Over the last 15 years I have been lucky enough to have over 65 articles published. I have written for Black Belt, Inside Kung Fu, Inside Karate, Inside Kung Fu Presents, Inside Karate's Master Series, Martial Arts Professional, Centuron Negro (Spain), Kick (Germany), and am presently a staff correspondant for Martial Arts Success.
So after working with all the major magazines and editors, I've gotten a good understanding of the Martial Arts media business.
The truth of the matter is that martial arts magazines are no differant than any other magazine or newspaper. They are published to make money. Very few of their full time editorial staff are actually martial artists.
They mainly make money from advertizing sales. Very little money is made from the actual sales of the magazines. The sales numbers of the magazines help boost their advertizing prices, but don't really make them much money.
For the most part they follow trends, "what's hot and what's not", and contraversy. Those of us who have been in the arts long have seen these trends:
1950's Judo
1960s Karate
1970's Kung Fu
1980's Ninjitsu
1990's Brazilian Jujitsu, No Holds Barred
Lesser Trends:
1980s Aikido
1990s Filipino Arts
Just look at it this way. Everybody has their day in the sun. The arts like Karate and Kung Fu have always been popular, and have lasted the test of time. Ninjitsu and Judo are still popular with a small loyal following. The Filipino arts and jujitsu will have to prove their ability to go the distance. They already have a strong following as arts to cross train in.
So, if you have a favorite area of the arts that you like, it will be back in the magazines when the editors feel enough people what to read about it.
One thing to remember, 80-90% of magazine articles are written by freelance writers, so if you don't see something in the magazines you like, write some articles yourself. That's what got me started.
