The publishers expressed regret in an announcement on their website, citing the increasing costs of printing and distribution, decreased interest from advertisers in print format and sustained traffic to their digital version as factors in this decision. CRAFT and MAKE are projects of O’Reilly Media, Inc., known for showcasing innovation in their family of instructional books and magazines. Sources say that the print version of MAKE is not in danger of a similar fate; in fact, they expect the decision to scale back one magazine will benefit the quality and livelihood of both publications. This news comes short on the heels of Domino magazine’s demise, the closing of Readymade‘s Berkeley headquarters (they’ve been moved in with their parent company in Iowa) and a slew of other home design & how-to journals closing up shop. It’s sad to learn craft journalism may not be a recession proof sector of the economy. Then again, maybe it means people are spending less time reading about projects and actually out there doing them. Which could be a good thing.
