Garden Design’s print magazine ceases production, a big loss for garden publishing
For those of us who appreciate in-depth articles about gardens, design, plants, and artisans, plus gorgeous garden photography, today’s news that Garden Design‘s print magazine is ceasing production (again) is depressing news indeed. Those of us who wrote and photographed for the magazine under Thad Orr’s excellent leadership as editor-in-chief and Jim Peterson’s ownership as publisher (he’s also been a generous supporter of the garden-blogging community) are further stunned by the loss of income this represents in an already dramatically squeezed world of garden publishing.
Garden Design has been run as a website and a quarterly, ad-free, subscriber-funded bookazine for the past 5 years, since it was purchased by Jim Peterson after the long-running monthly magazine of the same name folded in 2013. I wrote for Garden Design a couple of times in its earlier incarnation, and I’ve written a dozen articles for them since Jim took over, and I can’t lie — this loss hurts.
Why is it shutting down? The plain fact of the matter is that not enough people were reading Garden Design. Or rather, not enough people were willing to pay to read Garden Design. The subscription price was admittedly steep: $45 for 4 issues per year. But each issue was a hefty slab of interesting content (with zero ads), not a flimsy, ad-filled magazine, so it always felt like a bargain to me. It was a magazine you’d keep on your shelf long after you read it. And frankly you get what you pay for. They paid writers well to get that great content, and presumably the photographers too.
Blogs — and I count my own, of course — provide meaty, localized, and even nationally useful content these days. But we can’t fill the gap left by magazines like Garden Design, with their network of professional designers, writers, photographers, and — crucially — editors. I hope Garden Design can keep things going on its website.* However, I understand the majority of its staff is leaving**, so that seems unlikely. It’s a sad loss for readers who love learning about gardens and garden makers and being dazzled by glimpses into gardens most of us will never see in person.
*Clarification: Garden Design is continuing online, and it has a robust web presence. I’ve changed the title to eliminate the word “folding” to avoid any confusion between the end of the print magazine and the continuation of the overall business. My post was specifically written about the print magazine, which is ceasing production after the upcoming Autumn 2018 issue. I regret any confusion with regard to the website. I’ve also removed my personal speculation about how this might impact Garden Bloggers Fling.
**Correction made 8/17/18, per publisher’s request.
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Oh Geez, I like this magazine. My daughter gave me a 3 year subscription to it a year ago. VERY disappointing.
Hi Lisa:
Regarding your gift subscription. Every unshipped issue is being refunded- you should have received a credit card refund yesterday.If any questions call us 855-624-5110.
Also, We are not “folding”. Our company, including the mothership, concretenetwork.com is very alive. Check gardendesign.com and you can see what is happening there, along with our newsletter and social media posts.
Thank you!
Jim Peteerson
Publisher
855-624-5110
jim@gardendesign.com
Hi Jim. Thanks for your comment — and for putting out a great product for 5 years. I’m sorry for any confusion caused by my post in terms of “folding,” and I’ve amended it to specify that the print magazine is ceasing production. I hope very much that similar content will continue on the website and look forward to hearing from you about that. But I understood from talking with the editor that the editorial staff as it currently stands would not be continuing as a digital-only team. Hence my sadness about losing the print magazine.
Thank you so much for the information Jim. I loved the magazine and as I said very disappointed that it is not to be published anymore. I like your online presence too. I will continue to reading there.
Please say it isn’t so! Love that magazine and you are so right about the hefty and meaty content. I am sad. Very sad!
Thank you Layanee!
I’m sorry to hear that, Pam. I think the demand for content is still out there but, sadly, magazines don’t seem to be the way people want to consume that content any more. Ten years ago I probably couldn’t have counted the number of magazine subscriptions I had but I’ve almost none now. I wonder if the specialty magazines (i.e. the ones with cover prices in the $10-15 range published on a quarterly or less frequent schedule) will gain a stronger foothold? Or, dare we hope, books?!
What dreadful news this is Pam. I’m so glad to own every issue since day 1 and would not part with them, especially now. A real loss to the dwindling field of garden publications.I never gave a second thought to the price. it was well worth it to me.
Thank you KS.
The number of letters and notes we have received has been amazing!
Jim Peterson
Publisher
855-624-5110
jim@gardendesign.com
I am so bummed about this! I’m gonna have to see if I can procure the few old issues I don’t have before it’s too late.
I heard about it this morning and have been in a funk all day. Garden Design has been the only bright spot in the magazine market for me. This is a huge blow indeed. One that really hurts.
Thanks you Gerhard!
Jim
Jim Peterson
Publisher
855-624-5110
jim@gardendesign.com
I received my refund notice yesterday. I’ve been a subscriber since the first issue and will miss the gorgeous photos and inspiring stories.
Thank you Karen, I’m glad you enjoyed Garden Design magazine. It was an amazing project. Please sign up for our web site and you’ll be alerted to new articles we post on the web site.
This news is so sad. I have been a subscriber to Garden Design for years and it is my favorite magazine. It is equivalent to several magazines put together packed with beautiful photographs and articles and I treat each copy more like a new book. I even keep all my copies on a shelf for future reference.
“It is equivalent to several magazines put together packed with beautiful photographs and articles and I treat each copy more like a new book. I even keep all my copies on a shelf for future reference.”
Thank you so much. That was out intention. It was popular with many people but not with enough people. Please enjoy gardendesign.com
This is such sad news. I love this outstanding magazine. It was such a good example of what a gardening magazine should be–quality writing and outstanding photography. Each issue is a treasure.
Thank you Kimberly!
I am sad to read this. Over the years I have subscribed to many garden magazines and became discouraged by their page after page of cheap advertising in which I had no interest and often their irrelevant content. It seems that having no adverts is not a viable way to go either. We live in a quickly changing world and there is more to come.
Hi Jenny:
Thank you!
re:
“Over the years I have subscribed to many garden magazines and became discouraged by their page after page of cheap advertising in which I had no interest and often their irrelevant content.”
We aimed at people like you but you never pulled the trigger to subscribe! There were too many who did the same.
Jim Peterson
Publisher
855-624-5110
jim@gardendesign.com
Oh, this is sad news indeed. Jim and his crew are amazing, generous professionals and the gardening public will feel the loss deeply. They gave it their all, for that I am grateful. I will cherish my copies on my bookshelf, thank you Jim for all you’ve done.
Tamara you are one of our favorites. Thanks so much! See you soon.
Jim Peterson
Publisher
855-624-5110
jim@gardendesign.com
Pam:
Terrible click bait with your headline. I’m very disappointed (and surprised).
re:
Garden Design’s print magazine is folding, a big loss for garden publishing
Folding I think implies out of business (as you know). We not only not folded, we have returned every single dollar to subscribers for any unshipped issues.
In addition, any photographers or writers working on articles for 2019 have been paid in full. That includes you.
In addition, gardendesign.com is growing and digital is the future.Which I think people recognize.
I tried print,it didn’t work out.But all along we have been building our web site.
We know web sites- concretenetwork.com has been in business since 1999 and we have done over 40 million dollars of business.
re:
“I hope Garden Design can keep things going on its website. However, I understand the majority of its staff is being let go, so that seems unlikely.”
Pam, we had a time to talk this afternoon. You have no idea what the plan is. I’m very surprised you jumped the gun here.
It’s low class of me to lay a semi-rant out here. We’ve tried to take the high road. But your post is so wrong on so many levels it must be called out.
Jim
Jim Peterson
Publisher
855-624-5110
jim@gardendesign.com
For my blogging friends interested about the reasons for Garden Design closing:
A year ago it seemed we were on a nice upward trajectory. Then every marketing channel we use declined precipitously in the first half of this year. We never got to a lower number shipped than the issue before. But with a 65% renewal rate (which I’m told is good), we were staring at it being in a tough spot to replace the 35% quitting each renewal period.
Why the decline in new orders? I’ve thought about this extensively
The Cacophony of great, good, and pretty good content available from blogs, plant web sites, nurseries. All for free.
Free- most content is provided free and it is designed to sell services, or plants, or design services, etc. Magazines are now almost given away in order to sell ads and sell your data.
Local content widely available
Online content available when one needs it
differentiation difficult: so many amazing photos, articles, and ideas by both pros and amateurs online
demographics- On me surveying people who didn’t renew, a common theme, our customers were older: downsizing property, not able to garden, moving to the city…we were not getting the young people whatsoever.
I think the local angle I wildly underestimated. The US is a huge place with lots of climate conditions- in 2018 with so much local (relevant) information available, there were not enough people that wanted to read about gardens not in their area or dedicated to their climate.
Airports I think were the final straw. We started a test program in 2018 and we have good sales there (good quantities, not profit, as they take a piece of your hide to be in the airports)- but people didn’t go home and order the magazine. Our hope was that maybe there was this large group out there that didn’t know we were back yet -and the airports would help with that. Didn’t happen.
So, what does all this mean?
I have a great company. Our company added on lots of costs (print is expensive). We added on revenue. But we also added lots of moving parts to keep flowing. Thad and his team worked their butts off, I traveled the country leaving my beautiful wife at home and not enjoying our beach house together as much as we should.
The six items listed above became more blatantly true by the day.
We can do the digital side of Garden Design dramatically lower costs.
So after much thought, the choice became a simple one.
Thank you for reading
Jim Peterson
Publisher
855-624-5110
jim@gardendesign.com
Jim, wow. I don’t play click-bait games on my blog, and I’m sorry you feel that way. I have always tried to write from the heart, and that’s what I was doing yesterday when I penned this post, feeling very downhearted about the loss of such a fine magazine. The announcement had a huge impact on me, as a fan, as a freelance contributor to the magazine, and as, I felt, a friend of yours.
It’s true we haven’t had a chance to talk yet, but I did speak with Thad and feel that I accurately represented what he told me, without breaking any confidences. The information you shared above *was* specified as confidential by him, and I took care not to discuss any of that.
It’s clear you’re angry about the chatter — or maybe just my post — and I’m sure it is painful to hear the outpouring now when what you really needed all this time was dollars paid for subscriptions. I wish that had happened for you and for the garden-reading community. The loss of the print magazine is huge, and it will be missed. That’s all I was trying to say with my post here.
Hi Pam:
“It’s true we haven’t had a chance to talk yet”
“or maybe just my post”
There hasn’t been other chatter- just here on your blog!
I too was saddened when I got the email stating the print version of GD will be no longer. I subscribed after you posted about the magazine several years ago, Pam, and have enjoyed and treasured each copy. The photography is beautiful, but the talented and knowledgable writers are what set the magazine apart for me, as well as the ad-free format. It was worth every penny, and I will miss it. Looking forward, I for one would be willing to pay for an ad-free digital version as long as the quality continues.
Hi Maggie:
Thank you!
Everything we put online will be free. The won’t be a magazine in digital format. Enjoy!
Jim
Pam, I was completely bereft when the email for Dayna popped in my mailbox yesterday. “Discovered” this magazine through you and your blog and I’m eternally grateful. Jim and crew, THANK YOU for one of the most beautiful magazines ever created. I will be keeping every issue. Also so happy my father, who passed away in March, got to enjoy your magazine as well. He was the gardener of our yard back in Southern California and the yard was his ‘sacred ground.’ Though his cognitive impairment had worsened so he re-read the same paragraph over and over again, this pictures allowed him to experience those beautiful gardens once again. Thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart!!!
NNNOOOOO! But not surprised. It will be missed. While most of the gardens featured were big bucks, professionally designed and maintained, I got a lot out of it.
Tracy:
I’m glad you enjoyed the magazine!
Jim
Thank you for your kind comments Gabrielle ~ Jim
My favorite magazine! Boo hiss! I’m really going to miss this beautiful informative magazine. I’m glad I saved all the issues.
Thank you.
We’ve been overwhelmed with calls and emails- it’s very touching.
We had a tight group of passionate subscribers!
I, too, loved it. I have subscribed to Garden Design since the previous version existed. My company has paid for the much better (in my opinion) Garden Design, but I certainly would have spent the $45 for such a wonderful magazine. I look forward to reading the digital offerings from Garden Design, and I enjoy the emails I already get. Best of luck to everyone involved.
Thanks Carol:
re:
But I certainly would have spent the $45 for such a wonderful magazine.
Thank you. We thought of them more like books or a journal as did many others.
For a certain group, the moment they laid eyes on our magazine they said “That’s a great deal” and bought it on the spot.
But as Pam notes above:
“The subscription price was admittedly steep: $45 for 4 issues per year.”
Many thought that way about it too.
Yet when you compare our price PER PAGE of content (since we don’t have ads) we were the best value out there. $45/592 pages per year is 7.5 cents per page.
Pull out all the ads in other magazines, take what’s left, and compare! But who does that math!
In the end,though,none of this would change things. The world is marching towards (or maybe is already there) digital. Please continue to enjoy the emails and I look forward to surprising you with some of the new features on the site we have coming.
My next sentences, following the subscription price comment that you quoted above:
“But each issue was a hefty slab of interesting content (with zero ads), not a flimsy, ad-filled magazine, so it always felt like a bargain to me. It was a magazine you’d keep on your shelf long after you read it. And frankly you get what you pay for.”
Jim, I don’t know why you feel I’m being hostile to your magazine or your brand here. I promoted Garden Design every chance I got and wrote about it often here at Digging and on social media. This post was me saying what a great loss it is that the magazine won’t appear in print anymore. The future is indeed digital, and I’m glad GD will continue in that format. But that doesn’t mean that we who love print can’t mourn for what’s lost along the way.
“Jim, I don’t know why you feel I’m being hostile to your magazine or your brand here.”
The headline Pam (plus more)
“Garden Design’s print magazine is folding, a big loss for garden publishing”
search Google for what it means when a company “folds”- it says out of business, out of money. We are neither.
Next:
re:
“I hope Garden Design can keep things going on its website. However, I understand the majority of its staff is being let go, so that seems unlikely.”
You don’t have any information of what staff I have in the office. Or that those leaving could have stayed if they desired: my daughter (the managing editor Justine) is choosing to stay home and raise my one year old and three year old grandchildren (her kids!). My son-in-law Thad (the editor) could have stayed but wanted to try a new field. He’s been with me 15 years from when he was in high school.
re:
“This loss hurts. Garden Design has also been a major annual sponsor of Garden Bloggers Fling, and so its shuttering is likely to have an impact on the garden-blogging community’s annual meet-up as well.”
You never asked me Pam though we were scheduled to talk that day. You jumped the gun.
Here is the essence of what over a dozen people have called me and expressed about your post:
“She was probably emotional when she wrote it. But before flippantly writing about something which she doesn’t know all the details about, she should have thought about how her words would impact us, and how they would be perceived by the people reading it. Also, a writer, she should know that word choice is important, and using the word “folding” was careless. I’m also really surprised she wrote this before you two talked, since it sounds like you had a call scheduled. Really careless on her part. ”
More?
Thad talked to you and emailed you with “confidential”
Within hours there was your post…..
Finally:
When I expressed disgust for your headline you amended it to say Garden Design print magazine folding from Garden Design magazine folding
A normal person would not catch the difference.
I’m individually emailing all my blogging friends with this explanation so in case they just read the headline of your post they can get the whole story.
By leaping to get out the “news” you damaged our reputation. But we have a good reputation and will be just fine.
Worse for you- you damaged yours.
I hope I answered your question.
Jim
Jim, I wish you would have assumed the best about my intentions instead of the worst, especially considering that we know each other personally. You have been a guest at my home, and I considered you a friend. I feel like you’ve come at me with knives here, even emailing to call me “despicable,” when I was simply writing about a significant development in the garden-publishing industry, and something that affected me personally. I did wait until it was public knowledge before publishing, and I specifically asked Thad when I spoke with him on what day it would be OK to talk about it publicly. So I must push back against your accusation that I broke confidence. I did not.
I’m sorry that my post seems to you to have put your company in a bad light. That was certainly not my intention. My intention, which everyone commenting here except you seems to have understood, is that the end of the print magazine is something I see as a loss — for its readers and the industry. But in no way did I fault you personally, or the staff, for that loss.
I take seriously your complaints. I’ve already changed my title to more clearly reflect that it’s the print magazine that is shutting down (I originally wrote “magazine”). I could change it to “shutting down” if “folding” offends you, but I’m not really sure what you’re getting at there. The fact is, the magazine is ending. Additionally, I’ve corrected my post to reflect your statement about the staff.
I hope you will accept this as a good-faith effort to resolve your complaints about my post. I continue to wish only the best for you and the entire staff at Garden Design.
As someone downsized out of a newspaper career, I understand all the issues of print publication and am sympathetic to publishers but especially to all of you writers and editors. My earliest issues of Garden Design magazine go back to the late 1980s. I have read/sometimes subscribed to the magazine many times over the years as it went through many changes. I did subscribe for a year to the current iteration but found the articles to be about too many high end, overly designed gardens for my taste. I get Gardens Illustrated from the UK because it is more quirky and appeals to me more as more hands-on gardeners seem to be included in the gardens profiled. Garden Design in the 1990s was the best iteration of that publication as far as I am concerned. I wrote about it in 2008, comparing issues and giving my take on it: http://www.lindabrazill.com/each_little_world/2008/10/garden-rant-gar.html
Thanks for sharing your post, Linda. I wish we had a gardening culture/reading culture here in the U.S. that could sustain our own version of Gardens Illustrated. I found plenty to love in GD’s coverage of high-end gardens because I’m always looking for design inspiration rather than practical how-to info (which the title reflected accurately, I thought). But perhaps that’s largely because of the difficult gardening region I live in, where most how-to and plant articles in magazines and books have little relevance to the conditions in which I garden. So I go looking for design ideas instead and get my how-to from local sources.
Hi Jim,
I also was a Garden Design subscriber and it was a very happy point every three months when a new issue arrived. There was just nothing else like it before, and I suspect unfortunately, after. The high quality personal dedication of you and all the staff and contributors was what, I suspect, made it such a great “magazine” – though I use the term lightly here, it was really a quarterly journal. That kind of dedication to a high quality media product is extremely rare now but I think there is still a place for it.
So I, like many others, was greatly saddened by your announcement to end the print version.
I do appreciate your detailed description of the challenges that lead to the end of print version though; I did see you in the airports and I thought that a sign of resurgence, but as you say, it seems it was just expensive last try at marketing.
It seems you tried a of of things to keep the print version going, but you didn’t try one thing – approaching your subscribers and telling them what the situation was and asking everybody to give out one gift subscription each year. You probably would have got a 35% response rate to that given the dedication of your readers.
Also, while $45/year was not cheap, you might have tried $60 as most subscribers are dedicated and likely above average income. Note that the Economist magazine still charges $190 per year.
I’m sorry, but online is just not the same and you will be forced to deal with advertising now for free online coverage. There’s no way you will be able to continue with such a high quality product. I doubt that I will ever read a Garden Design article again.
Thank You for your great product, it will be missed, but given the response to its closure perhaps you should look into ways you might revive the print version.
I’ll send you my email privately if you would like to discuss more.
– Eric Linder