I know we've discussed this topic before, but I have something to add. I've decided not to renew Pop Photo and Outdoor Photographer when they expire. When a new issue arrives, I skim through it and add it to the pile, thinking I'll get back to it another time. I never do.

I recently went through Pop Photo, and ripped out all the ads. What had begun as a magazine with 95 pages wound up as a 50-page magazine. Of course, I'm paying just $12.00 a year, but if all I do is skim and pile these things, why bother? I'll use that money to buy a new lens - eventually. :D

Back in Junior High I loved Pop Photo and Petersen's Photographic and a few others. It wasn't just for the articles and ads of the latest gadgets. Back then they often had photos of scantily clad "models".
Peter Gowland's ad always had a nice one.
As Americans became "enlightened" (aka neutered) the models stopped wearing bikinis and started wearing pants suits. YUCK!
Of course now that I'm old and HAPPILY MARRIED I have no interest in photos of scantily clad women. It's true! Just ask my wife.

This is an especially interesting subject as I used to run an ad agency with a media research and buying department. After retiring, I am now working full time as a freelance writer and photographer for several national boating magazines. So, I think I have a basic understanding of what's happening in the "print" publishing industry. To begin with, most magazines must sell at least 50% of their monthly pages to advertisers in order to BREAK EVEN. So if a pub has 150 pages total for the month, they need to generate 75 pages of ad revenue to pay for writers, photographers, art directors, graphic production, printing and postage…the costs of which have increased dramatically over the past several years. Don't think your $12 annual subscription goes very far in paying the cost to produce anything of quality. And just think, it would take 100 years of not reading Pop Photo to pay for one half of that new pro lens.

Large news weekly magazines that used to attract high numbers of readers have suffered because they don't offer anything very special. (Newsweek, Time) But highly specialized "enthusiasts" magazines like
ham radio's QST, Wooden Boat and Model Railroader are surviving because they offer the enthusiast valuable information and the experience of their peers and mentors. I still enjoy reading Outdoor Photographer because I can't personally travel to all the locations I read about. I learn something new every issue and am inspired to go places myself. And I still read Pop Photo because I usually find one or two little tips that I can use in my work. And believe it or not, I learn from reading the ads. I find out about new products, and I get a sense of what companies are leaders in the industry.

But most importantly as a photographer, I appreciate the tactile sense of sitting down with a cup of Joe or something stronger, putting my feet up and opening to a beautiful 2-page spread of a photo by Ian Plant, David Muench or Frans Lanting. Can I do this online? Sort of. But I don't want to sit at my computer any more than I have to. I want to feel the paper and turn the page. I don't want to scroll up or down or zoom in and out.

Some comments here suggest that print is dead or dying. Yes, in the past 5 years three major boating magazines I used to write for have closed their doors. One cannot discount the damage this economy has done to such non-essential products as boats, RVs or DSLR cameras. But some magazines have not only survived, a few new ones have been born that are doing extremely well. The secret is delivering that "experience" which comes from superior writing and photography and even the quality of paper. The secret is making the publication highly relevant to a vertically narrow segment of the market.

If you're not getting something out of these magazines, then maybe you know everything you need to know. Perhaps you should try some of the other magazines that are meant more for pros like Digital Photo Pro or American Photo.

One thing is certain. We now have many more choices of where to get our information and be entertained. Smart publishing companies understand the importance of superior content and are finding many more ways of delivering that content to enthusiasts like us. They not only publish print magazines, but online versions, e-Newsletter and more. Today I use most of these delivery methods, but I would not like to rely on electronic delivery alone.