Fine Woodworking is changing online access
#11
I pay $35 per year for access to the FWW web site.  I get to read FWW magazine, watch the video workshops, and view episodes of Ruff Cut after they have aired on PBS.  But this deal is no longer offered.

From what I can see, there are now only two offerings:

1. The print magazine delivered by snail mail for $35 per year.

OR

2. The whole shebang for $99 per year.  You get the print magazine, access to the web site (described above), plus access to FWW back issues online and their illustrated guide series and anything else they offer online.

 
Mike
Reply
#12
After all these years this may be the nail in the coffin.  I don't think I'm alone in saying I won't pay $99 per year.

Lonnie
Reply
#13
Thanks for the info. I was planning to subscribe after the 1st of the year - but now I won't.
Jim

Demonstrating every day that enthusiasm cannot overcome a lack of talent!
Reply
#14
I got a renewal for Popular Woodworking magazine in the mail today.

That magazine is circling the drain. Lots thinner than 10 years ago, and with CS leaving, the authors don't seem to be able to come up with content that is interesting to me anymore.

I don't think I will renew PW.
...Naval Aviators, that had balz made of brass and the size of bowling balls, getting shot off the deck at night, in heavy seas, hoping that when they leave the deck that the ship is pointed towards the sky and not the water.

AD1 T. O. Cronkhite
Reply
#15
The value of FW, or for that matter, any magazine can only be judged by its readers, who vary in their experience and hence in their perceived value as well. 

As I have seen so much materials or topics repeated in FW and among magazines, I will let my current and only FW subscription expire (with about 6months left) and not renew it.

$99? I'd rather spend that money on supplies/consumables, like lumber, oil finish, glue, etc. If there is something that I am not good at that FW offers, it is probably something that I am not interested in doing to start with.

Simon
Reply
#16
I subscribe to most of the woodworking magazines, I don't think I've been tempted to look online. Just not my thing.
Reply
#17
Interesting. I know someone who is in the internet/website/monetization advisory business, very experienced and very sharp, who was pitching FWW to overhaul their online presence and marketing strategy. He came away laughing, management is tone deaf, set in their ways. Reportedly they seem to think they have a goldmine in the past issues content, and are missing the boat when they could bundle print and digital past issue content at a lower price point and literally double their revenue via subscription and increased online advertising sales linked to the past issues digital content. Not my area, but it makes sense to me.
Credo Elvem ipsum etiam vivere
Non impediti ratione cogitationis
Reply
#18
(10-27-2018, 09:28 PM)Admiral Wrote: Interesting.  I know someone who is in the internet/website/monetization advisory business, very experienced and very sharp, who was pitching FWW to overhaul their online presence and marketing strategy.  He came away laughing, management is tone deaf, set in their ways.  Reportedly they seem to think they have a goldmine in the past issues content, and are missing the boat when they could bundle print and digital past issue content at a lower price point and literally double their revenue via subscription and increased online advertising sales linked to the past issues digital content.  Not my area, but it makes sense to me.

Admiral I think your buddy is spot on.  Make money from advertisers not your subscribers and do everything you can to increase your user base.  Facebook comes to mind . . . . 

Lonnie
Reply
#19
(10-27-2018, 09:28 PM)Admiral Wrote:  Reportedly they seem to think they have a goldmine in the past issues content, and are missing the boat when they could bundle print and digital past issue content at a lower price point and literally double their revenue via subscription and increased online advertising sales linked to the past issues digital content.  Not my area, but it makes sense to me.
I have always been annoyed that my paper subscription got me nothing from the online side, and no discount at all. Not sure how much of a premium I would have given for digital on top of the paper anyway, but charging me full price seemed wrong. And to make it worse, all the free content they have online is directly derived from the print edition. I need to get a lot more from them than what I see to give them $99 a year.  I will continue to get the magazine unless it nosedives.
Reply
#20
(10-27-2018, 11:47 PM)EricU Wrote: I have always been annoyed that my paper subscription got me nothing from the online side, and no discount at all. Not sure how much of a premium I would have given for digital on top of the paper anyway, but charging me full price seemed wrong. And to make it worse, all the free content they have online is directly derived from the print edition. I need to get a lot more from them than what I see to give them $99 a year.  I will continue to get the magazine unless it nosedives.

Well, a paper subscription does allow you to download that year's issues digitally.  I would think that if you are a subscriber for 20 years (as I have been), they should allow you online access to past issues you had purchased during a continuous subscription period, but that is not the case.   For me, I save all the copies anyway, and if I need something, I rummage around and eventually find the hardcopy.  To their credit, the magazine index is back and is improved from what was previously available.
Credo Elvem ipsum etiam vivere
Non impediti ratione cogitationis
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 2 Guest(s)

Product Recommendations

Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.