Canadian Magazine Industry News
7 May 2009,     TORONTO
BW & BK rocks out for the last time (in print)
The print version of hard rock/heavy metal magazine, Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, is no more. But whil the January/February 2009 edition with Metallica on the cover marked the final bi-monthly issue, CEO and president Tim Henderson plans to keep the brand alive online.

BW&BK was founded in 1994.
Henderson said declining advertising revenue and catering to a  small audience are the two main reasons for the print version’s closure. “Part of me saw this coming just due to the website and how it has grown over time,” Henderson said.

BraveWords.com has about 25,000 unique visitors per day, Henderson said. “Our website has been it’s own living, breathing beast from the get-go. It came to a point where I was running two companies. We see more unique viewers per day than we did per issue.”

From a business standpoint, Henderson noted that being strictly online allows for lower costs and time-saving opportunities. Online ads, for example, are easier to put produce and publish than print ads. “It’s almost a no-brainer to stop the print version because when an ad is submitted to me for the website, my webmaster has to spend like two seconds to throw it up.” 

As successful as the website has been, Henderson is looking to improve it. “It needs an overhaul,” he said.

Within the year, he plans to upload PDF versions of back issues and to begin uploading new content everyday. Henderson also wants to makeover the site's look. “My goal is to really bring in to the website the beautiful elements of the magazine.”

As for the print magazine, don’t call it dead yet, says Henderson. The CEO/president is taking a cue from the magazine’s own story subjects. “I’d like to take the vinyl approach of how bands are still releasing limited editions of vinyl,” he said. “It would be really cool to do some special issues at some point in time.”
— Christal Gardiola
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Jaded says:
Wow, Torstar really seems to be on a mission to bankrupt one magazine after another....
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Full of terrific information, Thanks!...
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