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 (Editorial
Continued) Naturally, I wanted to at least be able to survive and
offer the regular magazine staff a decent wage.
We have done that, but just barely, and we were able to
survive for the first three years.
I feel especially grateful to those early subscribers and
advertisers that helped us keep going.
For those that don't know, 90% of new magazines go out of
business in the first two years. We are still here, and growing stronger all of the time; so,
somebody must like us.
Now
back to magazine content. Our
goal has been to achieve a 60% editorial content and 40%
advertising content and maintain that ratio.
We have achieved that ratio and maintain it even when we
have to add additional pages.
Take a look at the gun magazines you read and check out the
total number of their pages.
Our normal page count has been 104 pages, yet twice last
year we had to add an additional eight pages in order to place
more articles in that I felt needed to be published at that time,
which jumped our editorial content ratio up quite a bit.
This year, starting with the May/June 2003 issue, we are
adding eight pages to the insert on a regular basis making the
magazine a total of 112 pages.
Okay,
you say, but does it have the articles I am interested in?
Well, we hope so, and at least 98% of our survey answers
says it does, though most of them want to see more of one subject
or another and have it published every month versus every other
month. Our editorial
content objective is to include at least the following in every
issue: 1 article on getting started, 2-4 on firearms, 1 on
gunleather, 1 on gunsmithing, 1 on clothing, 1-2 on historical
items, 4-5 on annual shooting matches, 1-2 on ammunition and
reloading, 1 dime novel, 1 on Women of the West, 1 on new shooters
and/or juniors, 1 on cowboy humor, 1 on shooting and/or safety
tips, and 2 pages of collage at the end of the magazine, for which
we have a huge audience. This
is a broad range, but it seems to appeal to the majority of our
readers. My intention
is to continue to keep pretty much the same mix unless YOU, the
reader, tell me you want something different. You can do this by e-mailing me at editor@shootmagazine.com
or filling out the survey on our website at www.ShootMagazine.com.
I respond personally to all e-mails.
What
about having enough articles and submitting articles? Our backlog of articles on hand is close to 12 months, though
not all subjects have that many written.
Does this mean that if you submit an article it won't get
published for a year? No,
usually, it will get published anywhere from four to nine months
from when you submit it until it is seen in print, depending upon
if it is accepted, the subject matter, does it become outdated,
and what articles we need for which issues.
Anyone can submit articles and we try to really encourage
new writers and people involved in this sport that have needed
information or have great stories to participate. The articles we are usually short on are: Women of the West,
new shooters, junior and senior shooter articles, clothing, and
sometimes getting started articles, though articles on firearms,
shooting events, and reloading are always desired.
You are welcome to submit your articles and have an
excellent chance of seeing your story in print.
Some of you know, and others don't, that SHOOT Magazine does not pay for articles or photos.
Yet, we have a year's backlog of articles.
The quality of the articles and photos submitted to us
continues to improve, and the ratio of professional writers to
non-professionals is very acceptable from my viewpoint:
professional 70%, semi-professional 20%, non-professional 10%.
Even
though gun manufacturers are some of our prime advertisers, we try
to be objective when reviewing firearms.
The velocities and group sizes are accurate, and we talk
about what we like and what we think needs improvement.
Okay,
what about advertising and subscription prices? Without advertising, there would be NO gun or shooting
magazines; NONE. Think
about that for a minute. I
was very pleased to see that two of the participants in the chat
conversation referenced above understood this very well.
A magazine needs both subscribers and advertisers, not just
one. Most of our
readers really enjoy the advertisements, as that is what they look
at to see who to buy their new guns or gear from, especially if
they are new shooters. This
sport, as in all sports, is very circular.
Without the participants, there wouldn't be any
manufacturers of the sports products, and without all of the gun
and clothing manufacturers, you wouldn't be able to participate
in your sport. Without
a magazine to cover it, you wouldn't know what is going on, what
to buy, nor have the opportunity to see your photo in a world-wide
publication. We all
need to support each other to make the sport grow so that we can
continue to have fun and hopefully leave our children with an
understanding of both the old and the modern Wild West.
Do
I think the cost of the subscription ($27.95 inside the US) is too
high? No, not for
what you get. Would I
like to lower the subscription price?
You bet! If
each of you made sure that everyone participating in
Western-action shooting sports bought a subscription I could lower
it in a flash! As it
is, we have to wait for subscriptions to steadily increase before
the price can be lowered. When
we first started out the subscription price was $32.95.
The distribution of the magazine continues to grow. Even the demand for back issues is very high, as readers use
them for reference material.
Well,
I hope this literary enlightenment of the magazine world, and SHOOT!
Magazine
specifically, was interesting and worthwhile.
I will be glad to field any questions and encourage anyone
to send in their desires on magazine content, pricing, or anything
else regarding the magazine, its content, our staff's views, and
what we support.
Happy
trails,
Chucky
Send your letters to the
editor to editor@shootmagazine.com.
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