CRAFT and Transition

I'm so sad to hear this. I LOVE magazines, and Craft was one of the best. I'm happy to know they'll still be online, though.

For my own part, I have to second what's been mentioned above, about the economy. As much as I enjoyed Craft, I couldn't afford it. But I can't afford much in the way of extras these days. We have a tenant who hasn't been able to afford her rent in five months. Take $650 out of your monthly income, and magazines will quickly move into the "luxury" column, especially since Michael's stopped letting you use those 40% off coupons on them. (Joann's still will, if they aren't on sale, so most of the time their magazines are on sale, at 10% off!) I know I'm not the only one feeling a serious pinch right now. I used to have a hard time leaving a store without a magazine in hand. Now I stand at the check out and tell myself, "You don't need it. You don't need it. You don't need it."

(On the tenant: My husband has been ferrying her to and from job interviews, since she lost her job. It looks like maybe there's a job on the horizon. We just couldn't see our way clear to evicting her.)

I think that it is time that people wake up and realize that the reason that magazines are so inexpensive is all the advertisers. And personally I love the advertisements as I find alot of my suppliers that way. And I always try to make sure that the advertisers know just how I found out about thier company.

I am just catching up! I am sorry to see CRAFT print magazine add their title to the rapidly expanding universe of dying stars. I am impressed with all the thoughtful and heartfelt comments here. I have read every single one and I have nothing new to add that hasn't been said. But I am definitely going to subscribe to Cook's Illustrated - both in print and on line. I have been taking them for granted far too long. Excellent content and NO advertising.

I do agree with Sarah's discussion concerning the huge plethora of titles that have come into being in the past 10 years. It has been overwhelming. And like so many parts of our culture, it is a sign of the trend these past 15 - 20 years toward massive overconsumption. And the magazines have all reflected that trend by way of creating more and more in your face space for advertising at the expense of quality content.

And now that the advertisers have recognized the internet as a rich and
fertile ground they are leaving the print media. Only the publications offering high quality content and those with the most subscribers will survive. Anitra was right! Support your favorites. Subscribe, blog, buy gift subscriptions, talk about it, share old issues.... And it wouldn't hurt to let your favorite publications know what content you want them to include - the content that will help them keep your interest.

I think that we'll have to support blogs and online magazines in the same way that some podcasts get their support. Online readers will have to pay for exclusive content or memberships.

I already miss the glossy pages and the excitement of sitting down for a moment of quiet time.

We're used to having the luxury to buy lots and lots of cheap (often disposable) stuff instead of making careful purchasing decisions that are investments into our future. We're used to magazine subscriptions (and clothing made in China, and vegetables grown in Mexico, etc.) being extremely cheap, so we can buy everything we want and throw in a few more items in the check-out line. So, it makes sense that we recoil when charged reasonable prices of the sort that actually pays directly for living wages for the people who made the product.

Over the next years as we start to recover from this recession, I hope we Americans will become more careful with our money and more focused on quality instead of quantity. As this happens, we'll be able to afford a few very good magazines (perhaps a lovely book-like magazine such as Craft:, and a zine from the nice lady in our town that gave us a kombucha starter that one time), and we'll pay a reasonable price for them, and we'll be able to afford it because we're choosing those mags carefully and not getting everything on the shelf. If we want more, we'll trade with friends, or buy second-hand.

I like paper magazines. I do. Yet I do feel going electronic makes sense, at least for now while this whole thing shakes out - I just hope they make it easy for subscribers to print out their zines on their home printer if they want it in paper format that badly. Or, provide a "premium" paper service and charge enough to actually pay for it... without advertisements.

i am a magazineaholic. i buy them all for a variety of subjects, crafts, decor, business, fashion. domestic and foreign. you name it.

so it sucks that so many that i loved (three which you have pictured) have gone kaplunkt!

i but mags because i love the pictures. i love taking them into the second office (the bath) and soaking them in.

i love referring back to something, clipping and tagging pages, sometimes rippin them out and putting them on my dream/inspiration boards.

so i buy them on the stands sometimes, subscribe, tell people about different articles etc.

Let's say uptop that I'm just your plain old magazine consumer. If I have extra spending money, I buy. When I don't -- I hit the Library. Simple as that.
But there's more -- why spend to see much of what is already free on the Internet? I've seen far more Tom Cruise on the Net this year than I've seen in the movie theatre, so is it any wonder his last movie tanked? (Lindsey, Paris, Brittney) It's that way for many things and many people, I'm afraid.
Now, how can mags survive? It's time to pull back to the core publications. Beef them up. Revive the interest in them. Once interest and the economy have been sparked, then the core publishers can branch out like before, only with the knowledge that the Public is wiser and tighter with a buck. There will always be a market for handheld information (Dr's office anyone).

I can't really get into reading a magazine online. I can read websites, get RSS feeds for blogs, etc., but I hate those "real page flip action!" online magazine things.

I guess if magazines want to stick around, they have to figure out a new model of revenue (much like TV is migrating online and advertising models for TV are changing). I don't know what the answer is, though!

I guess I'm glad the plans for expanding CROQ didn't work out after all...

I sent you a really long email and mentioned this very topic. I don't know if I should repeat that here. But you know what's sad about the demise of print media? Its permanance. Online resources are not permanent. They have to be hosted. Peoples online attention span flits here and there. They read it, but they don't remember where. It's got to be frustrating for advertisers as well. Internet advertising doesn't stick the way print advertising does.

I don't like the way craft magazines resemble ads for craft products. I don't like that I've had craft magazines request my products to be featured and then they fold and I never hear from them again, either. There has to be a middle ground.

I want the latest issue of CRAFT in a BAD way! I do!

OK, I still cannot believe I emailed you about this and it turns out you blogged about it yesterday. I'm going to go click the links in the article and read more.

I'm not sure how to deal with the problem, but it seems to be an issue of where the dollars come from. Maybe magazines could charge a higher subscription rate? However, I think a decrease in actual paper print is a good thing, less trees cut down and less paper waste, less fuel used in distribution. I think Craft: will be moving in a great new direction with it's online only publication.

NO, NO, NO. Argh.

I'm sorry. This is so frustrating to me! I hate digital versions of magazines. HATE THEM. They completely ruin the experience for me of sitting down with my coffee or tea and flipping through a magazine. Or reading just one article before I go to bed. I don't want my laptop weighing on my chest when I snuggle in to bed. (Not that I am not guilty of doing this once in awhile).

Everyday I burn holes into my eyes by keeping up with nearly 300 blogs on my reader, and that is enough. I don't know why advertising isn't working anymore for print - maybe they just need to have more interesting things to sell! Back when I started to read Bust magazine, I would read EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. even the advertisements. I would visit nearly every website - it was like a whole new world for me. Maybe if advertising was like that all the time, magazines would succeed!

I make a point of subscribing to my favorite magazines, because I know that doing that helps out. I am so frustrated with receiving notices from magazine after magazine saying that they are just not printing anymore. Then I have to call said company up and fight to get my money back. *COUGH* Martha Stewart Omnimedia (terrible handling of the Blueprint fold).

Books and magazines are precious to me. Especially books about dance, crafting and cooking. They are featured prominently in my apartment, and I like the leisurely way that I flip through stacks of them for inspiration. Question: What happens when your computer crashes and you lose all of those digital files that you did not back up? The possibility of my books getting destroyed (say by a fire or flood) seems far less likely than a computer crash. I'll keep my precious objects within arm's reach, thanks.

I'm just babbling at this point. I should post a proper rant on my own blog. However, I will end with this.

I WILL NEVER BUY A KINDLE.

I'm just sayin'.

xo, an old-fashioned girl

I don't know... I LOVE magazines, but I am one of those who hates the ads in them - I ignore those all the way. I never thought about what would happen to print media... this is sobering.

I actually have been thinking a lot about magazine subscriptions and the environment and my own personal storage problems, and I think online subscriptions are the way to go. I've come to the rather difficult decision to let all my magazine subs lapse this year, because I simply no longer have the room to store everything. I'm not sure how it works logistically for the publishers themselves, in terms of hacking and copyright and illegal sharing, but I'd love to support online subscriptions as the way of the future. The ability to access articles, photos, instructions, recipes, whatever, at the touch of a button rather than having to physically store and search through issue after issue to find whatever you're looking for seems so valuable and modern to me. I really hope Martha's listening!

I'm sure that embracing all that online media has to offer will only benefit our favorite magazines in the long run.

Still, it's hard to deny the fact that it's a lot easier to sneak a print copy of CRAFT into the bathroom for an "extended visit" than it is to sneak a computer in ;-)

(Did I just say that out loud?)

It's so sad to hear of magazines stopping publication. I always enjoy carrying around a good carfting magazine to read throughout the week. It's just not the same with an online zine. I used to leave a bookstore loaded with magazines for the month. Now I hardly leave with a single purchase. Over on my side of the globe, the magazines have stopped coming in long before the publication ceased. I tried to continue support for some must-haves through subscriptions, but it's simply not sustainable to pay several times the cost of the magazine for shipping internationally.

How do the economics of this work for contributors? Does one get paid at the same rate for contributing to an online "magazine" as to a print one? Sorry if that's a totally naive and/or rude question.

I guess I'm awfully behind the times. At least up til now, I've been supporting magazines I like by buying them. And then reading them in the bathtub. Sigh.

I'm not an contestant, I have Craft 10.

I just picked up the news in my email. I will miss Craft SOOO much. I can hardly tuck my computer into a corner of my tote to read in little corners of spare time or at the dog park. Luckily I have all my back issues. I do understand that print mags are expensive to produce and everything has to "wash it's own face" these days, but as a long time magazine lover I am terribly disappointed.

In my day job I am one ofhthose evil advertisers. Over the last 12 months we have cut back our magazine advertising to next to nothing. Relying on online and TV instead. In January we gave mags a last chance and despite testing larger colour ads saw very minimal return. As demand drops during this recession companies will rely more heavily on effective marketing instead of base demand. But the ROI needs to be there. I have switched my spend to PPC activity which proves more effective . However I think there is a more interesting solution, partnerships. If you could get a great fit between publication and advertiser sponsering an issue with really integrated relevant content that would be a good bet. I have had lots of sucess online with this lately giving me the advertiser the responsivness I need. So I am very excited about the future I think we just need to be a little more creative.

When I got my notice from CRAFT I wrote to them to say I was sad. I much prefer the feel of a magazine in my hands. However, I know they do a great job over there at craftzine. I was sad about Adorn and domino, as well.

I am going now to read the comments.

I am sad that magazines are going out of print - partly because I've always loved being able to interact with (write on, cut out) images in a tangible way. However as I'm trying to cut down on paper use more and more, it's harder to justify magazine consumption since I end up only retaining/keeping 5% of what's in them.

I do think that as we improve technologies for reading on-screen, we will find ourselves doing that more and more. I think that techie people also need to find intuitive ways to interact with digital images (I think this is why Polyvore is so popular) in a scrapbook/journal kind of way.

I would definitely buy an iPod/iPhone app for my favorite magazines, or pay a nominal price per month for a subscription. Especially if it could be accessed by the same account both online and on my iPod while I'm on the bus... like my Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Though I've been a lifelong, passionate magazine reader I've never really given much thought to how they operate, the transitions they'll need to undergo, or how to support the media I love... so the comments here have been very eye-opening. thanks!

Oh, and feel free to pass on issue 10 to another lucky gal - I have my copy, and have scoured it, and will be hanging on to it . . .

Considering that I heard about CRAFT's print demise this morning by reading Diane's Twitter, I have to admit that print is not what it used to be.

Yet I love print magazines, and currently subscribe to a number of them - including the no-longer-printing Domino and CRAFT. I get Quilting Arts, Cloth-Paper-Scissors, ReadyMade, Lucky, Real Simple, Health . . . yet even I have cut back on my subscriptions in the past few years. I read more blogs and in the past week, I've even gotten on Twitter (I can feed the updates into my Facebook? I'm in @eyes_aflame!)

So here's the answer to the big question: Do I support the advertisers in my fave print pubs? Occasionally - I've found some cool new beauty products in Lucky (some duds, some good ones), some good products in health, tried products I saw advertised in my craft magazines, found some cool new and visited the sites of artists who appealed to me. In most of those cases though, I was responding to products and brands described in the articles and content . . . and most new products and on-line retailers that I visit or books that I buy I discover through mention in blogs.

And this influences how I advise my small biz clients, too. I generally advise against print advertising and tell them to focus on getting articles about themselves or by themselves as an expert out there instead. I talk to them about building relationships rather than advertising. The closest thing I've come to paid print advertising for myself in the past two years is an ad in the Crafty Wonderland Holiday booklet.

That said, I still spend a fair bit of money on art and craft books, and am more than happy to pay good money for print "special issues" and soft back books (Somerset Studios has gone almost exclusively to this model so that they can respond more nimbly to trends, and it seems to work reasonably well for them, though the quality of the projects is not always up to par).

Someday, our kids or our kids kids will look at each other and say, "Can you believe they used to make periodicals and disposable products out of TREES?!" And we will smile fondly and nod.

I wrote about this today too, and saw your excellent post halfway through and linked over. I'm half sad that the beautiful lush page-flipping magazine experience is going away, and half very, very grateful that CRAFT: is adapting to these lean and unstable times we're wading through, and playing to their strengths with excellent online content (relating a bit to what Sarah mentioned about adaptability). Things are changing very, very quickly these days and I'm glad that it's not a total loss.

I miss Adorn (the cover you posted today almost made me teary!), Cutting Edge, Budget Living, Domino, and the other great ones that have vanished over the last few years. My bookshelf is full of those rows of precious back issues. You asked what we'll do to support our favorites - I'm going to do more reviews and spotlights of the craft books and magazines I like best over at my blog, along with personally buying and subscribing and passing recommendations on to friends. I want to do a better job of putting my good energy into some of the best parts of our crafty world.

First, generally on the decline of the mainstream print media and publishers--and I'm not speaking specifically about the niche market of DIY publications, but rather print in general:

As someone whose professional life is closely tied to mainstream media, this is a tough topic for me. So many of my friends and colleagues are directly affected by the downturn of print media, thus I have a lot of compassion for folks who are losing their livelihoods because of this trend. However, the publishing industry (both periodicals and book publishers) has been aware for a very long time of their slow decline and diminishing revenue streams, and yet many media outlets did not adapt their content or business model to stay current with the trends. (And it's important to note that I'm speaking of the broad segment of news media primarily, not so much niche media, which is the topic at hand--sorry. It's the are of which I feel qualified to speak.) I realize that sounds harsh, but it's the truth. I have been told many, many stories by journalist friends to illustrate this (which wouldn't be appropriate to post here) but needless to say, it's fairly shocking. However, some publishers and media have really been aggressive in differentiating themselves in the market, by responding effectively to their advertisers' and readers' changing needs. An excellent example is The Atlantic. It's probably one of the most Old School brands in journalism, and yet they have done a phenomenal job of remaining contemporary, developing excellent complementary online content and constantly tweaking their product. It's very, very impressive.

Furthermore, beyond adapting the product as trends change, I do feel that there was a huge uptick in the number of niche publications that were being produced during the economic boom (and I am sure I've seen numbers to support this, but I am not feeling like digging them up). For example, I used to work for an educational institution. I was approached on a daily basis (literally) by various publications (kids magazines, parent magazines, recreation magazines, relocation magazines--most of which were start-ups) wanting my advertising dollars. During times of economic prosperity, there was a decent-sized pot of potential advertisers that were able to support all these start ups. However, most of us who buy ads know that most print advertising doesn't actually work much of the time (when I advise clients on marketing, I find myself generally recommending against print advertising, because it is often a poor ROI). As the economy started to decline, marketing dollars went away, and so did many of those publications. It's too bad, because so many of them were quite good, but they didn't have a stable revenue stream that could last through poor financial times. As a result many of them ran their course. Domino is a perfect example of this--in a era of massive home foreclosures, it's no wonder that a shopping magazine for the home isn't successful.

While that was a hugely tangential couple of paragraphs right there, my point is that it is absolutely critical to remain nimble and willing to adapt--but that doesn't necessarily mean that guarantees long-term financial viability--due to the fact that no one's really figured out how to make money in the new media/publishing environment--it just helps hedge your bets a bit. It's a tough business, and I imagine it will be in transition a very long time.

Second, on the specifics of your question, these are the things I do to support media that I enjoy:

-On web sites, I do click through on the ads. Seriously, it makes a difference. Click-throughs don't bring in much revenue for the site, but it helps advertisers stay interested. I am much more likely to do this is someone has advertising that was obviously specifically purchased on that site, as opposed to google ad words or blogher.

-When I buy something that I've heard about via a print or online publication, and there's a box saying "how did you hear about us?" (lots of companies do this for first-time buyers), I always fill out that form. Or I make sure to enter that reference code that's in some ads. Same goes for if I hear about a bricks and mortar place (even restaurants), I will mention that I saw their ad in X publication or on X site. (Or that I read an article about them in that publication, so that they know their customer consumes that particular media, when they look to purchase advertising.)

-I do my very best to support authors whose work I enjoy, within the limitations of my budget. However, with that said, I buy far more craft books than I do craft periodicals. (Honestly, periodicals are often far too general and don't have the space to go into the depth that I want--but that's just a personal preference; I am very frugal and only buy/subscribe to periodicals that I will use. Part of me feels guilty about this, but I am firmly committed to being very careful with my discretionary spending.) When I buy a sewing or craft book I like, I always write about it on our site. And I try, try, try to write something substantive. I have no idea if this actually translates into sales, but I hope it does. (This is also an opportunity for me to support independently-owned bookstores and the local economy, by shopping for books locally.)

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds, as I believe that there is a lot of potential in new media and in print-on-demand to revolutionize how we consume information--if only we can figure out how to make it financially sustainable for the long-haul.

Oh, did I laugh when I pulled this up... the photo of Adorn. Maybe I'm a jinx?

(There was a full page ad for one of my books in Adorn, and I'm in the last issue of CRAFT, too)

But Adorn was specifically who I was thinking about when I said this on my blog: "I am happy O’Reilly is choosing to amplify and expand the CRAFT online offerings instead of, say, just killing the print mag and saying “that’s it, we’re done” like so many others have. (I won’t name names, but some of them really made me sob)."

I figure I've given Soho enough guff for one week...

I'm so sad about this! Magazine subscriptions are inexpensive enough that I subscribe to all that I like. It's pretty easy to support them that way. And if a special edition hits the stands I try to buy that as well. With blogs, I've only been around for about 6 months, but I try and promote and send traffic to all the the blogs I like and I always check out their ads and sponsors if they interest me.

I was so sorry to read about the end of Craft Magazine. Like you, however, I am excited to see where the Craft website goes in the future. The web is clearly going to be the successor to print media, but I think the question remains as to what happens if (when?) web advertising stops covering the overhead of running a website. I don't have an easy answer - maybe subscription or partial subscription service on most websites is the way things will move in the future. The challenge will be maintaining a balance between free information and purchased information; I certainly don't want to see the free exchange of information on the internet come to an end.

I'm so sad to see Craft go! I feel that I did my part to support it, but I understand that advertising revenue is still critical to print mags.

To respond to your question, I support my print mags in these ways:
- I subscribe!
- I take them to work and show them off! (I enlisted 2 subscribers that way.)
- I talked about it on my blog, etc.
- I subscribed again!

I'll continue to support Craft mag through the digital subscription, and I hope they decide to partner with a print-on-demand service for those of us who treasure our print media.

The only other thing I can think of to support them would be to contribute articles/projects and participate in the online community.

All that said, this really does present an incredible opportunity for all those indie zine publishers!


Thanks for this thoughtful, understanding assessment of the situation Sister. As always, viva la CraftyPod!

I wonder when or if the magazine industry will revolutionize itself by asking people to pay for what a magazine is worth. We're seeing the television industry (specifically broadcast TV, that has also been subsidized by advertising) trying to deal with this in its struggle to come up with solid online distribution channels, but we already know traditional television can work without advertising subsidy since cable TV has been a raging success for two decades.

Few tangible things we buy are subsidized, and especially in the world of the handmade we focus a lot on valuing the products we buy. We're willing to pay more for something that's handmade than for something that's mass produced. We believe in fair compensation.

Would we pay more for print magazines if that's the only way we could get their quality information, images, analysis, and news? I would. However much I love learning about things online, I also love sitting down offline with some (preferably recycled) paper in my hands.

Magazine specialist and prof Samir Husni (http://mrmagazine.com) frequently rails against magazine publishers practically giving away subscriptions—the fees would barely cover postage in many cases. Publishers do this to get as many readers as possible so they can attract more advertising. I agree with him that this is wrong-headed. Magazines should cultivate a quality audience that's willing to pay for what the publication is worth.

Um, apparently I've been brewing thoughts on this. Heh. (I have a copy of CRAFT 10; please don't enter me in the awesome contest. :)

I used to be a magazine buyer at a little bookstore, and I love magazines in general. Based on my experience I think personal recommendations almost always trump traditional print ads. It seems really elementary, but it's true--if a friend tells you to read a magazine, you're not only far more likely to give it a try but also far more likely to recommend it to others if you like it. I sold soooo many copies of ReadyMade this way. :) So I say, if you love a magazine, don't just keep it to yourself and expect that everyone will pick up on it eventually---shout your love from the rooftops!!

Wow -- I'm a magazine lover, so all this bad news is hitting close to home. Perhaps this indicates a movement toward a DIY revolution in media -- hopefully 'zines will move in to fill the void, or perhaps the online journal concept will catch on. I just hope people can continue to make money doing what they love.