[Ron Lindeboom]

[Doug Collins] “One trade magazine that I get has started trying to tie the print version to their online version. Only they aren’t doing it very well. Each article has a ‘for more on this story go to:….’ Yet when I go to the site I find missing links, The title to the article that does not link to anything or, if it is working correctly, the exact same info that the magazine gave me.”

We found ourselves doing the same thing a time or three. That is why we no longer do these kinds of ties in the magazine unless everything is ready to go at press time. If it isn’t, the articles don’t get the ties.

In fairness to others, it is getting tougher and tougher to build magazines simply because you are drawing from an ever-decreasing pool of advertisers (as big companies continue to acquire others), and the human resources pool gets smaller because of it. But thankfully, Tim and I have found a way for two guys working in different states, to build a magazine together.

There are no perfect answers anymore, the money pool is drying up to the point where you do the very best you can and hope that it pleases enough people to make a profitable business viable. But gone are the days when magazines could charge much for their ad pages and they draw from ever smaller pools on top of it. There are fewer and fewer people working on them because of it.

Ah, for the halcyon days of real budgets and endless human resource teams on which draw, perfecting all of the facets of their business.

We see the same thing in our industry: commodity pricing on tools that once were so pricey that they helped separate the pros from the enthusiasts. Now, the lines are blurry and it gets tougher to make a living because of all the rapid change, dumbing down (don’t get me started on MP3s, etc.), and the smaller revenue pools that must be leveraged in the face of it all.

And as I often joke with my friends: welcome to the new world we all thought that we wanted.

Ron Lindeboom

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Tim Wilson] “Anybody could see that these magazines looked weaker and weaker. They would have gone under eventually. We just sped it up. Okay, maybe sped it up a lot. I think that we’re currently standing at 4 major magazines going out of print since we started the Cow mag – is that right, Ron?”

I think that the real problem came in when someone showed that the problem wasn’t print itself but was the way that they were doing it. At the same time as the magazines were bemoaning the changing times and that print was growing less and less viable, a new magazine appears and grows like a weed. As it grew and grew, others — like Film & Video, Video Systems, Studio Monthly and even the once venerable Millimeter — either shut down or move to web-only versions of their former selves.

As I see it, the real problem was they forgot who their REAL customers were. Yes, an argument can be made that the advertisers are the real customers and that is what most magazine seminars and conferences espouse. That is what most publishers really believe. But if you build a magazine on that premise in today’s market, the readers will see through you like a piece of glass and your reputation will suffer.

When we rolled out the Stereoscopic 3D issue at CineGear Expo at Paramount Studios last May, one of the heads of American Cinematographer came by our booth to introduce themselves and to meet us. They told us that we were the team to beat and that we were doing it right. They cited our magazine as a magazine made for its readers that didn’t compromise its integrity by caving into the advertisers by filling the pages full of advertorial and compromised reviews. Coming from a magazine that I have respected since, well, long before my hair ever turned gray — I took that as one of the great honors of my business career. I had to call Tim on the spot after they walked away, and told him. We were both flabbergasted.

But, as Don LaFontaine would have said in this case: in a world where hyper-competition has gone mad, only those who strive for excellence will stand a chance. Whatever you do has to be done to the highest level that you are capable of achieving, as mediocrity makes a poor calling call.

Lastly, as I see it, one of the biggest mistakes some people make in business today, is that they see themselves being in a certain craft or position and they set up shop and hang their sign. The smarter ones get out any way they can and try to make something happen. The less smarter ones, wait for customers to come. Both hope that they’ll get enough business to survive. A few will tweak their game plan as circumstances change and will redefine themselves. Most won’t: “This is what I do, after all. I am a blankety blank and it’s my craft.”

But the world is changing and is changing much too fast and those that fail to recognize that, are going to find it harder and harder to make a living.

You have to think and move like water, Grasshopper. Don’t be steel. (Man, I used to love watching that old TV series, Kung Fu.)

;o)

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Gandhi

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Bob Zelin] “It is certainly a time of opportunity for many people, while others will sink and die. Very un nerving. I can assure you that the management of Creative Cow must be feeling the same thing – watching all their competitiors die, as they expand and thrive. I am sure, somewhere in the back of their throats, they are probably nervous too.”

No, that is not what we are feeling, Bob. What we are feeling is the radical pace of change that is happening as we ride the crest of the wave that is current, but as in surfing, trying to forecast where the next “set” will be coming in, so we can jump that wave, too.

We do not for a second believe that this is a recession. We believe that it is a complete and radical resetting of the clock, the world economy, a leveling of playing fields, a redistribution of wealth without the propensity in the past to favor America — if anything, we see it not favoring America any longer.

Calling this a recession would be like saying that Heath Ledger had a reaction to pills, or that John Lennon suffered a reaction to lead poisoning.

Business as usual is dead. Thinking strategically based on what is happening today is the only way to grow and survive in these radically shifting and chaotic times.

While we are not nervous about it, we are having strategy meetings every day. That is what smart businesses are doing, as you have to immediate attune yourself to the market, observe what works and what doesn’t, and immediately maximize your efforts based on those outcomes and observations.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Gandhi

[Ron Lindeboom]

Well, it isn’t a recession, it is more a global leveling of the playing field that is going on.

Ron Lindeboom

[Ron Lindeboom]

If Creative COW Magazine ever becomes as some of the magazines in this industry have been for the last few years, please feel free to kick our hind-quarters just as intensely as I have done here.

We’d deserve it.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Gandhi

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Doug Collins] “I recently read in a trade magazine (I think it was DV) where they were responding to a criticism that all of their reviews were positive. Their response? Why would we waste space on a bad product? They only printed reviews on products that they thought would be of use to their readers. They weren’t saying that products they didn’t review were all bad, just that they picked the best to review.”

We’ve been saying that for many years now. Back when we started doing it, some of the old guard from within the magazine industry criticized us for saying that we didn’t bother with products that we didn’t like. Many laughed and criticized us for our decidedly positive reviews. (When you go to working pros that have their own money invested in their tools and who judge things from the crucible of success or failure to function in the working world, you find out what tools are respected.)

Nice to know that as their page counts continue to drop, some magazines are getting more selective and don’t waste trees on reviews such as they used to print. (My favorite was the one wherein the Mac guy with an old Pentium PC reviewed ULEAD MediaStudio 8. It would have been like me reviewing competitor FCP4 on a G3. The very best line in it went something like: “I cleared a few megabytes on the drive and installed it on the PC that I had sitting around. It didn’t run very well and so I can only give it 3 stars.” Or something like that. At the time, MSP8 did things that neither FCP, Vegas, Premiere or even Avid products could do.)

The team had worked their butts off on it and the way that the review was handled by a “neutral journalist” helped seal the demise of the product. When I read the review, I called Travis White, then product manager, and told him how sorry I was to see them get lynched like that. He and the team were heartsick.

Not long after, they would throw in the towel.

I’m glad to see some magazines finally waking up to the fact that reviews should be done by the people that actually buy the tools with their own money, and use the tools in their real world settings. The days of paid journalists writing reviews of complex workflow-based tools should have ended long before now.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Gandhi

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Christopher Wright] “Yawn….”

Yeah, some people are so smart that they never open their minds to anything, Christopher. When I think of people like that, I remember you, and then I too, yawn.

Ron Lindeboom

[Ron Lindeboom]

My TV is a simple 1080 HD flat-panel that is hooked up to multiple HDMI sources. One is Blu-ray (why, I have no idea anymore), another is an up-converting progressive scan SD DVD player (that I can hardly tell the difference between it and Blu-ray), and lastly I have a ROKU HD hooked into the net and Netflix. I gave up my cable account a few months back.

I use the up-converting progressive scan DVD player mostly for 3D movies. I can buy the SD versions for far less than the Blu-ray and I have yet to find the person who can show me the difference in a side-to-side comparison of progressive scan up-converting SD DVD players working through HDMI compared to Blu-ray. I own both Blue Planet and Planet Earth in both formats and we have tested the pictures and they are damned near identical. At least to my eyes. (No, these are not 3D but they do push the limits of imaging and playback on conventional TVs.)

When up-converted progressive scan players make conventional DVDs look this good when fed through HDMI, no wonder Blu-ray is far from having attained the mainstream format status they wished it would have achieved by now.

As I have yet to find any other 3D movies available other than the blue-red anaglyph variety, this has worked for me.

If the formats begin expanding and options change, I may have to rethink and change my strategy. But this has worked, so far.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
– Gandhi

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Tim Wilson] “There are already between 100 and 150 million 3D-ready sets in people’s homes.”

Yes, our 42″ flat-screen is a couple of years old and it works very well for 3D. In fact, when I set-it up and watched Coraline on it, which was our first 3D DVD we ever watched at home, it was remarkable.

I would have preferred something other than the anaglyph red-blue glasses but we got used to it pretty quick and of the many who have watched it on our set-up, no one has gotten a headache or complained about it.

In fact, most of the people who have visited and seen it, ask me for a mini-lesson on how to set it up and what they need to do on their own TVs.

Ron Lindeboom

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Mike Cohen] “Seriously, didn’t there used to be COW merchandise – coffee mugs, t-shirts, mousepads, etc? CafePress for example. I’d buy some of that.”

Yes, but Cafe Press kept raising the price to the point that we couldn’t add a cent to their high prices as we thought they were too high already. So we pulled the plug on it.

There is no way that we want to give Cafe Press free advertising in the COW so that they can sell over-priced Creative COW merchandise.

Heinous is the word that comes to mind; yeah, heinous.

Ron Lindeboom