Re: Speaking of magazines

**l*@juno.com**

I hope I'm sticking to the correct thread.

All of this chatter about the demise of print publications, made it to
our dinner table conversation. Dan opined that professional writing, like
all art and craft that went before it (think typesetting, shoeMAKING,
weaving textiles, tile-making, forging hardware, etc, ) will go the way
of the Arts and Crafts Movement, wherein only the most gifted survived
and their products became very costly and affordable only to the few.
Sounded analogous to priestly scribes hand-copying manuscripts at the
abbey to me --- not exactly moving in a FORWARD direction.

There's another analogue in the mystery and suspense novel. There are
writers and publishers who turn out quantity for the masses (I recently
discovered the phenomenon of books with one hundred 2.5-page chapters),
but there is also room for good literature. Lest you get the wrong idea,
I read both.

Those who can remember typesetting as an art, and the deserved respect
earned by the typesetter's proofing department, understand the difference
between data and useful information; craft and commodity. Much of the
gardening information on the web is a commodity that draws a mass
audience. Isn't that how we currently measure the "success" of a website
or blog: How many hits it gets per day? How else are we to convince
someone that our blog is good? Maybe by what percent are "return
visitors." Just a thought.

Gardening print publications have many different audiences, only one of
which is those who want to do everything themselves, as cheaply as
possible (commodity-seekers). Other audiences are those who need an
example of how someone else solved a similar problem; or those looking
for inspiration. Or, to show a landscaper a picture of their idea of what
kind of garden they'd like to have. A mass-market mover of gardening
commodities will not get a lot of business from those homeowners,
especially the ones who purchase through their landscapers. 

And, gardeners still do love to see other people's gardens. Why else did
we hoof it around Portland and Eugene?

Few magazines and newspapers ever achieved financial stability from
subscriptions and newstand sales, but rather from advertisers.
Advertisers want to hear numbers. But maybe it's time to sell them a new
model. Quality, instead of quantity. I think Horticulture was onto
something, when they instituted their regional inserts. For the biggies,
like Meredith, that would allow smaller advertisers to buy the regional
section at a lower price. Might give regional field editors a better
shot, too. Hint, Hint.

Gardening magazines and book publishers need to figure out who their
audiences are NOW, provide the variety necessary to keep or enlarge those
audiences, and convince advertisers that quality is more important than
quantity.

Oh, did you think I had a solution? No, just food for thought.

Regards,
Lois
Visit: http://loisdevries.blogspot.com
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