Why I am not sad that CRAFT Magazine has printed it's final issue

Of course I was sad when I picked up the very last printed issue of CRAFT Magazine. I've loved this magazine from the beginning and have been lucky enough to get to read every issue. I had a ball at O'Reilly Media's (CRAFT Magazine's parent company) Maker Faire a few years ago when I was lucky enough to set up and work at the C&T Publishing booth there. I also attended Natalie Zee Drieu's demo-nar on the Indie Craft movement at CHA last year and of course seized the opportunity to chit-chat with all the CRAFT Magazine peeps in attendance. CRAFT Magazine and Craftzine.com really deserve a post all their own right now, but I can't write the sad and lamenting post I'm supposed to upon hearing the news about #10 being the very last printed issue. And there are two reasons for this:

REASON #1: I am actually really happy for CRAFT. They still have a booming blog which I imagine will only be getting better, and...well, it's CRAFT! They have their very tech-savvy fan-base/ market wrapped around their little online finger anyway. They aren't going to lose anyone! The only difference now that they are online only is they won't have to jock so hard for advertisers. Which couldn't have been much fun at all.

Doing away with the print version of the magazine probably made great business sense and the forethought that took place there is really something to be commended! Especially at times like this when other awesome magazines like Domino are dying left and right and craft market magazine giants like CK Media can't seem to offload their wares fast enough. It seems like CRAFT is adapting where other magazines just weren't able to evolve fast enough. It's a perfect example of "survival of the fittest" and the way I see it, CRAFT Magazine is at the top of its game. Which is something to celebrate, right.

and REASON #2: When I finally got to sling open issue #10 (The Very Last Issue), the page I just happened to see first was wonderful page 111. The reason this page is so wonderful is because Ana Poe and her truly one-of-a-kind pit bull Paco, from Paco Collars here in Oakland, are on it - what an awesome surprise!! More about Ana and Paco in my next post...