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Anyone else noticed that the majority of industry magazines are getting thinner by the month?
Some of them are barely braking 30 pages, half of which are filled with massive adverts and repeats of stories I read months ago! I don’t want to read about a company’s 20th anniversary for four months running thank you very much! Nor do I want to read about the development of new screws or the delivery of a slightly different yet completely new cutting machine to a tiny little manufacturer I’ve never even heard of!
When I first joined the industry the magazines were filled with issues people could engage in. It would carry stories of rumour, articles that would piss people off a little and get debate going. Where has all this gone?
Luckily I write for a magazine who is trying to get back to those ways. They’re trying to keep their articles fresh, no major repeats and no boring adver-articles. Obviously I’m going to be slightly biased and in Clearview’s favour. But if I thought they were a backwards magazine on the way down like many of the others, I wouldn’t write for them.
They’ve managed to scale their magazine way up over the last few issues, almost making the 100 page mark, which is about as big as an industry magazine needs to be. But they’ve now also launched their new website, which includes a fresh forum. The layout is clean, modern, easy to understand. Again, I know it might sound slightly biased, but I honestly am speaking truthfully.
Now to get to the point of this post. With many magazines slowly dying, and the advent of tablets and e-readers, how long will the printed word have in our industry? Clearview already have PDF versions of all their issues, as do a couple of others. Everything is becoming mobile as we all become busier during the day, so will the 25+ generation ever sit down to read the magazines, or would they prefer to read what’s going on in our little word on a screen?
My personal opinion for now is that we still need print. There are still many older, techno-phobic people in our industry who will always prefer a magazine to a touch screen. But there will come a day where these people make way for people my age, who are far more used to screens than paper. It’s at that point we may see the slow demise of the magazine. You never know, I might be wrong!
Some of them are barely braking 30 pages, half of which are filled with massive adverts and repeats of stories I read months ago! I don’t want to read about a company’s 20th anniversary for four months running thank you very much! Nor do I want to read about the development of new screws or the delivery of a slightly different yet completely new cutting machine to a tiny little manufacturer I’ve never even heard of!
When I first joined the industry the magazines were filled with issues people could engage in. It would carry stories of rumour, articles that would piss people off a little and get debate going. Where has all this gone?
Luckily I write for a magazine who is trying to get back to those ways. They’re trying to keep their articles fresh, no major repeats and no boring adver-articles. Obviously I’m going to be slightly biased and in Clearview’s favour. But if I thought they were a backwards magazine on the way down like many of the others, I wouldn’t write for them.
They’ve managed to scale their magazine way up over the last few issues, almost making the 100 page mark, which is about as big as an industry magazine needs to be. But they’ve now also launched their new website, which includes a fresh forum. The layout is clean, modern, easy to understand. Again, I know it might sound slightly biased, but I honestly am speaking truthfully.
Now to get to the point of this post. With many magazines slowly dying, and the advent of tablets and e-readers, how long will the printed word have in our industry? Clearview already have PDF versions of all their issues, as do a couple of others. Everything is becoming mobile as we all become busier during the day, so will the 25+ generation ever sit down to read the magazines, or would they prefer to read what’s going on in our little word on a screen?
My personal opinion for now is that we still need print. There are still many older, techno-phobic people in our industry who will always prefer a magazine to a touch screen. But there will come a day where these people make way for people my age, who are far more used to screens than paper. It’s at that point we may see the slow demise of the magazine. You never know, I might be wrong!
>Many magazines have already converted to e-readers and online articles, and it annoys me to think that I have to read them online, often with blinking, distracting adverts around the edges of it, and struggling with the glare of a computer screen. I often end up either not reading them, or printing them out to read, which defeats the whole point of having virtual magazines. I understand the need for e-readers because we live in a society that worries about the implications of not recycling, and we horde a lot of old magazines in boxes "just in case" we want… Read more »
>It's funny because with the new changes on your site I was unable to read your blog on my ipad, i had to switch to the old view. With things going moblie at a fast rate I think you need to look at this
#justsaying
>Totally agree. I look forward to rade mags each month but not for the reading content, just to see what new and exciting and completely fabricated prices the larger companies have thrown into their old adverts to try and entice new customers, i always need alittle bit of toilet reading neways!!lol.
I tend to use the internet for new prodcust,a dntwitter and facebook are where the discussions tend to take place now, shame not everyone in our industry is technical enough to be logged on to these.
>Very well put guys. I'm also writing for clearview magazine which I'm very pleased to do and agree (without bias) their content seems to be heading in the better direction than many of the others. I have also commented on my site in the past about how the trade magazines are slipping in their content and what they write about.For me they seem full of the same old repeated content, who has been employed where, who has completed what installation, who has done a charity run and who has bought a new van even!! – nothing fresh, nothing to bring… Read more »
>With the exeption of the odd supplement/feature, the trade publications are vanity magazines. But for B2B companies they do serve a vital purpose. Not sure that the magazine you write for is much different to the other 7 or 8 out there.
>The leading magazines in the sector namely WIndows Active, Glass Times and GGP are doing very well, and are publishing over 100 pages on a regular basis. They are the best way to target installers as the sector centres around tradesmen on site fitting windows. The internet and email is OK for people behind desks. Your point is valid for magazines such as Clearview and WIndows Industries who struggle on a monthly basis and are thrown straight in the bin.
>Interesting comments from anonymous, is that why they have remained anonymous I wonder? Obviously they have not seen more recent copies of Clearview which are consistently over 100 pages aimed at installers as well as the rest of the supply chain. Here at Clearview we do welcome viewpoints good or bad, so it would be interesting to see what comments we receive on our latest forum discussion. http://bit.ly/sxUb7U