Welcome to our new website – and welcome to the Overland Subscriberthon 2009.Between now and 8 December, we’ll be calling on anyone and everyone in the orbit of Overland to make a small contribution to the journal’s ongoing health.

In this era of digital databases, most people can, with a little ingenuity, access most publications pretty freely. In other words, even if we wanted to, we can’t force anyone to subscribe. In any case, we think the articles published in Overland deserve the widest possible circulation, which is why we make them all available online.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t need your support. Overland receives some arts funding but it has always depended upon the political, aesthetic and financial resources of the community from which it comes. And that’s more true now than ever.

We’ve labelled this week ‘Subscriberthon’ because we’re explicitly copying a model from public radio. You can’t listen to a community radio station without paying a cent. But most of us recognise that, if you want your favourite show to remain on air, you need to bring out your wallet at least once a year. With Overland, it’s that time now.

Throughout this week, we’re advertising various prizes for everyone who subscribes. We’ll also be highlighting some guest bloggers even as we invite all our regular stalwarts to post some special material. As you can see, we’re operating with a flashy new site that’s just gone live this morning, so it’s possible that it could be something of a bumpy ride while we exterminate a few gremlins.

We know the site has a loyal readership. If you are someone who comes here regularly but hasn’t taken out a sub, well, you know what to do.