New woodworking magazine

I'm in charge of conducting a market study for a new woodworking magazine.

In a nutshell, the magazine owner would like to borrow the same style as the motorcycle magazine "Easy Riders". The basic idea is most woodworkers are men and it's believed they would appreciate to learn how to make a mortise while looking at what the nature has done already in terms of natural mortises. There would be "in-depth" tool reviews as well as many explicit pictures of tools. Obviously, a new table saw would "spread" all its accessories and great features on glossy paper. It's planned to have plenty of plans, projects and surprises. We also try to define if like Sports Illustrated, it would be appropriate to get an annual issue featuring all the best tools presented under a different angle.

Anyway, my question to you guys is would you wish a warm welcome to this new magazine? Would you be more prone to stay in your workshop longer if such magazine existed?

Cyberben

Reply to
cyberben
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If I could lock the door.

Reply to
Dhakala

Perhaps you can ask your question a little differently. I don't know about easy rider. I assume it is about motorcycles. And the Sports Illustrated annual issue is some anoriexic models wearing next to nothing. Which would distract us from viewing the machinery.

I know car and motorcycle guys really like their iron. But woodworkers have a different relationship with their tools. The tools are used to make the projects.

And we have two major tool catagories. The "tailed" kind. the ones that use electricy in some form. And the human powered kind. They use our hands to power them.

If you want something that we can use, it has to be "shop smart". It has to have something that would actually be of value in a shop. Big splashy reviews of the lates router doesn't help me much.

If you really want to do something different, feature different shops and their owners. Ask why did they organize their shops the way that they did? What was their thinking behind their bench design? And why did they pick that particular vise? And what shop jigs did they build? How do they do dust control and finishes? Etc.

Real world stuff. It would be easy to find some great shops. And tell some great stories. Good practical advise and some real experiences. That would be appreciated. And mix the small commercial operations with home shops. We all can lust after a small commercial setup.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

Workshop????? or the "library"?

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Reply to
Brent Beal

Man, what a great idea! A totally untapped magazine market -- the Outlaw Woodworker. You could have pictures of nekkid tattooed chicks draped over stationary power tools and articles like "16 Gauge Nailers & Body Piercing for Fun and Profit!" or "How To Get A Good Buzz On While Running A Good Buzz Saw."

The guys that thought this one up are clearly Woodworking Gods. No other way to say it. How could any woodworker not want to learn from such geniuses?

I say Go For It. I pers> I'm in charge of conducting a market study for a new woodworking > magazine. >

Reply to
tim124c41

Not as you presented it. What's lacking in today's woodworking magazines is the eclectic content of Fine Woodworking's early years. Read through the first 10 to 15 years and you'll see what I mean. Compared to the last 15 years, it's as though they're two different magazines. The closest magazine to that format today is Woodworking, of which I've been a subscriber for years. I dropped my Fine Woodworking sub after just too many tool reviews with poorly designed testing procedures and too many repeat subjects regurgitated by different authors. Woodwork on the other hand, along with some how-to's, profiles a woodworker of note in every issue and has some journalistic content regarding such topics as the deforestation/certification debate, reviews of major woodworking shows and other discussions that aren't primarily about how to make something. The proposed content as you presented doesn't set it apart from the myriad other consumer woodworking mags on the market. I'd support a publication that has a creative and quality feel to the paper, printing and content - not a cheaply produced, eye-candy tool review, fluff-filled, ho-hum plans and projects rag that seems more concerned about offending their main advertisers than truly putting tools to the test. There is much more to woodworking than cutting a joint, picking a tool and applying a finish. Those unaddressed areas are the ones you need to identify and talk about.

Reply to
Fly-by-Night CC

I think it could work, provided you have the proper marketing partners. Might I suggest that you try to put together a promotion with the manufacturers of Boeshield and with the Home Depot. That way, your potential readers could spend many happy hours with your magazine in their workshops, polishing their Ridgid tools. While I'm at it, let me suggest a name for your publication. I think you should call the magazine "Woodie."

Lee

Reply to
Lee Gordon

Cyberben wrote:I'm in charge of conducting a market study for a new woodworking magazine.

In a nutshell, the magazine owner would like to borrow the same style as the motorcycle magazine "Easy Riders".

So, lots of T&A?

The basic idea is most woodworkers are men and it's believed they would appreciate to learn how to make a mortise while looking at what the nature has done already

in terms of natural mortises.

AKA adult magazines....

There would be "in-depth" tool reviews as well as many explicit (Really?) pictures of tools. Obviously, a new table saw would "spread" all its accessories and great features on glossy paper. It's planned to have plenty of plans, projects and surprises. We also try to define if like Sports Illustrated, it would be appropriate to get an annual issue featuring all the best tools presented under a different angle.

Anyway, my question to you guys is would you wish a warm welcome to this new magazine? Would you be more prone to stay in your workshop longer if such magazine existed?

Q#1-Maybe. Q#2-No. Tom

Reply to
tom

Bzzztt!! Wrong answer, Lee! :-) The magazine owner wants to do a skin mag, so he can herd buxom bimbos around his office. I'll bet he's never seen a RAS and doesn't know what the acronym stands for.

Either that, or this is a troll.

Reply to
Dhakala

snipped-for-privacy@videotron.ca wrote: snip

It doesn't sound like anything I'd be interested in. It sounds like you want to put out a magazine but don't know much about WWg other than (mostly) guys do it. a magazine in search of an audience.

Dave in Fairfax

Reply to
Dave in Fairfax

You mean lots of T & A? While I enjoy that sort of thing, I don't see that it adds any value to a picture of a router. It would not tempt me to buy or subscribe to a magazine. Thee have to be 1,000,000 web sites with all I'd want to look at.

What has nature done with natural mortises? I have no idea what a natural mortis is, but it may be interesting.

That could be god as some review only have a single picture and we'd want to seem more detail, more specifications.

Necessary staples of the trade.

Maybe, depends on what the new angle is.

It has to be equal or better than what is now available, it has to be competitively priced, and unless you GIVE me a free, no strings attached, no card to return, no bill to be sent issue, I probably won't give it much of a look.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Whoosh! :-)

Ed, imagine that mortise is right in the middle of a beautiful piece of "flame crotch" wood. Now, put your mind in the gutter for a second...

Reply to
Dhakala

Hehehehe, or he can look in his pants to find the natural tenon...

Reply to
cyberben

I would love to see more women in woodworking, but not in an Easy Rider format. A magazine that focused on woodworking for women would stand a much better chance of working. Most of the magazines out there rehash the S.O.S with little variation. A mag built around profiling peoples shops would be interesting. This is something like what Woodshop News does, but they talk more about the business than the shop layout and set up. Robo hippy

Reply to
robo hippy

I always like woodshop news. Even though they were focusing on the business end of thing, you got some real stories. Some good ole human beings involved in their woodshop struggles, disasters and successes. That sort of thing is very interesting.

Have a woodshop of the month. Give a good story and an indepth look at how that individual did it. Profile some of the projects they did. Give some kind of prize for being picked as wood shop of the month. Perhaps two catagories. One for Normites and one for Neanders. The advertisers would certainly like to participate in something like this.

Also, how about some real life tool reviews. Ya know, like that guy over at

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I love his stuff. He gives you a hands on review. Much better than most of the magazines do. It is an old guy playing around with tools in his home shop. It doesn't get much more real life than that.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

John Lucas and Beth and Gail and Joslyn and....

He does a better job of including women in woodworking than anyone else I know of, but, while they're all attractive, there's absolutely NO sleaze there. A good job, done by good people.

Reply to
Charlie Self

Damn. how did that get by me? My mind is usually so far in the gutter I need a ladder to get to the curb.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

"Charlie Self" wrote

You are absolutely right. And these women are very eager to do these projects. They want to learn and make beautiful things. And they will do what is required to do them too. Definitely a class act. No need for the sleaze.

And again, they are showing the actual product being used in a home shop. Where else do we get this?

Reply to
Lee Michaels

Maybe Hefner could be torn away from his nurses to give you some input?

I'll have to give it some thought, but right now I'm still rolling from the overindulgence of seafood and not quite ready to leave this COOL ocean air yet... but alas..my back-orders await me. 4 more days of debauchery...how will I survive?

My first reaction to a magazine like that would be---->Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. This crowd is a group of God fearing ex-competitive beer drinkers. The only tatoo *I* have is a burn mark from a hot-melt glue gun. The other point would be that, as any good finisher knows, silicone screws up your finish with fish eyes....and, man, those dames from Easy Rider are nothing but silicon. It won't work. Too many incompatabilities.

Reply to
Robatoy

"Robatoy"

Sorry, that doesn't begin to qualify as a biker tattoo. LOL

Not to mention that these top heavy beauties traditionally wear high heels during photo shoots. Talk about an unsafe situation with power tools.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

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