Thread: Straight Razor Magazine?

I really don't think the market is big enough for a real magazine and in addition I would prefer if you guys gave it up. That way I could get some razors on ebay for a good price

I gotta say I agree that there wouldn't be much of a market, but it would be good to have a more visible presence. I'd like to submit my application as a writer if you get her going though.

X

Yeah, I'll help in any way I can too. I can do some graphics work, and am a reasonable writer. I thought someone found a mag in existance from the title of the thread too.

Originally Posted by pea

If i were to write a straight razor, or shaving magazine for that matter, do you guys in here think it would sell? It'd be loaded with great info, have restoration sections, photo galleries etc. Plus NO adverts for the mach 3....thats..NOOOO adverts for the mach 3!

Pea, I've got a little bit of experience here, I write for a living. I'm probably going to give you more info than you ever wanted to know, but I ought to tell you what I know. Information is always good. Too much information is even better.


Short answer no. The production costs are going to be out of this world and there is no chance of recouping those costs. More importantly, I don't think a store would give it precious shelf space. You will lose your rear end if you try to make a print mag.

However, don't abandon the idea. Think of ways to decrease costs and increase distribution. I've only got two suggestions, start a club and print a newsletter, or start an online magazine. Yes, Lynn's already got the info people need, but if you want to do something, choose specific topics and write about them in a journalistic style. I'm just throwing this an example, write something about razors made in Germany around the second world war. I'd read that. You'd think they wouldn't have allocated steel for it, but you never know. Again, just an example, I do know Mauser continued to making civilian hunting rifles until Allies took over the plant. The guy who was head of the hunting rifle department kept making rifles even during Allied occupation. He built them in a toolshed. There are little stories like that all over the place, look into some of that stuff and put it online. Figure out what people want, then figure which of those things others provide. What's left over is what you give them.

Write some yourself, see if you can get some volunteer writers (I'll write a couple) to write some, publish your first edition online. You'll need good photography and a professional-looking layout. Maybe have three stories, plus your photo galleries and the other stuff you mentioned in an online issue. Next month, do three more, put up different pics in the gallery... and so on.
It won't cost you very much and you have a chance of being successful, unlike a print magazine, where I"m sure you'd fall flat. Just remember this QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. A typical internet reader is not going to spend all day there, he'll just read a story he's interested in, check out a couple of pics and he's gone off somewhere else.

All right, down the road, just keep this in the back of your mind no need to be concerned about it now.... Once you get it established, you're gonna have to pay writers and if you've got advertising revenue coming in and a profit, it's only fair, and as with anything else, you get what you pay for.
Once you get something together and start getting some hits, you can work on advertising revenue. Eventually, you'll want to upgrade the writing quality and when you can afford it, you'll need to start paying writers. You can get people to write decent stuff for a meager amount, say $25 a story. That'll get writers trying to build credentials. One story and you're added to your resume and that's about all you'll get at that price. $40, you'll get the younger guys writing regularly. If you want good stuff, you'll need to pay at least 75 bucks a story.


By the way, somebody mentioned the content would be played out fast. You'd be surprised, there is a magazine about Lizzie Borden nothing else, I'm serious there is nothing else in there, and it's been running for years. I think it's called the hatchet and it's fairly successful.

Well, yeah, but Lizzie was a hot babe. If she'd done her (Alleged) axe thing today she'd end up on the cover of "Sports Illustrated's" swimsuit edition.

As an off-the-shelf mag, it would be impossible.
However, if it was purely subscription based and printed on recycled paper, you have a chance.

I am subscribed to 'the NT insider' which is a mag about device driver programming for windows. It is published by OSR, and printed on thick, recycled paper, black and white only, just text.

People subsribe online and get it 5 times per year, but without guarantees about fixed release dates. The end of last year was extremely busy for OSR, so there were 6 months between this mag and the previous one.

An advantage of being a small subscription based mag is that there is no marketing info inside (well, ok a little bit) and all articles are purely technical and in-depth.

The number of subscribers is a couple of hundreds.
An SRP mag would initially have less than that, but I just wanted to tell you that it is not impossible.

Bruno, I am the advertising director of a large publishing company. If this isn't just a pie in the sky idea and you know how to market and distribute a magazine, I know I can sell ad space in it.

If this ever comes around as a off the shelf mag...can you all envision the price of Ebay razors. Man start saving you pennies...just kidding, it'd be something that I'd have to have.

-Pary