What a bummer-again. I have subscribed since issue one that featured Jeff Gnass way back in the 80’s. I eventually got images published by Rob S. and Chris R. later gave me an assignment after i sent him a book i published. Yeah, i was finally in! Then Werner went under and i got stiffed on my first big writing op. But it was nothing compared to the others. Talking with George Lepp, he got stiffed way more that I. Madavor took over and Wes gave me an assignment in his first issue as editor. I got paid then and was invited to keep submitting but never made it a priority and now, glad i didn’t. But you are correct, there are no awesome, professionally edited photo pubs left, that i know of. American Photo, Photo District News, and more-gone. What sucks is Werner knew they were going under and still were giving out assignments, including me. And chatting with Michael Gordon and Royce Howland the other day, the exact same thing is happening to them right now. I know none of the details today, but in corporate America, it seems all the principles take care of themselves first before locking the door on their way out.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. The one caveat I would have is that, in my experience, the people doing the "going under" have not been the ones handing out the assignments. So I don't fault any of my editors, whether at Werner or Madavor, as I think they were largely kept in the dark. It's safe to say they knew things weren't going well, but that's different than knowing how it's going to play out. In all of my experiences with publications going under (which, sadly, has now been fairly extensive) it's business as usual until the ax falls.
I am sure that's the case William and not doubt you would have way more inside or accurate info than I did. Nine came from others who got stiffed and discussed it on social media. I look forward to more of your posts.
"The people who create the content we consume...."
It's why the Writer's Guild of America is on strike... a strike some say may last until the end of summer.
Those who profit most from this industry do seem to miss the point that they are killing their golden geese when they don't treat them fairly. You could say that the current model is throwing their "content creators," like pieces of wood, into the furnace of their business that must speed full steam ahead...
It's interesting you mention the writers strike, because I almost did myself. It's the same issue.
Unfortunately I've been hearing from business media that the strike might actually be helpful at the moment for these streaming companies who are producing more shows than they can afford, and who need to cut costs. Which means they have less of a reason to negotiate in good faith and try to get this resolved.
My prediction is that it is not going to end well for the writers, unfortunately. Hopefully I'm being too cynical, though.
Sigh... I purchased a subscription to Outdoor Photographer in the early '90s as a birthday present for the person who would eventually become my spouse. We still get it. Well, got it.
I eventually developed an interest in nature photography too, with this magazine as a source of inspiration and DPReview.com as my go to for gear information. It's so sad to see all of these shutdowns in this part of the publishing industry.
When I started working at Outdoor Photographer in 1999 it was thriving. The digital revolution was making for interesting innovations every week—kind of like AI feels today, actually. Part of what's strange about this to me is how quickly this all happened. We all knew our favorite magazines weren't doing well. You see it all over newsstands: big pages got small, thick books became thin... But you never think it's going to disappear. Then it does. It really is sad because I don't know where we go now for this kind of curated information delivered with care. (I'll try to do my part!)
Sad, isn't it? The end of an era. My guess is there will continue to be some promotional and marketing emails that go out, because presumably somebody will be keeping things alive on the back end while they try to find a buyer. So maybe it'll still FEEL like it's kind of alive.
Oh man so sorry to hear that you got stiffed as well. A long trail if OP burned bridges.
What a bummer-again. I have subscribed since issue one that featured Jeff Gnass way back in the 80’s. I eventually got images published by Rob S. and Chris R. later gave me an assignment after i sent him a book i published. Yeah, i was finally in! Then Werner went under and i got stiffed on my first big writing op. But it was nothing compared to the others. Talking with George Lepp, he got stiffed way more that I. Madavor took over and Wes gave me an assignment in his first issue as editor. I got paid then and was invited to keep submitting but never made it a priority and now, glad i didn’t. But you are correct, there are no awesome, professionally edited photo pubs left, that i know of. American Photo, Photo District News, and more-gone. What sucks is Werner knew they were going under and still were giving out assignments, including me. And chatting with Michael Gordon and Royce Howland the other day, the exact same thing is happening to them right now. I know none of the details today, but in corporate America, it seems all the principles take care of themselves first before locking the door on their way out.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. The one caveat I would have is that, in my experience, the people doing the "going under" have not been the ones handing out the assignments. So I don't fault any of my editors, whether at Werner or Madavor, as I think they were largely kept in the dark. It's safe to say they knew things weren't going well, but that's different than knowing how it's going to play out. In all of my experiences with publications going under (which, sadly, has now been fairly extensive) it's business as usual until the ax falls.
I am sure that's the case William and not doubt you would have way more inside or accurate info than I did. Nine came from others who got stiffed and discussed it on social media. I look forward to more of your posts.
I wish I had been in that conversation. I surely could have wowed them with my unpaid debt!
"The people who create the content we consume...."
It's why the Writer's Guild of America is on strike... a strike some say may last until the end of summer.
Those who profit most from this industry do seem to miss the point that they are killing their golden geese when they don't treat them fairly. You could say that the current model is throwing their "content creators," like pieces of wood, into the furnace of their business that must speed full steam ahead...
It's interesting you mention the writers strike, because I almost did myself. It's the same issue.
Unfortunately I've been hearing from business media that the strike might actually be helpful at the moment for these streaming companies who are producing more shows than they can afford, and who need to cut costs. Which means they have less of a reason to negotiate in good faith and try to get this resolved.
My prediction is that it is not going to end well for the writers, unfortunately. Hopefully I'm being too cynical, though.
No, not at all cynical.
I'm expecting any minute the announcement a pilot for the first "fully AI-written" series.
Sigh... I purchased a subscription to Outdoor Photographer in the early '90s as a birthday present for the person who would eventually become my spouse. We still get it. Well, got it.
I eventually developed an interest in nature photography too, with this magazine as a source of inspiration and DPReview.com as my go to for gear information. It's so sad to see all of these shutdowns in this part of the publishing industry.
When I started working at Outdoor Photographer in 1999 it was thriving. The digital revolution was making for interesting innovations every week—kind of like AI feels today, actually. Part of what's strange about this to me is how quickly this all happened. We all knew our favorite magazines weren't doing well. You see it all over newsstands: big pages got small, thick books became thin... But you never think it's going to disappear. Then it does. It really is sad because I don't know where we go now for this kind of curated information delivered with care. (I'll try to do my part!)
Noooooo - not Outdoor Photographer too!!! I just got one of their emails yesterday and I saw nothing about them going belly-up 😢
Sad, isn't it? The end of an era. My guess is there will continue to be some promotional and marketing emails that go out, because presumably somebody will be keeping things alive on the back end while they try to find a buyer. So maybe it'll still FEEL like it's kind of alive.