Bb

Bmchan

19/02/2004 8:22 PM

New woodworking magazine

I know there was an earlier thread on this but I don't want to
retreive 77,000 threads to get there sooooo.

The magazine is called Woodworking Magazine and their web site is:

http://www.woodworking-magazine.com/

The are affiliated, it appears, with Popular WWg. No ads.

I am in no way affiliated with this wood rag. Just want to say that
they have done a very nice job in a very crowded field. There is not
much that FWW and others have not covered. This one targets newbies
or self trained WW's and aims to fill in the knowledge base that may
have been overlooked.

The back cover is nicely done and is devoted to a single topic. They
call it a "poster" although it does not detach per se. The spring
issue back cover (current premiere) is about screws and is nicely
designed.

Just my 2 cents. I admire the balls it takes to do this type of
venture.


This topic has 12 replies

dd

"das"

in reply to Bmchan on 19/02/2004 8:22 PM

20/02/2004 7:40 PM

I always laugh when Issue 1, Vol. 1 of a new magazine publishes letters to
the editor. (as described on their website). How did those letter writers
know this mag existed?

dean s

"Bmchan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I know there was an earlier thread on this but I don't want to
> retreive 77,000 threads to get there sooooo.
>
> The magazine is called Woodworking Magazine and their web site is:
>
> http://www.woodworking-magazine.com/
>
> The are affiliated, it appears, with Popular WWg. No ads.
>
> I am in no way affiliated with this wood rag. Just want to say that
> they have done a very nice job in a very crowded field. There is not
> much that FWW and others have not covered. This one targets newbies
> or self trained WW's and aims to fill in the knowledge base that may
> have been overlooked.
>
> The back cover is nicely done and is devoted to a single topic. They
> call it a "poster" although it does not detach per se. The spring
> issue back cover (current premiere) is about screws and is nicely
> designed.
>
> Just my 2 cents. I admire the balls it takes to do this type of
> venture.

KC

Kevin Craig

in reply to Bmchan on 19/02/2004 8:22 PM

20/02/2004 2:20 PM

In article <D7fZb.31756$D_5.21656@edtnps84>, Rob Stokes
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Ordered...thanks

(Piggybacking, since I didn't see the OP.)

I saw "Woodworking" on the newstand last night. I picked up FWW
instead, because I'm more interested in inspiration than basic
techniques.

The magazine is well done, but has a decided lack of color and
illustrations. I wish them well, but I don't know if the niche market
they're aiming at will support them.

Kevin

GG

Gregg Germain

in reply to Bmchan on 19/02/2004 8:22 PM

20/02/2004 7:59 AM


They say the next issue comes out in August. I wonder if they are
always going to be spaced that far or if that's just magazine startup
effects?



--- Gregg

My woodworking projects:


Replicas of 15th-19th century nautical navigational instruments:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/backstaffhome.html

Restoration of my 82 year old Herreshoff S-Boat sailboat:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/SBOATrestore.htm

Steambending FAQ with photos:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/Steambend.htm




"Improvise, adapt, overcome."
[email protected]
Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Phone: (617) 496-1558

md

"mttt"

in reply to Gregg Germain on 20/02/2004 7:59 AM

20/02/2004 5:46 PM


"Charlie Self" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
>
>
> Start-up magazine that needs to be high quality, but must support itself
> quickly, and do it all without subtracting from qualitiy or deadlines at
an
> already existing magazine, using the same staff. I'd be surprised if it
came
> out more than two or three times a year, UNLESS it is superbly successful
and
> new staff is hired.

Charlie - you're familiar with the biz. Isn't the failure rate of new
magazines pretty high?
If so - toss in the "no ads" approach, and doesn't this endeavor become a
real long-shot?

cC

[email protected] (Charlie Self)

in reply to "mttt" on 20/02/2004 5:46 PM

20/02/2004 7:20 PM

mttt asks:

>> Start-up magazine that needs to be high quality, but must support itself
>> quickly, and do it all without subtracting from qualitiy or deadlines at
>an
>> already existing magazine, using the same staff. I'd be surprised if it
>came
>> out more than two or three times a year, UNLESS it is superbly successful
>and
>> new staff is hired.
>
>Charlie - you're familiar with the biz. Isn't the failure rate of new
>magazines pretty high?
>If so - toss in the "no ads" approach, and doesn't this endeavor become a
>real long-shot?

It would seem so, but...F&W (parent company) is a huge publisher, with a long,
long list of niche magazines, and, from what I'm told, a very healthy financial
picture. They are going into this with no new staff, so costs are low. They've
already got distribution in place...once I discovered the magazine existed, I
found it in all 5 of the places I visited that carried magazines. Biggest cost
is probably going to be a bit of production time and production cost, added to
printing. It's a small magazine because of the lack of ads.Color on just the 4
covers reduces costs, too. Many years ago, I used to edit an association
magazine that used color on covers, with b&w inset photography. We did it by
having xxxx thousand covers printed with just the color border and the magazine
name. Everything else was b&w and printed later with one print run. Some extra
cost (and printing was one helluva lot more costly back then than it is now,
with almost no true automation), but a fancier looking pub than otherwise
possible. I don't know if that's what F&W is doing here, but it's a possibility
of sorts. Let's see what color border the next issue has!

You will all have your own opinions of Popular Woodworking, but in the decade
or so since Steve Shanesy took the reins, along with his current crew--I think
David Thiel came on board about the same time--the improvement has been steady
and large, IMO.

The effect was about the same as Rob Johnstone (and Rockler) taking over
Woodworker's Journal. Both magazines offer a great deal more to the woodworker
than was available in the past. That is true whether or not you agree with the
mix either magazine has. It may or may not be right for you, but I think (and
let's emphasize think, as I haven't checked circulation figures recently) that
both PW and WWJ are in the 200,000 copy per issue range. Wood has more,
possible close to double that, while I have never checked Woodwork and FWW to
see what their circulation might be. I guess I should if I am going to pretend
to be a publishing expert. I sell and write articles and books (in that
order), and don't always keep track of the harder (so my editors tell me) part
of the business.

Charlie Self
"Health food makes me sick." Calvin Trillin

http://hometown.aol.com/charliediy/myhomepage/business.html

cC

[email protected] (Charlie Self)

in reply to Gregg Germain on 20/02/2004 7:59 AM

20/02/2004 2:12 PM

Gregg Germain notes:

>They say the next issue comes out in August. I wonder if they are
>always going to be spaced that far or if that's just magazine startup
>effects?
>

It has to support itself with newsstand sales, so overloading the market is
probably not a good idea, especially on introduction. Too, the staff is from
Pop. Woodworking, so they have to shift mental gears to work on it, and add it
to their normal workload, which probably isn't light, though PW does have one
of the larger in-house staffs of any woodworking magazine.

Start-up magazine that needs to be high quality, but must support itself
quickly, and do it all without subtracting from qualitiy or deadlines at an
already existing magazine, using the same staff. I'd be surprised if it came
out more than two or three times a year, UNLESS it is superbly successful and
new staff is hired.

Charlie Self
"Health food makes me sick." Calvin Trillin

http://hometown.aol.com/charliediy/myhomepage/business.html

Sk

"Swingman"

in reply to Gregg Germain on 20/02/2004 7:59 AM

20/02/2004 12:15 PM

"Charlie Self" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Start-up magazine that needs to be high quality, but must support itself
> quickly, and do it all without subtracting from qualitiy or deadlines at
an
> already existing magazine, using the same staff. I'd be surprised if it
came
> out more than two or three times a year, UNLESS it is superbly successful
and

I hate to fess up to it, but I guess I've trained myself to ignore crass
commercialism so well that I was ambivalent about the lack of ads. The
content was a bit too basic for my purposes and, unless I missed something,
the article on different finishes is as useless as tits on a boar hog in
black and white ... and they would do well to hire Walt Akers, or better
yet, Tom Watson to write the humor some mags think they must close with.

Nonetheless, it is a noble pursuit that you can't help but hope succeeds.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 2/13/04

md

"mttt"

in reply to Gregg Germain on 20/02/2004 7:59 AM

20/02/2004 9:46 PM


"Swingman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
>
> "Charlie Self" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
> black and white ... and they would do well to hire Walt Akers, or better
> yet, Tom Watson to write the humor some mags think they must close with.

Amen!

Heck, if nothing yet - put in a "Best of the Wreck" column where they can
collectively harvest the wit of the Cabal^H^H^H^H group.

[ Sound of wheels Turning ]
"JOATs Free Plan de Mois"
"Bay Area Dave's Esoteric Tool Corner"
"<YourNameHere>'s Monthly Expenditures to Keep Delta Afloat"
"Mttt's No Such Thing as a Stupid Question Except This One Q&A"

BS

"Bob Schmall"

in reply to Gregg Germain on 20/02/2004 7:59 AM

20/02/2004 6:09 PM


"mttt" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Charlie Self" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> >
> >
> > Start-up magazine that needs to be high quality, but must support itself
> > quickly, and do it all without subtracting from qualitiy or deadlines at
> an
> > already existing magazine, using the same staff. I'd be surprised if it
> came
> > out more than two or three times a year, UNLESS it is superbly
successful
> and
> > new staff is hired.
>
> Charlie - you're familiar with the biz. Isn't the failure rate of new
> magazines pretty high?
> If so - toss in the "no ads" approach, and doesn't this endeavor become a
> real long-shot?

Bingo. Mutt, I spent 15 years in media on the business (advertising) side,
and I share your feelings. Woodworking is very well designed and the
illustrations and photos are quite nice, but nowhere AFAIK is it identified
as aimed at the beginning woodworker. I'm not one of them, but I'll be
buying the next issue just to see how they're doing. If they succeed,
great--we can use more beginners and young people in the hobby.

Bob
>
>

gn

gabriel

in reply to Bmchan on 19/02/2004 8:22 PM

20/02/2004 3:23 PM

Rob Stokes wrote:

> Ordered...thanks

Me too. Looks very well done.

--
gabriel

LJ

Larry Jaques

in reply to Bmchan on 19/02/2004 8:22 PM

21/02/2004 7:50 AM

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 19:40:12 -0600, "das" <[email protected]> brought
forth from the murky depths:

>I always laugh when Issue 1, Vol. 1 of a new magazine publishes letters to
>the editor. (as described on their website). How did those letter writers
>know this mag existed?

Most woodworkers are psychic, but you should have known that.


---=====---
After all else fails, read the instructions.
---=====---
Website Design and Update http://www.diversify.com

RS

"Rob Stokes"

in reply to Bmchan on 19/02/2004 8:22 PM

20/02/2004 3:26 AM

Ordered...thanks

Rob

--




Please visit our (recently updated) web site:
http://www.robswoodworking.com

"Bmchan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I know there was an earlier thread on this but I don't want to
> retreive 77,000 threads to get there sooooo.
>
> The magazine is called Woodworking Magazine and their web site is:
>
> http://www.woodworking-magazine.com/
>
> The are affiliated, it appears, with Popular WWg. No ads.
>
> I am in no way affiliated with this wood rag. Just want to say that
> they have done a very nice job in a very crowded field. There is not
> much that FWW and others have not covered. This one targets newbies
> or self trained WW's and aims to fill in the knowledge base that may
> have been overlooked.
>
> The back cover is nicely done and is devoted to a single topic. They
> call it a "poster" although it does not detach per se. The spring
> issue back cover (current premiere) is about screws and is nicely
> designed.
>
> Just my 2 cents. I admire the balls it takes to do this type of
> venture.


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