Woodworking Magazines - Renewal!

[james bell]

Like many woodworkings, I subscribe to a number of woodworking magazines and lately when getting the renewal notice, I double check their rates.

Yesterday I received a "SPECIAL EARLY-BIRD SAVINGS" touting
"As a special thank-you for being a loyal subscriber, we're treating you to a special renewal bargain ... best rate ever".

So what does my loyalty buy - a two year rate of $37.00. But if I go to their web site, I can sign up (like anybody) for a two year rate of $28.00 and get a free gift thrown in.

I also got a renewal for one of my wife's cooking magazines, and the same - rates for current customer renewals are higher than publicly listed on their web site.

[Jim Rimmer]

I hate it when you start getting these notices and "great deals" 8-9 months before your subscription expires. :eek:

[Larry Komroff]

I have found if you call them up and ask what deals they currently have you will do better than online especially if renewing for multiple years.

[Dan Hintz]

I hate it when you start getting these notices and "great deals" 8-9 months before your subscription expires. :eek:
8-9 months? I signed up for 3 years of Wood (2 years free with purchase of 1) and I started getting those "Your subscription will soon run out" notices within 3-4 months of starting. This is yet one more reason why I will not be renewing my subscription to them.

[Neil Brooks]

8-9 months? I signed up for 3 years of Wood (2 years free with purchase of 1) and I started getting those "Your subscription will soon run out" notices within 3-4 months of starting. This is yet one more reason why I will not be renewing my subscription to them.

I didn't like it, either, but I DO like the magazine.

What I did, and -- if you're so inclined -- you could do:

E-mail their marketing team, and let them know your thoughts:

mark.hagen@meredith.com, jack.christiansen@meredith.com, lisa.greenwood@meredith.com, amanda.salhoot@meredith.com, gdennis@navigate-media.com

[james bell]

Yes, I have emailed them - Wood Magazine doesn't post a phone number on their web site and I have yet to track down an old magazine to check for the number.

After spending 30 years in sales/marketing, it was always a battle to convince the company to treat customers better than prospects!

[Kevin Womer]

I got lucky after a tip on SMC and went to magazinedeals.com and was able to get a year of Fine Woodworking for $17.96 I went back a few days later and they had taken it off. I did however start to get the magazine but have not received any reorder requests, but it's only been a short while...

[David Weaver]

They all do it. Sucker marketing, hope to imply you're getting a great deal, and hope you don't check to see if it's true.

Not quite as blunt as FWW's 6 or 8 letter sequence telling you several ways how you still have a chance to get the magazine at full price, coupled with the comment that your skills are already declining :rolleyes:

Followed by the offer to let someone else sign on for a reduced rate if you pay....full price.:rolleyes:

[Matt Kestenbaum]

While the woodworking publications do seem to be rather aggressive on the pursuit of subscription renewals, at least I have never been insulted by them!

Last month Golf Digest ran a cover story headlined, " Why You Can't Putt." As I've never been invited to tee it up with their editors that seemed a little personal to me. I called a buddy I don't get to too often these days and told him...I know why I can't putt, because I read their magazine and am constantly tinkering with my technique based on their ever changing advice.

Imagine if FWW or Popwood ran a cover headline that said, "why your dovetails are gappy and look shabby."

[Neil Brooks]

Imagine if FWW or Popwood ran a cover headline that said, "why your dovetails are gappy and look like sh%t."

In MY case, at least, there would be some comfort in the fact that they know their audience ;)

[Kevin Womer]

Posted by David Weaver:
Not quite as blunt as FWW's 6 or 8 letter sequence telling you several ways how you still have a chance to get the magazine at full price, coupled with the comment that your skills are already declining :rolleyes:

Followed by the offer to let someone else sign on for a reduced rate if you pay....full price.:rolleyes:

We should consider ourselves lucky to be so well thought of by someone we don't even know.

[Thomas Delpizzo]

I think I'm going to sign up for "Hot Babes and Woodworking" magazine. It's on 1/2 price discount! They send a card about how your "skills" are declining! :D

[Kevin Womer]

They all do it. Sucker marketing, hope to imply you're getting a great deal, and hope you don't check to see if it's true.

Not quite as blunt as FWW's 6 or 8 letter sequence telling you several ways how you still have a chance to get the magazine at full price, coupled with the comment that your skills are already declining :rolleyes:

Followed by the offer to let someone else sign on for a reduced rate if you pay....full price.:rolleyes:

They are clearly the best magazine out there IMHO, and they are the most expensive without a doubt. Their website with the never ending "14 day free trial" is probably the best option for most people instead of the magazine. I wish they would offer some sort of discount for people who subscribe to the magazine and wish to get the wesite subscription as well. I e-mailed them about this, but as usual, it fell on deaf ears as I was replied to that they offer the 14 day free trial. So, I let the subscription run its course until I found a new subscription for under 20 dollars, I'll probably let that run out as well. Don't they realize it is cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new one?

[Chris Kennedy]

While the woodworking publications do seem to be rather aggressive on the pursuit of subscription renewals, at least I have never been insulted by them!

. . . .

Imagine if FWW or Popwood ran a cover headline that said, "why your dovetails are gappy and look shabby."

I don't subscribe to FWW -- the projects don't regularly appeal to me -- but every now and then I buy a copy when something does. A while back -- sometimes in the last year or two I guess -- the final page was a column that they had dug out from their archives about "wood butchers." It was singularly one of the most arrogant things I had ever read, insulting inexperienced, weekend woodworkers. I looked at the next issue, and the letters to the editor about it made me realize that I was not alone about how annoying and insulting I found it.

Admittedly, it wasn't a cover and it won't make me cancel my subscription because I don't subscribe, but it was pretty bad in my opinion.

Cheers,

Chris

[Bruce Wrenn]

Advertising revenue is based on the number of subscribers, plain and simple. More subscribers equils more $$$$$$. That is why they are always looking for new subscribers. Probably 80+% of subscribers renew, so they need to replace the missing 20%, plus add more, so that is why the deals are for new subscribers only. I had a subscription to Work Bench, which is now something else. Thankfully my last issue was my LAST ISSUE!

[Mike Cozad]

I too just signed up for Wood mag for 2 years with one additional free. I got my first renewal notice before I got the second issue....

What I found odd with the magazine is that after a 5 year break, many projects are recycled. If it weren't for the tool and product reviews, I would have considered cancelling it.

[Dan Hintz]

Bruce,

Sure, revenue is based upon # of subscribers (because it brings in more advertisers, which is where the real money is, not the subscriptions themselves). But it still doesn't make complete sense to charge so much for continuing subscribers... yes, you hope to keep current ones hooked, but if your material stinks, you'll lose them. Offering them deals on continuing subscriptions is a good way, and you'll spend a lot less money on advertising if you keep your current base and stop "losing" them to a new subscription over and over again. It's like a tail wagging the dog scenario...

[Josh Rudolph]

I simpley laugh at the renewals anymore. They get thrown in the trash as soon as they arrive. Re-subscribe now and save 20% off of the cover...or sign up as a new customer and save 50% off of the cover. TRANSLATED = We could care less about your loyalty, just want as much money as we can bilk out of you.

With the internet and so many people blogging and getting online, I will be letting all of my subscriptions run out except for Popular Woodworking. They seem to be the only one's really giving a darn any more. They don't know me from the next guy and have reached out to me twice to go above and beyond. One time it was requested, the other time they did it themself. Both times though were done by the senior editor. I missed an issue once, they extended my subscription a year and sent me the missed issue in the mail as an employee had an extra copy.

I have started reading blogs more and more and it is amazing the amount of very good information you get for free!

In regards to the magazines...I used to like them all, because I wanted to learn about everything (I have only been WW a few years). I would now be happy never seeing another article on an adirondack chair.

I have to say my biggest disappointment in magazines has been FWW. I pay a premium for that subscription. So I expect more out of it. It used the be the magazine that had the projects that I aspired to achieve. Now it is chock full of tool reviews and a finishing technique that has been repeated for the umpteenth time. Put your tool reviews in your annual Tool Guide issue...I can then buy that one if I like (I probably won't). For the projects that actually do show up, I feel a large majority of them are attainable by a hack like myself. I had always heard about how great the magazine used to be...so I bought about 30 magazines from about 15-20 years ago IIRC. WOW some of the stuff in there was amazing. I could do this hobby a lifetime and never attain some of those projects. My most favorite issue that they put out is the annual Tools and Shop issue. It hands down has been my favorite issue since I subscribed. This most recent offering was miserable IMHO. Where did the showcase of actual tools made by people go? I want to see real practical shops! I appreciated the guys ingenuity in coming up with a shop on a cart that fit in 25sq.ft., but come on...how many people in their audience are in that situation? Most people who are that space limited, most likely would not take up the craft. Even those interested in getting started with very limited space...how many of them are subscribing to the magazine? Relegate that article to the internet and let it be found that way. Show me someone's really nice setup in their garage or show me someone's setup in their 2,000sq.ft. Taj Mahal of shops. Anyhow...Sorry for the rant...

[Ruhi Arslan]

After spending 30 years in sales/marketing, it was always a battle to convince the company to treat customers better than prospects!

I used to think that the "marketing" departments make the decisions and prepares the material for "marketing" for the company, unless "company" didn't have a marketing department/division. :confused:

I often wonder how many new or renewal subscriptions they get from those annoying inserts stuck in the magazines? Considering each copy of the magazine would have 2-4 cards in them times the number of copies distributed, I would expect thousands and thousands new subscriptions resulting from those. Otherwise, I would expect "company" to fire all "marketing" personnel for wasting money and pollution.

When I subscribe, I put a reminder on my calendar to be reminded three months before expiration, till then I ignore all junk mail and stuff it into the shredder without opening.

[David Weaver]

Don't they realize it is cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new one?

Exactly my point. I dumped the magazine after the first go-around and signed up for the website. I don't know that I'll get $35 worth out of it or whatever it was, but I've already gotten more than the magazine.

I think they are sucking wind and attempting to follow PWW's lead right now, but they don't have a choice, because PWW is appealing to the hobbyist woodworker better. I don't know who has better circulation, but I let my PWW lapse, too. I just don't get enough out of the magazines when there are forums and technique articles posted everywhere.

Say you want to do something like wet sand shellac. All you have to do is go to google and type in wet sand shellac, and there will be results that actually tell you what you can use without clicking on the links. Why bother picking up a magazine for trivial things like that? Not everything is trivial, but for things that aren't, there are other alternatives. Before the web, you bought a reference for stuff like that, or you tried to catalog what FWW articles were in what issue. Total waste of time.

One other side point from taunton's material, which is good, but I think was better 10 years ago - they publish those $40 hardback topic books. I've managed to get about 5 of them for $10 per, just by watching amazon and ebay for used versions for 3 and two of them were new (one of them was $7 new). They are great books, even though they're a combination of book and compilation of past articles, they are good references, far easier than navigating through the magazines, and I don't have to wade through the next test of palm sanders, router bit tests or a review of 14 inch band saws - three things I don't have any intention to buy.

I think they well understand customer relations though from a revenue standpoint. That just doesn't dovetail with making current customers feel valued.

[Callan Campbell]

8-9 months? I signed up for 3 years of Wood (2 years free with purchase of 1) and I started getting those "Your subscription will soon run out" notices within 3-4 months of starting. This is yet one more reason why I will not be renewing my subscription to them. YES!!!!, it's gotten to the point with all of them, "thank you for subscribing, oh, and by the way, your subscription will run out in 2 short years, so please renew at our NEW low rate today to avoid loss of service".:p:p
I think they're in the same boat as the credit card companies that send the bill out 10 days before it's due. Somehow the 30 days till due part has shrunk to less than 2 weeks for several of the companies we deal with. :rolleyes:
Gas card/oil companies are doing the same thing. Soon it will get to the point where I'm "prepaying" the whole year just to stay ahead of the notices in the mail.:mad:

[Gary Curtis]

A few years ago I met a former editor of FWW magazine who was giving a 2-day seminar at Felder machines. I was a foreign correspondent before retiring and I asked him his opinions about the WWing community as a writer/editor.

Off the bat, he told me us woodworkers are a dying breed. Most are like me (approaching 70) and few young people are taking up the craft. And schools no longer teach it. So readership is tanking real bad.

My big gripe with all the magazines is that many techniques and projects DEMAND more than 6 pages of explanation. 6 pages is their limit. As a relative newbie I sense the shortcuts and impatience of many of the authors and presenters. Argggg! And I simply hate it when they employ the word EASY in the title. Inlay marquetry made easy!!! Yeah, right.

Gary Curtis

[ian maybury]

Deleted as duplicate

[ian maybury]

Must say the renewals notices make it over this side of the Atlantic too - they got up my nose so much that I haven't renewed any of my subs in the past six months.

My impression is that there were some scammers in the mix too - some of it was wildly out of sync with my subscription status.

My other major gripe is the dumbing down of articles that's already been mentioned. Although that said if you think the US mags are bad try those out of the UK in recent years....

[eugene thomas]

but just think howmany people that not know how to read the lapel for their renewal date just write out the check for renewal. ya some people still use checks.

[Rick Potter]

I think all mags are hurting because of the internet. I just renewed my Motor Trend, and HOT ROD magazines for $5 a year, with the option of giving unlimited $5 subscriptions away for Christmas gifts. Now that's cheap.

Rick Potter

[Matt Meiser]

Hehehe...Just got the Dec/Jan edition of Wood. Enclosed in the bag was an envelope marked FINAL ALERT...TIME-SENSITIVE MATERIALS ENCLOSED...due by 12/21/10 because my subscription is expiring....IN NOVEMBER 2014! A scant 4 years. Hope I get it done in time.

Funny thing is that I'll probably forget to take it seriously in the fall of 2014 after the 50-100 reminders I'll get in the mean time.

[Chris Padilla]

My daughter gets Highlights. A couple weeks ago both my wife and I received separate renewal notices in the mail for our daughter's subscription. The subscription is under my name but the magazine has my daughter's name printed on it. She gets a kick of that alone. :) This one was appropriate, however as it expires next Feb.

Anyway, the price for renewing for 3 years was cheaper for my wife's notice as a new customer versus mine, as an existing customer. Okay. So I went online and found the online price was in between my price and my wife's price! Now only I have an online account. What I was hoping to do was to find my wife's price online and just order it there easy as pie.

I ended up emailing them and explaining the conundrum. The reply was to apologize, blah, blah, blah and for me to send them what price I wanted and they would simply send me a bill for that price. Naturally, I picked the price my wife was quoted but now I'm thinking I should have asked for a dime or two less!! hahaha Anyway, I have a bill for the price my wife was quoted so I guess I'm good...or my daughter is. :)

[Brett Clark]

Ah, Highlights. My daughter loves the Timbertoes, though they will be in a world of trouble if they ever get near my shop.

[Ruhi Arslan]

Hehehe...Just got the Dec/Jan edition of Wood. Enclosed in the bag was an envelope marked FINAL ALERT...TIME-SENSITIVE MATERIALS ENCLOSED...due by 12/21/10 because my subscription is expiring....IN NOVEMBER 2014! A scant 4 years. Hope I get it done in time.

Mine was well deserved notice; I have only two plus years left.

I renewed my Woodworker's Journal at the end of August by phone. I also confirmed that I will be getting a Router Projects & Techniques booklet (76 pages) as a "renewal gift" in 4-6 weeks. 12 weeks past so I thought I would check on that. They not only have no record of such thing but they do not even had such a gift ever. Since I kept the flier which came with the renewal notice (I had three more issues left), I faxed it to them because they sounded like I was making it up (I say they because I spoke to more than few persons). Someone called me back and said she is going to look into it. :rolleyes:

This is not the first time I didn't receive what I was supposed to get but this time I had my notes all straight with "proof". ;)

[Matt Meiser]

Good lord man! And you are wasting your precious remaining subscription time on an internet forum? :D

LOML thinks I might have left a renewal on the counter so she paid it. More than once apparently!

[Jim Rimmer]

I subscribe to several wood magazines but as they run out, I am not going to renew. I don't need anymore articles on how to prevent router tear out, how to build a crosscut sled, or more plans for 8th grade woodshop class.

There is a lot of info for free on the web (the best is right here at the Creek) and plenty of videos available for free.

[Don Bullock]

They all do it. Sucker marketing, hope to imply you're getting a great deal, and hope you don't check to see if it's true.
...

Very true. Most magazines hire an outside firm to sell subscriptions. Those firms are usually the ones responsible for the renewal "deals" and sending them soon after the subscription starts.:(