PWW Brain Drain

[Daniel Rode]

Robert Lang, Glen Huey and Chuck Bender have all "elected to leave" Popular Woodworking following a restructuring of the parent company.

The realities of the publishing industry are what they are but it seems like they've lost most of what I found interesting in the magazine. In my mind, PWW creative talent has been gutted

[Jim Koepke]

I kind of noticed this with a previous shuffling of the deck about a year ago.

I submitted one article and the communication seemed great.

The next submission, after some structural changes at the magazine, wasn't acknowledged until my second try and then the reply was a bit vague.

The experience left me feeling like it isn't worth the bother. Maybe the current reshuffling of the deck left others feeling the same way.

I have seen similar occurrences in other industries. New management comes in and "upsets the apple cart." Those who have other prospects leave. Pretty soon no one is happy and then some new manager proclaims, "we tried to save it but it was already too far gone." There are a few places where I have seen "new management" come in to extract as much as can be taken from a business with no regard for how long it can be sustained.

Magazine publishing is having a difficult time competing with what the general public sees as "free stuff" on line. Why buy a magazine you have to carry with you when you want something to read on the commute to work or when eating lunch? After all it is right there on your smart phone just by hitting a virtual button.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

I anticipate increased subscription services from writers that want to pen project pieces.

The market is cyclical, with a concentration on basic instruction first and foremost.

There's little in the intermediate tier, where Hacks like me top out - time and talent
conspire from people like me making great furniture. Guidance on making good
furniture is appreciated, and rare.

The business model likely concentrates on selling advertising, and how-to books
published by the parent company.

Established writers can skip the middle man, and offer directly to readers.

If they keep their submissions fresh, this might be good for those that are leaving.

Personally, I think the magazines publish too frequently to keep quality high.
New issues quarterly, with reprints of "How to" and "Best of" articles
would be sufficient to keep the readers engaged.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Publishing anything from local newspapers to magazines is quickly becoming a dying trade due largely to the internet. Today anybody can start a woodworking blog for example and become a rival for a printed woodworking magazine.

To me it's sad and IMO it's not necessarily a good thing.

I prefer a printed document as I can look at the pictures and read the relative information. I prefer our local newspaper over any of the news television channels or internet news medias, as they don't "obsess" on a single story or topic and frankly, again IMO, the local newspaper provides better national coverage. The major television news shows tend to place more emphasis on the major population areas, primarily the east coast and southern California.

New management was probably brought in because the magazine was no longer making a profit. Companies that don't make a profit go out of business. It's not unusual in any business, for long time workers to not like new working conditions when new management takes over a company. I saw it twice in my 34 year career in medical diagnostic imaging equipment. I once was sent to Michigan to work for the better part of two months when every field engineer in the state quit when a large corporation bought our small corporation to prevent it from going bankrupt. 8 years later that corporation sold us to a larger corporation, I saw the repeat performance. Certain individuals quit when or shortly after the FTC approved the buyout.


The publishing business is a tough place to be today because of the new technology that is replacing the need for their products.

[David Weaver]

I think it's a shame. I don't know much about bob lang or glen, but I recall that one of them (glen?) left because he had client work to do and then came back, or something of that sort. And then Chuck moved from Philadelphia, which gave them some bona fide credibility in terms of someone who had literally made a living only doing high level work for quite some time, something that's very rare these days (as in, running a business that sells woodworking product and skill vs. doing a little bit of that and writing about it every time you do it).

I hope wherever Chuck lands, he's not set back too far after uprooting himself from the philly region (presumably where his clients were) and then going to Cincinnati.

Always found Bob Lang to be a real reasonable guy interested in the content, too. Just a shame.

I suppose I'm as guilty as anyone else, though, I've stopped getting magazines except for shooting times (and for some reason that one keeps coming to me despite not paying for it). Not necessarily, though, because the magazines are something I wouldn't buy if I was starting over again, but just because most of the articles that anything would cover don't really ring my bell (you know, you sort of get into your own silo with how you finish pieces, what you do to plane, and general articles don't move the clapper unless they're something in your narrow silo).

[Dave Anderson NH]

In addition what Ken said directly, often when there is a reshuffling, reorganization, or what in reality is a downsizing, folks with prospects leave because they feel insecure and worry whether or not they will have a job when the announced changes take place. I've seen it in other industries after a buyout or when the announcement is made of a buyout being in the final stages of negotiations. As an example, what company needs 2 IT departments or 2 accounting departments? What is happening now in the magazine industry is that corporate consolidations mean that writers and editors with expertise in a single field are now expected to write and/or edit for areas they know nothing about in addition to their area of specialization. Perhaps the more successful model from a strictly financial standpoint is the one Taunton uses for its magazines. Hire editors and use the readers to write the articles for you on a pay per article basis. It reduces the need to deal with payroll taxes, pay employee benefits, and you are never overstaffed. All of the woodworking magazines I know of already have outside contractors do their subscription services, printing, and mailing. The current term in vogue is "outsourcing" and I unfortunately suspect that it is the only way the print magazine industry will survive.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Cut costs by forcing those with substance out.

I've been a subscriber for sometime, absolutely thought the PWW handtool only mag, Woodwork, was great, but alas, it went by the wayside, folded into PWW, which seems to be getting thinner and thinner. When my subscription concludes, unless they pull off a real "rope-a-dope", I'm done.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Concur Tony!! I've already received a renewal notice and email but have done nothing yet. I suspect I will let the subscription lapse. Not necessarily because of just content, but because I've been shedding almost all magazine subscriptions. PWW is the only one I have left. I shed FWW about 5 years ago after they dumbed down the content.

[lowell holmes]

They are featuring Frank Strazza in a webinar. There will be no talent drop off if Frank is becoming involved.

[Bradley Gray]

I started making a living as a wood worker in 1975 and the timing of articles in the early FWW mags amazed me. I remember struggling with building a 3 phase converter and here's a FWW article just when I needed it. At about issue 50 things began to repeat. When router reviews made the cover I gave it up. I realized that this wasn't a personal tutorial it was a business trying to sell advertising and entry level articles suited the advertisers better.

[Jim Matthews]

...it was a business trying to sell advertising and entry level articles suited the advertisers better.

Yep.
I thought PWW was different.

My bad.

[Tony Zaffuto]

What I have seriously found, is that classic woodworking books (as well as many great volumes by recent authors) are available used on Amazon for many times next to nothing (and in any case, less than the subscription cost of most mags). Give me a page-worn book by Charles Hayward any day over where print media is heading.

For all that is now being written, as far as our love of hand tool woodworking, is any of it truly new? I will miss Robert Lang most of all, mainly because of my love of "arts & craft" furniture. Next will be Chuck Bender, and although he was not there long enough to say why, but I connected with how he conveyed his craft. Finally comes Glenn Huey. Glenn presented a great mix of power and hand, and though I have several of his books, my leaning is still more in the hand tool camp.

What it comes down to, will PWW hit the ground running with comparable replacements, or will they expect us subscribers to stick around, supporting them with undue hopes of the mag at least remaining equal to the past half dozen years? I think I will seek out the classics.

[Winton Applegate]

I feel very fortunate to have gotten in on the best of the magazine period. Old issues of FWW (the quarterly and black and white ones) were still in used book stores back then and I enjoyed the heck out of hunting for them.

I have tried the computer versions a little but they leave out old articles that are in the paper magazines (royalties problems partly) and I have file drawers full of articles and clippings from the later mags and I cannot (or won't) easily do that with the online stuff. The on line stuff could be so much more but there doesn't seem to be the money to do that right either.

I have been known to buy two issues of one mag just so I can cut out and file the articles that are really important to me. Biographical and historical as well as projects and how to.

It has been a long time since I saw articles like that in modern paper mags so the heck with them anyway.

Just about everything I see on line I can say the same for.

Give me old FWW and the Woodwork mags any day over what is out there now or the last several years.

On the weekend every couple of months, Q and I used to hit our favorite magazine shop (closed now) and buy thirty to fifty dollars worth of magazines each and head for the coffee shop for the day and camp out reading and sharing.

We tried to support the industry we enjoyed so much. Not anymore. Things have changed so much.
We would do the same if we could get the mags in the quality and topics but they aren't there.

[Mel Fulks]

I'm a big fan of Charles Haywards books too. Each of his books covers so much detail.

[Graham Haydon]

A bit off topic but yes to the books of Charles Hayward. I have four titles that were between £0.01 > £6.00 plus postage.