FAQs
Subscriptions
Subscribers will receive their copies of Descent directly from the printers on or around the publication date. The publication date is usually the first week of every second month - February, April, June, August, October and December. Occasionally, other commitments such as the editorial team being off on a caving expedition will mean publication may be slightly later.
Yes, if you have paid by card there is no need to worry about your subscription coming to an end, as it will renew automatically. We will always try our best to send you a reminder before any renewal, so you can cancel if you wish to. So do let us know if your contact details change!
You can also cancel your subscription at any time on your account (https://www.descentmagazine.co.uk/my-account/).
The first issue sent as part of your subscription will be the next one to be published. If you would like to buy issues that have already been published, these can be bought via the Shop section of this website.
At checkout, you have the option to choose a delivery address that is different from your billing address. This works for individual items as well as subscriptions.
Please let us know when you change address, otherwise whoever moves into your house will receive your copies of Descent. You can do so via the My account page or by sending us a message.
Please let us know if your subscription is active and you then move to a different country. This is likely to affect the cost, or mean we can’t send as many copies. Contact us and we’ll work something out.
Deliveries
Yes, we do, and postage will be calculated at checkout. Please note that since July 2021 the EU has required that any items, including books and magazines, brought into the EU will be taxed at the country's VAT rate. By ordering any items from us, you are accepting that any taxes or handling fees required by your country will be your responsibility. You will be required to pay any import charges on delivery and accept this condition when you place your order.
All prices advertised on the website are inclusive of delivery charges within the UK. Delivery outside the UK will of course cost a bit more, and this is calculated at checkout.
We always aim to deliver items as swiftly as possible, but please bear in mind that we are a small business not particularly close to a post office - and we are quite fond of going on caving expeditions from time to time. Although orders will usually be received much sooner than this, we would say allow 25 days for delivery. If you need something urgently and a delay would be unacceptable, please contact us first to check that we will be able to meet your requirements. We will always do our best to help.
Yes, just enter a different delivery address in the order notes at checkout.
Environment
Yes. Just like its predecessors, Stalactite Publishing is committed to reducing its environmental impact.
The energy supplier for the Stalactite office uses 100% renewable electricity and we will reuse and recycle packaging material whenever possible. We are also using a green web hosting for this website.
Our printers, Kendal-based MTP Media, uses vegetable oil-based inks and generates up to 70% of our electricity usage through solar power. In addition, Descent is printed on certified, carbon-balanced paper from sustainable sources. This supports the work of the World Land Trust, an international conservation charity that protects the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats.
Website
Descent is now published by Stalactite Publishing. Wild Places still operates as a publishing company, with its own website, but no longer publishes Descent.
You can fill in the box in the bottom right-hand corner of our homepage to sign up to our newsletter. Every now and then, we will send out a newsletter via email. We certainly won’t bombard you with messages and we will never pass on your personal details to anyone else. If you want to receive the newsletter, please fill in the box on the homepage; because of GDPR, we were unable to pass this list across from Wild Places.
Advertising
Descent is read by cavers throughout the world, and an advert in this publication is guaranteed to be seen far and wide. Please email advertising@descentmagazine.co.uk to find out more.
Others
There seem to be occasional problems with certain email addresses, especially Hotmail. If you think your email might not have gone through, there are several alternative ways to contact us:
- You can fill out the “contact us” form, found in the drop-down menu on the website.
- If sending files, try using an online file transfer service, such as https://wetransfer.com/
- You could use our alternative email address - stalactitepublishing@gmail.com
- If all else fails, you could try contacting one of the local correspondents - whose contact details are given on the Guidelines for Contributors page - and they will pass the message on to us.
We are not a fan of AI, especially Generative Artificial Intelligence. Not only because of its environmental implications, but also because we support the rights of artists to produce work. We are taking as many measures as we can to discourage AI crawlers from gathering content from our website and social media and we will not accept any contributions that we believe have been put together through the use of Artificial Intelligence. You can read more about our guidelines for contributors here.