Taunton Press sold to Active Interest Media…

[Bob Jones 5443]

…which in turn is owned by B&W.

B&W otherwise known as Betterment & Wonderment Communications LLC is a newly formed* Colorado based company created to acquire and better enthusiast media brands.

*February 2021

This group owns Popular Woodworking, Woodshop News, and Woodsmith, as well as a couple dozen hobby-oriented media products.

I don’t know; do you think Woodsmith is on a par with the quality of Fine Woodworking?

[Rob Luter]

Much wailing and gnashing of teeth occurring over at the FWW forum over this issue. I'm hopeful they'll continue FWW with the same quality it's historically had. Time will tell.

[Gary Petersen]

They're both good, in my ever-so humble opinion, as are WOOD, Woodcraft, and Woodworker's Journal. Each has its own "personality" and is good in their own way. I do wonder a bit what "better" means to them.

[Edward Weber]

Much wailing and gnashing of teeth occurring over at the FWW forum over this issue. I'm hopeful they'll continue FWW with the same quality it's historically had. Time will tell.
Everyone over there seems to automatically think the worst. It might be a good move, who knows.

[Stan Calow]

Everyone over there seems to automatically think the worst. It might be a good move, who knows.

Good point Edward. For all we know, they might be saving Taunton from going under. Some have said that the market for such publications is shrinking, and that the number of hobbyists who support them, is declining as Boomers fade away.

I have subscribed to all the different ww'ing magazines at one time or another over the years, and my measure of interest is based on there being at least one article, project, tip, or even an ad, per issue, that is useful . FWW is the one that takes longest to read so it's the best of them, although I like Woodsmith too.

[Brian Tymchak]

…which in turn is owned by B&W.

B&W otherwise known as Betterment & Wonderment Communications LLC is a newly formed* Colorado based company created to acquire and better enthusiast media brands.

*February 2021

This group owns Popular Woodworking, Woodshop News, and Woodsmith, as well as a couple dozen hobby-oriented media products.

I don’t know; do you think Woodsmith is on a par with the quality of Fine Woodworking?

I generally think that when one company essentally corners the market on something, it is bad for the consumer. Look for the characteristics that currently distinguish these publications from one another to fade as the front and back office talent and admin get blended across the organizations to drive overall costs down.

[Mike Rambour]

Woodsmith is not what it once was, I have every issue from #1 to today, I have been a subscriber since the beginning and built many projects from that magazine in the old days...been many years since they published something worth building for me (I am building right now a highchair from a issue in 1989). But same issue with FWW, it's not what it once was. Everything is moving to "extras on the web" and I read a paper magazine, I don't go on the web to see the extras nor will I pay extra to see something that years ago would have been in the magazine. Its all about yearly subs and extras now, we showed you a picture, now pay extra for details.

[Curt Harms]

The special interest media biz has to be a tough one with a limited audience. Now they have Google and their friends soaking up so many ad bucks. I could see two different audiences, one more utilitarian oriented and more more fine/artistic. I wonder if they'll keep two web sites (woodnet.net & finewoodworking.com)

[Val Kosmider]

Little did i expect to find this topic on the front page.

I just got off the phone with a company called Omeda...they seem to think (and perhaps they are, although their internet reputation is that that of a scammer) that they handle renewals for Taunton Products. I had a charge to my CC and chasing it down discovered that i had used my CC to extend FWW three years ago, and Omeda took it upon themselves to now renew my subscription for ONE YEAR for $40, when the three year rate is now $120. I basically feel like i was scammed out of $25, and don't think i ever received any notice that my subscription was going to expire. The charge was put through in October, while my subscription expires in February 2024. Omeda told me i was on "auto renewal" which i doubt, because i NEVER do that. I think they just took my CC, which i used back when i renewed for three years (never should have done that...used my CC.) and took advantage of me with an auto renewal at a very high rate.

Buyer beware, and now i am reading that not only is "customer service" farmed out, but that the magazine has been sold. I am on high alert as to the quality of upcoming publications, and any renewals of my other Taunton products as well.

Not off to a good start, Taunton, if this is the future.

[Richard Coers]

Everyone over there seems to automatically think the worst. It might be a good move, who knows.
I worked at Woodworker's Journal when they were purchased by Prime Media. Prime Media bought all the titles owned by PJS Publications, the owner of WJ. It was okay for about a year, then they tried to sell everything that was not highly profitable. They couldn't find a buyer for WJ and finally announced it would be shut down. They offered us an incentive to stay for one last issue. Finally Rockler stepped in and bought the name and subscription list. Historically it has been proven that when an investment conglomerate buys a publishing company, they are there to harvest the high profit titles and kill the rest. It would be a significant move to improve an existing title that has already degraded from its original intent. After being nearly a lifetime subscription person (starting subscribing around issue 8), I have been considering not renewing this time. When FWW started running a simple router table router table design and took 6 pages to do so with basically 3 pictures per page, I knew they were rushing towards the bottom. Let's watch what happens in about a year. One last point, subscribers do not make a profitable magazine. Advertising is what runs a magazine. We can definitely count on more advertising pages until the subscription numbers drop. Advertisers will only spend the big bucks when the subscription numbers are high.

[Edward Weber]

I'm not naive, I was trying to be optimistic. FWW was one of the best but they've been slipping for a while, as have all the others with competition from the web.
Many people these days seem to be much more likely to watch a free video from someone, anyone without knowing their knowledge base or skill level, rather than read a magazine, which they have to pay for, written by professionals.
Why bother, three finger Louie can do it, I've seen his videos :rolleyes:

While holding out hope, I intellectually know that it's just a matter of time until all of these publications are gone forever. Along with the knowledge they contain. We're left with resin poured river tables and cutting boards as the pinnacle of content.

[Marc Fenneuff]

Well said Edward. sad/true

[Rob Sack]

I was an avid reader Of Fine Woodworking, Fine Homebuilding, and Home Furniture. I've watched Home Furniture disappear (one issue before they were to publish I piece I made), and the other two go down hill for years. For about the past year, I have been getting daily "deals" from Fine Homebuilding, to which I am currently subscribing. I had a long talk with the folks at Taunton Press at this past AWFS in Las Vegas, inquiring as to why they continue to blow up my email. I asked if this was a result of sagging sales and/or sagging subscriptions and they said no. Either they were being less than candid or were in the dark as to Taunton Press' financial situation. I could unsubscribe to the daily come-ons, but every once in a while they actually post a good idea. I currently maintain a subscription to Fine Homebuilding, but as with all subscriptions, I only use American Express. I also never agree to automatic subscription renewals and should one of the magazines I subscribe to try to automatically renew without my permission, as described above, one call to AmEx and problem solved, unlike the hoops you have to go through with Visa or Mastercard when disputing a charge.

[Randy Heinemann]

My guess is that the annual subscription price for something similar to FWW Unlimited will increase; maybe significantly and it will price itself out of being reasonable for most. It's a great resource but it has a maximum value. If they have owned Popular Woodworking for awhile, it has definitely not improved except maybe if you are exclusively interested in hand tools. Woodsmith really isn't that great anymore. The projects aren't what they used to be. As for the others like Wood, I haven't read them for years since their projects. I actually don't agree that FWW has deteriorated over the years. I just think that many of us who have been woodworkers for many years and have read FWW just find most of the topics "not new".

[Bruce Wrenn]

When Active Media took over Woodsmith, it basically became a Woodpeckers catalogue. I really miss the old Woodsmith, and ShopNotes, which is now an online subscription. Built many projects from each, especially the youth chair referenced above. Recently went back, and build the pocket hole jig from ShopNotes. Gave up on FWW several years back, and this year didn't renew my Wood subscription, which I have had for over 20 years. Can't say as how I miss it.

[Richard Coers]

I'm not naive, I was trying to be optimistic. FWW was one of the best but they've been slipping for a while, as have all the others with competition from the web.
Many people these days seem to be much more likely to watch a free video from someone, anyone without knowing their knowledge base or skill level, rather than read a magazine, which they have to pay for, written by professionals.
Why bother, three finger Louie can do it, I've seen his videos :rolleyes:

While holding out hope, I intellectually know that it's just a matter of time until all of these publications are gone forever. Along with the knowledge they contain. We're left with resin poured river tables and cutting boards as the pinnacle of content.
Everything goes in cycles. I'm a farm boy raised in the 50s. Where I grew up, family farming is just about dead. But I'm thrilled to see young people starting small food farms and community supported agriculture. These people actually grow things to eat, not just crops to make animal feed, processed sweetener, and fuel. Those little farms are the future of healthy food, like the farms before the 60s. Woodworking will come back when young people get tired of 3D printers and resin tables on steel hair pin legs. They just won't be able to learn from magazines like we did.

[Rick Potter]

I recently quit subscribing to WoodSmith, and I have every issue also. Since being sold a few years ago, and at least one more time after that, I am done watching the owners try to turn a profit selling old stuff that is repeats and monetize anything they can. The turnover of editors has been rapid too. I am done with them.

Another magazine that shocked me last week is Motor Trend, which I have subscribed to since the late 50's. The latest issue says how proud they are to turn the monthly magazine into a coffee table style issue 4 times a year. They own TV companies with their own channel, as well as many programs, shows, races, etc. I cannot believe they are broke, just greedy.

[Patty Hann]

I began subscribing to Wood when I first stated taking the Woodworking Classes at the local Comm. College. (btw I'm still taking those classes)
The deal was something like $10 for 3 years.
When it came time to renew, of course the price was much higher.
Told them I would renew for $25 for 5 years ($5 per year) ...take it or leave it. They took it.
That subscription runs out in Nov 2024. I'll dicker with them again come next November.

I'm still a novice and have learned not a few things from Wood. (I've also learned a whole lot from all of you here, and not only about Woodworking. :))
I figured (back then) that ~$5 per annum is pretty cheap and I could certainly get my money's worth; some of the shop helps for storage and jigs were very good for my small footprint situation.
If I can finagle a good rate for the next 3 years at least (5 years would be better) I'll renew it.

[Jack Frederick]

I had the same thing happen to me, Val. I called and the charge was dropped.. Taunton has always driven me nuts with subscription updates. Subscribe for a couple years and almost immediately you get re-up notices. FWW is the only mag I still take. The others have shut down. I was sorry to see Bimmer close. I had an article on one of my cars years ago. It is hard to find a store with a decent magazine rack today and will become harder.

[Daniel O'Neill]

Patty that's a great technique :).
I like purchasing the old catalogs. It drives me nuts to buy something and then be stuck without access to stuff. I bought ShopNotes Catalog which I really enjoy since I'm slowly building a shop. I have another one on a thumb drive. Apple+news allows selection of Wood Magazine and a host of other things I enjoy like This Old House & Wall Street Journal. I subscribed once to WWGOA for like $5/year but immediately turned off auto renew at like $50/year. I like to design so I don't get these magazines/books for that portion. More about how to do things which I also get here and on YouTube.
I only bring this up because one of my gripes with the model that everything is moving to is loss of access. I still have all the old ShopNotes issue available to me. Just not the new stuff. WWGOA I lost the money and the library. That's why I don't subscribe to Fine WW or similar. If I buy the library for $x.xx, to me I should get some type of permanent access to what I've purchased. I think FWW did that once or twice but I didn't buy it and now kinda wish I had... Oh well.

An old proverb says that to the making of many books there is no end and much devotion to them is wearisome to the soul. There will always be WW content in one fashion or another. I just gotta spend more of my time in the shop building things lol.

[Bradley Gray]

I was a FWW subscriber from issue 1. The first 50 issues were amazing. it seemed like the articles were timed to whatever problem I was trying to solve. Tage frid's hand tool expertise, machine set-up, building a 3 phase converter, all showed up just in time to help me out.

After the 50th I continued to subscribe, but the topics started to repeat. Their advertisers wanted new woodworkers with equipment needs and the articles went back to basics. When a router review showed up on the cover around #150, I bailed.

I still use the first 50 as a resource.

[Edward Weber]

IMO, this thread is starting to stray into how much people are willing to pay.
If you want to learn certain skills and techniques from those who have the expertise, then you have to pay, simple as that. I don't work for free, why should they.
The internet, while a great source of free content, also has a negative effect of making people think all content should be free. The "I'm not paying for that" syndrome.

I have no idea why FWW was acquired by AIM, nor does it really matter. ALL instructive publications are feeling the demise of printed media. People will now get their information on a given subject from webpages and mostly YT videos, where it's a crap shoot.

We'll all just have to wait and see

[mike stenson]

I've seen plenty of bad info in publications as well. With that said, I agree wholeheartedly with the statement that people now believe all entertainment content should be free. Which is a shame, as ultimately it devalues the skills needed to provide good content.

I rather suspect, given my experience with pop wood, I'll be letting my subscription slip. We'll see, but the stack of FWW mags already shows a significant decline.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I pay for the unlimited access to FWW. I love its knowledge base as I try to learn to "new to me" techniques or get design ideas from others more skilled than myself. Until I see a decline, I will continue to access it as much as I can. I hope it doesn't decline and if it does, I will just drop my membership.

[Dave Cav]

I had a subscription to Woodsmith from the beginning until about 15 years ago. When I was just getting into woodworking, it was a great reference and I got a lot of project ideas from it. I had all the issues in binders, and as I recall, I donated them to the high school where I was teaching shop when I retired.

I have had a subscription to FWW since the late 70s, and have very nearly a complete set (missing a few of the early ones). I'm not renewing after my current subscription expires . I have a stack of about two years worth on the end table next to my chair in the living room and I haven't even looked at most of them. Eventually I'll scan through them then add them to the shelf over my desk, and will eventually probably give them to a younger woodworker.

[David Kenagy]

I made a couple of those high chairs back in 1989. One is in storage (my kids haven't had kids yet) but the other went to my in-laws. Their daughter just started using it for her second child.

In those days Woodsmith provided a recipe, and I knew that I'd like whatever I project I made. Eventually I learned enough that I didn't need a recipe. But with those new skills I could go to a Woodsmith project, make changes in the design, and make something even better (to me) than the plan. The archived plans are Woodsmith's Achilles heel. They make it worth buying into their library, but once you know how to make the subtle changes that cause two tables or two cabinets to differ, you really don't need another new issue with a table or cabinet. The greatest innovation that (I think) keeps them relevant are the videos and plans the Chris Fitch designs and demonstrates. Those continue to be original methods that Woodsmith hasn't taught previously.

I visited their Des Moines campus twice. Once was when Don Peschke was fully in charge and deciding on their direction. The second was just before he sold the operation. The folks I met always appeared to be doing this for the joy of woodworking. Money was simply a necessity to make this possible. As we all expected, after being sold Woodsmith started to advertise. They experimented with guest hosts like James Hamilton ("Stumpy Nubs") but they didn't expand that to other well-known woodworkers. I think they're struggling to come up with anything that's as innovative and useful as the ideas of Adolph and Don Peschke. Copying anybody else's success can work, but (by definition) it's not innovative.

[Chris Parks]

There is another way to look at magazines repeating stuff as they do. Years ago when we as long term hobbyists depended on them for learning and projects magazines were looked on as a reference library especially pre internet. If they don't repeat that stuff then beginners don't have that same opportunity we had but the internet has provided another source most of which is questionable in passing on the skills the magazines provided. The new beginner has no way of assessing the rubbish from good stuff on the net which is not ideal.

[Jim Becker]

The bottom line here isn't what we all individually like when it comes to woodworking magazines at this point...many of us are "of a generation" where paper magazines were our source for learning for a long time. Different titles filled different needs. (and still do most likely) But the world has changed and the number of people who actually buy paper magazines is a fraction of what it was even just 10-15 years ago. Why? It's a combination of the Internet and the very real fact that less folks are inclined to take up crafts and other specialties which in the past provided the opportunities to sell magazines. It's economics and business reality at play here. Firms like Active Interest Media are willing to buy up the publications and have a better chance of keeping most or at least some of them alive where if they continued as they were, they might likely die from lack of revenue. The titles are immaterial relative to this thread because what's at play here is an entire industry. If it's going to continue to live, it has to be more efficient so it can still produce the media.

Meanwhile, it's clear that many of us who did the magazine thing "back in the day", found various reasons to not continue with that. It's been something like a decade and a half since I last had a subscription to anything for all the reasons that folks have already expressed. We are no longer customers...

[Clifford McGuire]

My guess is that the annual subscription price for something similar to FWW Unlimited will increase; maybe significantly and it will price itself out of being reasonable for most.

For me, they already have. After two years of subbscribing, $99/yr just wasn't worth it to me. I would probably subscribe for $40-$50/yr.

[Edward Weber]

I think now, the safest bet might be to buy the memory stick with all the projects. I have one up to 05 but might get the latest, as the future is uncertain. They had been on sale prior to Christmas.