Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Tough Times for the Publishing Industry

This came up in another thread but thought it might be a good topic to discuss separately. Have you looked at gun, shooting and related outdoor periodicals lately? The number of pages per an issue is signicantly down, most much less than the magic 100 page count. But what appears to be driving it (I know, the economy) is the lack of advertisers. It doesn't appear Ruger, Smith and Wesson and other big name advertisers are buying many if any ads. This is interesting because many of the former or historically consistent advertisers are doing very well. This may in some instances refute the notion that to get a favorable or any review of a new gun, a manufacturer must purchase advertising. In fact, I have seen instances with guns on the cover and no advertising in that particular issue from the manufacturer.

One publisher cut back to a 90 some odd page format several months ago and is now going to 80. The advertisers are presently selling everything they can get on the shelves and have little need for agressive advertising. They are not all pulling out of magazine advertising but the overall number of adds-which pay for pages- does decline. Further, the present high sales of certain firearms is expected to produce a real industry slump over the next few years- all of this magnified by the economic decline. Even though the number of gun sales is currently at record numbers, the commerse in traditional sporting rifles and shotguns has gone the other way. People are spending their gun budgets on left-targeted guns and ammunition.
According to Shooting Industry, Smith and Wesson just laid off a considerable number of people in their rifle deparment.
The publisher presently looking at a lower page count {FMG} is not noted for providing favorable articles in exchange for adveertising- quite the opposit, in fact. They also have a traditon of covering products of interest from non advertisers. In the current climate, they may find it necessary to concentrate more on products from their steady advertisers though.

I spend very little on magazines. I do most of my reading here on the internet. I get the talk and information I want that way now.

The only gun magazines we get are the American Rifleman and American Hunter from the NRA and thats only because my son and I are life members.

I would expect this situation to go for other hobbies or interests as well. There are even books on the internet free!

You requested books with titles with the words "hunting"

you can now get American Handguns, Guns and Shooting industry adn possibly American Cop free online at their respective web sites
ie:
www.americanhandgunner.com
www.gunsmagazine.com

Uh.... American Handgunner

I think lack of advertizers is a problem everyewhere in the publishing industry. The local news paper has just anounced they are dropping back to a 3 day/week publishing schedual from a daily, due to lack of advertizing dollars not home subscription losses. This is in a town of ~90K population. Another town here of similar size has been on a 3 day publishing sched. for a while now. The pages count of the papers ad section has been smaller for some time now.
People are buying firearms and ammo but no one is buying the tents, autos, clothing, ect that goes with them. The sporting industry is more then guns, and magazines rely on ads just as much as the papers.

i read where the internet has "severely impacted" all print media, and i believe it to be true. i no longer buy 3 daily newspapers as i can read them on the web. as for gun/hunting info, one can easily get that and more on the web.

I was in Charlotte a month ago and was astounded at how small the Charlotte Observer has become for an area of over 1 million people. It is now no bigger than the local newspaper in my home county (population about 155,000). I have noticed many articles in our paper that I read the previous day on the internet - exact same article.

While it's true "tactical weapons" and their BBs are ruling the market now, the "industry" is screwing the pooch by not redoubling advertising for "sporting" lines.

If the gun mags go in the tank, interest will wither on the vine.

Notice that Wal-Mart and McDonald's have increased advertising dramatically and are enjoying record sales, while the car companies and other industries are cutting advertising and being bossed around by Obama Bin Lyin'.

If you live by sales, cutting your ad budget is the act of a fool.

If I were selling non-military looking rifles I would seek editorial coverage in the vein of

"Can't find that AR Blaster, why not rely on the same techology and caliber that let us win WWI?"

or

"You can own the same gun that Won The West and help save Western Civilization!"

A .30-'06 or .30/30 and 500 rounds on hand are worth three Colt 6920s on back order until Obama nationalizes the gun companies.