Walking the dog daily has gotten me a look at the neighborhood over a few years now. As I walk, the dog – an attention getter – causes people to stop and chat with me or, at least, smile and wave. 

As time passes, things change. People go, new people move in. The renter across the street went unseen last May. I called the law, asked for a welfare check. One officer came out, walked around, spoke with one neighbor and left. Two days later, that same neighbor called police again. 

They were on scene for around four hours, unattended death. Another neighbor on a side street passed, her daughter told me. 

Changes. People leave, new people come in, the old story. 

It’s the same with systems. At one time, information was passed person-to-person, face-to-face. It was the passing of oral history. Then there was writing and it stalled there for the longest time. With the advent of the printing press, the written word became, over time, the main way of information transmission. More people learned to read and, having done that, learned to write. 

Books were a thing for a good long time when they were supported by periodicals – magazines. Magazines got good – colorful pictures, short subjects, opinion pieces, features. 

Now, it appears that we’re finally moving on from print pubs in the outdoors space. They’re not gone completely, but with the announcement from NRA that they’re cutting Shooting Illustrated, and keeping American Rifleman and American Hunter – but cutting them down to four issues a year apiece – it seems we have a lot of talent left in the lurch.

I had lunch with an old friend last week, someone who’s only a little younger, and he was unhappy that magazines were no longer to be produced. He said he’d rather read the ‘dead tree’ editions than read online. 

I understand it, but things have moved on. 

Magazines take paper, printing, production, distribution/transportation, and point-of-sale issues. All that takes money, people, time. 

When a manufacturer wanted coverage for a new firearm, he simply notified me, got an NDA to my licensee, got the gun to me a week or two before show time, and the feature ran in the wires on the day of release.

With magazines, there was often a four-month lead time. 

The market has changed. People just don’t read now, not like they did. Video is taking over.

As a curmudgeon, I found that a piece I could read in 3-4 minutes now takes someone 20 minutes to “show” me in a video. Aside from that, the piece I could sit and write in a short period takes a video content provider the time to actually shoot video, edit the video and upload the video. I hope there’s fast internet involved and use of solid-state drives for storage – otherwise the time drain in larger. 

The old moves out, the new moves in. Take a moment to remember those writers you enjoyed as they try to find new ways to reach their audience.

They still have relevant information to relay to you – and it’s worth your time to seek them out. 

— Rich Grassi