Mandolin Magazine - I'd love to see another such publicatiion

[Nick Royal]

I see that Mandolin Cafe is listing all the issues of Mandolin Magazine and info on
articles. I'd love to see another similar magazine, though maybe in this day and age, print magazines are hard to do. I do miss it: the profiles on players; lots of music; interviews with luthiers, etc.

[JeffD]

... I'd love to see another similar magazine, though maybe in this day and age, print magazines are hard to do. I do miss it: the profiles on players; lots of music; interviews with luthiers, etc.

Back way back in the way back, there was Mandolin World News. And for me, it was the Mandolin Café of that day. I came to it late in its life, but immediately it became my connection to all things mandolin. I got back issues and read everything. I remember thinking that reading Mandolin World News was the second only to actually playing the mandolin in a blissful way to spend time.

Now, of course, the café provides that immersive experience for me. It provides for me that "belonging" that a magazine used to provide.

That said, I still love magazines, and there are places I take a magazine I would never take an iPad. I love my Fretboard Journal, the physical journal, and I can often be seen at my favorite diner curled up (in the back left corner) with coffee and FJ. I rarely visit the website.

I don't think its (entirely) my being older and anachronistic and not entirely making the complete transition. I really believe print on paper can co-exist with on line and app universes. Just because one can do something doesn't mean one must do it. Progress should mean we have more and better options, not that we just do everything differently.

The enthusiasm and development of small sail boats took off after there were better ways of propelling a boat across the water. The paraphernalia and science of fly fishing developed rapidly after there were better ways to feed society.

And perhaps all these digital media can free up print magazines to be something we can enjoy even more thoroughly than back when it was all there was.

[Folkmusician.com]

I still love books and we have a few magazine subscriptions, but I believe it has become very difficult to be profitable in the print business.

This is hilarious! Just, all too based in truth!

[mandocrucian]

[Jim Garber]

Back way back in the way back, there was Mandolin World News.

Don't forget Mandocrucian Digest by our own Niles H (see above). I still have some copies somewhere in my stacks. Very entertaining.

[travellerbytrade]

I don't think its (entirely) my being older and anachronistic and not entirely making the complete transition. I really believe print on paper can co-exist with on line and app universes. Just because one can do something doesn't mean one must do it. Progress should mean we have more and better options, not that we just do everything differently.

I couldn't agree with you more. I used to work at a Barnes & Noble (until about a year ago). They were so busy we used to say "Internet? What Internet?" Sales ran across most all categories and age groups. We got to know our magazine buyers by name because they came in on the first of the month and bought their usual stack of titles. By the way, the most pilfered item in most book stores...bibles.

Maybe the problem lies with how businesses define and/or pursue success these days. Simon & Schuster won't even consider authors who don't sell books in the six figure numbers, when they use to print authors with sales across the board. But I don't believe for a moment that it means there's no other way.

I wish I had the answers...I'd be rich.

[Folkmusician.com]

Hasn't B&N been in decline for years now (other than their College division)?

I believe there is still a major demand for print, but we are teetering on the edge to sustain it at a profit. I don't see how the magazine industry can survive much longer.

I know our book sales are 10% (probably less) of what they were 15 years back and I have been slowly phasing them all out. They are just not profitable to stock anymore. Melbay has stopped producing most of their CD/DVDs and push the eBooks heavily.

[j. condino]

As a former writer for Mandolin Magazine and many other publications, the problem has nothing to do with the subject matter and everything to do with the 1000 other quirks and challenges of running a small business to a specialty market in challenging economic times. It takes almost the same amount of effort to produce one issue of Mandolin Magazine as it does to produce an issue of Time or Rolling Stone but the latter offer a whole lot more opportunity for sales. If anyone was so inspired, I'm sure you could get the conversation rolling with Ginny and get the rights to startup Mandolin Magazine again. I believe she retired and is living in Bend these days....

Last week I was trying to explain what it was like to read the morning paper every day at breakfast to my kids and even more obscure, what it was like to have a paper route as a kid....

j.
www.condino.com
www.kaybassrepair.com

[almeriastrings]

One of the biggest killers of the smaller circulation print market has been the escalating cost of handling/mailing. It has really hurt things, and when you add this in, the economies of producing small (a few thousand copies) of print journals are now pretty terrible.It is not just in the mandolin world... it is across the spectrum.