Craftrends to Cease Print Publication

What a difference a year makes! This time last year, CK Media was publishing two print trade publications: Its long-time publication Craftrends, and the newly created Memorytrends, specifically for the huge scrapbook industry trade segment.

The Memorytrends Magazine experiment was short-lived. It debuted at CHA-Winter 2007 and its final issue was the September/October 2007 issue.

Now comes word, via my issue of Craftrends that arrived today, that Craftrends is also ceasing publication - or rather, as Editorial Director Bill Gardner explains, being "replaced by Craftrends E-News, the monthly email newsletter that we've been distributing since February 1."

Gardner blames decreased advertising revenue along with increases in postage and paper costs for the demise of the print edition of Craftrends.

Craftrends E-newsletter is distributed montly, as opposed to every other month for the print magazine, and Gardner says the company is planning website improvements to go along with the newsletter. Advertising opportunities are still available on both the website and newsletter for companies who want to get the word out about their product to the trade audience.

The Craftrends E-News has already been going out to everyone on the subscriber list that Craftrends had an email for. If you are a Craftrends subscriber and haven't been receiving it the first of every month, send your name, company name and email address to bgardner@ckmedia.com

It should be yet another wake-up call to those in the industry that we are in trouble when even the most long-running publication for the trade can't keep going in its usual manner. Times are changing....business will have to adapt or die. Although this seems like a death, to shut down the Craftrends print magazine, going digital is actually a rather drastic attempt to adapt. Whether it will work, only time will tell.