| Focus April 1, 2004
How the Mighty Print Magazines Have Fallen
Special guest editorial by Doug Schneider,
SeriousAboutFitness.com chief photographer and publisher
Back when -- I’m talking mid-‘90s and prior --
the print magazines were an indispensable tool for competitors and enthusiasts. There were
few other sources of training, nutrition, and competitive information, and that made a
subscription to at least one or two magazines mandatory. Today, that has all changed.
I shake my head when I walk to a newsstand and see the
state of the print-publishing industry today. Almost all the fitness-based magazines
contain "lightweight" training articles, oftentimes just workout programs
recycled from years gone by, or something written by desk jockeys who have never actually
trained themselves. Or they’ll have updates on the latest fad diets in the hope that
they can capitalize on the newest nutritional craze and make the magazine appear as if it
is still at the forefront of what is happening. Overall, though, what is contained in the
pages is usually not information that a serious competitor or enthusiast can use -- at
best, it might appeal to a novice, but that is about all.
While useless articles are one thing, an even worse trend
to rear its head in the magazines in the past few years is the way they are cutting down
on content and increasing their ads for supplements. Open up almost any fitness-based
magazine today and you’ll see endless advertisements selling the latest and greatest
supplements -- the magic potions that will give you the body you want. And if the product
is prominent enough, right alongside the ad there might also be, by miraculous
coincidence, an article about the supplement that usually explains how great it is.
I’ve got a secret for you: It’s almost always all bogus.
Then there are those "special ad reports" --
advertisements masquerading as content. To me, this is the most reprehensible thing that a
publisher can do, and it is why today I recommend to anyone who sees a magazine containing
those types of ads to close it up and slap it back up on the shelf. Don’t read it,
don’t trust it, and most certainly, don’t waste your money on it. Those
magazines, above all, deserve the fate that is awaiting them.
Finally, what are the print magazines doing for the
participants in the sports? You know, the people who actually take part. Are they giving
them exposure? Are they promoting them? Are they seeking out new talent? Hardly.
Back in the old days the magazine did just that -- the
pages were filled with amateur and professional athletes whose hearts were in their chosen
sport. Today, the print magazines feature a fraction of the competitors, and in time it
will only get worse. One group of bodybuilding and fitness magazines just revamped their
format, and most of the new models they use have nothing to do with the sports. Exposure,
through the magazines at least, is dwindling fast.
The state of the magazine industry is bad, but the question
is: Why is it in such a dismal state? The answer is remarkably simple: the Internet.
It’s no coincidence that the downward spiral of the
print magazine started shortly after the Internet began gaining steam. And this
didn’t just happen in the fitness industry -- it happened in all industries, and
continues on today. Internet usage is escalating while the number people who read and buy
magazines is declining. As a result, the magazines are scrambling to survive, resorting to
the type of tactics we see today. They can no longer make money simply selling
subscriptions, they need to turn their pages into catalogues for supplement companies, and
spread misinformation so the advertisers can make a buck. It’s not about the people
anymore; it’s about the companies.
And it’s not hard to see why the Internet has it over
the print magazines: it’s faster (you can find competition photos online the day of
the shows, not months later when the print magazines finally hit the newsstands),
it’s easier (no more running down to the corner store, simply type in a URL and your
favorite site will be up for you in seconds), and it’s cheaper (at lot of great
content can be found online for free, while magazines keep upping their prices at the
newsstand). No wonder most of the print-based publishing companies haven’t a clue
what to do -- they’re fighting a losing battle. What’s more, the print
publishers lost to the Internet one of their key advantages that they held for years: the
dollar-barrier to entry for online publishing is a fraction of what print publishing is.
As a result, there is a wealth of information on the Internet from up-and-coming
publishers showing the print world how it ought to be done.
While the print magazines continue to slide, credible
content on the Internet is on the increase. And granted, while you can find as much, if
not more garbage on various sites as you can in print magazines, you can find a goldmine
of information if you know where to look. There are not only online magazines on the
Internet, there are also interactive forums, chat rooms, information resources, and so
much more that it can be overwhelming at times. Most importantly, though, it’s all
free and at your fingertips.
That’s why at SeriousAboutFitness.com we’re 100%
committed to online publishing, and even more committed to providing timely and relevant
content for enthusiasts in Canada and worldwide. In fact, since we started SeriousAboutFitness.com, and
our bodybuilding-based site BodyBuildingLive.com,
we have published more photos of Canadian competitors than all the print magazines on the
shelves combined! And it is only going to get better. The mighty print magazines have
fallen, but the Internet has risen!
...Doug Schneider
das@seriousaboutfitness.com |
