Dan Miller, publisher and editor of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, has announced that the bi-monthly print periodical for steel string, acoustic guitar enthusiasts will cease publication at the end of 2016. That will take the magazine through 20 years of offering tips, tricks, and tunes to flatpicking fans around the world.
But they’re not done yet! Miller is planning five more issues, and promises a great deal of special content to mark the final volume. Current plans have the September/October 2016 issue marked as the last one to roll off the press.
Dan will continue to operate the FGM web site, which offers all sorts of guitar accessories and instructional items, plus back issues of the magazine available in both printed and PDF formats. The various teaching videos produced by Flatpicking Guitar will also remain on the market, as DVDs or downloads, along with their Flatpicking Essentials book series.
In assessing his reasons for closing down the magazine, Miller finds the same problems that have plagued all of print media in recent years. Declining subscription rates and increases in print and postage costs have taken their toll to the point that each issue now mails out at a loss to the company. But he wants to go the full 20 years as a personal goal.
“I thought it would be worth the effort to finish out 20 years of publication. In our 20th year we are featuring all of the heroes of flatpicking…David Grier, Bryan Sutton, Jim Hurst, Tim Stafford, Kenny Smith, Cody Kilby, etc. So, it will be a fun year and we will go out with a bang.
It was a great run.”
Subscriptions are still available for the magazine’s final year, and individual issue sales will be offered online.
Once Flatpicking Guitar Magazine is complete, Dan plans to return to school and complete a PhD in mathematics, something he has put off long enough. Already possessing a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a Masters in Electrical Engineering, Miller jokes that he wants to get the doctorate before Alzheimer’s sets in.
We’ll all be sorry to say goodbye to FGM. Hat’s off to Dan Miller for keeping it in print for 20 years!
