doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Suggestions for DGJ editor

Like others I opine the DGJ has lost much interest to me of late. Too many articles and pages allocated to UK gun auctioneering, nil interest to me and probably many others. Not enough on classic american guns. Last issue had one decent article on Baker SBT but how many made to be of interest to more than .01% of readers? Suggestion to the editor, how about soliciting articles of interest to most of your readers? Your stats should show how many live in the good old US? Can you talk to people at Parker, L.C. Smith, Lefever and Fox Collector groups and see what they can gin up for your journal? How about sending a field editor to the Vintagers to walk the American shooting courses and do up a story? Same with the Yupper shoot and others.

First rule of business, listen to your customers.

Those with farmer grades don't have time to read, they've just now finished the harvest.
The oaken gunroom is the place for this mag - and thems that gots Purdeys too!
Deer hunting magazines are only a couple of bucks at the gas station/food mart.
Deer rifles rule in rural America, birds just don't have enough meat on their bones for farmer Jones and his kin!

Sometimes you have a close brush with reality, LG. Stop that!

jack

I buy it for the Brit guns. I skip over the American gun articles. But, I don't need to read about the auctions I'd rather read about the guns.

Its the big fatty sop-up the leavins with toast kind o' country breakfast I've just had Rabbit.
Brings one back to earth.

Had a cup of java and, of all things, fried green tomatoes. No bacongrease-soppin bread. Sounds good.

jack

I believe the DGJ depends on un-solicited articles for which author is paid. There are probably not that many writters in this group . And , said writter Must have a strong background of knowledge on the particular gun he will be discussing. In as much as there are only so many American guns available of much interest --- seems another articled on the same gun/guns discussed in the past years mag's would eventially kill the mag. membership. There's lots of pages in the old DGJ. I would enjoy seeing articles about stocking/finishes/metalsmithing. I think perhaps there are others here that would enjoy a detailed, muti issue story on how to do it yourself. This could include any disipline related to our fine dbl's. FWIW

". Last issue had one decent article on Baker SBT but how many made to be of interest to more than .01% of readers? Suggestion to the editor, how about soliciting articles of interest to most of your readers? Your stats should show how many live in the good old US? Can you talk to people at Parker, L.C. Smith, Lefever and Fox Collector groups and see what they can gin up for your journal?"


This is EXACTLY what causes periodicals to become duds.

I don't own Bakers and never will but I can enjoy an article on them just the same. The worse thing a magazine can do it cater to a certain subset within a hobby.

If you want an example, look at the various muscle car magazines. Every single issue contains an article on Hemi cudas or Z11 Camaros despite the fact only they made about a dozen of each.
But you'll never see an article on a Fury or a Caprice despite the fact they hundred of thousands of each.

I agree the British auction article gotta go but I hardly want to kill off the one source in the world for articles on British guns, single shot rifles, or lesser known American brands.

I think that Ken has a good idea. I really liked the webzine that folded a year and a half ago because of the hackers. There were lots of how to's and this is the way I do it articles. Very interesting.

The heavy broth that was DGJ for many years weakened to a clear to the bottom soup that was becoming less and less filling. As Cote saw the bottom of the pot he broadened his base by adding Single Shot Rifles to the mix. Eventually that mix will weaken with time and he will most likely add something else to the pot to thicken it up.
Cote could do a lot worse than picking up on KH's suggestions, plus quality articles by quality artisans such as user maintenance and equipment, upgrade considerations, engraving, home storage and display, etc. The Oscar Gaddy Damascus "how to" articles come back fondly to mind. If some of those "artisan" articles come across as beating one's own drum - I could live with that as long as the "how to"/"here's how I did it" story is entertaining.
Jack O'Connor mentioned that a writer could get away with shooting the same deer every seven years or so, because his readership changed and moved on at about that rate. Outdoor Life's editor had it much easier than Cote. DGJ readership is quite different...so Cote has a much tougher row to hoe in retaining his readership.
Just my $0.02, FWIW