'famous' writers- warning RANT

[RogerDat]

Just proves the old adage - Written agreement avoids problems, even between people of integrity or good intentions.

Not to say that some are not out to miss-represent or deceive but there are times where I really want dear wife to "put that in writing" and she probably wants the same when she asks me about when I'll get "a round tuit".

Especially useful when dealing with folks of less sterling reputation, those are often best avoided. Generally does not work out well dealing with those folks.

[StolzerandSons]

Maybe youguys that have had a bad experience with gun writers are just going about it the wrong way. I've had my Guns written about in numerous magazines in several countries and I've never given a gun to any writer or publicaion nor have I ever had to pay for advertising in any of the magazines that published articles about my firearms.

Probably the best article/free advertising I've ever gotten I didn't even know one of my rifles was being reviewed until Craig Boddington contacted me to get some background information on me and clarify a few things about the rifle for his article. My customer had contacted Craig and ask him if he would like to shoot the rifle and possibly write about it. Craig Bodddington wrote 3 pages on my rifle and it was published in Guns and Ammo May 2011 Gun Notes Section.

The point is that my customers have been the ones to promote my products to the writers and magazines, I've never had to get involved with getting my stuff reviewed. Maybe you guys should try that approach instead of being upset when you don't get the review after sending them stuff or paying for advertising.

The other thing you can do is write your own articles and submit them to magazines. I wrote a short article on one of my rifles, mostly focusing on the build aspects and it was published in Muzzleblasts(NMLRA publication) and they paid me $175.00 for writing the article. You still get the free exposure without paying for advertising and even better you get paid for the article.

If what you are doing isn't working...try doing something else.

[jcwit]

My understanding is the Cabela's catalog works the same way...buy add space to sell your product...while Cabela's reverse engineers it and has it made overseas...and puts your item across from a full page add of their copy selling for 20% less.

Never have seen that.

[Littleton Shot Maker]

My best reps are the current and former users of my gear!!! BAR NONE

I don't know how to spell ***-u-me - don;t use the word, won't use the word 4 years getting that pounded out of me I will never OUT loud or Writing USE THAT WORD- for me it worst that the word A*(*&& or ##%$@^ worse than any 4 letter word or racial slur...BUT yes never do that get it writing

ALL MY BAD. every day a new lesson right!!

Rick- I knew a guy, worked for Ca""""s and he told me before he knew what I did exactly who I was: HIS #1 job- find cool new gear , get them to sell it to them dirt cheap and then have it taken to China to copy and do just what you said- over the last 14 years doing the shot maker I Had 2-3 customer that USED to sell their stuff through them just to get ripped off or closed down from collapse of sales. Rest assured the catalog guys where right there close you out at fire sale pricing 'doing you a favor'.

I work with one Catalog Co. 1- Brownell's they are great- have supported us since 2002 and I get items from them also. funny I pay full rate retail and cut them a dealer discount but UUMMPH not a big deal in the end.

[jcwit]

Actually reverse engineering and skirting copyrights is just part of doing business.

You folks should get into the RV Industry to see just how cutthroat it really can be.

Believe me I know.

Even with it in writing, it's not hard to skirt a copyright. Really it's not hard to skirt a patent, either, just need to know how and what you can get away with.

[StolzerandSons]

I don't know about the RV industry but years ago I worked for a Stock/Horse trailer manufacturer. You might as well send the prints to your competitors because 30 days after a new design hit the first dealer, 10 other manufacturers would be making the same thing.

[Littleton Shot Maker]

yep!! had a co. IN china call me, wanting buy our gear- TOLD me over the phone they where going to copy and build them for "a customer" sure- go ahead the demand is so low for these that tooling up and cost will eat you up and you still need to sell them in mass to get a break with those guys-

Did not sell them the machine of course and the Co. that wanted to do it- never did- too expensive not enough customer base-
Not the same for the other things out the there like trailers- bike- toasters - stoves- food- tons of customers lots of competition -
Our track record and name has done much to carry that PLUS most not all most my customers still want to BUY AMERICAN

[shooter93]

A number of years ago a new magazine started up....I can't remember the name but I do have some back issues.....on the premise that they were going to be the No Bull magazine. Any review they did would be fair and honest and they were. Now they didn't call something junk but would point out any shortcomings in the product. They took reader articles if they fit in and I managed to get a couple printed by them. The end result....they died quickly. The advertisers who made good products and the writers even contributed huge dollars to keep them afloat but to no avail. Manufactures simply would not support them or send products for review or advertise with them. To bad...it was a good magazine and refreshing to see honest in print.

[jonp]

There are only a couple that I would believe when they tell me something. Col Boddington because he is a Marine, Mike Venturino and maybe Tom Gresham as I've actually heard him give a gun a bad review.

Col Boddington had a nice write up once on this subject. He said that the reason you don't see bad reviews in the magazine on stuff is that it makes for bad reading. He has had plenty of bad gear, bad trips, bad guides etc but instead of a bad review he doesn't mention them at all and moves on. He said he might have got a bad gun for some reason, a guide might have been having a bad day etc so he won't spike the whole shebang over one experience.

Want good, un-biased gun reviews? Gun Tests is one I've subscribed to for years. They rate guns and if there are malfunctions or just plain suck they tell you so and pull no punches.

[Big Boomer]

Sometime about 2000 or so I corresponded via the internet with a fella down in Texas regarding some boolits from a mould I purchased from LBT ... a 340 gr. WLN (wide long nose) gas check boolit that gave great accuracy from my custom .45 Colt 5-shooter built by Hamilton Bowen. He ran a hog-hunting outfit down there and was looking for some boolits that would get the job done. Just casually mentioned the boolits I cast and shot and the guy said he really wished he had some to try out and would give credit where credit was due. Well, I never really expected to get any contracts or anything for those boolits, just acknowledgement that he had received them and whether they shot well for him. He was gong to use them in a .454 Casull if I recall correctly. So I weighed a sizeable box of them (weighed each boolit for uniformity), put gas checks on them, sized them and sent them at my expense. No expectation except acknowledgement. Never heard from him. He sure enough got some good boolits and I lost some very good alloy. Lesson learned. Big Boomer

[LUBEDUDE]

I know a 1911 Mechanic and Pistol Maker that was contacted by a gun mag to use his 1911 as the Pistol of the Month write up.

Now I had always held this Magazine in high esteem due to it's writers and the fact that negatives are pointed out.

I lost all believability in gun magazines when I found out that this particular mag would not do the write up unless they were provided with a FREE pistol, $3500 value!

Needless to say this Maker told them what he thought about that and he was never featured.

[markshere2]

Not unique to gun industry. Lookit the magazine rack at the supermarket.
Bicycles, cars, pets, motorcycles, ....all those magazines exits to sell ads which sell products to enthusiasts.

If you read all those articles and reviews, you'll be lucky to find 1% that accurately describe the limitations of the products.

And people are not all good honest ethical folks, including writers and publishers.

Evil exists. It's all over. Assume nothing please..