Survival magazine?

:thumbup: Great Idea for a Magazine ! I'll subscribe ! Keep us informed on the outcome of this project !:D
 
warrigal said:
Obviously I do't get very often But at the suggestion of SBF here I is.
There is always room for some one doing this specificly.
Swampratknives.com has a survival forum but it has died off over the last year or so But I learnt heaps there for the three or four years before.
I think part of the problem is the very broad scope that the term survival covers.
I'm not interested in burying Guns in my back yard or flint napping, ( not that I have problems with other people who do want to do that) Swamprat was good becuase there were a few oldtimers there and a few SAR fellas so the information was either current practise or reliable from long experiance.
I'll keep an eye on here and see what developes.
Carl
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Hey good to see you over here Carl.

The ideas are flowin'... but maybe the people who would like a new mag could suggest what they'd like to see in it.:thumbup:

I'm thinking like Carl most of us aren't interested in creating a survivalist mag but a mag about bushcraft and surviving/thriving while out bush.

Tell us all what you'd like to read about.

I for one am always interested in gear reviews, new products and the odd step by step instruction on a new skill.
 
I like this idea a lot, and I think fiction and non-fiction stories, fans edc pics of the month, outdoor cooking recipes, primitive skills step by step workshops, fans "my campsite" of the month. I think we could do it here, actually, I might start a new thread about it.
 
I think this is a wonderful idea, and would really like to join up and see if I can help with the project. Some additional ideas for article would be reviews of courses, possibly interviews with instructors, possibly reviews of online resources.

Anyways if I can help, LMK.
MrC
 
Great idea!

What about analyze survival stories from the past, as to what the people did right/wrong.
 
I think this is a great idea.
2 comments.
1) Weekly is probably too often for a regular issue
2) Not everything you can imagine to be good to have has to be in the magazine. You can have an accompanying web-site, discussion group or section of a wiki. I would like to see us start with a basic layout, monthly distribution. The rest of the great stuff that is of less core interest to reader/participants or new concepts can then be tried out on the web.

Would it be a good idea to do this in cooperation with the wilderness wiki?
 
I think this is a neat idea and hope this can come to be. I don't want to offend anybody who has voiced their opinions here, but wanted to offer a word of warning form a business perspective. Many of you have gotten very specific about wanting a magazine that caters to your particular area of interest only and NOT "that other thing", be it recipes or expensive gear or primitive skills or SHTF or whatever. I think a "Big Tent" approach might be better here.

Not everyone comes to the table looking to "survive on the cheap" or to learn primative skills, or whatever. As such, in my opinion, the magazine shouldn't be limited to any one of those perspectives, but could have differnt writers that tend to write from those perspectives. There is room for reviews of $400 Busses as well as Moras and Bushmen. Articles on flint knapping are certainly interesting, but so is one looking at modern water purification. Let the readers decide whether to read a particular article.

For a (print) magazine like this to survive, it must have broad enough appeal to reach a broad audience. Publishing is time consuming and expensive. Even an electronic newsletter is a big undertaking, and I don't believe it could be sustained very long if done as a hobby.

Having a glossy magazine that addresses all of the topics you have laid out in a professional and authoritative way, presented in a visually attractive format, could not only help us addicts get our fix, but could effectively reach out to others who are literally dying without it.

A companion website would allow for rich content, including video and audio, as well as offering a directory of schools, gear, and survival literature.

Probably the best place to start is to study what is currently out there and to talk to some people in magazine publishing. Good luck.

-- FLIX
 
In thinking about this more, I've come to realize that this forum here is basically an online survival magazine, only better. We have lot's of pics, reviews, trip reports etc. But unlike a regular mag, we can exchange questions and comments with the author.

I know a print magazine that you can hold and take with you would be awesome too though. Just thinking out loud.
 
tknife said:
In thinking about this more, I've come to realize that this forum here is basically an online survival magazine, only better. We have lot's of pics, reviews, trip reports etc. But unlike a regular mag, we can exchange questions and comments with the author.

I know a print magazine that you can hold and take with you would be awesome too though. Just thinking out loud.
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I was thinking the samething from the start of this thread, but I don't post much, so I didn't want to come across in a negative way.

Paper backs came about because we did not have the internet. Now that we have the net, this is the new interactive magazine. Magazines you could interact with, but it took months for your letter to be published. Now we do the samething, but it is done in seconds, not months.

You can save anything you want to a disk, and print just what you want to eliminate mountains of paper.

I would not go backwards if it was me. If anything, you should move forward using the net.

Look at some how being able to take a thread that you want to save, and make it into a printable version. Take out all the crap that is needed to run the forum as it has no value on paper. Keep the author of the post as you may have a question for them later on.

Each paying member here could delete any posts within the thread that he or she does not want, to cut down on paper and ink as well as dupilcate printing of the same posts within a thread. So print the thread and later on if someone has something more to add, you can just print that off as well without printing EVERYTHING again.

Now each person can make their own survival magazine as they see fit.

Again, it is just my opinion and what the hell do I know. :confused:
 
Also take a look at Backwoods Home Magazine and Back Woods Home magazine. They might not be survival oriented in the sense of what to do when you get lost in the woods, but lots about how to can and store food, how to deal with power outages, etc. Backwoods Home has a strong 2nd Amendment slant.

I know both of those magazines are looking for contributing writers... they already have the whole magazine set up and are publishing... maybe a Bladeforums knife review or monthly knife column? No money down to start, no advertising to sell, nothing of the sort.

If the column is still being produced with good content in a year, maybe then it's time to launch something more serious.

There are a number of magazines that could make for a good fit with this forum, why not use their publishing infrastructure while you all set up the staff and start producing columns?
 
tknife said:
In thinking about this more, I've come to realize that this forum here is basically an online survival magazine, only better. We have lot's of pics, reviews, trip reports etc. But unlike a regular mag, we can exchange questions and comments with the author.

I know a print magazine that you can hold and take with you would be awesome too though. Just thinking out loud.
Click to expand...

A wiki would probably work out real well, too.
 
I read a dozen or so magazines. I consider Backwoodsman and Backwoods Home as survival, self sufficiency magazines and really enjoy them. I am big on learning how "was that before all of today's technology". I love the Foxfore Books too. As for Wilderness Way, it was a little weak.

I also get Grit and Mother Earth News but they are too socialist for me and am letting them expire.

To me there are many survival situations -from unplanned nights in the woods, to urban unrest, to national crises... Have you been reading about Costco and Walmart limiting sales of certain food...

Plant that victory garden now boys and girls.

tjg
 
OK. Sorry for the delay (been busy publishing)
- 12 months ago, I was asked "Hey, Mr Smart Alec, why don't you launch a Gadget Mag?"
So I did. I researched for all of 10 seconds and came up with Gear Ninja Magazine (gearninja.com) the same night.
12 months later, it has NOT yet profited but at least AD revenues have covered the enormous cost of staff, ME.
There's an important link I need to locate for you that is the online guide for starting your own publication. It helped me a lot and it gets down and serious- complete with how to get a UPC, distributorship etc.
I just wanted to create a POC (proof of concept) first, no hassles. So I avoided the idea of Mass Printing COMPLETELY. I suggest you do the same as my predictions regarding print costs, have come to pass already.
One thing I'd like to warn you about before I go further, please do your homework.
The crucial first questions that you want to answer are:
1- Do I want to launch a for profit or Not-For-Profit publication?
2- Is this just a glorified place for me and my like-minded buddies to share ideas or is it a business venture with intent to profit?
3- What need, niche or gap does it fill that is not being filled already by someone else?
4- What is my reader demographic?
5- How will it be financed?

So let's start there and let's see how it goes.

For my side, GearNinja.com has turned into a monster! I set out to proove something and unfortunately, it's much more than one person can handle, so I'm looking for a buyer to cover my costs to date + the value of the brand, or a grant to hire some staff.
After all, it's not my day job ;)
 
Times have changed and in an era where digital information prevails, it is hard to imagine how a start up magazine can be so successful.

Sure, our generation still enjoys the feel of printed paper with fancy ads, but the reality is we are quickly becoming the minority.

We are in an age where information can be "exchanged" with a few strokes of the keyboard. Unlike a magazine where information is usually one sided, i.e. "given".

As some one who is involved with a magazine, as a writer, I suggest you embrace what you have here and find ways to make it fulfill your needs. The costs of running a magazine are not cheap. And, when compared to the costs of a blog or forum it just doesn't make sense or cents. Add to that the rising costs of printing, and you'll really see it doesn't make sense.

Sure it is nice to have something tangible in your hands you can read while you're on the toilet or on a long trip, but the reality is it is short lived. Since the internet, when was the last time you actually opened up a phone book to check for a listing? Sure some of you have, but many of us haven't; I for one haven't opened a phone book in over ten years.

Like many of the movies of yesterday with their cheesy effects, who at the time were the greatest since sliced bread, Today we won't settle for anything less than top notch effects. Anything less is unacceptable to the viewer.

I'm not saying I wouldn't want to see one, but times have passed. Personally, I rather have almost real time exchange with others on this board, where I can ask questions, than to wait for a whole month before the next issue and not be able to communicate to boot. Instead, wait for another month to "hopefully" get my question answered by one or two people... Nope, not me. I rather have questions answered by 10 people or more, with varied experience, within a few hours.

The simple truth is the death of printed magazines and newspapers is imminent

Alan

Alan
 
Now if we could just get Christopher to post on here too, that would really be cool :thumbup:
 
Well, I would sure read it!

I love the internet, but I find for detailed information, I really prefer printed stuff. You can learn a lot from sites like this; personally I find the Q&A format of internet forums their best feature. But although I am a prodigious reader my eyes glaze over reading long articles off a computer.

You know they said computers would replace books, and I don't see that happening...I love printed information.

When I get big .pdfs I print them out and read them in bed, it's my favourite way to learn!

So I would be all over this mag and would be happy to help any way that I can...could at least proofread and edit, as I come from a strong English language background! And if I get in to trouble, I can always get the final word from my sister, who unlike me was not kicked out of school and went on and became a university prof...of English!
 
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