked on the title - both titles - were very proud of what we achieved, and there's some great stuff in each edition. Discover my Past Scotland was the first UK based online genealogy magazine, perhaps just a little too ahead of its time when launched at a time when tablet computers had yet to catch on in Britain. Its articles still stand up to this day, so if you fancy a wee treat, Scotland's only ever monthly genealogy magazine awaits in a wee bundle for just a few quid!(With thanks to the ScotFamTree discussion forum at http://scotfamtree.b1.jcink.com)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Such a good offer I took them up on it :-) The only slight technical hitch is that it will only let me access issue 39 and not any of the earlier ones :-( Either I am missing a route to download the other PDF's or something is broken.
ReplyDeleteI have sent them a query so we will see what they say.
I already have them, so can't test, sorry! When I used to log in to see latest issue the online viewer had an option allowing you to view back issues - is that possible here?
ReplyDeleteI have exactly the same problem. I purchased the catalogue - and can only access issue 39.
ReplyDeleteI have emailed several times - but have had no reply at all.
I should have said - when you view issue 39 - you can see the back issues tab.
ReplyDeleteThe issues are displayed as thumbnails - but when you try to open one - you are told you do not have a subscription to view it - and you are redirected to purchase the issue you are trying to open.
I've contacted Brightsolid to see if anyone there can help - if any joy will update in due course.
ReplyDeleteCheers Chris.
ReplyDeleteI actually contacted Brightsolid but mistakenly told them I was trying to contact Find My Past - which I believe is another company entirely.
Update:
ReplyDeleteI received a reply to my last email from Brightsolid this evening -
and they have fixed my access problem.
Looking forward to reading all 39 issues at one sitting. :)
Glad it's sorted - enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI had subscribed to Discover my Past Scotland and only got issues 29 to 39, then heard nothing and had non of my emails replied to. Is there any way my residual credit of issues can be provided by giving me access to earlier issues. Alternatively what price would be required for only issue 1 to 28? I really felt 'ripped-off' when the magazine folded.
ReplyDeleteThe parent company behind the title was Brightsolid, so best to contact them. No idea if the above £15 offer for all titles still running, but if so, it's for all 39 issues.
ReplyDelete