PSA: The 2013 Membership Drive is Almost Over

This is the last call for everyone to get in on the 2013 Membership Drive Giveaway. There are only a few hours left on the clock, so sign up as a subscribing member now if you want to put your name in the hat for the chance to win a nice prize.

UPDATE: Time's up! The membership drive is now over. Thank you so much to everyone who came on board to support this site. You've all helped me get one step closer to my dream, and I can't thank you enough.

The prize drawing will be held sometime in the next couple days, so if you signed up before or during the drive, keep an eye on your inbox this week to see if you're a winner.

Membership Drive Giveaway 2013

Welcome to the first annual Unretrofied membership drive and giveaway! I'm beyond excited to get the chance to make this site a full-time gig, but a bit nervous at the same time. The only way I can make this happen is with your help, and I figured I'd sweeten the deal a little for you by putting on a membership giveaway.

The Giveaway

From now until 11:59pm CDT on Sunday, October 20th 2013, anyone who signs up to become a subscribing member of this site will be automatically entered into a drawing. All previously-subscribed members are also eligible.

Thanks to the generosity of several of my friends and favorite companies, I've been able to put together a very nice lineup of cool stuff you could potentially win.

Why Subscribe?

I'm not thinking of the membership as a monthly donation (although you're free to look at it that way, if you wish). I want to provide some extra content and benefits to membership subscribers:

• Unretrofied Connect - A quarterly email publication that features exclusive/bonus content not found here on the blog. I'm still experimenting with the content and format, but I've got some really exciting ideas in the pipeline.
• Automatic discounts on any stuff I may sell in the future, like t-shirts, ebooks, etc.
• Automatic access to drawings and giveaways.
• I've got ideas for other perks down the line. Maybe a daily podcast, à la Shawn Blanc?

The Prizes

Note: the prices in parentheses are merely the dollar values for each individual item, not something you have to pay as a winner.

In no particular order:

• Studio Neat: One Glif+ kit ($30) and one Cosmonaut ($25)

• Delight is in the Details: 5 copies of Shawn Blanc's audiobook bundle ($29)

• Drafts for iPhone ($3) and iPad ($4): 2 copies each

• Learning to Love Evernote ($5) and Learning to Love Photo Management ($3) by Bradley Chambers: 3 copies each

• The Sketchnote Handbook: One signed copy of Mike Rohde's excellent guide to sketchnotes ($26)

• Two 20×30 prints from photographer Jorge Quinteros (each winner picks the single print they want — $25)

• Hueless and Huemore for iOS: 10 copies each ($3) — I wrote about Hueless last summer, and it's still my favorite monochrome photograpy app.

• Evernote Essentials: 3 copies of Brett Kelly's definitive guide to Evernote ($29)

• Day One for iOS ($5) and Mac ($10) — 10 copies each

• Ugmonk: one t-shirt of any size ($26)

• Marked: 5 copies of Brett Terpstra's Markdown preview app for Mac ($4)

• Quotebook: 5 copies of the quote repository app for iOS that I reviewed not long ago and still use daily ($3)

• Reeder 2: 10 copies of the best RSS reader for iOS ($5)

• Flexibits: one copy of Fantastical for Mac ($20) and one copy of Chatology for Mac ($20)

• United Pixelworkers: 3 t-shirts (winner picks any single shirt in stock — $28)

• David Sparks' Field Guides: one PDF copy of Paperless ($10) and one PDF copy of Markdown ($10)

• Byword for iOS ($5) and Mac ($10): 3 copies each

• PDFPen for iPhone ($5) and for iPad ($15): 2 copies each

• One Aeropress coffee maker

• Check the Weather: 10 copies of "underscore" David Smith's weather app for iOS ($1)

• Twitterrific 5: 3 copies of the beautiful iOS Twitter client ($3)

Combined, this comes out to be 112 items with a total value of about $950.

How to Win & Other Rules

Anyone who signs up for a membership before 11:59 pm CST on Sunday, October 20 will automatically be entered into the drawing.

If you are already a member with an active membership, you are eligible to win.

You do not have to live in the United States to win — international members are most welcome and most eligible.

The drive ends at 11:59 pm CST on October 20th 2013, and the drawing will be held sometime the following week. It will be random and I will contact the winners via email.

This probably goes without saying, but not everyone who signs up will necessarily be a winner. Please don't send me an angry email if your name isn't drawn. It's a completely random process and I have no control over it.

UPDATE: Several non-US readers have inquired about the zip-code field on the membership payment form. I've tried to contact Helium about this and haven't heard back yet, BUT a couple readers have had success using '00000' for the zip, or even adding a zero at the end for an Australian postal code. If you have any issues, please let me know.

Prize Requests

If there is a certain prize in particular that you’d like to win over another, please make a note of it when you fill out the mailing-list entry form at the end of the subscription process — if you have no preference, then ignore this step and I will pick an item at random for you.

(Also: if you're one of the few existing members who signed up before today and didn't know what was going to be in the drawing, get in touch and I will add your request to the list.)

I can't guarantee that each winner will get the exact thing they want, but I will do my best. If I may say so though, every item on this list is pretty awesome so hopefully you won't be disappointed no matter what happens :)

Thank You

A big thanks goes out to all the people who were generous enough to donate these prizes. Whether or not you win a prize, these are all people whose businesses you should be supporting. Check out their stuff and buy it if you can.

And of course, a huge thanks goes out to any and all of the readers who have stuck with me so far, especially those who have found it in their hearts to help me make my dream come true. It's not hyperbole to say that I couldn't do any of this without you guys, so thank you. I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends.

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So what are you waiting for? If you haven’t yet signed up to become a member, now would be a good time.