Just to remind you, Benchista, Black Wednesday occurred in 1992, a good two to three years after Minolta's statement and the currency effects would have taken a while to work through. Olympus decline? The real fans would point to the 1980s as the turning point, the breakdown of their legendary in-house servicing following the 'Chip Disaster' and the consequent battery related problems in the post OM1n/OM2n models.

But getting back to the main Thread point, you appear unwilling to answer the question about AP's current sales figures. Why?

I have done some research and it does appear that something or things are dramatically affecting AP's sales. It can't just be me, no longer promoting AP in lectures and when judging. As hinted at with my Minolta point, photography in the UK has always been very price sensitive, for magazines as well as equipment. Peoples' disposable income and the claims thereon, together with alternatives for leisure spending affect the whole leisure market. Putting up AP's cover price while cutting the pagination may have had a deterrent effect. Photography is now also a very 'mature' market that has been diverted into mobile phones, applications and the social sharing industry.

Another factor - QUOTE=Benchista: "I'm kind of wondering how you know there are no articles to interest you if you don't read it? " - One thing I have noticed when doing any supermarket shopping is that AP is now quite hard to find to have a leaf through to see if I really want to buy a physical copy. Why is that? The magazine shelf often also does not appear to be as well looked after these days. Has the the change in shopping habits affected spur-of-the-moment sales? Probably. Cheers, Oly

 

I'm not answering your question about AP's sales figures because I've got no idea, and I'm unclear as to why you think I should.

 

We thought you knew everything!

Feet of clay, feet of clay...

 

I have been reading AP since the sixties....always a good read except the last page.....

 

What, specifically, do you dislike about it?

Cheers,

R.

 

Well its the last page, and then then its lights out, and I have to go to bed!

 

There's an easy way around this, and one that I am told many people adopt. Start at the back!

Cheers,

R.

 

but that means you hit the ads quicker....

 

Dear David,

And get them over with quicker...

In the Glory Days of the small ads, the 1960s for example, I would pore for hours over the small ads. Nowadays I look at the ads only if I want to buy something. My last two purchases were both from AP advertisers, Grays of Westmister and ffordes, fformerly of BBasildon and now of BBeauly.

Cheers,

R.

 

terrible stutter you have there Roger

 

DDear DDavid,

I was ttraumatized by reading too many ffordes advertisements at an impressionable age.

Cheers,

rr.

 

I don't read AP.

 

Hangin's too good for the likes of 'ee

 

Yup. On the other hand, on Google, "uk photography forum" brings up this forum and talk photography in the top 2. so, here I am

 

OK you'll do

 

There's an easy way around this, and one that I am told many people adopt. Start at the back!

Cheers,

R.[/QUOTE]
Nice one Roger, that's the best suggestion I have heard for years......

 

Dear David,

Hanging, photographing and quartering instead of hanging, drawing and quartering?

Cheers,

R.

 

Downloading the current issue to my tablet as we speak. I used to get the paper copy out here, despite its elevated cost, as I got it at 'trade' as the distributor was an IT client of mine. However the company has now merged with another, and although they are still a client, they don't actually handle the hard copy in the head office, hence the digital subscription for the last five years.

I also take three other digital photo magazines, all American, because they are stupid cheap in digital format from Trumpania, and now get the RPS journal as a courtesy from my BiL. I find the time to read all this lot because I don't watch television - the last time I watched television I had to rush out of the room and get some ear-plugs to stop the mush that my brain had turned into from dribbling out of my ears.

 

It's a tricky one as I really like the look of the magazine but I think some of the articles on 'how to' are rathger obvious and aimed a bit low. Amateur doesn't mean you can't take a good photo, just you don't get paid for it. So I normally look at the pictures without reading most of it..

 

Rather like graphic novels or comics....my kind of reading