Western and Eastern Treasures Mag - Worth it?

[firebird21]

Let's face it - W&E and Lost Treasure are nothing like they used to be. I've got several hundred of old issues of these magazines and sometime in the late 1980s the format seemed to change for these magazines. Gone are the good articles and feature stories, now it's just short items and multitudes of advertisements. Comparing the issues from the 60s, 70s and early 80s to today's issues - you wouldn't even know they are the same magazine. Oh -- and then there's the price, 50 cents an issue to around $5.00 today for mostly advertisements. Anyone have some of those early issues that they want to sell - let me know.

 

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[Frankn]

For Barber: They are life memberships. You pay a set fee up front and you get the club benefits which usually includes a mag. for life. I have 3 right now that I bought prior to'94 so I am ahead of the game. With Gold Prospector, I also get a book about the size of a telephone book listing gold claims I can work, about 90% are free and I can keep what I find! The good Sam Club mag. is for motor home info with travel articles and MH problem listings. The International Photographer Mag. gets you access to events to take pictures.
------ Other replys- A lot of mags. are reformating to become more relevent to their set theme. Pop. Mechanics & Pop. Science have been completely redun. The ads. pay for the publications so they have to keep their circulation #'S up.That is why their final sub. price is low. The treasure mags. must drop their price to survive!

 

[Tuberale]

Hope so. I think so. Have many years of older magazines, and have been published by them.

Ultimately, the only person who can answer that is you: does reading anything help you?

Some people it doesn't.

Most it does.

 

[EastKyMiner]

I've been a subscriber for 15 years. Like someone said earlier the magazine has shorten. And the price has raised with less information, tips and finds among other things with more ads. But overall still good mag to lay back and read. Just hope the price don't raise to much more. I also love this site and and in the short time here it has been great with alot of help and the reading never stops. I plan to subscribe to be a Charter Member here shortly. A lot of things you cannot get for free but I am grateful that I have been able to get on and use this site.

 

[KEVTEC]

First of all I would like to say that I have been hunting for over 30 yrs. to date and I am 51. To answer your question about if the magazine is worth it, I have mixed emotions on that. It is true that it is rather boring reading about Indian head coins and a few silver coins. To take it a step further, I recently had a 4 page article with pictures in the Silver And Gold annual 2010. Reading the contract and guidelines I submitted the story and photos. The process took approx. 4 months. I was told by staff that they wanted to run the article and pictures on one of the monthly issues of the magazine and a cover shot. They also told me that they wanted to do the same story on the 2010 Silver And Gold Annual. They decided to do the story only in the 2010 annual. That was fine with me, except for the fact that there is a set amount of money paid per word, and a set amount paid per photo. Also in the contract it stated they will pay $75.00 - $100.00 per photo used on the cover. Since I had 2 of my photos on the cover and the check didn't add up I called them and I was told that the only way they pay for a cover picture is if it is the only picture on the cover, yet the contract does not state that specifically and I was told that they need to edit the contract to specify that. . It was rather dishearting to say the least as other publishers wanted the story and assured me of cover exposure and money. Even the price per word and picture was more at other publishers, yet I chose Western and Eastern as it has always been my favorite of all the treasure magazines. It takes the article and photos to sell the magazine. In closing I would like to state that I do not post my daily finds as I feel instead of sitting on the computer and posting that I found a couple of dollars in clad or a silver dime, I would much rather be out hunting for the big ticket items that would merit a posting, but with my recent published find I felt it was magazine worthy to say the least, but feel I was short changed. Either way I probably won't submit another story as I am in the process after many yrs. of research about to uncover a huge find and have already started to recover some of the treasure. It's amazing when you find old tin type pictures from an area that belongs to family, and detailed instructions of things long since been above ground. Either way I just wanted to voice my opinion on the topic above. Happy hunting to all..

 

[firebird21]

Kevtec ... no doubt about it - the magazine put it to you. If your photos were used on the front cover, it is obvious that your story was going to be one of the feature stories that is covered. Read my comment that I made in a post a couple of earlier posts above yours. These magazines have slipped considerably in their content and general presentation. I had an article in one of these magazines in the mid 1980s and I decided right then and there that it just wasn't worth the time and effort. Clipping you for $100 on a technicality doesn't make them look good. Their lawyers had that figured out when the contract was formulated.
Good luck with your searches and let us know how it goes, Jim

 

[RiverRat3]

I dont subscribe. Barnes and Noble carries " Western and Eastern Treasure" and "Lost Treasure Magazine". Every month I preview the magazine and decide to purchase it or not. Seems to work for me. Just and idea. I enjoy reading the state treasure stories and tips.

 

[Woodland Detectors]

I dont subscribe. Barnes and Noble carries " Western and Eastern Treasure" and "Lost Treasure Magazine". Every month I preview the magazine and decide to purchase it or not. Seems to work for me. Just and idea. I enjoy reading the state treasure stories and tips.

Great tip RR!

 

[BuckleBoy]

First of all I would like to say that I have been hunting for over 30 yrs. to date and I am 51. To answer your question about if the magazine is worth it, I have mixed emotions on that. It is true that it is rather boring reading about Indian head coins and a few silver coins. To take it a step further, I recently had a 4 page article with pictures in the Silver And Gold annual 2010. Reading the contract and guidelines I submitted the story and photos. The process took approx. 4 months. I was told by staff that they wanted to run the article and pictures on one of the monthly issues of the magazine and a cover shot. They also told me that they wanted to do the same story on the 2010 Silver And Gold Annual. They decided to do the story only in the 2010 annual. That was fine with me, except for the fact that there is a set amount of money paid per word, and a set amount paid per photo. Also in the contract it stated they will pay $75.00 - $100.00 per photo used on the cover. Since I had 2 of my photos on the cover and the check didn't add up I called them and I was told that the only way they pay for a cover picture is if it is the only picture on the cover, yet the contract does not state that specifically and I was told that they need to edit the contract to specify that. . It was rather dishearting to say the least as other publishers wanted the story and assured me of cover exposure and money. Even the price per word and picture was more at other publishers, yet I chose Western and Eastern as it has always been my favorite of all the treasure magazines. It takes the article and photos to sell the magazine. In closing I would like to state that I do not post my daily finds as I feel instead of sitting on the computer and posting that I found a couple of dollars in clad or a silver dime, I would much rather be out hunting for the big ticket items that would merit a posting, but with my recent published find I felt it was magazine worthy to say the least, but feel I was short changed. Either way I probably won't submit another story as I am in the process after many yrs. of research about to uncover a huge find and have already started to recover some of the treasure. It's amazing when you find old tin type pictures from an area that belongs to family, and detailed instructions of things long since been above ground. Either way I just wanted to voice my opinion on the topic above. Happy hunting to all..

How many folks make a living writing articles? Let's face it--we submit articles mainly because we want to see something we've written in print. Or we want to share our finds with the world. Or we want to help provide content for a media outlet that we care about.

In other words, it is Seldom for the money.

When you look at how much an article pays ($100-175) versus how much TIME it takes to write it, and how LONG it takes to get paid (months). Is it worth it for the money? Hell no!

Is it worth it in other ways. Yes.

I have written articles for treasure magazines, and it is indeed worth it to me. The money is insignificant, but it makes me proud to see something I've written on the news stand.

Since I was a kid, I understood what a "cover photo" was--it was a photo for the entire cover of the magazine. This idea ran so deep in my understanding that I didn't see things the way you saw them when I wrote an article for W & E and they used my photo of a silver dollar on the front cover. Of Course it wasn't a cover photo--there was a HUGE photo underneath it of a person with their detector in a posed shot. THAT was the cover photo.

I wasn't upset in the least. I have a few cover photos that I think W & E will find irresistible...


Best Wishes,


Buck

 

[KEVTEC]

I agree Buck, but the point is the editor had set forth stringent guidelines on text, spacing, photos & word amount allowance. The contract they sent me in PDF format stated if they use any of the pictures from the article the author is to be paid $75- $100 on the cover plus each photo used in the article and word was paid a said amount. The money is actually chump change, $150.00 for the article and internal pictures, but when the contract states any photos used on the cover will be paid said above amount and the editor admits that they need to change the verbage, it's almost like someone stealing a $100.00 from your pocket. Remember the articles and photos are what sell their magazine especially the annual issue, not these forums. So in essence by the magazine using multiple photos they excuse themselves from paying any of the authors any monies for having their picture on the cover. Now that is covert. Personally I prefer to be hunting than living on the forums as you can see by my amount of posts. Either way it's all good, but rest assured I will never sell another article to this magazine..

 

[BuckleBoy]

I agree Buck, but the point is the editor had set forth stringent guidelines on text, spacing, photos & word amount allowance. The contract they sent me in PDF format stated if they use any of the pictures from the article the author is to be paid $75- $100 on the cover plus each photo used in the article and word was paid a said amount. The money is actually chump change, $150.00 for the article and internal pictures, but when the contract states any photos used on the cover will be paid said above amount and the editor admits that they need to change the verbage, it's almost like someone stealing a $100.00 from your pocket. Remember the articles and photos are what sell their magazine especially the annual issue, not these forums. So in essence by the magazine using multiple photos they excuse themselves from paying any of the authors any monies for having their picture on the cover. Now that is covert. Personally I prefer to be hunting than living on the forums as you can see by my amount of posts. Either way it's all good, but rest assured I will never sell another article to this magazine..

I understand where you're coming from, but here's my idea about the situation: you had no way of knowing in advance whether they would use your photo on the cover or not, so you were already willing to write the article for such small pay to begin with. It is a bonus that a small photo of yours ended up on the cover. You weren't worried about the money in the first place, or you wouldn't be writing articles in the first place. How could they be stealing from your pocket if you had no way to know if they'd use ANY of your photos (even in the article itself)? That's all at their discretion anyhow.

 

[lastleg]

KEVTEC:

Thanks for the heads-up. A buddy of mine sent them a story of the fantastic
finds he detected at a housing project for several years. Instead of editing a
first hand true story that readers would have learned from W&E said it didn't
meet their standards. I haven't bought one in years. Got a closet full of them
when they were the standard in THing publications.

 

[KEVTEC]

I agree again, but when the editor received the pictures and story I sent, HE was the one that said It would be a cover picture on either the monthly or the annual or possibly both. His exact statement.
I have his emails to back this up. BTW there were 2 of my photos on the cover not 1.

 

[Frankn]

Here an update on my earlier post about the cost of mags. I just ordered Road & Track mag. for $8.00 a year. The cost of mags. is still going down. If publishers don't accept lower profit margins they will sink. The profit in printing mags. is in the advertising! The content is what attracts readers. The circulation #'s is what attracts advertisers. Most mags. are lowering cost to attract readers!

​

 

[firebird21]

Frankn......You are correct about those issues. The cost has to come down or the magazines will disappear. The articles are provided by people like us and we expect to be treated right. It is not the money it's the principle. I don't think they treated KEVTEC right.

 

[TreasureWriter]

I've written for E&W Treasures Magazine. The pay is very low. I probably won't submit anything else to them. The biggest issue that I have with them is that if they publish your article then they OWN all aspects of it. You give up your copyright to them and cannot ever publish your article or pictures anywhere else. I tried to get this clause removed from the contract and they refused. They said that my work was now their property. It certainly isn't worth the $100-$150 that you'll get paid to give up your copyright. In fact it's a complete rip off.

Other magazines are even worse. American Digger gives you as payment 3 free issues and an ad in the issue that your article is published in....No Money.

Lost Treasure is similar to E&W .... $100 for the cover photo and 4 cents per word for the article plus photos ..... Not worth my time.

This is one reason that these magazines have become very thin.....Most good authors have quit writing for these magazines because of their bad contracts and pay. I know that I won't give them my work for a pittance and never have use of it again.....I also know what their advertising rates are and they are making a lot of money ..... I don't know what they are thinking? ..... No articles...No Magazine

 

[CincinnatiKid]

Great response to an older thread.
Well said TreasureWriter.
I actually dropped subscription to a treasure mag because of mass advertisements, yet weak articles.
Peace ✌

 

[coinman123]

Unrelated but my article is in W&E for the July Issue, pretty excited for that. I don't care for the money as much as the pride of being in one of my favorite magazines .

 

[s.c.shooter]

I subscribe to lost treasure and W&E treasures and enjoy them both !

 

[Old Dude]

I let my subscription lapse to one mentioned by the OP as well. B&W pages, articles that are usually just rewrites of posts that you can read in " Today's Finds " and really useless bits were not worth the money that could have been spent on batteries to me.