Bushcraft and Survival Magazine

[OurJud]

I ordered a back issue of this publication a few days ago and yesterday it arrived. I've had chance for a good browse now and thought it might be interesting to hear the views of other readers.

For me, a couple of issues dissapoint. The articles and writing seem to be of a very good quality, but I couldn't help having a groan at the 'Letters Page'. In the issue I bought, at least, every one of the letters printed was not on the subject of bushcraft as one might expect from such a magazine, but was praising the publication itself in quite an unbelievably sickly manner. Even the 'star letter' was a suck-up. This showed a level of desperation I didn't much care for.

But my other (and main gripe) is the mag's quality. It's far too high! It looks and feels more like a big booklet than a magazine, and must weigh twice as much as most other magazines. Costs could be cut my massive margins if they went for a more conventional format, not to mention it feeling much nicer in the hand.

Having said all that, the articles I've read so far have been fasinating and useful - so I'm glad to say it's not a case of style over sunstance, but it's stil not quite what I was hoping for.

 

[Tiley]

I subscribe to the thing and, in general, find it to be pretty good. In this latest issue though I was disappointed with the review of hand-made knives. I felt that the number of 'stars' given for each section was absurd. If you have a five-point range of quality and are trying to give an obviously subjective view on the products, you use the whole five-point range to establish differences between the products. Some knives would only get one star for something but might get four or five for something else. What you don't do is give a blanket five star rating to everything and then slither off one or two of the points of the stars for one or two of the knives. I also felt that the individual comment on each of the knives was a rather limp affair and often did not tie in with what was awarded on the star rating. Example of this is in the review of the 'BCNW-01' which the reviewer praised for its grip and the scalloped part near the blade but then gave four stars for feel in the hand, rather than the ubiquitous five.

For future reference, everyone understands that reviews of personal bits of kit, such as knives, are going to be subjective. If there is something contentious in a review, then an individual can write in and start a discussion on the letters page which could well lead to an interesting debate rather than the diet of sycophancy currently on that page of this magazine.

Rant over. I'll crawl back under my stone now.

 

[JohnC]

I also subscribe to it, and I believe its improving over the last few issues, they try to have a range of aspects and by and large get it ok..

 

[John Fenna]

I used to subscribe but gave up in disgust when they started reviewing the verious merits of chocolate bars - Yorkie or CDM?- filling pages with more white paper than print and doing projects like making a camp oven out of a filing cabinet!
I hope it is improving, but I found it VERY diapointing!

 

[Dave Budd]

I subscribe to the thing and, in general, find it to be pretty good. In this latest issue though I was disappointed with the review of hand-made knives. I felt that the number of 'stars' given for each section was absurd. If you have a five-point range of quality and are trying to give an obviously subjective view on the products, you use the whole five-point range to establish differences between the products. Some knives would only get one star for something but might get four or five for something else. What you don't do is give a blanket five star rating to everything and then slither off one or two of the points of the stars for one or two of the knives. I also felt that the individual comment on each of the knives was a rather limp affair and often did not tie in with what was awarded on the star rating. Example of this is in the review of the 'BCNW-01' which the reviewer praised for its grip and the scalloped part near the blade but then gave four stars for feel in the hand, rather than the ubiquitous five.

For future reference, everyone understands that reviews of personal bits of kit, such as knives, are going to be subjective. If there is something contentious in a review, then an individual can write in and start a discussion on the letters page which could well lead to an interesting debate rather than the diet of sycophancy currently on that page of this magazine.

Rant over. I'll crawl back under my stone now.

Yep I wasn't too impressed by that review either :aargh4: As the editer discovered when he opened his email

Apart from the fact that the reviewer didn't seem to have used the knivfes for anything more than a few quick testy bits, like you say they all got top marks in all fields. One thing that really peeved me was that one of the other makers had sent me a knife a week or two before to get my opinion of his work. He got a great review from the mag, but I wouldn't let a student leave the workshop having produced the same piece

If a review is worth doing then I think it is worth doing properly in my opinion. :bluThinki Still that's my 2p worth.

Still generally I think JohnC's right that it is improving in other areas. If people have any usefulk suggestions on how they can improve the mag, then PLEASE TELL THEM! we all like to compain about things we don't like, but unless the powers that be get to hear then nothing will ever change

 

[John Fenna]

Oh - I told them.........

 

[crazydave]

I subscribe and have done since the start some articles are a bit wishy washy and often its down to the contributors for the main being school instructors and not wanting to give too many secrets away. for the beginner its not bad and no worse in my opinion than the discontinued bcuk one. they could do worse than get hold of old copies of swat and rewriting a lot of the info and articles.

I saw the knife reviews but skipped them as they dont get me all exited and I didn't rate any of then as being large enough for what I like. all were way too expensive like knifes of that ilk - not that I have anything against good cutlers but we did invent the industrial revolution as a way of economies of scale.

not too happy on the ghostwritten kiddy section though. if it isn't ghostwritten then the picture is a few years old.

if the knife makers object to the way the reviews were done then write one and send it in or do a series of articles as I'm sure they would welcome the added value content.

 

[deeps]

Tend to agree with the previous comments. The presentation of the publication is high more like the print and feel of a glitzy womens magazine. It suffers from being too fussy and in some instances it is hard to actually see the text against the background of complicated artwork seemingly pushed in at every opportunity.

Subject matter is starting to repeat itself a bit and getting thin. Some articles strike me as being 500 words compressed into 1000. I also find that there is house style developing which has a tendency for 'airy fairiness' which doesn't really do it for me.

Still least they have a go.

 

[Mang]

In defence of the mag..Whilst I agree to an extent with some of the charges levelled (certainly the knife review was stars given like balloons) for me and my level it's about right.

I've found BCUK a great place to swing by and do every day but I have to honest, a lot of the stuff flies way over my head (and are often threads that are a small variations on a theme)-I don't do leatherwork, I don't turn wood, I don't make knives but I do do Cubs every week and have two kids so the mag is a fantastic rescource for me.

There's always two plant features-one medicinal and one food one which are my faves and it covers expert stuff (eg making a bow), womens issues, stuff for kids (great for me, see above).

I guess they are damned if they do and damned if they don't!

 

[OurJud]

If people have any usefulk suggestions on how they can improve the mag, then PLEASE TELL THEM! we all like to compain about things we don't like, but unless the powers that be get to hear then nothing will ever change

Well, I've just emailed them my OP. I'll print their reply here if/when I get one.

 

[OurJud]

As promised, here's the reply from BSM, in responce to my email to them (a truncated version of my original post):

"Hi Billy,

Thank you taking the time to write in, we appreciate your comments and are continually looking for ways to improve the magazine.

I am sorry that you did not enjoy the reader's letters in the issue you purchased. Obviously every issue is different and this is dependent upon the letters we receive and select. As the magazine has continued to grow the number of letters we receive has increased giving more subject matter. I think you will find recent issues filled with more gripping letters and not all necessarily of a positive nature (see issue 17). We would welcome a reader's letter from you.

I can understand that you wish to take your magazine out with you and roll it up in you back pocket, with this in mind we have created a quality publication that can take this kind of beating, rather than it falling apart or even instantly disintergrating should it get damp. Many subscribers retain their copies and use them as a reference tool.

I hope you will look into other issues and we welcome your comments.

Kind regards"

Fair enough, I suppose, but I can't say I agree with their reasoning for making the mag so polished. It's an outdoor mag, not a high-end, fashion glossy

 

[johnnytheboy]

I just stumbled over this thread and I have a few gripes with the magazine, i got a subscription for xmas and just got the first one through for the year. My gripe is simply the fact that nearly everyone who has written for the magazine is an advertiser, there is only one real article on gold panning, the others are reviews, advertorial, or written by advertisers, so in real terms only one article in the full mag. I just don't get that, how are we mean't to get an independant article if advertisers are supplying the content for the magazine. It seems like a half hearted attempt at finding content. I pretty much doubt they would refund the subscription, but i'll not be waiting by the door for the next one to drop through the letter box thats for sure.

 

[Dave Budd]

sorry, its the otherway around mate. The writers are all given free advertising

if you don't like teh content then tell the editor. Its the only way to keep the readership happy

 

[firestarter31]

I for one think that the mag is well presented and informative although i also find the articles printed over differant colour backgrounds very confusing. I also have no objection to the glossy look (all enviromentaly frendily paper and inks supposedly) as once i have finished reading it goes in my book case for future referance. Just my 2P worth.

 

[johnnytheboy]

Dave thats worse than i thought then, not that i want to detract from your article but i believe that this is just not going to give the reader an independant article from a journalists perspective.

All be it it might have worked for you. I was on your site after reading the article, seen you did knife making courses, i have also been banned from fishing abroad ths year from the better half, and think a nice little holiday to devon will be a wee treat for her lol whilst i'm on a knife making course. How far in advance do you have to book for your course?

I was wondering as well if you have dates for the charcoal course, that one looks very interesting.

 

[Dave Budd]

It seems to work well enough for several of the writers. It seems that people like to know that the people they are thinking of spending money with actually do know what they are talking about. So if they spot an advert by two similar companies, but they have just read an interesting article by one of them; then chances are tehy will call that company first.

I'm no journalist or media/marketing expert (wish I were!), but that's the impression I get from people who call me after the mag has dropped through their door.

I won't talk about my courses too much here (I'll get into trouble ) but generally one to one courses can be organised at short notice as we fit it into our diaries, but the group courses book up fast (I've got one guy booked into september's course!). I'm still trying to get together with my charcoal burner about that course and I hope to have an answer for you as to dates soon.

 

[Kerne]

I bought a copy not long after it started was was, frankly, underwhelmed. Recently, I bought another two copies - the shiny, picture-rich versions, and I have to say that I think it has improved a great deal. My only gripe is that, in trying to cover all the bases each issue, they can be superficial at times. I would be happy to lose a section or two every so often and cover something in more depth.

 

[johnnytheboy]

Dave i do understand what you mean, this is no jab at you but at the mag itself, its just a proper journalist will offer an independant article. I am a wee bit disappointed with the mag, national geopraphic or something would have been a better use of money.

Never-the-less, do you think there would be a charcoal course around about the september knife course time, its a long haul from scotland twice, i do fancy the charcoal one, i seen a quick thing on the tele about it but they had specalist gear, i work in the motor trade and can get a hold of oil drums to knock up one like on the course

 

[John Fenna]

As a working journo, writing gear reviews for three different magazines at the moment and having written for a large number of others over the years ( I was interested in writing for BS mag but gave up on the mag ...long story) I can see what is happening (I think)...

Many years ago I wrote for a magazine that was struggling and is now defunct. This was "Canoeist" a magazine, produced by an excellent canoeist and good journalist, that was informative and a good solid read - unfortunately the retail sector in canoeing did not support it very well and advertising revenues fell off as glitzy mags aimed at young blood Kayakers proved more atractive to retailers (kayakers spend money more!).

So we have a magazine with poor advertising revenues - lots of room for ads going begging and not a lot of cash to spend on commissioning articles...the answer to the problem seems to be "get folk to write articles, not for cash but for free advertising!"

This is what I did for Canoeist.
The difference was I wrote about canoeing equipment produced by other companies and advertised my coaching courses - so there was no "clash of interests" or "advertorial" issues.

I too find BS mag very disapointing - all style and little substance (however some articles are excellent - but I am not going to spend that much cash on the few articles I would want to keep) but I guess it is a "catch 22" situation.
Until advertising revenue increases they cannot afford articles by independant writers and until they get articles written by independant writers that inspire more folk to buy the mag and therefore make the mag more apealing to more people so that advertisers are willing to buy the advertising space, so bringing in the revenue to pay for independant writers....
etc.

Now if BS mag did an Annual containing all the good bits from the years issues and none of the sillynesses then I would buy that - if the price was right!

PS when I write for mags I use a spell checker and have a trained typist/proofreader on hand...here I make all my own spelling typo and grammatical mistakes!

 

[Kepis]

I for one wont be renewing my subscription to the mag, there's more ad's than articles these days, pages and pages of them in fact, or at least it appears that way to me, i know it's a business and advertising revenue is very important, but im not paying good money anymore to read advertisments, if i want to do that, i'll pick up the Yellow Pages, admitedly there a few good articles in there, but it's a lot of money (well it is to me) to spend each year to read a handful of good articles.