Long time lurker. Building rods for about five years. After many references to Rodmaker I subscribed at Christmas. After now seeing two copies I would make these comments. The small 40 page size is fooling. The magazine actually has more content than most 100 page magazines. I counted the ads and filler in the last issue and they came to less than 9 pages total. My last copy of In Fisherman was over half ads and filler stuff. So Rodmaker is mostly content and not much in terms of ads and filler. This was one of my main concerns but as it turns out I should not have worried about it.

The content is very good. Some of it is not in my area of interest but the writing and pictures are so good I read it cover to cover. My hat is off to the expert rod builders who write the articles. I feel that I am being taught by the best out there. Rod builders writing for rod builders is a real plus in my book. This is really true when they are as knowledgeble as they seem to be.

The additional expense of the special mailing cover and high quality paper and inks is something that is not needed but shows the care and effort being put into this magazine. I feel that my money was well spent and will continue to buy this magazine for as long as I build rods.

Also a shout out to Antti Kymalainen for his cover picture. That is the most beautiful rod grip I have ever seen.

Annti did a great job on the handle and seat along with the related article. He was worried that he didn't speak or write well enough in English to be able to do this, but I didn't have to do much at all to his article. In fact, I'm considering asking him to give Bob Balcombe some English language lessons.

Seriously, I'm never satisfied with the magazine. I do as much with it as funds allow. But overall I think the value it represents has continued to grow over the years. I like being able to do certain things with the layout, for instance the 10 point type. This is one point larger than most text publications so it's a little easier on the eyes of the older builders who don't see as well as they used to. But, I won't blow it up so large as to take up unnecessary space just for the sake of taking up space. Nor am I going to fill space with subjective commentary or various lists or "fill" material. I think if you factor in the type size, advertising, column inches, etc., you can see that RodMaker packs more actual information in it than most 100 page magazines do. I get a lot of questions about what many builders consider the small size - 40 pages, but if they took most of their fishing magazines and reduced them to the actual fishing content within, they'd be looking at 25 to 30 page magazines.

If the amount of advertising should ever grow, I won't cut into the article space in order to accomodate it. I'd just add another signature (8 pages) and continue along. I won't allow the advertising content to ever account for more than about 15% to 20% of the total pages. The industry average is 50% with most publications running closer to 60% advertising.

...........

I have to agree with the compliment. During some downtime during the show this spring my wife read one of the back issues we picked up at the show. Her comment was she thought it was the best specific interest magazine she had seen. I've recieved many trade specific mags related to the industry I worked in so my wife has had some exposure. Thank you Tom, job well done.

Received RMM Vol 9, Issue 2 today and am again stunned by the quality.

Antti Kymalainen's cover photo is outstanding and his article is great as well.

As is usual, this is another wonderful issue - lots of helpful stuff. Good job!
Stan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2006 07:47PM by Stan Gregory.

Thanks all of the compliments of newest issue regarding my share. Most credit should anyway go to a man behind this whole magazine and who asked me to write this article. Like Tom already said I was a bit worried about this coz i'm non-english, but I'm sooo happy it filled the purposes and was helping fellow rodmakers. One thing I wanna correct, rod in a cover picture is indeed mine, but guy who pulled the trigger of the camera was Markus Männistö, with whom I set up the shot and he did the capture and editing. So credit belongs to him in picture taking...

I can't stay in my pants here in Finland waiting postman to bring my issue to me. It will take a lot longer to arrive than to you guys in USA.

Tom Kirkman's ROD-MAKER MAGAZINE (RMM) is without a doubt one of the finest "specific-interest" or hobby magazines anywhere in the world.

And I'm sure that rod-building history can show that it is the best rod-building magazine to date. That is a status that RMM will likely hold, even long after it is (one-day) gone (no time soon, I hope!).

IMO, to think or to call oneself -"a rod-builder"- and to NOT subscribe to RMM is incongruous. It's a vital part of a rod-builder's "Continuing Education". How can you not learn something new in every RMM issue, when a parade of experts is constantly refreshing knowledge, and introducing innovations & improvements on every aspect of rod-building? ... In this case, ten heads to learn from and think with are better than one!

The $27subscription price for 6 bi-monthly splendid issues will pay for itself the first time that one of your rod projects averts disaster because of what you learned from reading RMM. Or the extra money that you can earn, because of the new techniques that you learn from RMM that enhance your sales & profit margin, will easily re-coup your $27 investment. ...

I still can't believe that RMM is less than $5 an issue DELIVERED. You can't buy a man-sized sandwich & drink or combo-meal at your local fast-food joint for less than $4.50 with tax. Within 36 hours, what's left of that one meal will be down the toilet. But your archives of RMM will last for YEARS to come.

PLUS, it is MUCH easier, and it makes much more SENSE, to keep a subscription to RMM, than to order Back Issues of particular interest on an "as-needed" basis. Once you start paying attention, you'll realize how useful EACH issue is, and you'll be paying $7 for each back issue, when you could have been paying just $4.50 for each issue up front. ...

A year from now, you’ll be saying, “Ya know, now I think I wanna try …”. And you come on the RBO Forum, to get more information on that subject, and the definitive answer will be, “Check out last April’s RMM.” Now you’re set back 1-2 weeks just because you tried to save $4.50. Now it’ll cost you $7 and 2 weeks of waiting. Go figure. … ‘Nuff said, right?

"Don't delay! ... Order your subscription today!"
[www.rodmakermagazine.com]
Father's Day is coming soon. Start dropping hints NOW!

-Cliff Hall+++, Gainesville, FL-USA*****



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2006 10:20AM by Cliff Hall.