1: You like reading. We pledge ourselves to provide the most absorbing, surprising, thorough, amusing and stimulating read on the stands. And since you’ll henceforth be getting your copy delivered to your door, you’ll be spending less time browsing the stands in search of a pristine copy and more time actually reading it.

2: Becoming a subscriber means you say goodbye to the “where’s my CD?” blues. Along with your monthly magazine comes a 15-track CD, a combination of old favourites and fresh starters, all pressed on to a handy carbon-fibre diskette. In a year it mounts up to 180 tracks. And subscribers get their copy in a superior luxury double wallet.

3: You save time, trouble and money. If you take advantage of this special deal you get 12 issues plus 12 CDs for just £42, which is just £3.50 an issue – a saving of nearly £16 a year. It would take a financial dunderhead not to have our arm off.

4: You get to listen to the podcast. As a critic recently pointed out, it shouldn’t work but it does. It’s usually three of the magazine’s more voluble contributors sitting in a tiny overheated room mouthing off about whatever topics have caught their attention. As the accompaniment to dog-walking, commuting or those long sleepless nights in the spare room, it can’t be bettered.

5: You get to use the website. In the whole of the worldwide web there is no community more active, amusing, informed and civil as the one that gathers at all hours of the day and night on the Word website. As one happy member of the Massive said recently, “Your imagination and lunacy never ceases to amuse, enlighten and entertain me.”

6: You get the weekly email newsletter. Every Thursday we send out a bunch of carefully chosen topical links that should provide ten minutes’ relief in the middle of a busy afternoon. “You are consistently the most interesting email I get all week,” commented one lost soul. “Even more so than the Nigerian ones.”

7: Attentive readers will at this point be thrusting their arms into the air, saying “sir! sir! sir!” in their eagerness to point out that it’s possible to access those last three benefits without being a paid-up subscriber in good standing. This is true. But what kind of lowdown, unsocial heel would do that?

8: You get the “e-dition” of the magazine. Every month we email all our subscribers with a digital version of the new issue that they can view at their convenience. In addition it’s fully searchable, giving you instant access to subjects and people of particular interest.

9: You get priority on booking tickets for any Word events, such as our upcoming Word In Your Ear social.

10: You get a free copy of The Courage Of Others, the acclaimed new album from Midlake. “These are songs built to last and to live with,” said James Medd, reviewing their third record in these pages, while Andy Gill confessed that he’d been unable to play anything else for a month.

A copy of it can be yours for free if you order a subscription right now. Do it straight away. Pick up the phone, call +44 (0)1795 592 853 and quote APR10 to order, or click the klink 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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