Apologies, but I missed this thread or I would have contributed earlier. I'm trying to get Living Woods to press tonight, so I'll keep this brief.
I apologise for any 'sloppy editing' Rob. It's the price of producing a magazine on virtually no budget, and working too long. To be honest, it's either that or you don't get a magazine because there is absolutely no slack in my organisation (that's me, largely). As Tennessee Williams said: "Throw out my demons and you may throw out my angels as well." The trouble is that readers have such high expectations of mags these days, expecting us to have websites, and video and fantastic graphics, and blogs etc.... It's hard to keep the quality of your main medium up with so many distractions diluting the message.
It's really interesting to read DickM liked Woodworker back in the 1980s. I started on the mag in 1987, and I'm convinced it was at its most interesting then. It too was produced on a shoestring, but it had character and we wrote about whatever we wanted. Perhaps it's harking back to those days that makes the design of British Woodworking a bit old fashioned. We always had a full postbag.
This is going to sound strange, but in some ways I'm saddened that the launch of Good Woodworking all those years ago forced Woodworker to change. We had some fantastic writers at Good Woodworking, but its focus on machine and power tool testing rather altered the British magazines. It was one of those inevitable evolutions of magazines, but I have my suspicions that it led to too much formulaic publishing.
I'm always intrigued to read so much about testing in magazines on the forum. I'm not sure magazines are the ideal police force for testing, and certainly at British Woodworking I prefer to focus on the more interesting elements of machines and tools, and how one interacts with them, rather than trying to compare one almost identical drill press with another. In that respect I think forums like this are ideal ways for people to share information about what is good and bad. One of the problems, I think, is that woodworkers tend to try to build up their workshops too fast, and as a result they sometimes make decisions too quickly, trying to get all the kit in one go rather than letting their workshop evolve.
I agree with Ironballs about Singletrack. That is produced by old acquaintances of mine, and I admire what they have done. They too are a tiny operation that have been able to be a bit maverick by not having too much middle management directing them. They came from the same publishing company that produced Good Woodworking, and perhaps they too have reacted by making a magazine with more heart and soul. If that means it's less polished, as might be the case for British Woodworking, then once again I can only apologise, but bring in the quality controllers who improve the editing and you're only a step away from the management by mediocracy that stultifies most woodworking magazines everywhere.
That said, I will keep trying to make the editing less sloppy, and improve the 'textural presentation' (whatever that is).
Cheers
Nick
- Rob
