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Writing Magazine becomes Writers Joint

edited August 2011 in - WM and WN
Out of the blue today, I received a letter from Writers' News. It had the wrong initials on it, a different Customer Reference Number and thanked me for subscribing to Writers Joint (no apostrophe). I'd never heard of Writers Joint.

When I telephoned the Subscription Processing Team, they told me that Writing Magazine/Writers' News have been renamed, and Customer Reference Numbers were changed some time ago (the old one is still appearing on my bank statement, though).

They agreed that they had loaded my initials wrongly.

Comments

  • I'd e-mail Jonathan Telfer if I were you Jay.
    No long standing magazine is going to change their name after all this time without good reason, and certainly not to a title that suggests stoned writers...:)
  • Maybe it's just how the staff are referring to them. But it's on the letter.
  • Writers joint? Sounds terrible! I think Carol is right about the implications :-) perhaps it now comes with a monthly free gift (of the herb variety!).
  • Or have they recognised a writing injury, similar to tennis elbow?
  • Ha! perhaps that's it. Does it happen in the brain though? I think i may have it.
  • Very, very strange. Not April 1st, is it?

    I wonder if 'writers joint' is a kind of Word shorthand they use when typing it - you know, using autocorrect? And the person typed it wrongly so it didn't autocorrect? But then why would they say what they did on the phone?

    All very myserious and suggests, perhaps, that joints of a squiffy nature were involved somewhere along the line?
  • I agree, the first thing I thought of was that it sounds like a disease...
  • ...It does seem rather an elaborate hoax though...
  • It probably means the joint magazines that are sent now as one mag: WM and WN. Meanwhile, he puffs on his joint...
  • Stan that's a brilliant thought, the joint magazines rather than WM/WN...
  • Hello there. I can assure you that Writing Magazine and Writers' News are still called by their old names. Jay, this must be an administrative error from the subs department - sorry for the aggravation. Will look into it and get back to you.
  • Thanks Webbo. We await the intriguing answer...:D
  • It'll be tomorrow now I'm afraid as head of the subs team is away until then, but will keep you posted as soon as I can.
  • So when i go to whsmith am i looking for the normal mag or writers joint?
  • Didn`t think you could get `joints` from such a well known establishment.
  • Surely it's to do with joint subs to both mags, although they're one now - aren't they? I don't subscribe to inhaling either.
  • LizLiz
    edited August 2011
    JAY! Perhaps one of the parallel Universes that is attached to ours, according to scientific theories, broke through - and the Jay (only with slightly different initials, and a different subscriber number) who lives in that Universe and who subscribes to Writers Joint (they don't use punctuation in that universe, as you know) has had his subscription details GO MISSING!

    I am absolutely sure this is the only explanation that fits with all the facts.
  • edited August 2011
    We had a joke on here a short while ago, about the mag being used as a joint :)

    Heh heh

    Very odd though and I hasten to add, your letter was nowt to do with me, Jay :)


    edited to say: here it is

    http://talkback.writers-online.co.uk/comments.php?DiscussionID=177860
  • [quote=Liz!]I am absolutely sure this is the only explanation that fits with all the facts. [/quote]

    Makes perfect sense.
  • You've convinced me, Liz.
  • That explanation is much more fun than the reality will be...:)
  • Now then, if anyone on this thread can keep a straight face for just a few seconds: the subs department have clarified that they won't be using the phrase 'Writer's Joint' any more, and will call the mag by its proper name, Writing Magazine, in future. Jay, the subs dept acknowledge that they did have your initials incorrectly listed on their database, and they've now rectified this.
    Hope this clears things up.
  • I refuse to believe that. I mean, it's just so unlikely. And typical that the first first proof of inter-universe contact is to be covered up by what is frankly, a ludicrous whitewash.
  • edited August 2011
    Thanks Webbo, I assume the subs department don't have any writers among them (unless they're sane writers of course) so they didn't have our warped humour for seeing stories from simple words...;)
  • edited August 2011
    I received another letter from the Subscriptions Department yesterday, enclosing a refund. They'd debited me with the annual fee instead of the monthly one "due to a database error". Still, they're not charging me for September's issue because of the mix-up.
  • pbwpbw
    edited August 2011
    re Writers' Joint

    [quote=Webbo]I'm afraid as head of the subs team is away[/quote]

    Am I to infer that the Head of the Subs Team is 'out of it' ? :)
  • Hmm, and just how many aliens are using the joint?
  • [quote=Carol] the subs department don't have any writers among them (unless they're sane writers of course) [/quote]

    Well obviously they'd have to be sane, as they have to stick to rules as they are producing a NON fiction product!
  • Hmm. Everyone else seems to have received October's magazines. I wonder where mine are. They're not usually late.
  • Being enjoyed by a postie under hedge?

    I hasten to add as in reading it, not having rolled it up and stuffed it with waccy baccy.
  • O Webbo! My magazines didn't arrive in today's post, either. Any idea what's happened to them?
  • edited September 2011
    [quote=dora]Being enjoyed by a postie under hedge?[/quote]
    And what postie, however scrupulous, could resist our winning combination of expert advice and friendly encouragement!

    Jay, whisper me a detail or two (postcode?, subscription number?) and I'll check nothing's gone wrong
  • [quote=dora]Being enjoyed by a postie under hedge?

    I hasten to add as in reading it, not having rolled it up and stuffed it with waccy baccy.[/quote]

    Or for spanking purposes......
  • ....... a la Victoria Wood's "Not meekly, not bleakly / Smack me on the bottom with the Woman's weekly...."
  • oh gosh, I hope this isn't the start of a naughty WM activities thread... think I preferred the joint jokes!
  • Sorry, Webbo. I'll just pause to smack my wristies and give myself a severe telling off. If ever you need the tone lowering.....
  • Webbo, it is a Monday...;)
  • Ah, you lot have cheered me up, as always :)
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