Photo Techniques

[Photo Engineer]

Our local market carried Photo Techniques magazine on the shelf with a host of other photo magazines. In the last several months I have been unable to find it there.

I tried our Barnes & Noble, who also carry it, but they are further away and no Photo Techniques there either.

So, I have been unable to find a copy hereabouts for about 6 months.

It has apparently been dropped from their inventory, or they have lowered their order and there are not enough to go around. BTW, I shop at the market for new books and magazines weekly so I don't think it would be easy for me to miss it.

Anyone else having the same problem?

PE

 

[boilerdoc]

No, as i subscribe to it. Might want to do the same, PE.
Steve

 

[Photo Engineer]

I buy at the local book store and market in order to encourage them to keep stocking it so others interested in analog will see it on the shelf and pick it up. I want the stores to know there is a market for it.

I guess my strategy isn't working being just one person.

PE

 

[Nick Zentena]

Maybe it worked so well it's sold out -)

Have you asked the shop?

 

[bdial]

Bookstores that carry magazines often have little control over what magazines they get. The magazines come from a different distrubutor network than the books, and generally they make the decisions on what titles they handle and what they provide to the bookstores. It may be that the shop's distrubutor has decided to stop carrying Photo Techniques. I've run into a similar difficulty getting View Camera from the local shops, including B&N and Borders.

 

[Kilgallb]

Look to art stores. Here in Canada, the local Chapters Bookstore now has View Camera and Black and White Magazine in the Art Section. The Photography section is 100% digital.

 

[Photo Engineer]

The art store carries no books like this. They carry books on painting and pottery etc...

The local stores give a blank stare as if they never heard of the magazine and yet I've been buying it there since it was Darkroom Techniques back in the 80s and 90s. I suspect that if I pressed them they would try to sell me a good digital magazine in an effort to convert me, or they might try to sell me the latest Harry Potter book in the hopes that it would teach me how to conjure up some analog books.

PE

 

[Kilgallb]

But is Harry Digital or Analog

 

[DBP]

The local major bookstores here seem to be cutting back on photo magazines. They still have Photo Techniques, but I haven't seen View Camera in a while.

 

[Jeanne]

Bookstores that carry magazines often have little control over what magazines they get. The magazines come from a different distrubutor network than the books, and generally they make the decisions on what titles they handle and what they provide to the bookstores. It may be that the shop's distrubutor has decided to stop carrying Photo Techniques. I've run into a similar difficulty getting View Camera from the local shops, including B&N and Borders.

While it's true that bookstores often have no control over their magazine inventory, if you go to a smaller independent bookseller and ask, they may be able to get it for you. Tell them, if they don't already know, that Ingram Periodicals does stock Photo Techniques, and if they order from Ingram Periodicals, they should be able to get it for you. If you are religious about buying it, that single issue sold each month should keep the title from being what's called "aged off." Sometimes if it is aged off, you can stop by and ask the magazine ordering person to get it back in because you love it.

This is something that Borders or B&N probably can't do for you. We little guys still can, and still do -- and we count the ability to provide this sort of personalized service to keep us in business when the big guys threaten to crush us on a daily basis.

I know. I run an independent bookstore.

 

[srs5694]

But is Harry Digital or Analog

Well, Colin Creevey went around carrying an ordinary analog camera, and when he developed his photos in a special potion, the people in the photos moved. I'd be interested in such a developer! (No word in the books on what sort of enlarger he used, though.)

 

[bdial]

Let's hear it for indie booksellers!
I only mentioned Narnes and Bobble and the other place because our local indie doesn't do magazines.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Lo and behold!

After 6 months searching, I found that the Barnes & Noble had 3 copies of the magazine on their shelves.

So, the answer is either they get too few, or they didn't get it for a while. And that includes several stores.

I now have the latest.

Thanks for your answers.

PE

 

[aldevo]

The magazine continues to be carried at both the larger Barnes and Noble bookstores (e.g. the one located at the Harvard Co-operative Society) and Borders bookstores in the Boston area.

Never more than 3 copies each month.

 

[MarkS]

It's regularly in stock at World Wide News on St.Paul Street. Along with a wide selection of other photo magazines (there are more of them than you might think).

 

[semeuse]

If you can't find it (Photo Techniques) at your local Barnes & Noble, ask to speak to the "newstand lead." Tell them that it is available from Ingram Periodicals. Most leads have to ask the store manager, but if there is interest they are usually happy to do it. I know, since I work at "Narnes & Bobble" (or, as we sometimes say, "Welcome to Barnes and Noble, we used to sell books"). Still...if you can get it at an independent store...do so.

 

[Photo Engineer]

I thought it was Barney and Ignoble.

PE

 

[ctscanner]

I have pretty good luck with this particular mag at Borders. If you haven't already, you might also want to look at www.phototechmag.com, I think most of the good stuff is there.

Good luck

 

[JBrunner]

Turns out that subscribing to a magazine is a far greater benefit to the publisher, and natural resources, than purchasing from a retailer. I like to see certain magazines on the shelf as well, but now that I realize what a wasteful and reprehensible system the retail magazine industry is, I can no longer support it. Subscription only for me from now on, unless I am checking out a magazine I am interested in subscribing to. YMMV.

For an overview of the process, see Brooks post about halfway down the page:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[roteague]

If you can't find it (Photo Techniques) at your local Barnes & Noble, ask to speak to the "newstand lead." Tell them that it is available from Ingram Periodicals. Most leads have to ask the store manager, but if there is interest they are usually happy to do it. I know, since I work at "Narnes & Bobble" (or, as we sometimes say, "Welcome to Barnes and Noble, we used to sell books"). Still...if you can get it at an independent store...do so.

Thanks for pointing that out. Do you know if Borders does the same? I refuse to shop in Barnes & Noble unless I absolutely have to (I'm fed up with the constant hard sell for their membership you get there).

 

[roteague]

Subscription only for me from now on, unless I am checking out a magazine I am interested in subscribing to. YMMV.

I understand, however, the magazine I like costs $82 per year (Outdoor Photography), which wouldn't be so bad, except the digital content is steadily growing. The magazine still has a fair bit of film usage, but I find some of the "Photoshop techniques" presented to border on unethical; making me wonder how much longer I will continue to purchase the magazine.

The other reason I don't subscribe to magazines is the length of time it takes to get here. I used to subscribe to Outdoor Photographer (US), but found out that I could get the magazine in the bookstores sometimes as much as two weeks before I would get it in the mail. Magazines come here with a very low mail priority.

 

[JBrunner]

I understand, however, the magazine I like costs $82 per year (Outdoor Photography), which wouldn't be so bad, except the digital content is steadily growing. The magazine still has a fair bit of film usage, but I find some of the "Photoshop techniques" presented to border on unethical; making me wonder how much longer I will continue to purchase the magazine.

The other reason I don't subscribe to magazines is the length of time it takes to get here. I used to subscribe to Outdoor Photographer (US), but found out that I could get the magazine in the bookstores sometimes as much as two weeks before I would get it in the mail. Magazines come here with a very low mail priority.

Yes, thats why I put "your mileage may vary" Decisions like this are strictly personal, and the practicality of such decisions is dictated by many things. That's why I dislike the all encompasing edicts concerning things like this that some put forth, as if they knew everything, and everybody's situation.

 

[Mike Wilde]

non -uniformity on Chapters with PT

My local Chapters (Oakville/Mississauga; Dundas St. at Highwau 403) carries Photo Techniques consistently.

Then when I travel I find it often is a hard find. Which is a drag, because killing time in a city on business waiting for the flight home is when my worst buy a magazine bug hits.

Fortunately last week I was in the Glebe section of Ottawa heading south towards the airport, with 4 hours to kill. The magazine store on Bank at Fifth, which I haven't set foot in in 22 or more years since I lived nearby as a uni student, hasn't changed a bit. It is still full of every sort of magazines. Two different month pair editions of PT for sale (current and previous month's) , and the separate special lighting issue as well.

 

[semeuse]

Thanks for pointing that out. Do you know if Borders does the same? I refuse to shop in Barnes & Noble unless I absolutely have to (I'm fed up with the constant hard sell for their membership you get there).

I'm not sure if Border's magazine department workers would follow a similar chain of command, but I would think it would be somewhat close (both "boxes" are fairly generic retail models), especially since the distribution would be the same. As for the hard sell, see if you can get a cashier to admit that it is a cult - I usually get a giggle out of a regular customer when I ask if they will be joining our cult today.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

I know for a fact that Book Store Chains rotate their periodicals, particularly with magazines that have low volume. They may carry a title for a while, and if the sales numbers are not steady or growing they drop it for another title. I have found some very esoteric magazines at the local Books-a-Gillion, but I have found that there is no guarantee they will always be there. This applies to all subject matter, not just photography. A title may have good local sales, but chainwide may have poor sales, and this is what determines what titles are carried.