Chris Schwarz is leaving PWW

[adamcherubini]

I thought there was a small group of authors when Chris was in charge, because he mostly used staff writers.  It was either Chris, Megan Fitzpatrick, Bob Lang, Glenn Huey, or Charles Bender.  There were some repeat customers like Bob Flexner, and I enjoyed Adam Cherubini's Arts and Mysteries column as well.  Even though the writing staff was small, it was diverse, so you had a lot of diversity of projects.

In my opinion, there's no perfect approach to ww magazine editing. What I did was write and take photos while I built.  Most of what I wrote and photographed never got submitted to the magazine. But when I did submit and article, it got printed almost word for word. Megan made sure my grammers and spelling we're write and my articals was clear. 

Sometimes I would get technical questions.  But it was like how I imagine writing for a newspaper would be. And that was Chris and his journalism background.

At other magazines written by readers, the readers submit ideas and maybe a picture of a finished project. Months later, an editor and a photographer visit the reader, and essentially ghost write the article.  In process photos might be staged to illustrate the steps or parts rebuilt.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches.  I could go on and on about it.  Personally, I liked the freshness of writing while I was working.  On some projects, especially if I was building part time, I'd forget what I did the previous week. No way I could have added as many details as I did  had I written about a completed project. I wanted the readers to feel like they were in my shop with me, which I've come to believe is the best thing a ww author can do.

[adamcherubini]

Chris Schwarz is the single biggest influence in my woodworking life ....

I enjoyed Norm's show, even tho his version of woodworking was virtually unrecognizable to me. I was inspired by Norm.  Chris inspired people too. But he didn't stop there. He gave voice to people like me who were in the voiceless woodworking hinterlands.  He inspired woodworkers, increased his magazine's readership, inspired and supported new businesses who became advertisers, and created a community that has benefitted all woodworkers and stretched half way around the globe. No doubt he will continue. 
I'm not surprised he left the magazine. I'm surprised they let him leave.

[Admiral]

I stopped renewing my subscription to Pop Wood I'm guessing 2-3 years ago. I still get renewal offers about once a year in the mail. The latest one offered me two years for $10! Advertiser rates are tied directly to the circulation numbers, so ultra-low subscription pricing offers to select groups is one way to bump circulation numbers to command a better ad rate.

I just let mine lapse.  At 2 years for $10, I might be tempted to sign up again.

[AHill]

Hello Allan;

Frankly, I liked it best when it was the original "Woodworking" magazine.... when it was absorbed into the PWW format immediately it became diluted by at least 1/2 of powertool format. I had been reading WW'ing mags with mainly powertool articles for 30 years, and was tired of them.  Now handtools are at the bottom of their priority and will likely stay there. No more subscriptions for me, they write nothing I want to read.  There is plenty on Chris's and Megan's blogs; and I am about to start buying their books.

Skip,

Woodworking Magazine was only around for about 5 years and it was an outgrowth of PWW, not the other way around.  Woodworking magazine focused on hand tool methods and had no ads.  It was, as you correctly stated, "merged" with PWW when it went out of publication.  Frankly, I never noticed any change to PWW when the "merge" happened.  PWW has been around since at least 1989.

[Tony Z]

Skip,

Woodworking Magazine was only around for about 5 years and it was an outgrowth of PWW, not the other way around.  Woodworking magazine focused on hand tool methods and had no ads.  It was, as you correctly stated, "merged" with PWW when it went out of publication.  Frankly, I never noticed any change to PWW when the "merge" happened.  PWW has been around since at least 1989.

From the appearance of "Woodworking Magazine", it was almost an experiment of Swartz to "test" acceptance of style, as most of his books have a similar look (which I happen to like!). I did not notice any change to PWW either after the shutdown.

[Handplanesandmore]

 But when I did submit and article, it got printed almost word for word. Megan made sure my grammers and spelling we're write and my articals was clear. 

In today's fast-tracked magazine industry, it is either word for word, or your last assignment.

No editors of any magazines today working to produce 1 issue every two months (some 1 per month) would have the time or resources to seriously edit any submission. Minor tweaks or grammar fixes, yes. Rewriting is a history of the past when the turnaround time between a submission and publication was measured in a year or two, if not in years. We have digital pictures and submissions vs film photographs and snail mail! This is why some editors stick to the same writers because they know their work, but it is also why they are losing readers -- no fresh materials from less-honed writers. If i am watching Brad Pitt in every movie, he is losing me as one of his viewers. Simple as that.

Quantity (to fill pages left behind by ads) is important and so is timeliness. That is why content and quality control sometimes may take a back seat when you have only a small number of contributors, and you constantly have deadlines to meet. If anyone thinks writing an article is tough, wait until you are in the shoes of an editor. I know of one who has to produce at least 3 or 4 articles HIMSELF in every issue because he does not have the budget to outsource more. I feel sorry for him (20 - 30 projects or write-ups done or written year after year!).

Simon

[adamcherubini]

I don’t know the details. All I recall is Chris saying magazines are largely printed off shore and the chemicals and processes used were not environmentally friendly. The need for color and slick pages, really drove printing costs and those attributes were requirements from advertisers, not content. The other thing about Woodworking is that only PW staff members wrote for it. I never did for example. I don’t think they had paid authors.

So the idea was to reduce printing costs by eliminating advertisers and going black and white (ala Cook’s illustrated). If the costs could get low enough, and enough people bought them at news stand price, such a magazine could work.

I’m not sure how the experiment turned out, but I liked the magazines.

[adamcherubini]

Not disagreeing. I knew a couple FWW editors. FWW has a core of contributing editors who write as I did (I was a contributing editor for many years). The editors I knew helped the other authors quite a bit. They wanted woodworkers and passionate people. If you are not a great author, that’s okay, they help you. And that takes time.

Now that I think of it, FWW accepted a submission of mine many years ago and assigned me an editor who tried to edit my article into a different article (tool review). Looking back, I was stupid to refuse. Dumb. But whatever. I never did it for money or fame. It was fun for me and I hoped to help and inspire others.

[Skip J.]

Skip,

Woodworking Magazine was only around for about 5 years and it was an outgrowth of PWW, not the other way around.  Woodworking magazine focused on hand tool methods and had no ads.  It was, as you correctly stated, "merged" with PWW when it went out of publication.  Frankly, I never noticed any change to PWW when the "merge" happened.  PWW has been around since at least 1989.

Ummm, yes Allan, when it merged with PWW I remember that Chris went to some considerable effort and detail to let us know how all that happened.

But for myself, I was never interested in another established WW'ing mag after subscribing to FWW for several years and dropping it.  I had been reading variations on the same themes for 30 years... I mean, how many articles can you read on the perfect router table setup, or the best way to operate a table saw???? Obviously somebody was keeping them afloat, but I had no router table or table saw and had no plans to acquire any.  I had a router to use when I needed it and a circ saw and that was about it.  I gave my son the router, but I got a better circ saw and use it from time to time.  I have an even better PMS but rarely use it.  I installed 14 stair treads a few years back and cut them all on my miter saw, no problem.  On the PMS I would have had to make the 1st cut and then flip it and cut the back 1/2.

[Handplanesandmore]

My editor friend told me illustrations\drawings are costly. Quickly eats up his budget...and according to him, only big ones can afford in-house illustrators. Most rely on contractors.

Simon