A Keppler Editorial

farrlinzee

Sorry but it sounds like a bunch of sweet talk to me.

The Industry has grown incredibly and theres many more slices to come off the Pie.

If a bunch of people get together and agree that it's in decline that's a reality they create FOR THEMSELVES.

All it really means to those of us who see the bonsai world as one of possibility is that there's more money on the table to be picked up.

GET YOUR BLINKERS OFF.

Cheers
Lindsay

Vance Wood

I have been kind of sitting on the sidelines during most of this exchange but it dawned on me that people are complaining about something being not good enough, or as good as it used to be, or something else it now is or never was. Good grief. When I started growing bonsai there was no Bonsai Today, no Bonsai Europe, no BCI, no ABS, no MABA, no International Bonsai, and no INTERNET. There was no Warehouser collection, no National Arboretum, and no bonsai nurseries. We did not know what Akadama was, Yamadori, Kanuma, Shimpaku Junipers, none of it. It was a waste land like right after the earth cooled. We struggled with making up soil mixes, improvising tools, looking for pots and trying to fish our ways through all the Bovine Scatology that passed as Bonsai literature--one or two books.

If in our collective wisdom we judge that those things mentioned above are inferior and without offering a viable alternate solution we are inevitably doomed to returning to the good old days where men were men, and real men made there own soil, and bonsai was pronounced banzai. We ought to be thankful we have what we have and if we think it could and should be better then we should contribute to making it so. Anybody can sit on the sidelines and bitch.

__________________
The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

bonsaial1

originally quoted by Vance Wood:



If this paragraph was supposed to be an argument in your favor, you did a poor job of making your point. In fact you have written exactly what I wish to see Bonsai Today distance itself from...the past. You bitch about not having books 50 years ago and fishing through the bovine scatology, yet you seem to condemn me for wanting Bonsai Today to step up to the plate. What if the publishers of all the great books we have today were in the same shape Bonsai Today is in. What if they still printed all that bovine scatology? Hell no, they have moved on, they have improved, they have done research or better, they have published what they knew in a changing bonsai community. Those that miss the bus are destined to repeat the past. That is what I think you are trying to say, and with that I agree.

My take on what you are saying above is that I am somehow supposed to be grateful that I have a magazine about bonsai six times a year, and be happy that I get it. I should be grateful for the fact that the magazine was more than it is today, but because you had no magazines 50 years ago, I should except the fact that the magazine I pay 10.00 bucks for has reprints from the same magazine 10 years ago. How is that moving forward.

I submitt: Wayne make use of the tremendous back log of terriffic articles through the years from Bonsai Today. I think he should offer the Best of Bonsai Today as a freebie bonus issue at the end of the year. Free to subscribers and available for purchase from your local nursery. For the next ten years Wayne could offer the BoBT from each of the first ten years. A bonus magazine highlighting the best article from each of the issues of that year. He could then offer this for the next ten years. Then 10 years from now he could offer issues 11 through 20, etc. etc.

This would solve two issues.
1. It would give the readership a bonus, always nice.
2. It would keep the reprints out of the bi-monthly magazine and in a bonus issue where they belong. Reserving the magazine for new content rather than reprints, re-edited or not.

I'm not even going to comment on the shimpaku junipers in your reply. I'm just going to chalk that up to typing fast and not believing you could actually type that fast and therefore just didn't actually read what you were typing.



I got news for you, men are still men, we all still make our own soil, and most never pronounced it banzai. You might be content with mediocrity but I'm not settleing for it. There is much more out there, much more. Someone with a whole lot more business sense than me will be able to bring it to us. Bonsai Europe is starting to gain a foothold in America. I surmise that within 4 or 5 years readership of that magazine will far outweigh Bonsai Today in America. That is if you are looking to advance in bonsai, If your comfortable with the past and dream about the good ole days, then have a nice day.

Cheers, ak

__________________
If you can't be a player...be an athletic supporter!

Jon Chown

I really don’t know why I am typing this because I know that to convince AK of anything beyond his own belief is an exercise in futility.



However for those more conducive to a better understanding of the reality of life have a think about these calculations. Issue #1 came out in 1989 for the sum of $7.95 and the latest issue cost $8.95 a huge $1 increase in 17 years. For those who understand the ‘rule of 72’ (for those who don’t – Google it). Let us assume that over this time, Interest rates have averaged 7%. Then by the rule of 72 a magazine that cost us $7.95 in 1989 should cost us $26.23 in 2006. All of this is providing that there have been no labor, material and printing increases over the last 17 years which of course there hasn’t has there!



So perhaps Wayne’s answer is to increase the price like Bonsai Europe and then perhaps he could afford to pay AK for an article (provided he asks nicely)



As to providing a free or bonus issue, that would be business suicide. If it were true Al would be offering a bonus table with every order and also supplying the original order at the same price that they were worth 4 years ago. I’ll get my order in now please.



Jon

Vance Wood

Geeze Al, there is no reason to be insulting, I was not trying to argue you down I was merely stating an observation. I will not even address the numerous jabs at me and my bonsai ability you have offered up here but it does prove one thing; People that cannot argue issues turn to personal attacks. I hope that is not you.

__________________
The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

rockm

"Wayne make use of the tremendous back log of terriffic articles through the years from Bonsai Today. I think he should offer the Best of Bonsai Today as a freebie bonus issue at the end of the year. "

Wayne does not "make use" of a back log of articles. He pays licensing fees to do so and probably royalties (although I don't know his set up with the Japanese source)--which accrue every time the article is published. Offering a freebie is a very nice though, but would come with a very steep price tag.

Wayne is up against very long odds in a changing market. I don't think the U.S. bonsai market has declined as much as it has shifted from absolute beginners to more advanced practioners...I don't, however, think it is a growth market.

Producing a magazine that relies on overseas material is getting harder. The dollar is down against the Yen and the Euro. What the deep-pocket financing of Bonsai Europe can accomplish across the pond is not as easy for Bonsai Today, especially when the source material you so highly covet has become a double or triple expense to get from Japan (See Yen vs dollar).

Nice ideas like freebies are just that, nice ideas. Paying the freight, however is tougher thing to do. Thinking about the dilemma and perhaps taking Wayne up on his article submission request might be the start of good idea that's actually doable.

Dale Cochoy

Are you guys actually STILL trying to convince each other?

Attached Images

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__________________
________________________________
If you want to be Different....
You have to DO something Different!
__________________________________________

Some people NEVER take the time to do a job right the first time....
but, they always seem to make the time to do it over again...
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Dale Cochoy
Wild Things Bonsai Studio
Yakimono no Kokoro Bonsai Pottery
Hartville, Ohio

irene_b

How about you all do something novel!

Agree to disagree.
Makes me want to put each of y'all in Time-Out for bad behavior!
Irene

__________________
Student of Life & Nature

"From bonsai we receive peace of mind, health and a life’s pursuit. We can also learn generosity, patience and even philosophy about life. We can also have the good fortune to make friends of all nationalities and races with whom we share a mutual trust and respect. This is all thanks to bonsai." "Saburo Kato"


Kindness is the sign of a loving heart, one of the greatest of all virtues.

RonMartin(deceased)

Seems like it doesn't it.
Either that or they just like a good argument. Maybe that is why there have been so many hits on this thread. A good argument is better than a good conversation. Or so this thread seems to prove.
But you are right Dale. No matter how much you beat on that dead horse it ain't going anywhere.