Pay-per-click

[Klesta]

By now it would seem that Yula is really just that: a business owner. Sure, she didn't like business trips much, but the more she ran this newspaper, the more she learned about what other Sith did wrong. A few of the other Darths didn't quite realize that tedium can be just as painful and nerve-wracking to people as other traditional methods used to train Sith, and even high-G training as used in training attack craft pilots is typically overlooked. Especially those with less combat-oriented aspirations. She mostly fights the Sith Order, despite being a dark-sider herself. The Commonwealth allowed the Sith Inquisitor to set up shop on Alexandria, especially since the newspaper was one of the most reliable sources of Sith-related news available to them, at least to their eyes. Too often they found the First Order State Media to be unsatisfactory on Sith matters, and many newspapers across the galaxy seemed to be pretty questionable when it came to FU news, but that's perhaps many parties have biases. Portraying the Sith Order as idiots who lived for butchery and explosions? That was the recipe for success in Commonwealth space, especially when she herself was one of the heroes of the defense of Alexandria.

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ATTN: [member="Kami Meran"]

It has come to my attention that your advertising needs could use new market segments. With the Sith Inquisitor, you can get a new advertising venue, which is a newspaper that reaches markets not traditionally pursued by Mandalorian media. More details to be discussed in due course. Please let me know what works for you: in-person or over the Holonet.

Yula Knezevic
Owner, Sith Inquisitor newspaper

---------------------------------

 

[Kami Meran]

Kami looked prt plexed. easn't this the woman the one she had met on that mining expedition?
still advertising never hurt did it?

attn [member="Yula Knezevic"]
Meeting will be set up on Lok. i hope to meet you and hope this will be mutually beneficial.
i prefer face to face meetings give us a chance to bounce ideas.

Kami looked at the message. damm she hated not having ideas. she was better at building than writing.

 

[Klesta]

Sith can be perplexing at times: some of the greats in Sith history were effective because they made other parties confused and had to either pick fights, knowing that they cannot win all of them, or force their enemies to devote far more resources to fighting them on multiple fronts. In essence these Sith were overstretching their enemies' resources especially if said enemies need to fight multiple Sith Lords. Certainly she made [member="Kami Meran"] all the more perplex, having met with her on two different occasions: the first one was because of some mining operation, where her complete lack of knowledge of mining operations and engineering was made obvious, and the second was for another thing that entirely. The design of a heavy walker capable of being used as a slow, lumbering mobile fortress and headquarters, whereby she wanted weapons capable of engaging a variety of enemies simultaneously: infantry, armored vehicles, aircraft. And especially armies with large contingents of Force-users (especially Sith). With that said, she is en route to the Meran Mechanics lot on Lok.

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ATTN: [member="Kami Meran"]

I will meet you at the Meran Mechanics lot on Lok then.

Yula Knezevic
Owner, Sith Inquisitor newspaper

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[Kami Meran]

Lok

Lok was to be honest a nice planet. Economic problems aside it was warm fairly dry and sunny.
Kami sat on a Bench in the lot of the Prefab store.
its Parasol keeping the Sun off her Drink. id didn't hurt to have security.
she';d arrived a few hours early and inspected the camp and made sure it waas up to scratch before [member="Yula Knezevic"] arrived.
she'd meet her out side then take her in side to the meeting room.

 

[Klesta]

Lok was a nice planet, so long as one liked semi-arid worlds and that the volcanoes didn't erupt. Yula was workable as a pilot, both when it came to these light freighters they called Neimoidian Yachts and these new attack craft that she took part in their early testing stages for the two-seater version. So long as the weather isn't too harsh (and she knew that high-altitude weather can be harsh even though the surface weather could be just fine, based on that training flight on Ziost) or tried anything fancy, she would not suffer from any undue airsickness or spacesickness. Then again, to Sith, the most valuable part of piloting training to a Sith acolyte was aerobatics training and its high-G requirement. And so [member="Kami Meran"] would be waiting for her just outside where she landed, around where the Meran Mechanics lot is situated. Once she walked out of the company's Neimodian Yacht, she arrives face-to-face with Kami, as their meeting is about to begin:

"So we meet again, Kami: I trust you wanted to talk about the free advertising"

 

[Kami Meran]

[member="Yula Knezevic"]
Kami stood up offering a hand. " Welcome to Lok a den of scum and villainy. pretty cool customers the guys need jobs here. " she saif offering a seat and drinks.
" You use those "items" we recovered? " she asked drinking her tea.
" So do you want a tour or to get down to business? " she asked.

 

[Klesta]

"I'd rather get down to business"

The question to be resolved is: how many copies of the Sith Inquisitor do they intend to stock each week? While free advertising is included with any bulk order of newspaper on all copies of the Sith Inquisitor, how many free column inches an advertizer gets depends on the size of the order. However, it is clear that their ad will run so long as the advertizer will receive their bulk order of copies. It is estimated that 1,000 copies weekly can net, under nornal circumstances, 1 free column inch for the duration of the contract. The hardcopy version of the Sith Inquisitor is roughly five columns wide, for a possibility of 16 inches of advertising space on each. and hence 80 column inches total per page. Sometimes a customer can afford to request less column inches in exchange for a more favorable location. But she was not called on regularly to address issues. Better get this done now, before the publication goes into semiweekly publication, she thought, before turning to [member="Kami Meran"]:

"Before I continue with exactly how much free publicity you will get, how many copies do you think you can sell per week?"

 

[Kami Meran]

Kami smiled looking over to [member="Yula Knezevic"].
" fine. honestly im not bothered about advertising. the shop acts as a general store say 100+ a day? that sound about right? " kani answered thinking. the shop hads quickly become a local gathering spot. its staf and security keeping local bandits at bay plus the offers of food and work. so the news papers would sell pretty well.
" Yeah a little over 100."

 

[Klesta]

"That seems reasonable"

A hundred daily? That was worth the price of one column inch if we were to expand publication frequency to daily, she thought, even though making the Sith Inquisitor a daily newspaper would likely mean that there would be less room for the gossip part of the newspaper, and probably more for the substantial part of the news. Oh, sure, that means less space devoted to Sith-specific news, too, but there is one thing that the Sith Inquisitor will always do: depict any Sith faction as a gang of dark-side-using idiots for whom their every move is just an excuse for butchery and explosions. That alone is probably the one thing that will hold the Sith Inquisitor back from ever becoming anything remotely resembling a newspaper of record. Then again, the Je Suis Sth Inquisitor special edition propelled the newspaper to a position where expanding their publication frequency would be realistic. [member="Kami Meran"] would probably be aware of the circulation of the Sith Inquisitor, and where it would reach...

"With free publicity, circulated galaxy-wide, that ought to get Meran Mechanics extra business so long as the ads are run. However, these free ads will run only as long as you sell these newspapers. How long are you planning to sell these newspapers for? As a special for you as a first-time customer, you will get one free column inch's worth of free publicity"

 

[Kami Meran]

[member="Yula Knezevic"]
Kami thought to her self. it was a obvious question.
Relay the advertisements were almost irreverent to kami. still the contrace was still a contract.
" Well how long do you intend to be in print?" she jokingly answered " you keep printing we will keep selling."

 

[Klesta]

"We plan to remain in print for the long run"

Yula whips out a contract for [member="Kami Meran"] to sign on a special datapad allowing printing, whereby all she has to do is to enter the terms of the contract in which the Sith Inquisitor agrees to sell newspapers in bulk to Meran Mechanics on Lok, with a 1,500-credit payment due weekly. Indefinite duration might be a little tricky, so, in practice, it will last until the first of the two corporations goes under, or one party decided on the termination: in that case, the termination fee for Meran Mechanics would be roughly three months of advertising for one column inch. Modifying the contract would require renegotiating the terms (but that would be mostly about a change in the number of copies sold daily and potentially an increase in the advertising allowance) with three days notice. Once the contract document is printed, she places the document on a nearby table and hands over a pen to Kami when the document is ready.

 

[Kami Meran]

" You know i mave 5 of these? " she said signing the contract. " that'll be 500. so we can set up some print out and maybe a booth of some sort."
she suggested switching in to her preferred topic that being tech.
[member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Klesta]

"That seems to suggest that there are more locations than just Lok. Just a little bit of patience"

Upon reviewing what information she had at their disposal for Meran Mechanics' operations, she decided to draft one copy apiece for Coruscant, Concord Dawn, Mygeeto... and that would mean that Coruscant would get 200 because it seems to be the most crowded of the gang. Also, that would mean two column inches of free advertising rather than one, and the second column inch of free advertising would be attached to the Coruscant location. Sure, Yula wasn't a graphical artist by any stretch, so [member="Kami Meran"] would probably have to provide photo samples of their greatest products before the ads go live, and build the ad with the best picture(s) of them. That's what Yula would do, if she was a graphical artist. Kami wanted to talk about technology afterward, and that was legitimate. Nevertheless, the other three contracts, one for each location, were presented in front of the Mando teenager, so that the business could be finalized...

"I'm glad we could get along on everything that concerns the sale and distribution of newspapers"