Editing The Pen Addict 206/transcript (section)

== Notebook Brands ==


'''Tessa Sowry:''' Um, there's another brand called Mark and Fold who do, um, really beautiful, um, notebooks. I do think there's quite a resurgence of these sort of small studios, um, making small batches of stuff. And I think these guys are doing that really well, sort of like to the point where your notebook is numbered, you know, you've got like a number out of 500 of them. And I think that's quite a cool thing.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay. I see this. I see this review now on Mark and Fold. This looks, um, this is really, really good looking stuff. Yeah. So do they do, um, so one of the things you, you tend to do, um, or I've seen a bunch on, on your blog is, uh, various subscription services sending you, uh, products to review. What do you think about, um, like the, the station areas of subscription service? Uh, I, I would, I think I would say you're a, you're a fan, right?

'''Tessa Sowry:''' I am a fan. Um, I'm starting to think the market's getting a little oversaturated. Um, cause I, I'm sort of getting to the point where I'm like turning down boxes to review just because I, I don't, I don't know if it's a bad thing, but I, I feel like there's probably only so much space in the market for that sort of thing. And when does it just become duplication?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. I do feel like it, it is hard to differentiate yourself. Like, how are you going to make your, your stationary box different from, um, you know, from, from the next person. And when you find a good one, like you kind of lock into that one and then everything else kind of gets compared to that. And it's like, well, I already have all this stuff or how is this going to be different? And, um, um, I, I, I do find that interesting myself. And, um, I, I don't know what to think about that. Myke, do you, what do you think about the, besides like field notes, you don't have any other stationary subscription, right? Like I subscribe to art snacks. I love that because it's art supplies and it's more different than just, you know, notebooks or traditional stationary that you would think of. So that's the only other one I subscribe to. Do you subscribe to anything?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Art snacks is interesting because it's different stuff than I would buy, but the stationary subscription boxes ultimately what I end up with is a bunch of stuff I didn't choose that I don't really want. Like there's always going to be good items in those boxes, but like, I know the stuff that I want to buy or want to try and they might send me some new things every now and then that's really interesting, but it's not going to be everything in that box every single time that is useful to me. And then I just end up with more stuff that I have to try and store.

'''Tessa Sowry:''' Yeah. Yeah. I think that is an issue. I, there are kind of different extremes really, because there's one, one brand that sent me theirs, which is mustache stationary. Theirs is like, I think it's like $40 a month, which is, I think a lot.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's a lot of money. Yeah.

'''Tessa Sowry:''' Um, but then I've been, I've tried a new one from the guys at Oh Dear. Do you know them, Myke? They're a UK, um, brand, but theirs is only a tenner and it's kind of a lot more light hearted. It's got greetings cards and cute notebooks and stuff. And that's just totally the other end of the scale. So I guess, yeah, it's more, more along the sort of, um, the beauty, um, subscription box lines where you're kind of trying out products, but you're not having to invest too much each month to do so. Right. I think I sort of prefer that cheaper end of the scale.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I would think that too, because when you're paying, I could see paying a high price for a quarterly subscription service and that being like super curated every month, they have to really nail it. Right.

'''Tessa Sowry:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Because it's coming fast, right? By the time you get it and you start to use some of these things and you probably haven't even gone through, you know, even testing out a lot of it and then it comes right again. Um, and it's, the cost is high on top of it. It's got to be really, really good. So it's a tough, it's a tough thing. I, you know, I think about it from time to time. Um, and I think I, like Myke said, I'm so particular, um, even though I like a lot of different things, if I don't get to pick it out, I have a little bit of a, I don't know, a little bit of a hard time with that, but I, I still think it's, it's very interesting, um, to watch this, um, this market kind of explode. And I think we'll probably start to see some refinement here in the next year or so and, and see what really stands out, uh, stands out at that point.

'''Tessa Sowry:''' It is like a sort of surprise gift to yourself every month though. And that's cool.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I do like that. I do like my heart snacks. I, uh, I, I do enjoy seeing that one, that one show up in the box every, every month. That's very cool.

'''Myke Hurley:''' One of the only things that I subscribe to like this, well, I say like this liking so much as I get something every month that is a little surprise, uh, is a sticker subscription service. Cool. That's kind of cool. Yeah. It's called slap stickers. And every month they send like six original design stickers and they're usually like pop culture type things. Like the previous one had a Jurassic park sticker and a back to the future sticker. And yeah, I really love it. Uh, I, so many of their stickers are finding their way onto my devices. So that is one that I recommend in that it's, it doesn't really take up any space because it's just some pieces of paper. It's not very expensive. Um, and I think, I think it's, I think it's really great. It's like $8 a month and they send you, I don't know, like six or seven stickers or something like that. Uh, and I think it's really cool. Um, if you like stickers, this is one because they send stuff that I wouldn't necessarily buy, but when it comes, I love it. And they work with really great designers to create original stuff. So.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, that's very cool. I like, I like the thought of that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So Tessa, one thing you do, which I swear I'm going to do every year and I never do it is you, you do a recap post. Um, you've done, you know, you've done it twice now. Um, you've had two, two full years working on your third and I think it's cool to just kind of reflect on the past year. Um, tell me what you, you thought about when you, you decided to put these posts up that kind of recap what happened in the year, um, talk about planning ahead. And then, uh, I'm going to talk about something that you said in your, uh, your most, most recent one from, uh, December, 2015. So tell me, tell me about, um, putting together this year in review post.

'''Tessa Sowry:''' Uh, yeah. I mean, I think it's just a chance to kind of blow your own trumpet a bit, I guess.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I like it.

'''Tessa Sowry:''' But I think if I got through a whole year of blogging consistently, like I'm going to stop and sort of think about that. Yeah.