Gun rags

[DWS1117]

I am sure most of us like to pick at least one of the gun rags from time to time. Some my be subscribers, some just occasional readers, some take every word as absolute gospel, others take every word with a grain of salt, and some just like the pictures. What about gun rags gets your goat the most?

My biggest gripe is "continued on page xx ". That burns my butt. It seems that every dang article is printed one one or two pages and then you have to turn to somewhere in the middle or end of the mag finish the story. I don't mind having to do this with one or maybe 2 articles, but EVERY ONE of them? Is it too much to ask that when they print a story it gets printed on consecutive pages? It doesn't seem like a difficult thing to accomplish.

To anyone that my be involved with the publishing of a gun rag, why is this done? I am sure other types of magazines employ this practice, but I notice it with gun magazines more then others.

Wow! Sorry about the rant. I do feel better now.

What don't you like?

 

[Triad]

I think the "continued on..." bit is to cause you to look at the ads as you flip through the pages to find the rest of the article. That doen't make me happy either.
I can't really list the other things that I couldn't stand, because they were so numerous I quit reading the magazines several years ago.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Speaking strictly as a guy who's been in publishing a long, long time: the front of a magazine is more valuable real estate than the back. The object of laying out an issue is to hook readers with as much intrigueing material as quickly as possible.

Hang around a grocery store magazine rack some time, and you'll notice most people flip through magazines from front to back rather than back to front.

An advertisement in the front pages usually costs more than one of the same size in the back pages. The reason most magazine covers are such grotesque messes—almost tables of contents in their own right—is that the blurbs and claims are hooks whose purpose is to draw people deeper into the issue.

Magazines are put together the way they are because that's what works. Ugly? Yes. Effective? Yes—and effectiveness matters a great deal in an industry with very slim profit margins.

 

[cool45auto]

It seems like there's always a story that starts on the last page and goes back to the middle of the magazine somewhere. I don't mind the continued stories but when they go backwards, that's weird.

 

[S_O_Laban]

Quote
My biggest gripe is "continued on page xx ". That burns my butt
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Yours isn't the only one burning. IIRC Rifle shooter is the best of about 8 gun rags( that I currently take) at not doing this. Gun Tests is good also but it is product reveiw not really articles. I understand the "hook" concept but it still really makes reading a pain in the backside

 

[Art Eatman]

If "Continued on page..." is all that upsetting, I'd hate to see folks in an Interstate commuter parking lot! Sheesh!

Here's the easy way to deal with it: Just go on to the next article, and the next article, etc., and keep on turning pages until you get to the continuance. Then, just read it.

Unless, of course, you have serious memory problems...



Art

 

[Smoke]

Continued on page xx is not an issue solely with gun rags....ever read an newspaper? Or any other magazine?

Ya'll must get peeved alot!

 

[redneck2]

Yo, Art....

I don't have memory problems...


or, at least I can't think of any...

 

[ajacobs]

another reason is some mags only print a portion of their pages in color. They get all the nice pics up in the color section and continue the article on the B&W section. This is so they have to print less colored pages. I am sure the value of the front pages is probally the determing factor.

 

[JohnKSa]

Standing Wolf,

Your premise is good assuming that the person reads the ENTIRE magazine in a single sitting.

But, what happens if he only reads a few pages at a time. That means that theres a good chance he'll miss WHOLE SECTIONS of the magazine.

Here's the scenario. Reader starts article on page 2. He reads a couple of pages and then is shunted to page 25. He reads half a page and then marks his place and sets the magazine down.

Two days later, he picks up his magazine, takes out the bookmark and continues reading on page 25. He finishes his article on page 25 and then goes on to the next article on page 26.

Unless he's really paying attention he may not realize he's missed more than 20 pages of his magazine. Especially if he reads several magazines a month.

That means he didn't look at the advertisements on those 20 something pages either!

For every scenario you can come up with that benefits the advertisers/publishers, there is one that hurts them. Bottom line, publishers should quit screwing around and print all the articles contiguously and in order.

The cover and index should be sufficient to suck in the newstand browser. Thumbing through a morass of continuations and multiple articles starting on the same page is only going to confuse him.

 

[Tamara]

For every scenario you can come up with that benefits the advertisers/publishers, there is one that hurts them. Bottom line, publishers should quit screwing around and print all the articles contiguously and in order.

Oh, I'm sure studies were done and charts were printed. (You'll note it varies with the magazine's subject and target audience, too...)

Those guys who stuck the milk, eggs, beer and soda in the back corner of the grocery store, clean across from the entrance didn't do it at random.

 

[10-Ring]

Just like most things, it's for the $$ To get you to go through the ads, to have you read the reviews, to get you to buy more stuff!

 

[craigz]

The only gun magazines I subscribe to anymore are Precision Shooting and The Accurate Rifle. Aside from being great magazines, their articles are never continued on page xx.

 

[rebbryan]

i hate it when they do an article on a gun they've already done just because an accessory rail was added to the gun. and they always seem to have an article on a gun advertised in the magazine, but great pistols who don't advertise in the mag (i.e. HK USP) hardly ever get any articles about anything

 

[BigG]

Other than American Rifleman and Shotgun News I pretty much gave up on the magazines. I get AR because of my membership and SGN because of the current info but guns have not changed much except cosmetically in the last twenty years so I guess I'm not missing much.

 

[DMK]

I don't mind the "continued on..." so much. What bothers me is when they take a beautiful picture of something and center it across the fold so that they can get ads or text on either side. Say what you want about these mags, most do have some nice photography.

 

[Betty]

You'd be surprised to find out how much money publications dish out for all the studies and charts n' such.

I work on two publications currently: one gun mag and one parenting mag. On the parenting mag, we just spent alot of money for a company to research why our print magazine is better for advertisers than radio commercials. Some potentially big customers insisted that radio was better, and wouldn't spend the money with us. When we showed them the pie charts, they went: , their wallets opened up, and we went:

The magazines are planned in such a way to make them appeal and sell the best to the readers and advertisers.

 

[armabill]

How about when they say to "continue on page so & so" and it's not there! Not anywhere in the whole magazine.

Newspapers do this too or only have part of the story and abruptly stops. I hate that!!

 

[Betty]

armabill,
Probably in the last minute edit process, they forgot to change where the article was actually continued. When you work on magazines that are 80+ pages, it happens. I have lots of horror stories.

Ever seen a publisher throw the dummy book (in-progress printouts of the magazine) at the editor? I have. Paper snow!

 

[TallPine]

Almost all magazines are like this.

Here is what I do:
thumb through the magazine from back to front;
read the "continued" part of the article;
if it is any good, then go back to the "continued from" page and see what the article is supposed to be about and look at the pictures.

I bet people like me really wercs up their marketing snalp.