With each new issue of RodMaker, I order an extra 1500 copies so that I'll have back issues to offer for awhile. Unfortunately, this takes a toll on my available space and I'm suddenly confronted with the fact that I have no more room to store them. So, I'm cutting the remainder of the first 4 years of RodMaker loose. I'm arranging a sale to a company that specializes in back issues of various older magazines. These will turn up again, somewhere by somebody, but I have no idea what they'll sell for or when they'll be available.

However, before I do that, I'll offer them to rod builders at a special price for the next week or so. After that, they leave here forever - I won't be offering any back issues from the first 4 volumes of RodMaker ever again. I just have to make some room and for what I make on these it's not economically feasible to rent additional storage space just for warehousing back issues.

Here are the issues that remain available (most are originals - a few are color reproductions). You can view the contents of each issue on the back issue page at the RodMaker website - www.rodmakermagazine.com

Volume 1
Issues #3, 5

Volume 2
Issues #1, 2 and 5

Volume 3
Issues #1, 2, 5 and 6

Volume 4
Issues #2, 3, 4 and 5

Each issue is just $5 for the next week. But please do not order them off the RodMaker website or you will be charged the regular $6.95 per issue fee. To get this special one-time price, you'll need to send a check or MO to RodMaker at PO Box 1322, High Point, NC 27261. Again, do NOT order these from the website or you will be charged the regular price of $6.95 each. Make sure you list your mailing address and which issues you want.

Sometime the following week I'll finalize plans to sell whatever remains. At this point I cannot say what the company will sell them for or how soon they'll make them available.

RodMaker volumes 5 and up will continue to be in good supply and should be available through the website for some time to come.

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anyway of putting back issues(and current) into PDF format and selling them in a digital format available to download? i know i for one would like to be able to carry around every issue on my laptop, talk about a wealth of information.

I believe Tom has already detailed the reason why such a product would likely undermine the future of Rodmaker Magazine. Too much risk of unlicensed duplication and distribution.

Dave is right, Rodmaker in PDF format could be easily thrown out onto the internet or distributed widely by e-mail which would probably severely cut into sales.

However, for all of us who discovered Rodmaker later on when some of the initial issues were no longer available, it would sure be nice to have a way of accessing them. For example, I want to try a spigot ferrule which I understand is detailed in Volume 4, Issue #1. When I became aware of Rodmaker Magazine, I ordered all the available back copies. Unfortunately, this issue was no longer available. Maybe, when each issue becomes unavailable, putting the major articles in the library would be a way to keep the information available. Tom, thanks for the great job you are doing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2005 08:05AM by Owen McLean.

You could also buy the back issues, scan each artical, put them on your computer
and then put them on a disk ?

I have thought a lot about this. There is a tremendous amount of knowledge there that will be lost. Would it be possible for Tom to sell the articles, one at a time, electronically? If he already has them as .pdf files, and could automate so that they could be sold by CC over the internet, I think people would pay several dollars per article.
Steve Broadwell

Steve,
The problem is that some would pay and then quickly distribute them to friends, etc for free.. Unfortunately, that is already happening with weave patterns, video's, scanned articles, etc. Unfortunately, this will ultimately reduce the amount of stuff available when the people that are creating them find themselves unable to recoup the production costs, let alone make a profit and stop making them!


Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

The thing to do, if you want that information, is to buy the back issues while they are still available. These are anywhere from 4 to 8 years old now - there has been plenty of time for most to obtain them. I wish I could warehouse and supply them forever, but I just don't have the room. The good news is, they are still available as of now and anyone can order them.

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Mike, My specific problem right now is that I want to make a spigot ferrule. Volume 4, Issue #1 has the information on how to do it. That issue is no longer available. I would gladly pay to obtain a legitimate copy of this article. Since that option is not available, the only way for me presently to gain access to this article is to have someone scan or copy me a bootleg copy. With scanners and printers, the technology already exists to illegially distribute all existing issues so your concern is not totally valid. It sure would be nice if there were a legitimate "no pain" way to obtain past articles, especially those from issues that are no longer available.

It's not valid because the technology exits to steal!!!!! That's kind of strange logic. The technology exists to steal cable signals also, but that does justify it!
I understand your problem, but have you considered posting a request to see if anyone has an extra copy they would sell? You might also make a post on the Buy/Sell Page. There are issues often offered for sale there.

I've never made one, but I would think that there are many builders that would be able to provide you with info and/or walk you through it!.

Well, it's just a shame that so many people steal stuff like that. I see both sides of this - people are already stealing it, so the owner may as well make some money by selling it. But, at the same time, this makes it a lot easier for the unscrupulous to steal! A dilemma.
But, Tom is right. This is too good to pass up and I'm putting a check in the mail tomorrow morning for several of these issues.

The point I was making that the only way to obtain these articles is to do it illegally. If the cable company quit taking new applicants and it was the only signal source available, we might be tempted to steal. Tom started a thread several days ago that he was concerned that someone in Kansas had been building rods for quite a while and only dealt through Cabellas and didn't know about either this site or RMM. In conclusion, he surmised that there were a lot more like him out there. He's correct. There are a lot of rodbuilders who haven't discovered this site. I have been building rods for 6 years and, just last year, was talking to a local guide who said he was going to be at a "flyfishing" show in Charlotte in February and that I ought to go. I discovered the website, ordered all the available back issues of RMM, and spent two extremely enjoyable and enlightening days at Charlotte( two days because I didn't take enough money on Saturday). Now Tom has just posted this thread and has stated:

"I'm cutting the remainder of the first 4 years of RodMaker loose. I'm arranging a sale to a company that specializes in back issues of various older magazines. These will turn up again, somewhere by somebody, but I have no idea what they'll sell for or when they'll be available."

Next month the next 30 year rod builder from Kansas who has been working exclusively with Cabellas discovers this website, has a question, does a search, and find that the info he needs is in one of the first four years issues. What is he going to do? I'm sure, like Bill suggests, someone will scan it for him; or he can filter through the threads and find what he is looking for. However, what he gleans from a variety of threads is not necessarily the same quality of info that he would have gotten from a professionally written, Tom Kirkman edited article. As you well know, the quality of some of the phorum suggestions are not necessarily the best. We who have been reading the phorum for a while know who the experts are and who the people are who just like to give opinions (sometimes ending with "I only build type-x rods and you are asking about a type-y, which I have never built, but it can't be all that different", completely missing the nuance of the original post). Also some opinions are so divergent that verbal battles have ensued. For a new builder, when delving beyond the beginning how-to books, to rely exclusively on phorum inputs without knowing the qualifications of the source, could be disasterous. I think Tom issued a post several months ago on this subject but when I do a Tom Kirkman-Author Search my computer locks up.

I was just hoping that this information could somehow remain legally in the public domain. Just my 2 cents. Maybe this one was long enough to be 4 cents.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2005 05:20PM by Owen McLean.

I agree wholeheartedly. An awful lot of people do rely exclusively on rod building websites for their information and let's face it, a lot of that information is horrendous. I can give information and advice that I'm really not qualified to give and many will pay attention to what I say and maybe even go and do what I tell them. Magazine editors and publishers normally only print stuff from people who are qualified to author it. At least if they're doing their job.

But the scenario at Rodmaker can't be any different than any other magazine and nearly all sell out of back issues at some point. Only a few put their info on CD and life goes on. I think the answer is to get what you can while its available and look forward to the next issue which will have something new in it.

Well fellows, while the great debate goes on I picked up several back issues today. If you wait to long you will have been discussing the subject in vain.

information can be put on to a DVD or CD that can not be ripped. anyway sorry for the post that touch a nerve. have a great day

Tom,

I hope that you have saved the articles digitally so that, when the back issues have all been sold, the knowledge and opinions in them won't be lost forever. How about condensing the most popular articles into a book: Rodmaker, The First Five Years?

I have certainly considered that, but the cost of publishing such a book would run into the tens of thousands of dollars and would likely take many years to recoup. The press set up alone would be in the thousands of dollars and so you'd have to print tens of thousands of copies in order to break that down into a few bucks per book.

There are some cheaper alternatives but quality would not be nearly as good and time per copy would be greatly increased. It's still something I might consider at some point but I can't make any promises.

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