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.