A Letter from Eric Francis Paris, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2005 Dear Friend and Reader: HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED that when you go to a restaurant, dessert costs extra, and usually it's not so cheap? In France, they've figured out it's customary to have coffee after dinner, so you might as well charge 4 euros ($5) a cup. After all, people are going to buy it anyway. We have a different way of doing business -- friendly, and generous. More like having dinner at your grandmother's house. You know, fresh food, home-baked pie and a lot of really good coffee. Planet Waves started (depending on when you start counting) in late 1998 as a free, independent Internet site offering our strange-but-true mix of news and astrology. The project developed to an impressive degree quickly. By 1999, less than one year later, a typical, free feature looked like this: http://www.planetwaves.net/river.html     or like this... http://www.planetwaves.net/burning_flashpoints.html ...and the weekly horoscope was free as well. From the beginning, the idea at the heart of our work has been "The personal is political," but we've made both a way of life: never looking away from what's happening on the planet, and always remembering that people are individuals with the desire to grow and to be whole. In terms of publishing, we do things a little differently now, mainly so that I can get paid as a writer, support the staff that it takes to manage and produce Planet Waves, and cover the Web site's small but solid bills. But not a lot differently. I still write generous, impassioned, long feature articles. There are two monthly horoscopes available to everyone. Most of the Web page is still available to everyone. But we also offer a premium service called Planet Waves Weekly that supports the whole project -- including the free side of the site, the Q/A on the Jonathan Cainer site (both of which you get in any case) -- and the weekly horoscope, essay and birthday report that are sent directly to subscribers. Meanwhile, we don't block your access to things we dangle in front of your face. We don't lock away our previously free archives so you can't go back and read old stuff, or do research. We don't delay our best new articles and make you read them when they're old. We don't harass you with dumb-ass blinking ads telling you to check for system errors by clicking here. In fact, we have NO pay ads at all. None, as in not a single one. You're invited here around the clock to chill out and get a different perspective on life. We keep the environment mellow, honest and clear-headed. There's always plenty of interesting stuff to look at, too. The way we can do this in such a competitive business environment (besides quite a bit of labor of love) is because some people who visit Planet Waves subscribe to our weekly service. For many of you, it makes sense -- you've been showing up for years, we work at developing the site for you every single day, and now you have an opportunity to give a little something back. Or you just discovered the project and want to get involved, and see what we have to offer. Others want instant access to the weekly horoscope (not available anywhere else online, not searchable in Google and available free only if you know another subscriber). And there are other benefits for subscribers, including three years of weekly horoscopes and birthday reports, many essays and articles that have never appeared on the free side of the site, special search facilities, and lots of other bits and bobs. The reality is, even if you don't subscribe, there is tons of NEW stuff on Planet Waves that you don't have to pay for. But our sales philosophy is that if you like what we do, we figure you're probably going to sign up sooner or later. So how about sooner? Or, if you've been pondering it for a couple of years, how about later, as in today? Subscriptions are affordable -- as low as $8.95 a month using Paypal, or $1 a week if you subscribe for a year. If you live in Canada or Australia, you can get a discount. And we do something really weird -- we don't discriminate if you don't have money. Blame it on all my Pisces and Aquarius planets. Blame it on my being a raging idealist. Maybe I'm really good at marketing and I know that people who get complimentary subscriptions are going to figure out another way to help out. But if you actually can't afford Planet Waves, just ask for a comp. Please click around our subscribe links and sign up. You'll love the weekly service -- it's edgy and exciting, and it's the only place to get the weekly horoscope. And it'll be a big help to us, even if you only subscribe once. The thing is, you probably won't -- our renewal rate is way above the industry standard. But then, so is Planet Waves. To visit our subscriber area, please check the link below. And thanks for subscribing. Let's surprise Chelsea, our subscriptions manager, with a whole bunch of new orders when she comes into work Monday morning. http://planetwavesweekly.com/ or go directly to the sales area at: http://planetwavesweekly.com/sales/home.html Thanks...it's good to be with you. Yours truly, ERIC FRANCIS P.S. If you sign up Sunday for a full year, we'll give a six-month gift subscription to a friend. Just send us an email after you complete the sales process -- send it to chelsea@planetwaves.net.