Which would you rather read? (FF magazine rant)

[Andrew Wright]

I can certainly understand how this topic got started, as there is content in every fly fishing magazine that I read that simply does not interest me. Fly fishing has become an exceedingly broad topic in recent years, and as such, there are facets of our sport that I find new and exciting as well as some that seem completely ridiculous to me. Most magazines worth their salt however are going to cover all of these areas at some time or another. My point being that fly-fishermen are a pretty diverse group these days and the magazines we read are tasked with the difficult dilemma of catering to everyone. I subscribe to several magazines with the mindset that only a portion of the material is going to be geared towards my interests. While I can understand the need for constructive criticism, I do not understand the unreasonable expectation that every page in every publication should be educational or entertaining for everyone. Just my 2 cents.

[Zach Matthews]

P.J. –

Maybe you have just experienced what a lot of us have: when you were new, the magazines were full of new and exciting content because you lacked experience.

[dusty montgomery]

I am not really talking sides on this issue as I agree with both parties involved, to some degree, but did I not see an add for a Bass Pro bait-casting reel on the second or third page of last’s month’s AA?

I do wish mags were not so heavily advertised in, but I know they are a necessity for publication. I like Zach’s idea for an all-inclusive mag, maybe published bi-annually. I would give $25 for a 200 page mag w/ all that different info. in it.

Dusty

[Mark Landerman]

I can certainly understand how this topic got started…….

You read that article in the SW magazine as well?

[p.j. petiniot]

Zach,

I agree with your premis to some degree. I do believe that we all think we have outgrown certain magazines for various reasons. When in fact, we most likely are looking at them with clouded glasses.

So now, in order to show I am not blowing smoke and complaining for the sake of complaining, I am going to put my money where my mouth is.

I am about to eat lunch. I will run down to Barnes and Noble and buy the lates edition of American Angler. I will also buy a copy of the magazines I really didn’t like. I never said I didn’t like AA, I merely stated that it wasn’t doing it for me anymore.

Now, I am sure I will most likely find I prefer American Angler because I always prefered it over their competition. If I find any of the types of articles I mentioned, I will e-mail the examples to Phil.
Phil can do with them as he sees fit. If he wants to discuss it here, that’s O.K. with me, if not, that’s fine too. If he wants to tell me to kiss off, that’s fine too. 😉

Damn, now my big mouth is going to cost me 15 bucks :'(

[ethan smith]

You know something else that bothers me about modern publications, and I haven’t seen it mentioned here yet, is the quick list of single paragraph blurbs with sketch or photo.

Field and stream is filled with these info-porn tidbits, and I get a headache after reading mags with too many. Most of the modern parenting and soccer mom mags abuse the heck out of these things too. (my wife gets a few of these mags, thank you not me) The presence of these quick lists or pages filled with quick incomplete thoughts, to me, symbolizes the mentality of the shrinking attention span in America, and I find it insulting.

I guess thats why I like Gray’s so much 🙂

[p.j. petiniot]

Phil,

I just got back from my FF magazine recon mission. I went to Barnes and Noble thinking this was the best place for me to get all of the magazines in question.

Barnes and Noble had virtually every Fly mag other than American Angler. They even had some pretty obscure titles. I found this pretty strange because I am pretty sure in my small town (about 30 miles away from my office) there use to be several places for me to pick up a copy of AA.

I did pick up 3 other Fly Fishing mags. I then went to 5 other places that I thought I could find American Angler. Not only could I not find any place that sold A.A., I couldn’t find another place in town that sold any Fly Fishing nagazines. I went to a total of 6 stores and only one sold F.F. magazines. Only 2 of these stores sold any fishing magazines. At first one might think it was a tree hugger conspiracy but there was no shortage of gun and hunting magazines.

I found this to be really strange in a central Indiana town. There is no shortage of anglers or fishing spots.

I have to go shopping for a new copy of American Angler when I get back home. I should be able to find it in my home town.

It is a sad day when I go to a store to buy a fishing magazine and there are more Tatoo magazines than fishing magazines.

[Phil Monahan]

Ethan,

The style you’re referring to was pioneered by the Rodale magazines (Men’s Health, Scuba Diving, Backpacker, etc.) in the late 90s. They called it–believe it or not–“chunk journalism.” The theory was that readers don’t want to read long articles, so you must offer them many smaller chunks, which create “multiple entry points,” where they can quickly read something and move on. I’m not a fan, either.

Phil

[Rob Snowhite]

^ i call that ADD publishing

I can’t read/look at a page that is broken up like a checkerboard. my wife had some chick mag on the table, i picked it up, it was so busy i didn’t bother looking at the hotties.

i haven’t read fish and fly in years but really enjoyed the travel stories. + photography

[Phil Monahan]

P.J. don’t knock yourself out. I was just hoping for some examples of the things you criticized. Mostly, I’m interested because I think any feedback is good feedback. I don’t want to cast aspersions on my competition, either.

Thanks,

Phil

[p.j. petiniot]

Phil,

It is bothering me that I can’t find any fly fishing magazines locally. I am now on a mission.

[John Bennett]

It is bothering me that I can’t find any fly fishing magazines locally. I am now on a mission.

In the last 3 or 4 weeks I’ve spent hours hitting all the newstands, book stores within a 30 min walk of my office. As I work in the heart of a pretty big city thats not a small number.

I found One FFing mag (Canadian Fly Fisher) in 1 book store.
Grays=0
AA=0
Field and Stream=0
Outdoor Canada=1
In fisherman =1

Hunting mags like Gun Dog, Bowhunter, Am Whitetail not a single copy. Despite this being prime hunting seasons.

I think PJ what your finding speaks more to other issues. Where newstands and magazine racks *used* to be chock full of Bullit and Hook media… It’s been supplanted by other stuff,I could easily buy 5 diferent muscle mags at every stand. It almost seems like a closet industry.

On the topic of “photo essay” type pieces I must admit that lately Grays has really piqued my interest. Largely because thats something I can aspire to doing…A writer I’m not
🙂

[Abe Mathews]

I think PJ what your finding speaks more to other issues. Where newstands and magazine racks *used* to be chock full of Bullit and Hook media… It’s been supplanted by other stuff,I could easily buy 5 diferent muscle mags at every stand. It almost seems like a closet industry.

We ARE a closet industry, I think.

I was talking to a co-worker (who’s probably in his late 40’s) about a recent grouse trip he took to WI.

[anonymous]

Here’s when I stopped looking at fly fishing mags…

I grew up on the Great Lakes steelhead in NY and PA.

[craig phillips]

I wondered when ‘the boss’ was going to jump in!

[Phil Monahan]

One of the real bummers for the magazine biz in recent years has been the consolidation of distributors. There used to be dozens of companies stocking throughout the country, but there are now just a handful of companies responsible for stocking every newsstand in the country. As such, they go for economies of scale, which leaves small enthusiast magazines like ours in a tough place.

Here’s a quote from a New York Times article about the largest magazine distributor, Anderson:

”In order to recover our profitability we had two choices,” Mr. Anderson said. “We were not able to increase our gross margins, so we had to decrease our operating expenses.”

This, he said, forced him to stop sending trucks to smaller retailers, like craft stores and out-of-the-way general stores.

That’s why you can’t find ff mags in as many small shops as you once could.

[phillip krotine]

I think PJ what your finding speaks more to other issues. Where newstands and magazine racks *used* to be chock full of Bullit and Hook media… It’s been supplanted by other stuff,I could easily buy 5 diferent muscle mags at every stand. It almost seems like a closet industry.

We ARE a closet industry, I think.

I was talking to a co-worker (who’s probably in his late 40’s) about a recent grouse trip he took to WI.  He was commenting to his partner that they’ve been going up there for 25 years.  Back then, they were the youngest guys that they ever ran into out in the woods.  And now, they’re STILL the youngest guys that they ever run into in the woods.

I think there’s hope to drag a few of the younger folks in (hell, at 36 I still consider myself kinda young), but the lure of the Xbox360 is strong.  Who wants to go freeze their arse off in a stretch of bug infested water trying to fool fish you’re not going to keep anyway with a  bunch of chicken feathers stuck to a hook?  Why not stay home, play Rapala Tournament Fishing, and stick in Halo3 when it gets boring (like it always does?)

I don’t envy the editors at all.  You cater to the “how-to” crowd and run articles on nymphing techniques.  Then get hatemail from the “dry fly only” crowd who wants more pictures of the Firehole.  So you do a “Western extravaganza” and get blasted by the guys stuck in Wisconsin who say you never give anything but trout coverage.  So you run articles on …..

Nope.  I’ll stick to doing what I do, thanks.

to me catching fish with a bunch of chicken feathers is tons of fun, and catching that dang fish is proving to me that I am still smarter than that animal.

[David Anderson]

I like high quality photos in magazines shot for the story, not picked out of stock collections.

I love a photo spread that shows the fine detail and the bigger view.

Sure, I have to say this as a photographer, but I think the pictures are as if not more important then the words.

With the writing I would rather be entertained by a good tale then bored with exact detail, but still want a good starting place if I find myself in the same situation.

National Geographic would be my benchmark for a great magazine (sorry editors on limited budgets 😮 :D) in the level of commitment to a story they have.

I like gear reviews and new gadgets in magazines, though I wonder how that will fit in with the net being so much quicker to get this stuff out.
Magazines in general need to find some middle ground with the net to survive.
A magazine should have a big net presence as well as the print page now IMHO.

If advertising is a problem, I would be happy to pay more for a magazine to see that it can survive without it.
I would also pay more for a magazine with more content.

I should say here that I’m not unhappy with what I’m getting out of AA, FF and Flylife here in Australia.

My favorite magazine is Top Gear ( a UK car mag ) because the photos are brilliant, and they clearly go to great lengths to get the best stories.
They also seem very honest in their reviews of new models.

I realize their budgets must be huge to get the high quality, but maybe that’s the reason it sells so well around the world ?

www.dsaphoto.com

A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.

[John Bennett]

Sure, I have to say this as a photographer, but I think the pictures are as if not more important then the words.

As one Art Director and an Editor have told me.
You can have the worlds best images of XXXX, but until we have an article to which the images are suitable, they won’t get used.

This frustrates the bejeezus out of me.

The articles drive the car. I think it should be a bit of both. Speaking in broad terms. If you have great images of X on hand…why not commision an article to go with them….

The beuaty is that the article can be written anywhere/anytime, completely eliminating one of the bigger hurdles in finding the right photos.

As a simple example:
Right now if the mags that I’m dealing wth are going to run an article on Spring fishing for species ABC. That article would have been accepted months ago. In many cases the writers are supposed to send images with the article. Some do, some don’t, some do but photograhy isnt their thing and the images are shall we say less than stellar.

Then the ADs are left to try and find the images and everything about the images has t be spot on. Not only do they need to be topical they are also need to be seasonal. Meaning you cant run an article about spring fishing with Summer colours or Fall colours in the BG.

To date Ive shot 3 assignments, I have my 4th coming up.

In each case the assignments are a result (as best as Im able to determine) of having a feature article w/o the photos they’d like to have. Or its a feature article and they want the cover shot for it and dont have a suitable cover shot.

So I get the task of trying to supply the images needed/desired specific t the article and a grocery list of everything from “need” to see to wish to see. Which ca be location shots ( images of the writer doing his thing with recognisable landmarks in the back ground) to more articstic type shots and hero shots.

Problems that arise:
The article is seasonal. Meaning theres a very short window to get he images needed. The shoot is susceptible to weather and fish/game co-operation.

Meaning and I cant get too specific but this is what occured for one shoot.

1) Contact writer, discuss the article, pair that info with info (wish list) from AD.

2)Set a date/time usually a month in advance. For example the one I have coming up Ive been working on since sept.

3) Arrive at location on the agreed upon date(s). In this specific case it was 4am in some remote place in Ontario

4) Despite the time of year, it was extremly unseasonably cold. By 5am the drizzle had turned to freezing rain

5) Continue with shoot, wrap up after hours in bad weather and to add insult to injury not get a whiff of the game/fish needed for the article

Go home, process best efforts, deliver images, bank the check.

Wait 14 months (Seasonal requirements) for the article to run.

Lets reverse that.
I submit some fantastic photogrpahy tomorrow of ABC.
AD says wow these are simply stunning but we arent planning an article on A or B or C or even the “where” of ABC anytime in the next 18 months.

But: How hard would it be to generate an article on ABC?
/paraphasing te AD
I know a writer who very good at that style of fishing/hunting/region.
Can he put an article together over the next 8 months?

Doesnt matter if it rains, pours, snows 10 feet, or Hurricane IKE blows in or a forest fire rages through the area. Doesnt matter if the fish/game co-operate we alredy have them. All the time in the world to do “re-takes” and re-writes at no extra cost.At the end of the day you have one very good article, accompanid by very good imagery.

More drain on the bugets?
Yes, absolutely as you hav to pay both the photogrpaher and the writer, whereas today 90% of the time only the writer gets paid once because they are expected to send images with the article.

but on the upisde????? What kin of articles/images are you sending to press??

J

[David Anderson]

All true John, but there is any easy solution – take the pictures and write the story.

Allthough very new to writing (and spelling an grammar :D) I do find it’s easier to fit the photos to the words when I do them.

I think both can be hard on the day, but at least when combined you control the pace and direction of the work.

When I get stuck in a story I can go through the photos to get ideas or inspiration.
(A great tip Morsie gave me)

When I was just doing photos it was easy to get hung-up trying to make everything look grand and like the perfect day out, but now, if conditions are crap I can shoot it and write about it – everything fits.

I had a funny experience the first time I wrote a story for a non-fly fishing mag recently – after an advance from a friend who’s a very busy write in the newspapers I got an appointment to show my fishing stories to a client of his and then an assignment from a big airline magazine.
In the brief they wanted 3000 words on guided fishing (spin and fly) around the country where the readers could fly in and hit the water without a tracker or a lot of their own gear.
And they would take some shots if I could supply them..

Anyway, I did the story and heard nothing back from them for a few weeks, naturaly Iassumed they thought the story sucked and they were so bored by it that they couldn’t even pick up the phone to tell me. 😀

Finally though, I got a copy and there it was, many pages with credits and all, plus a decent check.
(they had done a fair amount of editing to my original)

Anyway, I did finally get through to the editor to ask what they thought of the story and I was told that my grammar was pretty bad, but the photos great and maybe I should do more photography.. ;D

www.dsaphoto.com

A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.

[Author]

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