Are Magazines dead?

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I enjoy the magazines, but I prefer Mopar specific stuff
 
IMO, very few of the magazines cater to the biggest crowd. They all seem to cater to the "1%" if you will. I don't know anybody who can afford a 100K dollar build, yet that's what most of the magazines today have in them.

Also, I absolutely DETEST the fact that magazines push the hell out of sponsors products that hardly any of us regular guys can afford, while they are either getting said products for free, or at extremely reduced rates for pushing said products and running ads. It's all become a money game. One that I've had no part in for the better part of 20 years.

Car Craft used to cater to the regular guy and build stuff on real shoestring budgets. I remember the big block Dart they built and ran great numbers with and it had a large steel band hose clamp holding the transmission tail shaft to the cross member. Course they fixed it right, but they did what they had to, to meet the deadline and get it in print for all of us to see.

I also remember one magazine literally pulling a 360 from a junkyard, putting it in a car with more and more No2 in an effort to blow it up. They went fast, but never blew the engine.

People can learn from stuff like that. Like "How to build a car for 2500 Bucks" and things like that. If they start supporting what most people can afford, they might start selling books again.

I think the most I ever subscribed to was maybe four at one time. That was a very long time ago. Through the years, I lost interest because the goals in those books were far out of my reach, or anyone I knew.

I'll be damned if I'll subscribe to any again unless someone comes out with a newspaper style page, non glossy, bare bones cheap *** magazine that has tips and tricks for most anyone's budget and doesn't cater to the sponsors so heavily. I know they have to have sponsors. But having ads literally every page is ridiculous, along with trumped up dyno numbers just to make those parts look good.

Somebody comes out with a magazine like that and I might be in for it. Otherwise, they ain't getting my money.
 
I actually love magazines. I would much rather read a magazine than stare at a computer screen. I subscribe to more magazines now that I ever have in the past. Once you get a sub or two going you will receive lots of offers for others for $6-$8 per year. If I find a couple of interesting articles in each issue it's well worth it to me.

I need to get off of here, I got 5 mags in the mail today. I've gotta catch up on my reading!
Dallas
 
pishta said:
They already have one, its called PLAYBOY...:happy1:
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Is it bad that issue came out the month before I was born?

Right now, we have three magazine subscriptions. MommaCat got all three for free. She has her obligatory girly Cosmo and Redbook. But she also got a subscription to Car & Driver. Not exactly Mopar Muscle, but it still has some interesting articles on how fast new cars are becoming plastic pieces of sh*t...
 
RustyRatRod said:
IMO, very few of the magazines cater to the biggest crowd. They all seem to cater to the "1%" if you will. I don't know anybody who can afford a 100K dollar build, yet that's what most of the magazines today have in them.

Also, I absolutely DETEST the fact that magazines push the hell out of sponsors products that hardly any of us regular guys can afford, while they are either getting said products for free, or at extremely reduced rates for pushing said products and running ads. It's all become a money game. One that I've had no part in for the better part of 20 years.

Car Craft used to cater to the regular guy and build stuff on real shoestring budgets. I remember the big block Dart they built and ran great numbers with and it had a large steel band hose clamp holding the transmission tail shaft to the cross member. Course they fixed it right, but they did what they had to, to meet the deadline and get it in print for all of us to see.

I also remember one magazine literally pulling a 360 from a junkyard, putting it in a car with more and more No2 in an effort to blow it up. They went fast, but never blew the engine.

People can learn from stuff like that. Like "How to build a car for 2500 Bucks" and things like that. If they start supporting what most people can afford, they might start selling books again.

I think the most I ever subscribed to was maybe four at one time. That was a very long time ago. Through the years, I lost interest because the goals in those books were far out of my reach, or anyone I knew.

I'll be damned if I'll subscribe to any again unless someone comes out with a newspaper style page, non glossy, bare bones cheap *** magazine that has tips and tricks for most anyone's budget and doesn't cater to the sponsors so heavily. I know they have to have sponsors. But having ads literally every page is ridiculous, along with trumped up dyno numbers just to make those parts look good.

Somebody comes out with a magazine like that and I might be in for it. Otherwise, they ain't getting my money.
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this......
 
Back in Time said:
I haven't subscribed to a magazine since Super/Stock & Drag Illustrated ceased publication.
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I did a lot of stories for that mag in its last couple of years. SSDI and then Drag Racing Monthly in it's final days. When Steve died in 2000, so did most of my desire to do magazine work. That really was the end of an era.
 
Always read that magazine from front to back...must have read your articles( I'm bad at remembering names). It was for me the best there was.
 
whitepunkonnitro said:
I did a lot of stories for that mag in its last couple of years. SSDI and then Drag Racing Monthly in it's final days. When Steve died in 2000, so did most of my desire to do magazine work. That really was the end of an era.
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I thought a short while back you were going to get back into it. Did it ever happen or did you pass?
 
dartnabout said:
I thought a short while back you were going to get back into it. Did it ever happen or did you pass?
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It's an on-line deal, and I'm just waiting for the go signal. Was supposed to launch tomorrow actually. It's been put off another two weeks or so while the publisher handles some of his other obligations.
 
Whats your pen name, Tony? Are you a tech writer or editorial type? Id love to write tech but from a layman's perspective. Fun when I'm not getting graded on it!
 
pishta said:
Whats your pen name, Tony? Are you a tech writer or editorial type? Id love to write tech but from a layman's perspective. Fun when I'm not getting graded on it!
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My Byline is Tony DeFeo, and I've done several hundred stories of all types over the years, but I'm partial to grass roots tech.
It's a lot easier to get started today than when I did back in the 80's...but it's a LOT harder to get paid for it. I would contact some of the E Zine editors out there and let them know that you're interested in doing tech stories. Somebody needing to fill space will be very helpful in getting you started. Good luck!
 
They are dying, many people would just as soon look something on on line, go to some forum ask a question, than crack a book and do research, they just pull out their I-Phone, I-Pad, Tablet, etc. It's human nature, the least amount of effort for maximum perceived return.

It's technology that is killing them, and the cost to print, and distribute.

Advertizing is not really any worse than in the past; case in point: March 1971 "Car Craft", within the first 13 pages of the magazine, there are 6 1/2 pages of advertizing. Went thru my older library to look into the advertizing thing.
 
They are dying, many people would just as soon look something on on line, go to some forum ask a question, than crack a book and do research, they just pull out their I-Phone, I-Pad, Tablet, etc. It's human nature, the least amount of effort for maximum perceived return.
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you are learning either way. one way is just a lot faster then the other...
 
abodyjoe said:
you are learning either way. one way is just a lot faster then the other...
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Not necessarily. Most all the newbies in the hobby these days just want the fish. They don't want to learn to fish. Just give them the answer, not how you got there. There's nothing like sho nuff, necessitated learning on the job. No replacement. No substitute. Nothing comes close.

That's why I've backed off right there in a nutshell. I've worked on cars for a living since 1974. That's a long time. When someone tells me something I've done in all that time is archaic or obsolete, I take offense. It's bullcrap to come on here, try to help people with real experience and they don't listen or go slap the other way, but I guess that's their choice.

It's not about bein right either. Has nothing to do with it. People can be polite about doing something differently, but usually they're not. No respect at all. It's like, "just shut up and tell me what's wrong"

It's sorta like the guys with tons of money that buy 50K and up cars to get in the hobby, yet they don't know which end of a wrench is which. IMO, that's not supporting anything except the seller of the car. Nobody is learning anything. They let someone else "take care" of everything. That type person to me is a complete fake and poser. I got no use for them. Either you're in the hobby 100%, or you're part of the problem that's slowly chipping away at it.

Sorry for getting off on a tangent, but a recent experience has me thinking about this.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Not necessarily. Most all the newbies in the hobby these days just want the fish. They don't want to learn to fish. Just give them the answer, not how you got there. There's nothing like sho nuff, necessitated learning on the job. No replacement. No substitute. Nothing comes close.

That's why I've backed off right there in a nutshell. I've worked on cars for a living since 1974. That's a long time. When someone tells me something I've done in all that time is archaic or obsolete, I take offense. It's bullcrap to come on here, try to help people with real experience and they don't listen or go slap the other way, but I guess that's their choice.

It's not about bein right either. Has nothing to do with it. People can be polite about doing something differently, but usually they're not. No respect at all. It's like, "just shut up and tell me what's wrong"

It's sorta like the guys with tons of money that buy 50K and up cars to get in the hobby, yet they don't know which end of a wrench is which. IMO, that's not supporting anything except the seller of the car. Nobody is learning anything. They let someone else "take care" of everything. That type person to me is a complete fake and poser. I got no use for them. Either you're in the hobby 100%, or you're part of the problem that's slowly chipping away at it.

Sorry for getting off on a tangent, but a recent experience has me thinking about this.
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oh i don't know.. magazines sure don't exactly go into great detail anymore either. they have always skipped steps in articles..

bottom line is that the information is out there. if you want to learn you will. if ya don't then ya wont. doesn't matter if they are not reading the complete article in a magazine or just jumping to what someone says on the net.
 
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