No Flashlight Magazines?

[importculture]

I have a laptop and mobile broadband internet and when I'm at an appointment or between meetings it's easier to open and carry a magazine or catalog. Plus I don't always have time to take out the laptop, boot up, log in, then load the site. It's much easier to just open a mag or catalog. This is a huge reason why I'd love a flashlight magazine.

 

[Centropolis]

This question has been always in the back of my mind since I started on this forum about 12 months ago.

A quick search in the internet finds magazines dedicated to stuffed teddy bears, making soap, dried flower arrangements, and making candles. Come on....there has to be more people that collect flashlights as a hobby compared to making soap bars!!?? :)

Hmmm....maybe not.

 

[Jaslight]

This magazine is good for the latest flashlight introductions and new and upcoming led technology's.
Its not exclusive to flashlights but pretty close.

 

[daloosh]

I'll chime in again. Being tech savvy, I'm sure more than a few of us noticed that PC Mag went out of print a month ago, and Computer Shopper is ending it's run on paper in April. Not to mention a zillion other computer magazines gone, like MacUser, Dr. Dobbs, Byte, Mobile Computing, Home PC, Internet World, OS/2 and Personal Computing.

I would guess the failure rate in computer magazines is higher than other general interest titles, because these readers use the internets A LOT. They are on the internets A LOT. They network and learn there, not on paper, and for free. Like we do. So you will always find out more, faster and cheaper, here.

For example, I saw Don's announcement of his new Haiku one nite recently. A couple days later and some anxious refreshing, they were for sale, and I got onboard, paid by Paypal two hours later, and rec'd my new torch in three days. What sort of news would that be for a monthly magazine? Already dead and gone news before it went to print.

It works for Surefire because it's a marketing tool for them, not news and reviews. It works for hunting/outdoors/sporting/LEO titles because their demographic aren't flashaholics, just high-use and demanding users. Someone is yet to convince me it would work for us. You'd be surprised how many scrapbook maniacs or teddy bear fanatics there are. And I bet their internet use is way less than ours.

I once launched a magazine for a small publisher. I don't remember the details, but here today, I'd guess the first year operating costs were probably on the order of $200,000. Now, some of that was recouped by advertising, but the upfront commitment was um, significant.

Anyone with $200K to burn, let me know, I'll help you start a flashlight mag!

daloosh

 

[Zatoichi]

It probably wouldn't be worth doing, but I personally would like one. A quarterly one would be fine. Despite having the internet and not really needing a printed magazine, I still like to have one to pick up from time to time. I occasionally still read airgun and guitar magazines, even though I could look it all up on the 'net.

 

[RobertM]

While a flashlight magazine sounds like a cool idea, as others have stated, there really isn't enough interest.

For example, below are average daily search figures on Google for the following phrases:

"knitting magazine": 325
"hunting magazine": 325
"crafts magazine": 178
"gardening magazine": 136
"mustang magazine": 118
"knife magazine": 19
"flashlight magazine": 2

People just aren't looking for a magazine dedicated to flashlights (at least not on the internet anyway since Google accounts for ~65% of internet searches).

-Robert

 

[BabyDoc]

It isn't such an insane idea, really. I mean if they can devote magazines to watches, or fountain pens, why is the idea of a flashlight magazine so crazy? The only problem that I see is the economic viability of such a publication. Because of the internet and the economy, most publications are suffering these days. Even the New York Times, arguably one of most read newspapers in the world, is in trouble financially. People are getting their information through cheaper venues such as the intermet or TV.

 

[Lightcrazycanuck]

This forum with really nice pics is all we really need.:twothumbs:twothumbs

 

[Youfoundnemo]

Someone mentioned the haiku comming out and them ordering it, perhaps the magazine in question could have an exclusive first view/pictures that werent released to the public. and to take a step further you could even have a set of say 20 limited edition magazine ones that would be availible before the public release. Think, CPF is a close knit community (the regulars anyways) and so long as the magazine editors kept on the good side of the forum/manufacturers/custom modders I think It would be ammazing

 

[KiwiMark]

I haven't bought a magazine for quite a few years & I wouldn't buy one on flashlights either. Everything I want to know about flashlights I can find on CPF. No matter what subject I can find more on the internet than in any magazine - flashlights, guns, cameras, motorbikes, sports cars, porn, poker, knives, cellphones, car audio, etc. It really doesn't matter what subject - the magazines can't match the internet.

I predict that over the next 20 years we will see a big decline in magazine sales due to competition from the internet. In 20 years only the really popular magazines will be still published.

 

[Big_Ed]

Maybe if the magazine were about a little more than flashlights it would be more viable. Call it something like "EDC Magazine". Where flashlights, knives, watches, and the like are covered. That would generate more interest I think, and make it a fuller magazine as well.

 

[jp2515]

Maybe if the magazine were about a little more than flashlights it would be more viable. Call it something like "EDC Magazine". Where flashlights, knives, watches, and the like are covered. That would generate more interest I think, and make it a fuller magazine as well.

This would be the most viable idea, just add a dedicated section for flashlights.

 

[gsxrac]

Maybe if the magazine were about a little more than flashlights it would be more viable. Call it something like "EDC Magazine". Where flashlights, knives, watches, and the like are covered. That would generate more interest I think, and make it a fuller magazine as well.

:paypal:

 

[firefly99]

There is another issue which no one has mention, the copyright and patents.

Big flashlight companies, such as Surefire, Pelican invested time, effort and money to conduct R&D. Their technologies are patented. The design of their flashlights are likely to copyright. For their products to be appear on a magazine, there should be no issue.

Those small China companies that produce clone or flashlights that look-alike. Very likely their products cannot be publish or they would be sue by the big companies for copyright or patent infringement.

These small companies just take the latest emitter, throw in a switch & battery holder to roll out a new flashlight. Which they did at a very rapid pace. Hence, the latest model and the previous model may have only very minor features differences. If such flashlight were to appear on a magazine, I doubt it would be interesting to read.

 

[Thujone]

I think you could sell a 'portable lighting' mag... Just make it a quarterly, review a few new lights. Have an editorial on tech developments. Then sell advertising pages to all the top players.