The announcement was made via a post by editor Michelle Rubin to the magazine’s blog. The blog posting said the closing decision by Meredith was made because “due to the longer term business forecast for the franchise and the industry, the corporation has chosen to cease publishing within this marketplace.”

The final issue of Scrapbooks Etc, August 2012, will go on sale June 19th and be available through August 14th. The magazine’s website will continue to offer content through that time period in support of the print issue.

There is no word from Meredith at this time regarding the fate of unfulfilled issues on subscriptions, but it is standard industry practice in magazine publishing that a publisher will either sell the subscriptions to a rival magazine title to be filled, or fill the remaining issues of subscriptions with another title from their own portfolio.

Meredith stressed their continuing support for the crafts market in the announcement by plugging their upcoming publication “Make It Yourself” that is launching this fall and also their selection of quilting titles.

Rubin addressed the magazine’s readers in the announcement on behalf of the entire staff:

On a personal note from the editorial staff, we are grateful for your support through the years. We could not have asked for better readers, and we have loved seeing your scrapbook pages and craft projects in our inboxes, on our website, and on our Facebook page. You inspired us in our mission to give you the ideas and information you wanted to preserve your memories and express yourselves creatively, and we hope that we in turn inspired you to create great pages and projects.

This announcement now leaves the Creative Crafts Group titles – Creating Keepsakes and Paper Crafts Magazine – as the sole “newsstand” class of magazines in the scrapbooking & papercrafts industry, an outcome that seemed highly unlikely only a few years ago when CK Media owned them and teetered on the brink of bankruptcy before the sale to New Track Media and the formation of Creative Crafts Group.

The Creative Crafts Group titles still have competition from the specialty titles from Northridge Publishing (which publishes Scrapbook Trends, Cards, Cricut Magazine, Signature Series, and a host of other titles) and Stampington (which publishes Somerset Memories, Somerset Studio, Stamper’s Sampler, Where Women Create, and Art Journaling, among others). These titles sell for prices that rival books for each issue (averaging around $14.95/issue), and thus operate under a totally different business model than the $5-$6/issue newsstand magazines.

Update: Creating Keepsakes Editor-In-Chief Jennafer Martin shared her thoughts with Scrapbook Update about the industry’s loss of Scrapbooks Etc. magazine:

We at Creating Keepsakes magazine are saddened by the closure of Scrapbooks, Etc.. It is a fantastic publication, and its quality has challenged CK to be better in order to stay competitive. We’ll miss it, and we tip our hats to the editorial staff there for years of inspiring, quality publications. Creating Keepsakes will continue to work hard to provide content that connects with and inspires scrapbookers to preserve their memories creatively.

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K&Company Smash books are hot, hot, hot right now. If the fun designs have you wanting to try one out but collecting random scraps like they are designed for isn’t your thing, I hope my Smash book will broaden your ideas of what you can do with one.

To find out exactly how I’m using my Smash journal, and to take a look at the inside pages and the supply list, visit my article on the Creating Keepsakes blog!

Want to get Smashed? Visit Simon Says Stamp!

For scrapbookers, this new media outlet can be a wonderful place to obtain new content. Digital media doesn’t require physical storage beyond your computer’s (or device’s) drive, is quick to access, and in many cases is portable on certain devices. There is no current industry standard, however, on platforms for delivery and access of digital content, so scrapbookers should educate themselves on the available options before making a purchase. I’ve collected digital publication data for several major scrapbooking magazines and compiled it all into a handy reference that should help when making purchasing decisions.

Creating Keepsakes does not offer a digital subscription to their magazine at this time, though premium members of their Club Creating Keepsakes community (currently $19.95 per year) are granted access to select digital back issues of Creating Keepsakes, Simple Scrapbooks, and Digital Scrapbooking magazines as well as a few special issues and books as one of the perks of membership. [Note: While this article was still in the editing process, Creating Keepsakes announced that they will be discontinuing the premium features of Club Creating Keepsakes as of December 2011 and will immediately stop selling paid memberships. No announcement has been made as to whether another form of online access to any Creating Keepsakes issues will be provided as a replacement. And that, my friends, is how quickly things are changing in this industry!] These issues are presented on the web-based based Issuu platform (using Adobe Flash) and are not downloadable for offline viewing. This also means that they are not viewable on the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch. Creating Keepsakes also offers all of their 2010 issues for purchase on CD for $14.95.

Papercrafts, a sister magazine of Creating Keepsakes, does not currently offer online access to any of their publications whether by subscription or as a catalog of back issues. Like Creating Keepsakes, though, they do offer their 2010 back issues on CD for $14.95.

Scrapbooks, Etc. recently moved their online publication wing from its previous host at Coverleaf to a new home on Zinio. The Zinio service provides applications for viewing on a number of platforms, including Windows and Macintosh computers and the iPad. A digital subscription to Scrapbooks, Etc. through Zinio is $19.97, which is actually higher than the current print subscription price of $14.95 as offered on the Scrapbooks, Etc. web site. One benefit to subscribers that was lost in the transition from Coverleaf to Zinio is access to digital versions for print subscribers. Under the Coverleaf platform, print subscribers could register to receive digital versions of the same magazine for no additional cost. This option is not available to print subscribers through Zinio.

Northridge Publishing (publisher of Scrapbook Trends magazine) offers digital subscriptions to all of their publications at a deeply discounted rate from both the cover and print subscription prices. A single-title digital subscription is $4.99 per month, and an “All-Access Pass” that provides readers with subscriptions to Scrapbook Trends, Cards, Simply Handmade, Bead Trends, and the Create Idea Book series is $9.99 per month. Subscribers have the option of adding Northridge’s Cricut magazine to the All-Access Pass for an additional $1.50 per month. Special issues and books such as Jessica Sprague’s “Stories In Hand” are also often made available to purchase in digital format, again at rates significantly less than the cover price. Northridge provides access to their digital publications either online as a download for offline viewing through the Yudu platform, which is Flash based and thus not compatible with the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.

F+W Media has several digital offerings for scrapbookers. Back issues of Memory Makers magazine (no longer in publication) are available to purchase on CD from their online store. Regular issues from 2006, 2007, and 2008 are all available as well as select special issues. All issues are provided in PDF format, which is viewable on any number of platforms including the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

F+W also offers a large number of their idea books- including the popular PageMaps 2 by Becky Fleck – in eBook format on Amazon’s Kindle device. Due to limitations of the Kindle format, however, many of the visual elements that are integral to craft and hobby books such as icons, backgrounds, and complex page designs are lost in the translation to eBook format. The basic content and photos are present, but the experience for the reader is greatly diminished by the platform’s formatting limitations. A few recent F+W titles are also available through Apple’s iBook store, including Page Maps 2, but there again the format has limitations.

Canada-based Scrapbook and Cards Today has perhaps the most interesting digital publishing model of the current crop of available magazines. All issues of their magazine, both current and back catalog, are available to download in PDF format from their web site free of charge. Subscribers also have the option of paying for a traditional print subscription to this quarterly publication. iPad, iPhone, and almost all eReader owners can rejoice that this magazine is freely available in a format that is compatible with their device (though it will of course be best viewed on devices with color screens).

The lack of periodical publications for some of the most popular electronic reading devices can leave scrapbookers starved for fresh content. Several manufacturers have actually stepped in on their own to fill this void by providing free PDF newsletters on a regular (often monthly) basis. These newsletters serve the dual purpose of advertising manufacturers’ products directly to consumers and providing project ideas, page sketches, and editorial content to customers. My Mind’s Eye’s “In the Blink of an Eye,” Basic Grey’s “Just the Basics,” and Pink Paislee’s “Live Pink” are just three examples of this trend.

The portable content vacuum has also opened up a niche for independent publishers. Ella Publishing, founded by Simple Scrapbooks alums Lain Ehmann, Wendy Smedley, and Angie Lucas, sells professionally written, edited, and formatted scrapbooking eBooks through their web site. All eBooks are in PDF format and compatible with a wide array of platforms and devices. Bloggers can leverage Amazon’s Kindle store to provide their feeds as subscriptions that readers can download for later reading offline. Scrapbook Update, along with several other scrapbooking blogs, is available on Kindle.

The current fragmented state of digital publishing can be a confusing place. Scrapbookers have to keep track of which publications offer digital content at all, whether that content is available on a subscription basis or as back issues only, what platform and compatibilities are applicable to that content, and how much the digital content costs. That last one is the stickiest – under many of the offerings outlined here, scrapbookers can be left paying for digital content that they’ve already purchased in paper form, or in some cases paying more for the digital version of content than the printed version. Rules also vary widely on whether current print subscribers can convert their existing subscriptions to a digital format.

Digital publishing as a whole, not just publishing for scrapbookers and papercrafters, is without a doubt experiencing some growing pains as this new market is expanded and tested currently. These are exciting times, even with the frustrations being experienced right now, and as long as scrapbookers remain educated about the available choices and platform compatibilities they can enjoy stress-free access to this new media outlet.

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As you may be aware the location for CKC-Nashville, the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, has suffered severe damage from recent flooding. In working with our contacts at the Gaylord Opryland, it was determined that the facility would not be ready for CKC-Nashville and so we regret that we are cancelling the 2010 CKC-Nashville.

Since no alternative location was able to be secured in Nashville, in lieu of the cancelled Nashville event Creating Keepsakes has announced that it is adding two new locations to the CKC schedule for 2010:

• Virginia Beach, VA: August 27-28, 2010
• Cincinnati, OH: September 10-11, 2010

Paula Kraemer, Creative Crafts Group VP of Events, told Scrapbook Update about the changes:

I was heartsick about the devastation to the Gaylord Hotel and the adjoining Opry building.  We have been going to Nashville since 2003 and I have many friends that experienced major flooding.

Kraemer and her staff are working with the affected vendors to transfer deposits to other events or refund them if necessary.

Registration had not yet opened for the canceled Nashville event. Registration for the new events in Cincinnati and Virginia Beach will open Wednesday, June 2nd.

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For subscribers who purchased their subscriptions expecting to get 12 issues in a year, this issue counts as 2 of the remaining issues they expected on their subscription since Creating Keepsakes customer service is on record saying they won’t extend subscription expiration dates with the reduction in annual issues.

So, what did readers get?

First, let’s look at the most obvious feature – length. The March/April bimonthly issue is 122 pages long, exactly the same length as the February issue.

But an examination of the advertising content in the two issues shows what could be a critical difference. The February issue contained almost 22% advertising content. The March/April issue contained under 18% advertising content. This is great news for readers – they got about 5 more pages of editorial content in the March/April issue – but financially for the magazine, it means they had 5 fewer pages of ad income. Given that 22% isn’t a healthy ad percentage for a magazine, a drop to 18% is definitely a trend in the wrong direction. (For comparison, most of the recent scrapbook magazines that have shut down were closed when they were consistently reaching only 15% advertising in their issues.)

Moving past the numbers, looking at the content is more positive. The quality of the editorial content has been steadily improving. They’ve dealt well with losing several headline columnists and have greatly refreshed the look of certain sections. The March/April issue is the best the magazine has done in a long time. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of that.

Judging from the comments on the Creating Keepsakes Facebook page, the new production schedule is a hard sell with subscribers. Many of the comments about the change addressed to the company via Facebook are complaints from subscribers who feel they are being shorted issues on their subscriptions by the change. Many are threatening to not renew their subscriptions when they expire, although none appear to be outright canceling immediately. Creating Keepsake’s representative on Facebook have repeatedly referred questions about subscription extensions to the customer service department. They’ve also blamed the poor economy and slow ad sales for the reduced production schedule and the length of the bimonthly issue.

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