publishing home shopping catalogs is an off-shoot of one of my businesses.


It is ALOT of work, LOTS of talanted people, graphic designers, writers, proof readers, Catalog director(The Boss), Photo Shop experts, photographers, studio, etc. etc. Its a whole team of expensive skilled people which requires the proper enviorment and tools. The deadlines are a pain, the printers will rob you blind, they like to switch paper quailty if it isnt checked every press run.

Sales reps for advertizers thier commisions are high. Sending them to the S.H.O.T. show to drum up new accounts every year.

Freelance writers that people want to read arnt cheap. Some industry writers are just re-writing the same stuff time and time again.

Distribution is the highest hurdle, how do you get it in the racks in stores? You cant get the circulation numbers high enough here at AR to justify the pricing of the ads to cover the expences every month. You need the Audit Beauro of Circulation for an audit to show the potential advertizers that the audicence is large enough to support the ad rates.

The catalog I publish costs us almost $1000/page to produce. Its 400 pages if we change 150 pages every quarter for seasonal goods its at least $150K. Distribution is easy for me because I have a customer data base I have created over many years who pay an annual membership fee.

I have thought about creating a magazine but the circulation thing is hard, real hard. The magazine industry isnt as healthy as it was 10 years ago because of the net. If I could figure out the distribution thing I have the tools now to create any magazine I want. But getting them on the rack aint easy.

As much as I love AR look at the firearms industry rags they suck and have for years. I think its the wrong subject matter if profit was a consideration. Since its so expensive to produce, profit must be considered.

The cost-effective way to go would be PDF files on a CD or DVD. I suggest looking very carefully at ADOBE's new digital negative format for photos. I'm not sure how valuable video would be to AR members, though Video would be a major advantage for showing certain techniques, especially in slow motion. But now we're talking about very large files. I'd actually prefer a book or magazine, but I probably couldn't afford it. So how about a CD or DVD for us poor folks and well-printed magazine on acid-free paper for the folks who can affort it? These days, all printed materials are in digital form for most of the production process. By the way, in which languages should this new periodical publish? I don't know what translation services cost, but in the USA, translation is very expensive, especially when the text being translated uses a set of specialized concepts and associated vocabulary. I'm sure that there are other issues out there, so don't anybody spend any real money or sign any contracts until some competent folks have thought things through. No, I'm no expert.

I have some legal affidavits to write this weekend, then I'll polish up a couple articles I have in the can, and send them along. Thanks for affording us this format to put out some no bullshit articles. I am grateful for that.
JCN

I do not see that this "Magazine" is going to be any different than extended posts. For every "article" written there will extended "Letters to the Editor" exclaiming that the wonderful shot-placement story is full of crap because my brother-in-law went to Mozmabique once and shot a buffalo through both lungs with a .458 Lott and it ran off, but after much searching finally found the buffalo in Zimbabwe 500 miles away.

And is someone going to decide what is worth reading? And who is qualified to do that? Even in the better magazines, half the stuff is not worth the time to read.

I have been following this thread with great interest, and I belive that an on-line magazine is a very good idea. No deadlines to meet and one can always make a book of them when there is a fair number of articles. Perhaps a scope for the magazine ought to be defined? Should it be only about Africa, or about all forms of hunting all over the world? Or should it include reloading and guns in general?

I guess you agree we ought to draw the line on politics...

Regards,
Martin

As AR is a general hunting and shooting site, I hope we will include articles on hunting from all over the world, as well as reloading and gunsmithing articles.

I have already received one article, and am in the process of working out the details of how the author wishes it to appear.

I will add headings as we receive relevant articles, which I hope will make it easier for our members to decide what they wish to read.

" I don't know what translation services cost, but in the USA, translation is very expensive, especially when the text being translated uses a set of specialized concepts and associated vocabulary."

The French translation does not pose any problem. The English translation as well,I have many American friends in France who can correct my poor English. ALL FOR FREE.
I agree with an on-line magazine.
IMHO we have right now to define headings. This will help to later merge them into genuine specialized books.
Last week I received the book nyati from African hunters. A splendid book but I can add a few to it. We can altogether make such a book collecting all of our experiences and knowledges. We can even improve existing publications in agreement with the author.
In France a book came to fame �Nouvelles de Brousse� (News from the bush) it�s a compilation of anecdotes and adventures from French PH. We can easily produce the same amazement.
I volunteer to submit articles.

Will,
You are going to be in charge of saying what is, and is not worthy of posting for posterity. The editor/dictator must be experienced and acerbic. That would be you.
JCN

I'm no experienced African Hunter, but I would be willing to pop for a website from which to contribute my own modest efforts. Where else can you write an article and pass it around to ten experienced people for editing, critique, and commentary.

Heck, it would be fun to have Allen Day write about why belted Mags are the enduring answer to life's hunting questions, and have dj write an equally passionate article about the emerging preeminence of the WSM's. A reader could make an informed decision based on which viewpoint resonated the most for them.

JCN

PS We can put Ray's column at the end. G&A has Colonel Cooper as "The Gunner's Guru". We have Ray as "The Obi-Wan of the Veldt"

Oh, and RIP,
You are going to write about your "Gun of The Month Club" (and you're gonna like it ).

.

If monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly proves to be a problem, how about an Annual or Year Book?



For what it's worth, I would prefer reading a book to a CD. The video on VCD/DVD can always be sent along with it. Best of both worlds in my opinion.



Rustam

What about creating a database of articles here at AR? Contributors could submit, editors can decide if the article is appropriate and of approproate standards, and a section of AR can be set aside as an archived online magazine.

Instead of a distributed CD or DVD, viewers/subscribers can review the content including any video and pictures at their leisure. To offset the cost of the bandwidth, it can still be a subscriber magazine, but without the deadlines of a delivered magazine.

Alf,
I agree that deadlines an a short production cycle will run most any magazine into the ground.
What I envision is a relatively indolent writing cycle. One good article a year would soon add up to a very useful, and accessible, database. I would also not cut into our daily jobs that we actually eat off of.
JCN
Except for RIP, I want one article a month on his various and wonderful thunder sticks.

Do you guys think there isn't already enough work involved in administering and maintaining this site? You want to add MORE work?

George

When The African Hunting Gazette first came out, it was an annual. I loved the annual version. The current one is o.k. but as ALF pointed out, the stamina of the thing is a problem. Maybe an annual AR African book on CD (or even in print) could be the answer.

Gentlemen,

I did not want to post an answer earlier, as I wanted to see what you all thought of this idea.

I honestly cannot see us getting involved in a printed magazine.

However, if you wish to have a seperate section on AR that deals exclusively with artcles written specifically for this purpose, we will be happy to set it up.

If this is what you all wish to have, my suggestion is a seperate heading; such as The Accuratereloading Online Magazine - or any name you might wish to call it.

Let me know what you all decide, and we will take it from there.

Ah George, if you read carefully none of the admins or moderators are talking about doing the work.



Clever huh?



Don

Yeah, but I bet that's what these other guys were hoping!

George

Saeed's mission statement at the begining of the AR home page is a good mission statement for any magazine.

"This site was started by a group of shooters, whose interests include hunting, target shooting and plain plinking. The idea was to share what we have learned from hunting, reloading, gunsmithing and any other shooting related ideas. We are not affiliated to any company involved in the shooting and hunting sports. So what you will find here are our actual experiences, good or bad. If you have any interesting ideas, or if you have come across anything you think might be of interest to other fellow shooters, please consider sharing it with us, we would love to hear from you."

I would offer my two articles to get things going. One on the effects of rotational velocity on FMJ penetration in a LaGrange stop box, and another on 20 premium 458 caliber soft points recovered in water buckets. Nick already has photos for the soft point article.

Andy

JCN,
O.K. "Gun of the Month Club" with possible monthly installments such as:

"Redneck Riflery: The 500 A-Square at 1000 Yard Targets"
"Bolt Action Trash: Why Can't They All Be Mausers?"
"German Double Rifles: Can't Live with'em, Can't Live Without'em"
"Brush Bullets: Damn That Twig!"
"African Sheep Rifle in Theory and Practice: Revised Monthly"

Amen Bro!
That's what I'm talking about.

Don't forget:

"Remington DGR's - NOT"

"Everything I Needed to Know About Classic Rifles I Stole from Alf's Posts"

"Why My Daddy Ray Disowned Me; Confessions of a Synthetic Stock User"

RIP



Or why not:

"Who needs premiums- Use of matchking's and other unknown hunting bullets"



"Belted cases- Improvement or marketing trick"



"Confessions of a warthog hunter- The story about Walther and his expeditions in Africa"



Cheers

/ JOHAN

I want to buy the ".45/70 African Dangerous Game Rifle" edition.





Maybe we could get Caramello to write up his hunt reports.

To put this together looks to me like someone (or several)will have to quit thier day job. Lots more work than anyone realizes. Look how long it has been since we started the book project and still not finalized. Not to denigrate the folks involved in the book, just to emphasize the degree of work involved.

Putting this together on AR is not a problem at all. It only takes a few minutes to put all the text and photos together.

The main concern is getting enough people who are willing to submit articles for publication.

My suggestion is those of you who have articles that you wish to have published, is to email them to me, together with any relevant photos.

I will put each one up as soon as I get it, and we can fine tune the magazine as we go along.

Please write in the subject line of your email - AR online magaizine. This will make it easire for me to pick the message out of the several hundreds we get every day. Most of which are just rubbish and get deleted.

DRG,

There is no denying the enormous amount of work the Administrators and Moderators have put in. Thank you all very much for this hard work in making AR so enjoyable for thousands of people across the world.

Good hunting!

Saeed,

Thank you very much again and best wishes.

We shall all enjoy this immensely.

Good hunting!