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FEELING BINARY
FEELING ALL
BINARY!
FOLLOWING AIRSOFT ACTION’S SWITCH TO FULLY DIGITAL ONLY, FRENCHIE REFLECTS ON
WHY THIS IS SO IMPORTANT IN TODAY’S SOCIETY AND WHY PAPER MAGAZINES ARE ON
THE WAY OUT.
L
ast month’s edition of Airsoft Action
represented a massive change to
the way it is published. For various
reasons, Nige decided after much
consideration to take the magazine
fully digital and to offer it for free. Now,
despite the apparent rejoicing in certain
niche corners of the airsoft universe, this
is not the foreshadowing of doom that
they would like. Indeed, sticking blindly
to print these days suggests a failure to
understand the market - or a desire to
watch your titles go down like the Titanic.
Time will tell.
Right, let’s make something clear
straightaway: I am not writing a puff
piece for Nige or Airsoft Action. He’s
made his decisions, I know why, and I
agree with them, but it’s up to him to
explain and defend those decisions if
necessary. Rather, having spent the better
part of the last two decades writing
for one or other of the UK’s airsoft
magazines, along with a purely digital
in-house publication and a stint editing
another magazine, I have been forced to
learn a few things about publishing in the
UK. So, I’m going to take that experience
and apply it to this current situation and
the broader aspects of publishing for
airsoft in the UK.
TRUTHS
A few truths first: Publishing on paper
is expensive, as is striking distribution
deals with major retailers like WH Smith,
here in the UK. They charge publications
handsomely to carry them in-store and
even more if that magazine wants to be
displayed prominently. Given that airsoft
(within the UK) was and remains a niche
market, that’s a lot of up-front cost to
try and reach a small market. It can be
done obviously; there are plenty of niche
pastimes catered for by print magazines
but I am going to bet that even hobbies
like train spotting have more adherents
in the UK willing to drop a few quid a
month on a magazine, than does airsoft.
Second truth: Publishers will always
exaggerate their distribution. It is
embarrassing to admit you only sell
800 copies per month or whatever and
more importantly, the costs of producing
a magazine are not met by sales or
subscriptions but by carrying advertising.
It is necessary, therefore, to convince
advertisers that their money is well spent
and that their advertisements are going to
be seen by as many interested people as
possible. Advertising within airsoft is a
whole other subject which I may cover
in a future issue. My tuppence-worth is
that it probably doesn’t have as much
effect as everyone involved would like it
to, but there is the intangible downside
of not being seen to advertise. Suffice
it to say, that my only experience
of adverts being mentioned when I
worked in retail happened when the
advert wasn’t changed monthly and
someone complained that product X
should cost £Y - because “that’s what
the advert said”.
How does going digital address
these issues? Well, it’s cheaper, much
cheaper than producing paper copies.
That is a huge saving, meaning that your
overheads drop like a stone. Given that
AA has several regular contributors, all of
whom need to be paid, that’s a serious
consideration. It would be nice if we
worked for “exposure” but that’s a game
for mugs and those who would exploit
them. It also removes any geographical
boundaries. Airsoft is a global pastime
and it is simply not possible to reach
everyone with hard copies of a magazine,
that simply isn’t the world we live in
anymore. What you can do, however,
is reach them electronically – on their
phones, their tablets or their laptops.
Suddenly your potential readership has
expanded exponentially. I would start
chucking in international copy if it were
me - but it turns out Nige was way ahead
of me on that.
“GIVEN THAT AA HAS SEVERAL REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS, ALL OF WHOM NEED TO BE PAID, THAT’S A
SERIOUS CONSIDERATION. IT WOULD BE NICE IF WE WORKED FOR “EXPOSURE” BUT THAT’S A GAME
FOR MUGS AND THOSE WHO WOULD EXPLOIT THEM.”
82
APRIL 2020