John, IMO, a rag becomes great when makes me want to read every page or at least look closely at it. Weekend Woodcraft never did that for me, although I liked some of their stuff. The magazine was very project oriented, so if you didn't like the end result, it wasn't worth reading the article. There wasn't anything in there about particular problems or techniques, just cut piece A & glue it to B. Cut on the dotted line... Not my cup of tea. I've been doing this long enough that I like general ideas or specific solutions to tough issues. A discussion on 6 ways to mount a piece of glass into a box lid is interesting to me. How to build a box isn't.
As for you hiring great writers, I think you've got a task Diogenes wouldn't envy. Great writers are few & far between - so are competent woodworkers that can clearly explain their techniques. Putting the two together leaves you pretty slim pickings. Further reduce the number to those who can make it interesting & are interested in doing so... well, it's a wonder, but there actually are a couple. Roy Underhill comes to mind. Steve Blenk who writes the lathe column for Wood magazine seems to be another.
Personally, I found that one article I wrote to be way more work than it was worth. It's my hobby, so I'd rather 'do' than fiddle with taking pictures & trying to get the words perfect so they can fit into a small space & are understood. I write a fair amount in my job, mostly documenting & specifying applications & devices for computer network systems. My subject matter is dry, audience is small & I interact with them often, so I can correct misunderstandings quickly. I find that difficult enough. I don't even try to make it interesting
- I don't have to, thank god. I can see it now, "The fun & interesting method for configuring the Symantec 4420 SSL VPN device for the company!" LOL
Jim