Are knife magazines on the way out?

L

Lavan

Joined
Nov 8, 2000
Messages
2,301
My June '07 Blade has a huge ad for their website and states that the whole magazine is on it.
I also notice that the recent content has been ...well.... sorta strange (by comparison to past issues)
Can't define except to note that fewer knives that are what we consider "mainstream" are being covered. (This month it's kitchen knives)
I can understand it as the enormous cost of printing and mailing has gotta be a killer. I also believe that any knife manufacturer or hand builder would be nuts NOT to only use the print media long enough to get "hits" on their own website and then let the product sell itself through users who also frequent ...forums. With maybe only a token ad once in a while and then only to tout the website.
But... it looks to me as if the knife magazine is nearing its end. Too bad as you can't really take a laptop to the pot to peruse the stuff.
 
Ya I really enjoy flipping through Blade every month. If they did away with it I don't know what I would do:(
 
Printed matter costs a FORTUNE. Putting the magazine online for people to subscribe to is a financial wizard's dream. Can't beat old dog eared magazines though! Will have to get a laptop to take to the bathroom!
 
moving-van.jpg
 
Yes. Actually I predicted the demise of print some years ago. And I was wrong, but that's another story!
I've launched a new magazine called GearNinja.com. if it gets the traffic I've predicted in a year I'll go to limited circulation print. The key is to forget the B&M news stands and I'll be focusing on Airport distribution only.Print is very expensive and not worth it when you consider return on investment unless... you have gobs of prepaid subscriptions ( eg National Geographic) or you hit on an ideal distribution angle.
The trouble with some highly specialized interest pubs is that when they can't sell ads because the Web is sucking so much traffic, their days become numbered. Ask Denny Hansen of SWAT Mag.
The cool part is there is no good reason to have a mass printing of anything.
GearNinja.com will be published in FlashPaper so it will look like the printed page on screen, but be fully searcheable like HTML/PDF. If you like a page and want to print it for some reason- you can and it will look like a tearsheet from a magazine. It will still be paid for by advertising but sadly, the legions of printers and pre-press folks will be looking for new jobs someday soon and here's the best part- No trees will die, no ink & solvent will be spilled and no trucks or truck fuels will be used in distribution.
Look for it soon at GearNinja.com
Sorry for the shamless plug !
 
I like flipping through a magazine myself. I think mags will be around for a long time to come. i find it convenient to take one with me and read the articles and the ads at dinner or in a hotelroom if i'm traveling. I probably get like 10 magazines monthly.
 
i also buy about 10 different mags every month,,,,love reading before bed,,in the john,,,during a trip to another city,,if any of my knife mags ever went under it would be very sad,,:(
 
The problem with Blade mag is that its MOSTLY advertisments. It used to be about 75/25 articles vs. ads. Lately it is terrible. I have flipped through the last s or seven issues in 5 minutes, because none of the articles interest me. Do I really need a Custom made Bowie knife 14 inches long with a genuine Stag handle for $3000? Or do I need to read an article about the two dozen knife shows in Helena Montana and see a bunch of pictures of guys standing around holding knives that are too far away to see?

Sorry for the rant, but it feels like I paid for a subscription to watch TV commercials. That's how many ads are pushed on me in that magazine.
 
There is a magazine store (City Newsstand http://www.citynewsstand.com) in Chicago that stocks 6000+ DIFFERENT magazines. They have been in business for over 20 years in the same location. people come from a 50+ mile radius to shop there. They are expanding in size. Just an FYI.

Syn
 
Lavan; know what you mean about the June issue of BLADE.
Wierd, I sure didn't expect a full blown cover shot of a japanese-style KITCHEN KNIFE! Sure had me fooled, I thought I was lookin' at a Martha Stew-art special.
 
Lavan said:
My June '07 Blade has a huge ad for their website and states that the whole magazine is on it.
I also notice that the recent content has been ...well.... sorta strange (by comparison to past issues)
Can't define except to note that fewer knives that are what we consider "mainstream" are being covered. (This month it's kitchen knives)
I can understand it as the enormous cost of printing and mailing has gotta be a killer. I also believe that any knife manufacturer or hand builder would be nuts NOT to only use the print media long enough to get "hits" on their own website and then let the product sell itself through users who also frequent ...forums. With maybe only a token ad once in a while and then only to tout the website.
But... it looks to me as if the knife magazine is nearing its end. Too bad as you can't really take a laptop to the pot to peruse the stuff.
Click to expand...


you aren't trying hard enough ;)

the problem, in addition to the ads, which are often good for some info, actually, is that monthly magazines are usually a month behind.

if you are new to something the info might be relevant, but if you spend any time on the internet and are in the know, you can usually get information much faster.

i like the idea of airports. i mean on planes and trains you don't have internet access, that is a great time for a magazine until they start supplying internet on them
 
sure are going out of style here, I just picked up the latest (here in Australia its the latest) Feburary edition of Tactical Knives Magazine and it was $17. I soon put it back thinking I dont need to read it that bad as I can check out most things on the WWW.
 
I like magazines, but if I want some information, I don't go to mags. I go to mags to look at pretty pictures and things like that. Maybe the occassional article. I can't comment on knife mags, but if they're like my other intrests, Bodybuilding, fourwheeling, and whatever. The articles are nearly all product based. Everything is very biased. I know if I want the best info available on any given subject, i come and find a place just like this one. Simply because of all the brilliant people out there with similar intrests it makes these forums the authority in any specific subject. Magazines can't compete with Bored Joe Knife freak who makes 200k a year and doesn't have anything to do besides buy and test out knives or customize them or whatever he wants to do. And porn... lol do they still make porn mags?
 
I've quit buying and reading magazines altogether. If I go to the store and pick up 3 or 4 mags, the cost is over $20. It isn't worth it to me any longer. I don't read newpapers either. I can get the headlines on TV and I don't really care about the rest of the news. I agree that the internet will eventually put printed magazines out of business and perhaps eliminate printing altogether.

For that matter, I haven't been to a movie theater in 15 years. I can watch movies at home cheaper, more conveniently, more comfortably and with better company and better food. I'm amazed people still go to movie theaters.
 
My "library" consists of mainly knife and gun mags, and catalogs. I can't afford to have a splash proof laptop!
 
EdgeOn said:
For that matter, I haven't been to a movie theater in 15 years. I can watch movies at home cheaper, more conveniently, more comfortably and with better company and better food. I'm amazed people still go to movie theaters.
Click to expand...

my 52" hdtv + sofa + fridge with cold beer + lack of other talking people + pause button and 4 second walk to the pisser > hard painfull chairs + driving there + 10 dollar popcorn + no beer + all kinds of people

not to mention I can't play with my knife in the movies.
 
I subscribe to about 5 different mags. That along with my Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops catalogs, I gotta have something to peruse while I'm sitting on the pot.
 
I'm pretty miffed myself about the downward spiral of most print publications.

Looking at stuff on the internet can never really beat an in your hand object that requires no power, no real accumulating costs and can be read while eating at the dinner table without worrying someone's kool-aid spill will cost you 500$ to fix.

I have a subscription to Blade and Knives Illustrated but I don't really read either anymore. Same thing with Maxim. Count the price tags you see in that magazine now as opposed to five years ago, it was always pretty advertisement driven but it has gotten ridiculously unreadable lately.
 
Rat Finkenstein, sometimes, in my house, spending a little bit of time on the pot is the only time I can get any peace and quiet. Nobody wants to come in and bother me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top