In the past, software was only updated every 15-24 months, at which point you bought a whole new book. Now, with subscription software, Lightroom’s being updated every 2-3 months. This means that traditionally published books are out of date within 2-3 months of publication.
To make sure that you always have the latest information, we publish updates in the Premium Members Area. As a Classic or Cloud Premium Member, you get access to the constantly updated Classic or Cloud eBooks (depending on which membership), as well as exclusive discounts and access to email Victoria & Paul if you can’t find the answer in the book. We’re currently working on a website update to be able to offer more exclusive content, too.
There are multiple Premium Memberships, each tied to a book. That way you can just select the Lightroom version you use (or both, if you have a foot in both camps). So…
- LR Cloud Premium Membership gets you access to updates to Adobe Lightroom – Edit on the Go (and all cloud-related information).
- LR Classic Premium Membership gets you access to updates to Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ book (and all Classic-related information).
For some years, we’ve given away a period of free Premium Membership with a book’s purchase, as mentioned just before the index in each book and on the purchase pages.
In years past, the Premium Membership expired when the next LR version came out. Then, you extended your membership by buying the latest book. That never seemed quite fair because someone could buy a book only a couple of months before a new Lightroom version came out, so they’d only get the benefits for a couple of months.
So when Adobe moved to subscription, we decided to simplify it and tie the complimentary Premium Membership to the date of purchase rather than the date of publication. So, with the Classic FAQ and Edit on the Go books, we include a year’s Premium Membership access free of charge when you purchase a book. After, you can choose to extend it at a much lower cost than buying a whole new book.
Unlike a traditional subscription, it doesn’t automatically renew, so you’re in control, just like you were when you bought the latest book. If you extend your Membership before it expires, you pay a lower renewal rate (about 33% off!) than if you wait until it’s expired. You don’t need to wait until the last minute, as the year’s extension is added to your current expiry date. The renewal purchase buttons are shown on the Memberships page.
If you decide not to renew at this time, you still keep the books you purchased and the eBooks you’ve downloaded. You just revert to Free Membership, so you lose out on the Premium benefits, like being able to download the updated ebooks and email Victoria & Paul for help.
Feel free to ask if anything’s not clear.
