American Survival Guide picking back up again... Any thoughts?

[Rmplstlskn]

I see American Survival Guide (ASG) is picking up publication again and pushing hard for subscribers... I saw a 75% off ad on Faceboook.

http://www.americansurvivalguidemag.com/

Part of me still has a soft spot in my armor plate for ASG of years ago, decades really, so I always hope somehow, someway, with somebody at the helm, that ASG might regain its once hallowed ground. I sure would like the good reading material in print form... I get so tired of the ~other~ web sites (not this one) with their pop-up advertising, ad-linked hyperlinks, mouse hover pop-ups, auto-play video ads, you know the stuff, the stuff that has ruined the internet. Sure would like to have a Ragnar Benson of THIS generation come forth...

Any thoughts?

Rmpl

[Bill Foster]

I too was a subscriber to ASG, until the publishing company turned it into a trendy backpacking mag and later dropped it. Mr. Benson went online later and I subscribed to the digital version for a while, but it was in an extremely busy time in my life, so I let my subscription expire. There were many good articles, familiar names, etc. I wish him all the luck in his new venture, but with all of the "free" websites, Facebook sites, Pinterest, etc, I think it will be difficult to get $30-35 per year for his mag.

[cpt_sfc]

If it did not turn into a yuppie mag I'm in. I read it until like others it turned into a lib mag. yuppies yuck.

[Lowdown3]

New magazine is nothing at all like the old, absolute waste of time and energy.

Run by a bunch of idjits- nothing like getting comped on "Romantic Homes" magazine and not get your comped copy when you drop several thousand an issue for an ad.... Then have to fight with some moron who is complaining that he's having a bad day because "my Mercedes got towed this morning."

From the little dealings I had with them, every single interaction was screwed up, every indication was made very clear that they were just in the magazine business, not the slightest bit like minded.

Their is a thread somewhere on the forums here detailing some of the nightmare, maybe the members forum.

I spent thousands with them every month from the mid 90's till when the original magazine folded in 2001 and I JUMPED at the opportunity to be in there again. Big mistake and huge loss of money, more than that was the stress and wasted time in dealing with them.

When a magazine won't tell you how many paid subscribers they have, that's usually a good indication they are not making it. The whole dynamics of the market has changed, plus the advent of the internet..... It's just not the same anymore. Print isn't dead, but it's been choked out pretty bad....

It's part of a larger magazine group that is somewhat involved in the gun industry, so it will likely limp along for a while, even with horrendous and unethical business practices.

A couple of new and up and coming ones to look at are "Bugout magazine" (just literally getting started) and a Prepper and shooters journal one. Not as flashy as 100 pages of ads disguised as "product reviews" but good none the less.

[Rmplstlskn]

So do we know that this new re-boot is still the same idjits? I still hope they will get some real people at the helm...

I like PRINT magazines as all of my eReaders make reading the digital version a scrolling hassle, even on an iPad... Magazines are just easier to peruse...

Rmpl

[Lowdown3]

Yes, I was talking about the "new" magazine.

The OLD American Survival Guide with Jim Benson at the helm was the bomb, decent content, fair priced and they took good care of advertisers.

This NEW rag that Beckett Media idjits put out is the garbage I was talking about. I think the Beckett Media group might have been re-named. I got with them about issue 2 or 3 of the re-boot and was in for a couple issues with them screwing every insertion six ways to Sunday. Response was non existent except some 3 AM "do you have a catalog?" calls.

[DIM TIM]

I checked it out, and for sure it's not what it used to be.