Another Woodworking magazine goes bye

[James Baker SD]

I am far from being a craftsman, just a so-so hobbyist who enjoys his time in the shop. I long ago let all my subscriptions expire as there was just no content that justified the costs and the storage space. No techniques (or way too few) that I had not heard of (even if I haven't mastered them) and no striking designs to compare with what I will see next week when I volunteer at the Design in Wood exhibit at the San Diego County Fair. I also like holding a paper copy, but now it is only my astronomy magazines which still offer me something.

[Curt Harms]

I wonder if the magazine format as we know if will evolve. Online delivery in a format that is not too easily pirated and periodic archives as a DVD, flash drive or .pdf compilation? FWW and Wood already offer digital archives. Want a paper copy of a plan to take to the shop? Press the 'print' button. I wonder what % of a magazine's costs are printing and distribution? Those costs would be dramatically reduced with electronic distribution. Another benefit to electronic distribution over paper? Video.

[Brian Tymchak]

... I wonder what % of a magazine's costs are printing and distribution? Those costs would be dramatically reduced with electronic distribution. Another benefit to electronic distribution over paper? Video.

When eBooks/ereaders were first becoming popular and again when tablets first hit mainstream I looked at costs of getting my wood mags online instead of print. Even though the electronic distribution has to be way less expensive (in materials, postage, and labor) than printing and mailing, I did not see much in the way of price breaks to the end consumer. In fact, some of the magazines were more expensive online than what I could get for a print subscription. Also, the first tablets were small and I felt did not lend to a easy reading experience. Time has passed though and I know tablets are larger and I'm on the cusp of pulling the trigger there. But I wonder if the cost savings of electronic distribution has been passed on to the consumer yet. I'll have to check that again.

[Matt Meiser]

Some e-magazines are cheap, others are the same price as their print versions. The same is true of e-books. I suppose it goes to whether the publisher's mentality is that you are paying for the content or the item.

[Tai Fu]

I think the publisher's mentality is that you are paying for the content, not the printing cost. I would probably argue (correct me if I am wrong), printing cost is probably about 10% of the retail price of the books.

When E book was becoming popular publishers were also offering textbooks in E book as well. Problem is it used to be you could buy used textbook and save, and when the class was over you could sell that book back and the cost to you would be a little lower. You can't do that with E books.

[Myk Rian]

I haven't seen anything in it yet that makes me want to renew, and their insistence on allowing their mailing list to end up in the hands of junk peddlers, I won't be renewing.

That's why I never renewed. The mag is nothing but ads.
PWW is a good magazine. Has real projects in it.

[Kevin Womer]

Newspapers will never be the same again with the invent of the internet and 24 hour news channels. Tablets have begun to replace textbooks in schools. It's no surprise many magazines will stop publishing just as many newspapers have been bought out or gone away altogether. It's just a sign of the times, but I am still saddened another woodworking magazine has gone down. AWW was the first magazine I happened to pick up and then subscribe to shortly after that.

[Don Selke]

What will happen to all the people that subscribed to the sketchup series or tetorials from Joe Zen? Good luck on trying to get a refund.

[lowell holmes]

The subject matter magazines put in their publication does matter. I only saw 2 or 3 issues of AWW, but was not interested in what I saw. I recently accepted a promotion that Woodworker's Journal has going.

I have all of the Woodworker's Journals for the years of 1984 and 1985. If the subject matter doesn't measure up to their past, I will be disappointed. I don't expect much.

[Jason White]

Sorry, but you lost me halfway through this...

More likely, F+W Media just decided they didn't need 2 different woodworking titles (American Woodworker & Popular Woodworking).

Don't know anything about AW, but to take a slightly controversial position. The mags thrived in times when there was much less disposable income about, and at relatively speaking much higher prices too. My feeling is that the mag trade (across the board - not just in woodworking) has while facing indirect competition in the form of the various digital formats largely eaten its own seed corn. As in the era of corporatism (since the late 80s), accounting led management and maximisation of short term profit (and to hell with even the medium term) has led to most becoming paid for infomercials claiming to represent reader interests - but in practice often demonstrating scary levels of allegiance to their advertisers.

My sense is that many (given the worryingly high levels of overselling that have become pretty much the norm in respect of woodworking tools and equipment) have been put off by the feeling that they were paying to buy advertising. Perhaps not immediately, and perhaps not even consciously - but once money starts to tighten people start to think it through and the proposition risks being found wanting.

Think that over reliance on an older and now fading generation of writers/failure to develop new people/the opportunist presumption that there's an inexhaustible line of Joes out there clamouring for the honour to write on piece rates has increasingly led to problems with contributor and content quality too. Production values (pretty photos, sound bite writing for those of short attention span) may divert the attention for a while, but are no subtitute for this. Even very good woodworkers (smart guys) need developing - they need time and support to develop their writing. They have to be invested in while this is happening...

There's other issues too - for example testing per se is problematical in the current legal and resource environment. There's surely no reason not to report user experience though. Then there's the little matter of the role of the mags in to quite some degree leading/encouraging/enthusing their woodworking public. When did anybody last see a flow of pieces showing how woodworking skills can be used to practically improve our quality of life/standard of living for example? When for that matter even a piece that was genuinely creative/out of the ordinary - that didn't just grind out yet another in the hackneyed old format that has become the norm? Accountants are highly risk averse - look what's been done to the music industry - but this behaviour destroys what they think they are saving. True strength lies in diversity, while overdoing the efficiencies/taking out too much profit leaves an organisation so stripped of resources that it's unable to react to changes in its business environment...

None of this is to say that there's a business strategy that can guarantee the survival of woodworking print media, but it seems pretty much a basic that it's got to deliver something of genuine value to the reader/subscriber that digital media does not. That this can't be expected to spontaneously materialise - that it needs investment in development of product that truly delivers value. The pity is that as sales and margins decline the argument for cutting costs/not investing become hard to oppose. Those pushing it despite having potentially brought the situation about end up seeming to be right in the end. Nobody sees what might have been. Beyond a certain point there's no easy coming back........

[ian maybury]

No doubt they did Jason, but the background in the broader woodworking and other mag markets is surely fundamental? Hence my writing about trends in these, and in the advertising of machines, tools and equipment as a whole. (not about AW) To summarise:

It's not a given that there has to be an ongoing role for print media, and it's customary to rationalise the web and electronic media as the cause of any decline - but my feeling is that there is still a very good market out there. Trouble is that accessing it requires that the quality of writing/content makes a mag worth subscribing to/buying regularly. (offers value to the buyer/subscriber - targets and satisfies their real needs)

When (as has become widespread since the corporatisation of publishing from the late 80s) the drive to maximise advertising revenues and cut cost/maximise profit leads to important (and often unspoken) subscriber needs being left unaddressed and domination of even the creative content by advertisers and formulaic writing then only one outcome is possible. Loss of reader trust/loyalty has to be a major factor in the scenario.

This isn't to suggest that mags must survive without running advertising, but there's a line which has been crossed. It's a pity, but it seems likely that once any publisher heads off down that road that significant change has got to become very difficult...