Another publishing house going under the water

[Simon MacGowen]

All American Crafts, publisher of over a dozen titles, including Woodturning Design and Creative Woodworks, abruptly closed last week, leaving suppliers, authors, employees (?), etc. high and dry.

They are the latest magazine demises after American Woodworker. The publishing industry's future is tough in this digital age. I prefer the hardcopy to the online issue.

Simon

[lowell holmes]

I've been thinking that there has been so much written about so many different aspects of wood working, that the subject matter is getting a little thin.
Without naming the magazines, it is getting to the point that I typically spend about 30 minutes on a new issue.
There is one mag that existed 40 years ago, and the subject matter was much stronger than the magazine being published today under the same name.
I have copies dating back 30 years, and still dig them out to read.

Add this to the digital age, and you have a tough market.

I'm not naming magazines because I don't want to turn this string into rant.

I'm sure the publishers are working really hard to deal with this.

[Andrew Kertesz]

+1 on the hard copy of magazines and other reading material....

[Paul McGaha]

My subscription to American Woodworker was changed to Popular Woodworking (I guess everyone's will be). I got my 1st copy of Popular Woodworking just a few days ago. It does seem to be pretty similar to American Woodworker. It's ok.

When it comes to magazines I prefer a hard copy too. I don't know that magazines and newspapers are going to be with us that much longer.

PHM

[Jerry Thompson]

I have not renewed any WW magazine subscriptions. As mentioned there has been so much written about WW that it is all being repeated. I have enough old hard copies of many magazines that I can refer to for ideas, etc. With my memory it all seems new to me.
This also save a good bit of money.

[Daniel Rode]

This is a general trend, not one specific to woodworking. The way we communicate and the way information is disseminated has completely changed in my lifetime but the most radical changes came in the last 15 years. I have stacks of old woodworking magazines that I never look at anymore. Viewing the content on a PC, tablet or phone is different but I've gotten used to it and don't want to go back to paper magazines.

At the same time, some publications have made the transition to web and e-publishing reasonably well, others poorly. Those that have had poor execution or poor timing, are perhaps doomed. Others may thrive.

Without seeing their books, it appears that Fine Woodworking is doing well. The magazine's high quality content seems intact. They deliver the periodical in paper and electronic formats and the website has an appropriate mix of free and paid content. In fact, I spend a bit more online then I used to pay for a paper mag subscription.

IMO, Popular Woodworking has the potential to succeed online but they have not executed well enough yet. I think they are vulnerable but are the best equipped to compete with FWW. Again, I have no direct knowledge of their financials or even how they are organized.

Regardless of medium or subject, content is king. To succeed online, one must provide regular and compelling content AND monetize this content profitably.

[Simon MacGowen]

My subscription to American Woodworker was changed to Popular Woodworking (I guess everyone's will be). I got my 1st copy of Popular Woodworking just a few days ago. It does seem to be pretty similar to American Woodworker. It's ok.

When it comes to magazines I prefer a hard copy too. I don't know that magazines and newspapers are going to be with us that much longer.

PHM

Paul - Are AW subscribers given an option of refunds?

In the case of AMC, people complained that the magazines kept accepting new subscriptions and renewals even though the owners knew they would not meet their subscription obligations. Also, many have not been paid despite their articles were published a long time ago.

Simon

[David Weaver]

In terms of trends, what will be will be. About all we can do is make sure we're doing a decent job of sharing what we know with each other, and making sure that the information that we're sharing is as accurate as possible.

magazines were the medium for people to read about hobbies post-war when folks started to have leisure time and money, and they've carried pretty strong but the inevitable can't be delayed forever.

[Frederick Skelly]

I've been thinking that there has been so much written about so many different aspects of wood working, that the subject matter is getting a little thin.
Without naming the magazines, it is getting to the point that I typically spend about 30 minutes on a new issue.
There is one mag that existed 40 years ago, and the subject matter was much stronger than the magazine being published today under the same name.
I have copies dating back 30 years, and still dig them out to read.

Add this to the digital age, and you have a tough market.

I'm not naming magazines because I don't want to turn this string into rant.

I'm sure the publishers are working really hard to deal with this.


I think you nailed the core issues/problems Lowell. I also spend less than 30 mins on a new issue. [Edit: The following expands a bit on Davids thought, above:] Maybe another factor is the growth of hobby related websites and blogs - the mags arent (or dont HAVE to be) the way to hear about new techniques, shop tips, etc. Plus, they provide an additional dimension thats harder for mags to do - nearly immediate troubleshooting and assistance like we get here at SMC.

But I too prefer a hardcopy to reading a magazine online - I cant write on it and often the pics are too small to use effectively on my tablet.

Fred

[Zach Dillinger]

It's funny, despite the fact that I try to share information on line, I still prefer a good old fashioned print magazine. And print books. And print newspapers. I really don't like the paradigm which we are shifting towards. I'd like to think the whole e-woodworking thing will run its course soon. I just hope the good magazines (PopWood, FW) will survive in a form that still works for me, my needs, and my interests.

The new print magazine fresh in the mailbox has an excitement factor that a little blue link in an email cannot match.

[Frederick Skelly]

The new print magazine fresh in the mailbox has an excitement factor that a little blue link in an email cannot match.

I hadnt thought of it until you said so, but youre sure right Zach!
Fred

[Dave Anderson NH]

The age of the www has not only changed the way we communicate and the way we view "publishing", but it has greatly accelerated the pace of life. In the pre-computer age we were perfectly satisfied to wait 2-3 weeks for a letter from friends or family, getting something via mail order in 3-6 weeks was normal, and if you wanted to decrease the time it took on anything, you picked up the land line telephone and placed a relatively expensive long distance phone call. Who today would be satisfied with life like that? We now DEMAND instant gratification and complain bitterly when it isn't delivered. We are experiencing only the latest wave of an ocean of communications change crashing on the beach. It started with the telegraph and then continued with the telephone, radio, mobile radio phone, fax machine, and on to the ARPAnet, cell phone, internet, world wide web, and finally the last 10 years of newest devices. It is going to be tricky to just keep up let alone figure out where things will be going in the future. That makes the "publishing" business one which has to place a lot of risky bets on which direction to move to stay alive and profitable.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The age of the www has not only changed the way we communicate and the way we view "publishing", but it has greatly accelerated the pace of life. In the pre-computer age we were perfectly satisfied to wait 2-3 weeks for a letter from friends or family, getting something via mail order in 3-6 weeks was normal, and if you wanted to decrease the time it took on anything, you picked up the land line telephone and placed a relatively expensive long distance phone call. Who today would be satisfied with life like that? We now DEMAND instant gratification and complain bitterly when it isn't delivered. We are experiencing only the latest wave of an ocean of communications change crashing on the beach. It started with the telegraph and then continued with the telephone, radio, mobile radio phone, fax machine, and on to the ARPAnet, cell phone, internet, world wide web, and finally the last 10 years of newest devices. It is going to be tricky to just keep up let alone figure out where things will be going in the future. That makes the "publishing" business one which has to place a lot of risky bets on which direction to move to stay alive and profitable.

The same thing applies especially to newspapers. The shift to instant gratification is killing newspapers and the size of our local rag is showing it. And yet.....I find I prefer reading the paper for news, local, national and international. I wouldn't want to be in the print business to day as I think it's days are numbered.

[David Weaver]

Ken, I personally would rather read the newspaper, too - the paper copy. Especially if I'm on the road for work. There is something more appealing about taking a paper and sitting in a chair in a hotel lobby with a cup of coffee than there is sitting there with a laptop computer. The paper is much easier on the eyes, and the information is easier to locate without having to dodge shifting pages or popup advertisements.

Our paper here in circulation numbers, I believe, is still in decent shape. A lot of smaller papers are not. What I don't know about because I'm not in the paper business is whether the ad dollars are getting harder to come by, though. Most of the ads in the paper seem to be health care and car sales. I can't imagine that the near terminal auto industry disaster did good things for the papers' coffers for a while.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I still prefer the printed page for those things where I want an easily located reference. Trying to maintain a link list of websites, blogs, specific magazine articles and bits and pieces of this and that is a pain in the butt when I want to refer to them a few months or years after initially reading them. Who wants to have to bookmark almost everything you read that is perhaps marginally interesting. Most on-line sources of info don't maintain good indexes and key word searches can overwhelm you with the number of related but not specifically what you want items. No digital display can let your side by side compare 2 photos in different magazines and even switching back and forth between pages is not as convenient as using a finger to "bookmark" something you are going to refer back to in a few seconds. The other big issue is storage. Do you depend on the longevity of links or copy everything to your own digital storage? What will be the format of the future and will the DVD you burned today or the thumb drive of today be readable 10 years down the road after 2 generational changes of changes in storage media. Remember 3 1/2 and 5 1/2 in floppys?

[Simon MacGowen]

I agree content is always important, but not the deciding factor because previous publications with good contents like Woodwork magazine and Woodworking magazine shared the same fate. The future of the print magazines lies in the reading habit of the young generation, not those of us who still prefer to read a hardcopy. Given our age, we are the minority and the ad dollars dictate which form of publishing will exist. Little doubt that in 10 or 20 years, many more titles won't exist in their print versions.

The convenience of packing 10 to 500 titles (and more) into a digital device so you can read on the road or the airplane far outweighs anything to the young people these days. Hey, you can even read in the dark!

One thing that I disagree with some others is the notion that everything under the sun is old or you can find everything in the old issues of FW and what not. New tools (e.g. Festool Domino) and new interests (Campaign furniture, say) are best served by new articles and/or new writers. Even the photography and printing quality of late can mean a different reading experience. The print/photo quality of Fine Woodworking, and Furniture and Cabinetmaking (UK) is not something the old issues could match to my eyes.

While I prefer the print edition, I find the online content of FW, even the free portion, a value-added part of my subscription. The only complaint I have about that is we can't save the videos (unless you spend money on a downloading program).

Simon

[Paul McGaha]

Paul - Are AW subscribers given an option of refunds?

In the case of AMC, people complained that the magazines kept accepting new subscriptions and renewals even though the owners knew they would not meet their subscription obligations. Also, many have not been paid despite their articles were published a long time ago.

Simon

Simon,

I wasn't given an option. To me, it's paid for so I don't mind trying Popular Woodworking.

I expect I'll continue to buy (1) magazine subscription, I just need to decide on which one. Leaning towards Fine Woodworking.

PHM

[Brian Holcombe]

Quite frankly you can find so much excellent material online for niches of woodworking and other hobbies that it's difficult to even be inspired to the point of buying a magazine. I think it would take something really interesting and obscure to get me to purchase a magazine, at this point I literally only buy reference material. It's useful and looks good on my shelves.

[ray hampton]

the hard copy newspapers and the printed magazines are going online or gone online WAIT the printed money may be next to be transfer to all plastic

[Pat Barry]

I haven't purchased a magazine for about a year. The last time was in the airport so I would have something to read on the airplane. The time before that I happened to see a FWW at the HD checkout counter and like the picture on the front page and made a spur of the moment decision to buy. I haven't had a subscription for 10 years

[Pat Barry]

the hard copy newspapers and the printed magazines are going online or gone online WAIT the printed money may be next to be transfer to all plastic
Yes, no doubt the day is coming where money as we know it now will be a thing of the past, probably replaced by some new newfangled smart card or celll phone account transfer

[Simon MacGowen]

Exactly that is part of the reasons why magazines (or newspapers) are dying -- the free flow of resources on the Internet kills the need or desire to pay for the content -- printed or online. Who still pays to read news when you can get or find any news free on the net. Recently, my friend mentioned to me an article he read in his daily and I could find it online free from the newspaper's site and even circulate it to others...in the old days, I needed to scan a clipping in order to share.

One must look for more than just info. (e.g. top quality photos) to justify the price of a subscription. Few woodworkers I know subscribe to more than one title, unless they charge the subscriptions as business expenses.

Of course, info. over the Internet can be wrong or misleading as it doesn't go through a screening process as a magazine does (if a magazine makes a mistake and gets pointed out, it will make a correction).

Woodcraft magazine and Woodworker's Journal are financially supported by their retail owners. They are in a better position than magazines that have no other resources to turn to, other than books, DVDs, etc. Stores like Lee Valley and Lie-Nielsen as well as many smaller makers are stepping up their own marketing efforts to promote their products via the Internet, roadshows, etc. Ad dollars could shrink even if the circulation figures stay (that is a weak assumption though). I hope publishers will find ways to survive the challenges brought by the IT revolution.

Simon

[Daniel Rode]

One of the local papers here is starting to charge for access to online articles. It's $1/ month, I think.

However, like many of the local online papers I've read, much of the content is simply a reprint from the news services AP, Reuters. The remainder is so poorly written and researched that is borders on worthless. Articles that don't say anything or get the facts wrong combined with a total lack of follow-up help make quality so low as to not be worth $1 / per month.

The same thing is going on with woodworking magazines. Much of the content is old or duplicated. In reality not much changes in woodworking. New tools, maybe. With the neanderthal crowd, maybe research and rediscovery of old tools and methods. At any rate, the quality of the content -- great writing, photography, video production -- and the quality of the delivery is the difference between a great WW mag and one closing it's doors forever.

[Paul McGaha]

I keep a few magazines or tool catalogs in my car. I have lunch by myself most of the time, gives me something to read. I see some people use tablets at lunch but I prefer a hard copy. I use computer a lot during the day and it's good (for me) to not look at a screen at lunch.

PHM