DIYbanter - View Single Post

wrote:
I'm in charge of conducting a market study for a new woodworking
magazine.

In a nutshell, the magazine owner would like to borrow the same style
as the motorcycle magazine "Easy Riders". The basic idea is most
woodworkers are men and it's believed they would appreciate to learn
how to make a mortise while looking at what the nature has done already
in terms of natural mortises. There would be "in-depth" tool reviews as
well as many explicit pictures of tools. Obviously, a new table saw
would "spread" all its accessories and great features on glossy paper.
It's planned to have plenty of plans, projects and surprises. We also
try to define if like Sports Illustrated, it would be appropriate to
get an annual issue featuring all the best tools presented under a
different angle.

Anyway, my question to you guys is would you wish a warm welcome to
this new magazine? Would you be more prone to stay in your workshop
longer if such magazine existed?

I really think you're taking the wrong marketing avenue here. _Easy
Rider_, in terms of style, is for people who really love machines.
Nothing wrong with this-- we all love our machines-- but motorcycles are
designer machines, made to look really sexy and cool, like sports cars
and electric razors and guns and Learjets. Basically, people who use
them want to look good while they're using them.

The machines we work with can be beautiful, and some of us look
positively _masculine_ when we're in the woodshop. But we don't get them
for that. We like good woodworking machines because they enable us to
make something beautiful with wood. Showing off the machines in the
manner of _Easy Rider_ lets us admire the work of the engineers and
factories that made those machines-- but we'd much rather see work that
we can admire _and maybe do ourselves someday_.

Sure, we love well-made machines; otherwise, we wouldn't buy books like
Sandor Naglyzalanczy's _Tools: Rare and Ingenious_. But frankly, I think
an effort like this seems aimed at the wrong target.

And while we love looking at hot babes, I think many of us'd be worried
about them injuring their gorgeous thighs and midriffs on a table saw's
edges when they were posing.