About those magazine blues.....

[Chris DeHut]

Greetings all,

Sorry I have not been around much for a while, as you can imagine, producing Woodworking at Home Magazine takes a bit of time!

I recently caught a thread here at SMC about magazine blues and how many of them are re-runs. That is part of what caused me to start the magazine. It seemed as though all of the publishers were stuck on "Mission and Shaker" pieces over and over again (since about 1990 or so). Don't get me wrong, mission is a favorite of mine but more with a Prarie Style flavor. The tool reviews I also found rather redundant, after all, how can you really develope an honest opinion about a tool or product with only a few hours (or minutes at best) of actual useage time.

For us, we have been trying our best to present both innovative and stylish projects in each issue. Often times we do projects that are of very low appeal to the masses (Art Deco for example). But as woodworkers, I feel it is important to explore the variety woodworking styles as this hobby presents to us as woodworkers. During our last (almost) 2 years, I feel we have been presenting projects that are out of the "ordinary" combined with those that are mainstream and we will continue down that path.

Another point about tool reviews. Bob Marino arranged for us to get a Festool saw. I didn't want to jump right out with a quick superficial opinion so I have been using the saw for the last few months and finally developed what I feel is an honest opinion with depth. In issue #14 I will be presenting a brief demonstration of the saw and my opinions of it.

Someone in the the original thread mentioned something about "Editors must be scratching their heads to come up with new stories". As a producer (Editors are for those print magaiznes, producers are for video productions) I constantly strive to do something innovative in each issue of the magazine. It may not be the most popular subject (relief carving for example), but I feel it is my responsibility to present stories and techniques that are out of the mainstream. The result of that has been a number of emails and phone calls from our viewers that have expressed their joy in learning new skills and techniques. Relief carving is one of those techniques that many people feel is simply beyond their abilities. However, as many have told me, "I have finally tried my hand at relief carving and I love it!". I believe it comes down to having an effective way to learn and explore something and giving yourself a chance to try it.

Recently, another publishing company approached me to discuss some cooperative ventures. They had been receiving our magazine since the first issue and had developed an appreciation for our method of publishing. During one of the conference calls I had asked their editor what he would do differently with our magazine. As if reading from a script, he stated he would run: a couple of shaker projects, a few mission pieces, and a couple of reproductions to round things out. I am of the mindset that variety is the spice of life and I certainly hope that our magazine never gets to the point of a scripted editorial calender.

Sorry for the long post, and I hope you don't mind me sharing my perspective on woodworking magazines. While I don't get time to post very often here, I sure try my best to read through the posts. As I said before, there is a great group of people in this forum.

Take care

Chris DeHut

[Jim Engel]

Chris,

I am a huge fan of your new format magazine, and as you may recall
we have corresponded privately several times.

I would like to pose a question concerning your tool reviews and the fact
that you are supported or sponsored by Delta and Porter Cable, or actually
the parent company that owns both. I think this is on the minds of many
people from time to time.

Many of my tools are Porter Cable and a Unisaw is the proud and
valued center of my shop.

How do you balance this sponsorship and the fact that you highlight
sponsor tools, and the concept of tool reviews ?

This is not in any way meant to be negative, Fine Woodworking runs
adds and does reviews and most of us believe that some of the car
magazines rotate "car of the year" among the bigger advertisers.

[Tony Falotico]

While you were posting about 7:11 pm this evening, I was subscribing to your magazine via the net. Looking forward to experiencing your unique format. Like the others have stated the old standbys, all of which have their place, are getting stale.

[Jack Hogoboom]

Chris,

As you know, I am a BIG fan of your magazine. I think you have done a great job of making things interesting. Frankly, I think the video format gives you a huge advantage over your print media competitors because woodworking is such a visual undertaking. For instance, Dick Sing's pieces are much more interesting and informative because you can actually see him do what he is telling you to do, rather than just reading about it. Although I am not a fan of relief carving, your expert also does a great job of making what appears to be a difficult thing look within the reach of the average woodworker.

By way of suggestion, I seriously think you should talk to Jim Becker about doing shop visits for you. He seems to be on the road constantly and makes frequent shop visits along the way. He could provide you with some great pieces on shop layouts and some of the interesting personalities in this hobby/profession. Other profiles of interesting woodworkers (Todd Burch from this forum springs to mind) would also be welcome. In one of your original issues, you also did a tour of a sawmill. Similar pieces on other topics of interest (how about interviews with Norm Abram or David Marks??) would also be a great way to take advantage of your video format.

Please keep up the good work. I look forward to each new issue and continue to hope that you are doing well so the product keeps on flowing.

Jack

[Chris DeHut]

Hi Neighbor,

You will notice that we have not done any reviews of any Delta or Porter Cable tools. I feel that as sponsors, we are giving them plenty of deomstrations throughout the editorial content of the magazine. What we are trying to focus on for reviews (demos as I prefer to call them) are on new tools, or tools that are somewhat new.

For example the Fesstool saw coming up, while it may not be 'New", it is relatively new to the market for home woodworkers. I do have about 5 or six circular saws in the shop, but comparing one to the other isn't worthwhile for our purposes of demonstration.

For instance, I have the small Porter Cable worm drive trim saw and the DeWalt 14V cordless saw. Both tools are of the same size, but after using them for a number of years, neither one compares to the other.

If I review a tool or product that is in direct competition with one of our sponsors products, it is my responsibility to present an honest opinion of that tool or product. Unlike most of the other publishing companies, I don't hide behind 10 layers of people to defend me and my opinions and comments. If the phone rings and I am next to it, I answer it. As I am so close to the audience, it helps to keep me honest.

Hope this answers your question.

Chris DeHut

Chris,

I am a huge fan of your new format magazine, and as you may recall
we have corresponded privately several times.

I would like to pose a question concerning your tool reviews and the fact
that you are supported or sponsored by Delta and Porter Cable, or actually
the parent company that owns both. I think this is on the minds of many
people from time to time.

Many of my tools are Porter Cable and a Unisaw is the proud and
valued center of my shop.

How do you balance this sponsorship and the fact that you highlight
sponsor tools, and the concept of tool reviews ?

This is not in any way meant to be negative, Fine Woodworking runs
adds and does reviews and most of us believe that some of the car
magazines rotate "car of the year" among the bigger advertisers.

[Rich Konopka]

Chris:

I am a huge fan of your videozine. WWAH is starting to mature and I can only assume by the upcoming Festool review that you are starting to attract more sponsors. That is a a good thing for WWAH as well as the viewers. We really want WWAH to continue being successful. Producing reviews for manufactures is good and I think many of us would enjoy them as long as they stay impartial. I really like the Grippper segment and learned quite a bit.

Keeping a balance of projects, techniques, and reviews will keep WWAH successful. I would like to see more of the shop visits that you had, some small Neanderthal Projects, Explore all of the different Handplanes and what they are used for, Proper sharpening techniques for chisels and planes, and more tool reviews in action.

Thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback.

[Chris DeHut]

Hi Tony,

Welcome aboard! Thanks for subscribing and be sure to let us know if we start to get "Stale" :-)

Chris

While you were posting about 7:11 pm this evening, I was subscribing to your magazine via the net. Looking forward to experiencing your unique format. Like the others have stated the old standbys, all of which have their place, are getting stale.

[Chris DeHut]

I couldn't agree more! Other than one on one, I don't think there is a better way to learn and explore woodworking techniques than with a video magazine like ours.

Regarding other shop tours and visits with other woodworkers, I certainly am working more towards that direction. Remote shoots are the most difficult to produce for a number of reasons. Scheduling is perhaps the most difficult part of this. For instance, it has taken nearly a year to make arrangements for one shoot I have lined up early next year. Then there is the conditions that exist at the place where the shoot will occur. Lighting is critical for good video and some places have such poor lighting that we simply don't have enough portable lighting equipment to make it work well. Then there is sound to deal with. Some shops (where there is more than one person) are too noisy to carry on an interview. Then there are the problems of noises beyond the shop - trains, planes, and barking dogs are a real cause for concern. While shooting a story in PA last year, I had to constantly request the person I was filming to ask the neigbor to take the dog inside.

Even though this remote shoots have proved to be very challenging, I am working on a number of stories that I hope will wet the appetite and desires for such information.

As for Norm and David, as I mentioned before, scheduling is a nightmare but you just never know what will show up on the next issue of the magazine:-)

Chris DeHut

Chris,

As you know, I am a BIG fan of your magazine. I think you have done a great job of making things interesting. Frankly, I think the video format gives you a huge advantage over your print media competitors because woodworking is such a visual undertaking. For instance, Dick Sing's pieces are much more interesting and informative because you can actually see him do what he is telling you to do, rather than just reading about it. Although I am not a fan of relief carving, your expert also does a great job of making what appears to be a difficult thing look within the reach of the average woodworker.

By way of suggestion, I seriously think you should talk to Jim Becker about doing shop visits for you. He seems to be on the road constantly and makes frequent shop visits along the way. He could provide you with some great pieces on shop layouts and some of the interesting personalities in this hobby/profession. Other profiles of interesting woodworkers (Todd Burch from this forum springs to mind) would also be welcome. In one of your original issues, you also did a tour of a sawmill. Similar pieces on other topics of interest (how about interviews with Norm Abram or David Marks??) would also be a great way to take advantage of your video format.

Please keep up the good work. I look forward to each new issue and continue to hope that you are doing well so the product keeps on flowing.

Jack

[Chris DeHut]

Thanks for the kind words! WWAH is maturing and will continue to change and explore all avenues of woodworking. While we are presenting more and more reviews and gaining more exposure to many other tooling companies, few are ready to jump on board as sponsors. Perhaps they don't think our customers are as valuable as other magazine's customers :-)

While I would like to obtain more advertisers and sponsors, I don't want it to get to the point of print magazines. Most of the print magazines have upwards of 33% advertising content, to me, that is just too much. I would not feel comfortable selling my customers a subscription to WWAH that has nearly an hour of advertising with the remainder of content being editorial. I have been focused on a producing a customer driven magazine as opposed to an advertiser driven magazine since the beginning.

I do plan to keep the editorial content mixed up with variety of stories. While projects are a big draw, I am finding that more and more people are requesting more detailed presentation on techniques. As such, starting with issue #12, we will be moving in that direction with a new series on joinery.

There are a couple more shop tours already filmed and I will be dropping those in as time permits. The suggestions on hand planes is already in the works and I have been looking for some products to get things going in that direction. Sharpening is always a tough task in the woodshop and a variety to tools, in issue #12 there is a story on sharpening drill bits on a bench grinder and I have several more lined up as well.

Thanks for the feedback and comments. It is communication like this that I believe will keep WWAH in the lead for many years to come!

Chris DeHut

Chris:

I am a huge fan of your videozine. WWAH is starting to mature and I can only assume by the upcoming Festool review that you are starting to attract more sponsors. That is a a good thing for WWAH as well as the viewers. We really want WWAH to continue being successful. Producing reviews for manufactures is good and I think many of us would enjoy them as long as they stay impartial. I really like the Grippper segment and learned quite a bit.

Keeping a balance of projects, techniques, and reviews will keep WWAH successful. I would like to see more of the shop visits that you had, some small Neanderthal Projects, Explore all of the different Handplanes and what they are used for, Proper sharpening techniques for chisels and planes, and more tool reviews in action.

Thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback.

[Ted Shrader]

Chris -

Interesting. I dropped an order for a subscription to Woodworking at Home in the mail on Monday. You posted on Tuesday the same day Tony became a new subscriber. Don't know what your growth numbers are, but I hope you continue to have success.

My decision to subscribe was based on the good reviews here at the Creek and was finally prompted by a direct mailing.

Look forward to the arrival of my first issue (? is that he right word for a video magazine )

Regards,
Ted

[Chris DeHut]

Hi Ted,

While we are growing in subscribers, we are still in our infancy. I am glad you subscribed and I look forward to serving you for many years to come!

As for what to call it? Heck, that has been one of the most difficult aspect of this whole thing.

Should we call it a magazine? Well, I think so but most people dissagree. Seeing as there are news magazines on television (48 hours, 60 minutes, etc.), I figured that ours should be called a magazine. Seeing as we have 6 regular issues per year plus a bonus issue in the fall and that it is mailed out on a regular basis, Magazine seemed appropriate.

However, the US Postal service doesn't see it that way. Print magazines, that weigh as much as 20 times more than ours and are about 10 times bigger in volumne mail for less than the cost of a first class stamp. The US Postal service won't recognize us as a periodical because it is not printed matter. Due to this very outdated policy, we have to mail our magazines out at full first class rate - much higher than periodical rate - makes it very tough for us to compete with print magazines.

As for issue? I think that is what it should be called and that is how I refer to them. I can't think of a better term but I am always open for suggestions!

Thanks again for signing on!

Chris

Chris -

Interesting. I dropped an order for a subscription to Woodworking at Home in the mail on Monday. You posted on Tuesday the same day Tony became a new subscriber. Don't know what your growth numbers are, but I hope you continue to have success.

My decision to subscribe was based on the good reviews here at the Creek and was finally prompted by a direct mailing.

Look forward to the arrival of my first issue (? is that he right word for a video magazine )

Regards,
Ted

[Jack Hogoboom]

Chris,

Regarding advertising and sponsorship, have you ever looked into including "jackets" with the DVD? Apropos of what the record companies do with album inserts and what game producers do with user guides, it seems to me you could print up a little booklet to insert with the DVD and use that to sell advertising space.

It seems to me that the real reason you may be having trouble selling advertising is that the tool manufacturers just haven't caught up to you yet. Very few of them have any video advertising. Maybe once they recognize the power of your approach, they will produce some appropriate advertising content.

As I've said on several other occasions, your approach definitely has potential applications way beyond woodworking. At some point, someone is going to recognize the value of your approach and the light bulb is going to come on.

Keep on truckin'.

Jack

[Ted Shrader]

. . . Regarding advertising and sponsorship, have you ever looked into including "jackets" with the DVD? Apropos of what the record companies do with album inserts and what game producers do with user guides, it seems to me you could print up a little booklet to insert with the DVD and use that to sell advertising space. . . . .

Along those same lines, why not print a 2 or 3 page "magazine" (for bulk rate) and have the DVD accompany it? Put an index, a letter from the editor and some advertizing in it.

Ted

[Bob Reeve]

Chris,

I just found out about your magazine through this thread. I think it is a wonderful idea and went and subscribed. I look forward to this new way of learning.

[Chris DeHut]

Hi Jack,

We have been looking into that option. We have even offered to put their entire catlog onto the DVD in PDF format. We do have to watch our weight too with printed materials. As I mentioned above, due to out dated postal regulations, we have to pay first class postage which greatly increases our mailing costs (currently beyond what we can recoup with advertising costs).

Chris

Chris,

Regarding advertising and sponsorship, have you ever looked into including "jackets" with the DVD? Apropos of what the record companies do with album inserts and what game producers do with user guides, it seems to me you could print up a little booklet to insert with the DVD and use that to sell advertising space.

It seems to me that the real reason you may be having trouble selling advertising is that the tool manufacturers just haven't caught up to you yet. Very few of them have any video advertising. Maybe once they recognize the power of your approach, they will produce some appropriate advertising content.

As I've said on several other occasions, your approach definitely has potential applications way beyond woodworking. At some point, someone is going to recognize the value of your approach and the light bulb is going to come on.

Keep on truckin'.

Jack