I once took a job as the advertising manager for a small local magazine. The publisher told me, “you don’t make money from subscriptions, you make money from advertising.” I found it to be a “chicken/egg” sort of thing: it’s hard to sell advertising when you don’t have circulation/readers data to show potential advertisers. I became more of a circulation manager trying to increase readership, and that didn’t align with the publisher’s philosophy so I moved on. The magazine was a nice idea but it folded after a few issues. The Cotes were operating in a very narrow niche market, and while I expect their advertising revenue was fairly constant, I’d guess that increasing that revenue and the circulation revenue to keep ahead of increasing costs was difficult. JMO.

Richard,

I actually had my 870's, 1100's, and black gun before I had a Parker. Maybe looking back to a different era is the romantic in me. Then again, maybe it was the fact that there were far fewer birds to hunt, and I had a greater appreciation for the hunt. Maybe it was the maturity of the hunter.

Exactly. And our reverence for culture, tradition, craft and civilized sport is also going extinct. Hence, the sad decline of readership and close of DGJ...

Apparently, you guys didn't look at the results of this auction :)

Guyette & Deeter Auction

Maybe the Cotes just wanted to retire and could not find a buyer to continue the magazine. Lots of work

I suspect Ed is closest to the truth. It is the fate of every Mom and Pop business. Especially those with no generational opportunities to pass it on to.

They have their son Josh but the job actually requires at LEAST two dedicated people to fill their shoes.





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