Renew "Fly Fisherman" magazine??

[philip43]

I received my 2nd notice about my subscription to Fly Fisherman magazine. My son told me that he let his subscription expire earlier this year! Lots of ads, but the stories aren't interesting. Any suggestions or tell me what magazines you all find worth the time and money. I live in the Albany area of NY. Thanks, Philip

[whatfly]

From once getting the all, I'm down to Flyfishing & Tying Journal and Fly Tyer. Might even drop Fly Tyer in the not too distant future because it seems that the editors have gotten quite lazy, and it is not nearly as good as it once was. I also like Fly Fishing & Fly Tying Magazine (UK), which is great for keeping up with what is going on across the pond, but I only buy it occasionally, because it is pretty pricey here.

[ScottP]

I let all my subscriptions - Fly Fisherman, Fly Tyer, American Angler, run out about 5 years ago. There's so much good stuff available on the interweb I don't miss them (and all the grip-and-grin, flyrod handle-in-the-mouth hero shots) at all.

Regards,
Scott

[Ed_D]

I'm not connected to any magazine other than via the newsstand, but let me speak a word for the editors. Editors can only work with the material which they receive. Yes, they can write articles, but any magazine which is consistently written by the same 4 guys is going to get stale. If you lament the quality of their articles, consider submitting better articles. I realize that writing isn't for everyone, but if a magazine doesn't get good submissions, it is darned hard to print good articles.

My hat is off to those who have done so much for FAOL over the years.


Regards,
Ed

[Longs for Cutts]

Besides people getting stuff for free online, thereby lowering pay and removing the incentive for authors to write (my pay for my last Fly Fishing & Tying Journal story was the same as a story I wrote for Missouri Game & Fish in 1999), the biggest problem IMO is that the mags all aim at the lowest common denominator. I heard somewhere that the average reader of fly fishing mags fishes less than 10 days a year. This means that magazine stories all focus on the WHERE and HOW rather than the WHY. I have made money on them, but even writing "10 BEST WHATEVER FLY" stories gets old, much less reading them. I'd much rather write essays and Me & Joe stories, but the only way to sell them and make anything is write and self-publish books, because no magazine but Gray's Sporting Journal will buy an essay/story from anyone but their staff "back page guy" except perhaps in a special issue and pay anything approaching a reasonable fee. I made a grand total of $40 off of the essays in River Characters before I self-published the book. I made about that in the past week off of e-book sales.

[philip43]

Thanks for the insightful replies. Adios Philip

[Ray]

For $20 every 2 years (less then $1 an issue) I keep mine current

[lastchance]

One of the troubles with outdoor writing is that it's a clique and it's very hard to get a piece published or even looked at if you are not in the clique. I know from experience. The writers and photographers seem tenured and it's the same old names in every publication.

[anglerdave]

The only fly fishing magizine I still subscribe to is American Angler. And I have debated about letting that go once my subscription is up. I would much rather hold something in my hands and read it than do it on the computer. The problem IMHO with fly fishing magazines, is that the majority of the articles are on subjects that don't interest me. The only fly fishing magazine that I took and thoroughly enjoyed and now miss, is Midwest Fly Fishing. But it died along with Tom Hegleson when he passed away.

[Longs for Cutts]

One of the troubles with outdoor writing is that it's a clique and it's very hard to get a piece published or even looked at if you are not in the clique. I know from experience. The writers and photographers seem tenured and it's the same old names in every publication.

I haven't found this to be true at all. I have sold a story to all of the national magazines except Fly Fisherman, and I made my first sale to each based solely on a single query letter.