Inside Pool Magazine,,,???

P

putt-putt44

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Is it me or has anyone else noticed the perpetual shrinking of this mag..

I got mine today and it's a sparse 32 pages of nothing,,,

Looks like the paper is getting thiner as well with each successive copy...

Anyone have any insight ???

Time to let the subscription run out and just stay with ''Billiards Digest''
 
.

I renewed a subscription a few years ago when there was a promo to get a free shirt. Seemed like a good deal.

Don't wear the shirt and don't even bother taking the magazine out of the sleeve. Too much info on the Internet.

The features that I liked to read seem to have been discontinued. Tom Simpson, and Bob Henning are the only regulars, other than those two there is no consistency with the instructional writers.

Sad part is the advertisers are required but I don't need to subscribe to a magazine to find what I am looking for, and that is basically what the magazine has become, a lot of ads with very old news.



.
 
Back in the day (more than 20 years ago) I maintained subscriptions to Billiards Digest and Pool and Billiards Magazine.

I don't even know if they are still around and am not interested. I treasure those old issues, but these days I don't need it.

As has been said, the internet is killing print. I have no need or interest in paid online subscriptions for anything either. Simply anything and everything I need is freely available on the web.
 
It's not just InsidePool Mag, it is the unfortunate reality of the magazine buisness. BD seems to have thinned out to me as well.

There are only a small percentage of printed magazines that have managed to survive intact and thrive, many which have to do with women's beauty and mens fitness... But pool and other specialty magazines have definitely gotten bruised pretty badly.

It has reached (or passed) a tipping point I'd guess... The problems in the magazine market are complicated, more than most people understand... But the overall effect is that it's a vicious-cycle at this point... Magazine shrinks to cut costs, magazine loses subscribers, so magazine shrinks more to cut costs... And round it goes down the spiral.

The pool mags will have to move to an e-mag and/or online only model at some point. Fortunately InsidePool Mag has been offering electronic copies and has had a Web presence for a long time (their site is pretty good). It's just now a matter of fully monetizing that model, which I hope they have figured out.
 
I have my suspicions about IP magazine but, since I don't know for sure, I'm not saying anything here. They have had their problems.

Frankly, I let them know what I think a couple of years ago when I didn't renew. I feel my dollar is the best way to let a magazine know that I'm not happy. If enough others feel the same way, and don't renew, the magazine gets what they deserve.

I get all of the news I need from Billiards Digest and Pool & Billiard magazines.
 
Rich R. said:
I have my suspicions about IP magazine but, since I don't know for sure, I'm not saying anything here. They have had their problems.

Frankly, I let them know what I think a couple of years ago when I didn't renew. I feel my dollar is the best way to let a magazine know that I'm not happy. If enough others feel the same way, and don't renew, the magazine gets what they deserve.

I get all of the news I need from Billiards Digest and Pool & Billiard magazines.
Click to expand...

Ima gonna have to agree with Rich, as a previous subscriber.

Nice enough group of people, with the best of intentions. Not that that helps them produce a product worth my dollars.
 
I heard it through the grapevine -- hearsay on my part -- that J.R. is devoting resources and energies to live-streaming various events around the country when time allows. :smile:
 
JAM said:
I heard it through the grapevine -- hearsay on my part -- that J.R. is devoting resources and energies to live-streaming various events around the country when time allows. :smile:
Click to expand...

And he does GREAT streaming, but the people that have already sent in their subscription dollars deserve to get more than they are currently receiving in the editions of late.

When someone takes someone elses money for a product, then the said product starts becoming inferior over time, it's going to ruffle a few feathers.

They need to shore up the magazine with more articles, cut the cost of the magazine, or just quit producing it altogether and issue refunds to current subscribers (of which I am no longer one).

Just my opinion.

Maniac
 
Not sure about Inside Pool, but my BD says, "Type of Publication: Monthly", and yet I'm only receiving a copy once every two months. So unless someone at Canada Post needs to stop stealing my things, they've gone to 6 issues a year and those issues are also quite thin.

There may not be a lot of tournaments to report on, but I did find a very good look back on, "The Hustler" in January's issue.
 
Let your dollars tell them what you think. I won't renew. Although if they bring back the "What's in the Case" section, I will continue.
 
JAM said:
I heard it through the grapevine -- hearsay on my part -- that J.R. is devoting resources and energies to live-streaming various events around the country when time allows. :smile:
Click to expand...

J.R. may use some resources to do some live-streaming but he also charges a substantial fee to stream most events. I know when they streamed an event for a local tour, that fee came out of the prize fund.

JAM knows the tour I'm referring to.
 
Ghosst said:
Not sure about Inside Pool, but my BD says, "Type of Publication: Monthly", and yet I'm only receiving a copy once every two months. So unless someone at Canada Post needs to stop stealing my things, they've gone to 6 issues a year and those issues are also quite thin.

There may not be a lot of tournaments to report on, but I did find a very good look back on, "The Hustler" in January's issue.
Click to expand...

I've also had delivery problems with "Inside Pool". Recently, I mentioned it to the person at the SBE who I ussually sign up with. I told them how I never received a copy of the February issue. I was then handed a copy. I remarked how thin it was and was told that "there wasn't really anything going on that month in pool".

The real kicker is I received the March issue in which the "Food on Tour" section contained all the great places to eat in King of Prussia during the SBE. Only problem was it arrived 3 weeks after the Expo! :mad: Needless to say, I won't be renewing.........
 
javi2 said:
I've also had delivery problems with "Inside Pool". Recently, I mentioned it to the person at the SBE who I ussually sign up with. I told them how I never received a copy of the February issue. I was then handed a copy. I remarked how thin it was and was told that "there wasn't really anything going on that month in pool".

The real kicker is I received the March issue in which the "Food on Tour" section contained all the great places to eat in King of Prussia during the SBE. Only problem was it arrived 3 weeks after the Expo! :mad: Needless to say, I won't be renewing.........
Click to expand...


One year in Las Vegas I went to the Inside Pool booth and introduced myself to them so they could finally meet the guy that had been calling them monthly for several months wanting to know where my magazine(s) were that I subscribed to.

And I ask them to just refund my money and they (J.R. Calvert) refused my request and said he would take of it himself when he got back to his office that was about 8 yrs. ago, and to this day I still have not received any magazine from Inside Pool.

This magazine makes good ass paper if you can get it.
 
I let my subscription to Inside Pool lapse last year because of the lack of content. However, a couple of months ago they ran a promotion offering a one-year subcription with a free Kamui tip. I thought the free Kamui tip made the subscription deal too good to pass up.

I started receiving the magazine but it took several emails to finally get--not a Kamui tip--but a voucher for a Kamui tip when I paid to get it installed at a Kamui dealer. I install my own tips to this just totally discounted the deal.

In addition to this problem, I have tried to get someone at their office to return my phone calls so that I may give them a change of address. As of yet, no response.

bob c
 
Rich R. said:
J.R. may use some resources to do some live-streaming but he also charges a substantial fee to stream most events. I know when they streamed an event for a local tour, that fee came out of the prize fund.

JAM knows the tour I'm referring to.
Click to expand...

I did not know that. You are more in the pool loop than I am, Rich. :smile:

Most long-established, well-known newspapers have gone belly up, but what some papers have done is taken their news to the website. The Washington Post has an excellent online presence.

Billiards Digest is good at that. The website is inviting and seems to want me to look for more.

I have found InsidePOOL's website difficult to navigate, and there is too much fluff and clutter on their website to pore through. BTW, who in the heck took that picture of the winners of the Tri-State Tour of Chan, et al. Sheesh! Each one looks like a convict holding up their number, no smile at all. It's frightening to look at them, yet they just won a pool tournament. Why on Earth would anyone take a picture looking like that?! :embarrassed2:

Pool and Billiards magazine is getting better with their website presence. It is easy to navigate and inviting, simple yet effective.

Out of all of them, though, BD is th best as far as a website presence. In this day and age, if you don't have a decent website, you can fuggedaboutit. It is only a matter of time before the print mags in pool all go under.

The way to combat this is their websites. They should be investing resources in their websites. Most companies today are using social media avenues to increase their viewership. For example, if you hit the Like button on Facebook, you could be a lucky person who receives a free yearly subscription. They could offer one freebie a week or one free subscription a month. IP could offer a T-shirt, one a week or one a month.

The website news is instant, quick, and should be up to date. The better news articles they have on their websites, the more that people will congregate, much like AzBilliards is today.

So far, AzBilliards has never had any competition in this department, which is why all of us pool peeps congregate here on the Internet. Food for thought! ;)
 
bob c said:
I let my subscription to Inside Pool lapse last year because of the lack of content. However, a couple of months ago they ran a promotion offering a one-year subcription with a free Kamui tip. I thought the free Kamui tip made the subscription deal too good to pass up.

I started receiving the magazine but it took several emails to finally get--not a Kamui tip--but a voucher for a Kamui tip when I paid to get it installed at a Kamui dealer. I install my own tips to this just totally discounted the deal.

In addition to this problem, I have tried to get someone at their office to return my phone calls so that I may give them a change of address. As of yet, no response.

bob c
Click to expand...

Sadly, communication is not good with InsidePOOL. Their staff is much smaller, I fear, than other mags, or maybe they don't place importance on communication. I'm not sure. You are not the only one, though, who has stated they get no response from IP when there is a problem. You would think they would recognize this and step up to the plate and do something about it.

There are several pool industry members who have the same outlook on communication. People order things, don't receive their product they paid for, and they don't respond unless they are called out on it, like on this forum. If times are tough and they need to turn a profit, you would think this would be one avenue to check out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top