Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Magazine Musings ...

It is interesting to see that Taunton Press has decided to cease publication of it's latest offering, "Sew Stylish". With the website up at the same time, I was watching to see how much content would be duplicated in the website. As I saw the site expand to include so many contributors, I began to wonder if it would become the main focus of the Sew Stylish staff. After all, the internet is the fastest medium in which to spread a message. It is also, so the "experts" say, the primary medium for the younger generation. It also doesn't require printing presses and a staff to handle subscriptions and can be advertising driven. So, it is not a surprise that the online version is taking over. Response time is so much faster online. Nothing like instant gratification in publishing!

The comments on the demise of the mag puzzle me, I must admit. I picked up a couple of issues to compare to Threads (to which I suscribe). While there were some articles that were specific to SS, I found the majority to have been copied from Threads (I did like the Formalwear themed issue, however, as it was a useful beginning reference for sewing formalwear). So, in light of this, I wonder why so many people said they preferred SS to Threads? Is it a question of layout? Of strictly article content (this would be puzzling considering the twinning of some of the content)? I would really like to know ... Anybody care to enlighten me with their views? I would love to discuss this ...

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:14 pm

    Lorna, I'm with you. I didn't like it as I, too, found the content to be almost straight repurposing of Threads content. That expresses to me laziness in the editorial staff. I subscribed, but only got the first issue, so I am not brokenhearted that they didn't continue sending it. It wasn't that expensive to begin with.

    Some people like to just jump on the bandwagon of new things and rave over them regardless of whether there is merit or not. I'm not one of those people.

    Just my personal opinion and observations.

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  2. OK, we have one opinion as to why it wasn't liked ... I hope I get some opinions as to why it was. I saw some merit in the attempt in the attempt, but saw it more as an attempt to compete with Sew News one on one and thereby corner the market on subscriptions. No harm in that.

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  3. Lorna, I can't comment on liking/disliking since I'm a contributing editor, but the magazine is not ceasing publication at this point. They are merely not going to have subscriptions any longer. HTH clarify just a little. -Ann

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