Is it me or . . . .

[Bill Houghton]

Part of it, Lowell, may be that you now know enough that subjects that were once important are now routine.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I too bemoan the dearth of new books in print Pete. I like to have hard copy references like DAT, Salaman, Walter on Stanley tools, Pollak on American planes, and so forth. Very few people will be able or willing to spend the time to do all of the research and then either self-publish or put all of their work on-line without some form of compensation. They might not be interested in a profit, but most would like to at least cover their expenses. Most people using the web have a great resistance to paying for content. Just look at the minuscule percentage of users here at SMC who will even fork over $5 a year to become a contributor and help defray the costs Keith absorbs for the server and the bandwidth. It is a disincentive for anyone to publish any content on the web.

[lowell holmes]

Part of it, Lowell, may be that you now know enough that subjects that were once important are now routine.

That is a good point.

[John Sanford]

We are in a period of transition with some upheaval in our publishing industry.

Yup, been going on for 20 years now.

Printed media is in a slow spiral toward disappearance.

Nope. A slow spiral toward boutique status. This is what Chris and the folks over at Lost Art Press have recognized, and, AFAIK, nobody else in the craft publishing realm has figured out yet. The Internet is the power tool of the woodworking publishing world. There will be a horrid (if you're employed in the field) shaking out, and just like Millers Falls and Disston and Sargent and so many other hand tool makers disappeared or abandoned the market in the shake out, the same thing is happening with WW publishing. Then there will be a bit of languishing, and finally a rebirth on a much smaller scale. See "Lie-Nielsen", "Veritas", "Bad Axe", etc.

This understanding, btw, is one reason why LAP is using such high quality bindery practices and such. They are selling into a boutique market, one where the story OF the product, the uniqueness and the quality of the product are equally important.

As long as people can read, we are going to have print media. It simply won't be THE way of transmitting knowledge between people separated across space and/or time like it was for the last century.

[lowell holmes]

Also, I enjoy seeing the pictures and the articles in Fine Wood Working. I don't know if Popular Woodworking is still around or not.
I know I don't get it anymore.

[Norman Pirollo]

I've also read about the demise of print magazines over the past few years. It makes sense... having recently launched a woodworking magazine ( total contrarian move) available in Digital or Print. I was surprised to find that orders for the print version far outweigh the digital version. I'm old school and appreciate book, magazines, etc. I like to be able to glean through a magazine at my leisure away from the computer, especially in summer. So maybe print magazines are not in a death spiral but holding their own for this reason?

Norman
WOODSKILLS

[Simon MacGowen]

I am for both options, though seeming to get more out of a print copy in terms of absorption, probably due to the scanning habit when in front of a screen (blame it on the day time job).

However, if we revisit this tread in 20 years, a different story might be told and print issues may only exist for a very small market. Why? The current and future generations are already dropping print anything in favor of a digital format.

Google for Education is a free tool being used by more and more schools, targeting grades 1 to 8 kids. My neighbor's 11 years old has been using a digital device or the like for 4 years now and her reading skill is probably in the top 1% group, but all her current reading materials are almost all digital. She still reads hardcopy books suitable for her level, only because they are given to her by my daughter. Her family doesn't buy books at all.

Together with the global trend towards conservation, paper books or magazines have a dim future. Newspapers? Almost all newspaper empires today have to rely on digital subscriptions and/or advertising to support their traditional business model. So, print magazines still have a life until most of us between ages 40 and 80 are gone for good, or when the paper model is financially unsustainable, whichever comes first.

Simon

[Charlie Hinton]

I used to subscribe to lots of different home improvement and wood working magazines.
Theres only so much that can be written about and then it gets regurgitated.
Now there's so much content online and immediate help through sites like this that the printed magazines are at a real disadvantage.

[Bill McDermott]

I smile every time FWW or PW arrive. I enjoy both of them. I save them when finished and pass them along to a nephew with a budding interest in building. No complaints - and I've been reading FWW since it was black & white. Beats the heck out of what happened to Time, Life and even National Geographic (still read that too).

[Carlos Alvarez]

We recently subscribed to FWW online mainly for the plans, because the wife is getting into dovetails and small boxes. If you send us paper, that's a great way to guarantee it will never be read. I dropped my membership to a niche market organization because they aggressively refuse to put their precious magazine and articles online (the national .50 BMG association). I had the magazines piled up for almost a year, and just never remembered them when it was reading time. I might be sitting on my boat, or camping, or even just upstairs when the reading mood/time hit me. I always have my electronics, but never paper.

[Zach Dillinger]

I'm back in the saddle with PW and will have a hand-tool only project article coming out soon. Some of the others, Cherubini included, are just coming back as well. So don't give up!