Letting go after many years....

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

Generally speaking, Wood Magazine has been one of my 2 or 3 favorites and I've subscribed for probably the past 25 years, missing a few years here and there for some reason. They just e mailed me a "special" renewal offer....$49.95 for 2 years!  Guess it's time to give it up. I realize the publishing industry has really been struggling to survive (all forms, it seems to me) but making your stuff really expensive doesn't strike me as being a good come-back plan.

[HARO50]

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Wood Magazine has been one of my 2 or 3 favorites

Same here, but I stopped getting it a few years back. Seems like there was a lot of re-hashed content, and it kept getting thinner. Still have MANY years of issues.

[lew]

The only one I get is Woodcraft. Started with issue #1. 

[DAB]

dropped Wood many years ago.  have about 3 years of issues somewhere in the shop.

[Gunny]

We got @steven newman to do step by step builds.  

 

[DAB]

ok, insert tab A into slot B.  but first, here's how to make tab A and slot B....

[forty_caliber]

Pretty hard for an old medium to stay fresh in the instant digital world that they are competing in.  Probably the best way back for a publication like that is to make detailed digital plan drawings available in an industry standard format along with high quality articles.  I should be able to look at a project and expect not only plans and a cut list, but also bdft estimate, materials list in least waste format, logical build order, cost estimate based on current market pricing, and links to source material including needed hardware.  All possible with current available tech.

 

Sadly, I'm not convinced that the current publishers are up to the challenge and I'm not sure the consumer would be willing to see the price tag. 

 

.40

[Gerald]

I dropped Wood when they dropped the Forum. It was a sign the publisher did not value the woodworking community and I wanted no part in it. Even then content was getting thin and repetitive. Shopnotes is another that left me by stopping publication in midsubscription, That was a very good publication.

[lew]

I miss ShopSmith 

[FlGatorwood]

@lew, did you mean Shopnotes or Shopsmith's Hands On?  I have several years of Shopnotes in the garage that are going into the recycle.  I took boxes of other wood working magazines to the hospital and some man grabbed them all up.  I asked him if he wanted the box and he said yes.  So, he was a very happy recipient.  Shopnotes was a favorite of mine.  

[lew]

34 minutes ago, FlGatorwood said:

@lew, did you mean Shopnotes or Shopsmith's

Too much relatives! I meant Shopnotes. I’m like Gerald, renewed my subscription and then they stopped publishing it

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

9 hours ago, Gerald said:

I dropped Wood when they dropped the Forum. It was a sign the publisher did not value the woodworking community and I wanted no part in it. Even then content was getting thin and repetitive.

 I agree; that was a bad move, and really peeved me. It's continued to get thinner since then, and I suspect letting the forum go is part of it. Even so, the forum had a problem...the manager for most of it's life....Marlin. But he left somewhere in there, which I was glad to see.

[PeteM]

I noticed the same phenom in technical/engineering magazines:  about a 6-year cycle for articles, then you pretty much see the same thing over and over.  Topics are not infinite.  The problem isn't really the zines; they do what they can.  We (and all the other readers) have simply Moved On.  The arena of new things that interest us shrinks every year.  Print media in all fields is under pressure because it has so much fixed cost and slow reaction time (issues have to  be planned well in advance when you're anchored to so much logistics).  Do you have a stack of old issues?  When was the last time you used any of them?  Me neither.  If I see something that I might use, I scan it.  I've scanned hundreds.  And I use very few, but electronic data doesn't gather dust.  YouTube is my go-to.  There are still many who like to fondle slick paper*, but fewer each year.  We hit the tipping point long ago.  We are the frogs in the boiling water.

 

*Like paper media, outhouses have gone out of favor.

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

Yeah, Pete. I used to subscribe to a couple of gun magazines that got so repetitious (just like woodworking magazines) and thin I dropped them some years ago. My NRA stuff still shows up (American Rifleman) since I'm a life member but I may be resigning that soon as well (that's an age thing, though).

[John Morris]

I do get Woodcraft still, they are our sponsor and I like keeping up with their staff and projects.

The only other woodworking magazine I get, is a quarterly, Mortise and Tenon and love it.

 

[HandyDan]

I also dropped Wood magazine when they closed their forum.  I wonder sometimes if they regretted that move. 

[Masonsailor]

All the woodworking and homebuilding mags reached a point ( 15 years ago ? ) where all the content went commercial and was largely made up of what I like to call the political woodworking crowd. There are so many great woodworkers and homebuilders who are incredibly talented who never get the recognition they deserve. I think the internet has improved that situation greatly and has made the magazine world increasingly irrelevant. Furniture making and turning are good examples. There are so many young artists out there who are doing incredible work who deserve to be showcased. How many times can you read the same rehashed article about Sam Maloof and his workshop ? He was for sure one of the greats but with a little effort they could be running more articles on the up and coming artists who deserve the exposure. 

Paul

[PeteM]

21 hours ago, Masonsailor said:

running more articles on the up and coming artists who deserve the exposure. 

I hadn't thought of that angle before, Paul.  Come to think, all professions / hobbies / occupations / fields break into three rough categories:

1.  Artists:  they got the basics (or most of them), but they "go beyond", searching for inspiration.  Beauty before business.  Roofs collapse.

2.  Makers:  solid craftsmanship, day in / day out.  They make it work.  Roof stays on in hurricane.

3.  Seekers:  learning, high error rate.  Not sure if they're staying or going in this endeavor.  What's a roof?

 

 These can be distinct audiences, each demanding a quite different arrangement and appeal.  Think how challenging such an audience can be if you are publishing a zine, or selling a product, or even (as a consumer) looking to buy something.  Electronic (YT) publishing almost luxuriates in its flexibility to target each audience.

 

Wow, am I ever glad I'm retired.  In the commercial arena, we have yet to face many of the changes implied by such flexibility.  OTOH, all these new things will fail a lot (flail and fail).  Keeps me busy on my retirement job (forensic engineering, HVAC & plumbing)!  Pays for all the wood I ruin (I'm still in the #3 mode, above!).

[kmealy]

I started out with Wood but soon became disenchanted as the articles seemed toward (what one old forum called) "pukey ducks", i.e., crafty sorts of things of no use other than to sit around the house.  Did PopWood since they moved to town, until it was apparent they were headed down the chute.   Did Woodsmith, but found their issues pretty much single topic and if I was not really interested in a Mid-century Modern bedroom set and its construction, of little use.  Did Fine Woodworking for many years but found it repeating and expensive.   I get Wood now and that's all.

[Grandpadave52]

After they shut-down their forums, when my Wood subscription expired, I didn't renew. I've been tempted a couple times with some pretty good offerings but let them go.

 

Same with Woodsmith, after they shutdown Shop Notes and added my remaining subscription to Woodsmith once it expired I didn't renew. I don't think it's the same anyway since Don Peske sold out. I understand WS has lots of advertising pages now??

 

Most recently I had a subscription to the Woodworkers Journal for 3/4 years. I enjoyed it at first but then found myself tossing it aside to read later when often didn't happen. I didn't renew it last year either.

 

I did watch a lot of YouTubers the past couple of years but now so many of them have become so commercialized as "Content Makers" I've backed off of that too. Really how many ways can you build a crosscut sled or make your own track saw?

 

I really just need to refocus and complete my PHD's (projects half done). Doing that and spending time here again will teach me more than the above.