Secrets of the City

Man, this is so disappointing. The Rake was really the local print publication I liked.

I mean, I know it’ll be online – but still.

PRINT IS DEAD

I think it’s incorrect to Call Brad Zellar’s piece a “Eulogy”.

Taking umbrage is not the same as paying tribute.

It’s sad to see the Rake print copy go.

I hope it doesn’t pull a TC Pulse and pull the plug on the website in a week.

Now I’m definitely interested in seeing if they do anything differently with the website. I suppose they can sell off that $220,000 worth of equipment.

The lovefest in the comments on Zellar’s bit is touching.

something tells me a healthy portion of that 220K is in racks that aren’t worth the time or shipping cost to sell them.

I wonder how if vita.mn is next?

@ericam – Thanks, I missed the comments.

CP should run it as a quarterly insert.

Why do you wonder about vita.mn?

Holy shit, that’s crazy. They’d slid a little in quality in the past few years, but still, it’s depressing to see a stinkball like METRO stay in print while the Rake gives it up.

(wipes tear)

Thanks for a free print mag that was worth reading, Tom.

“Taking umbrage is not the same as paying tribute. “

At the Rake it is.

Thanks for another good rag, T-Bar. It will be missed.

Bravo!

Matt, please refrain from making me burst out laughing at work. They already think I’m strange enough.

That is funny, Matt. I’m sorry if my comments about slutty dresses sunk The Rake for good.

I hear you, Jason. The Pulse of the TC folded soon after it published my piece on biodiesel.

. . . and now the two of you have commented side-by-side on Mnspeak.

Let me get my resume prepared. Thanks, Bob and Jason.

From the release:

The Rake will continue to publish online at http://www.rakemag.com, with its Secrets of the Day emails, event calendar, searchable restaurant database, and select blogs.

Does that mean the features and Rakish Angle are dead?

sorry erica @ I meant I wonder how long vita.mn the rag will exist.

I just am not sure about display advertising to hipsters (18-35 urban youth) as a print media business model.

does vita.mn employ reps that are independent or are they regular strib ad reps simply selling another sku?

This sucks. Even though I read the online more often than the print it still sucks.

With the cost savings the internet provides, is running PRINT media really worthwhile?

I read online stuff way more than paper.

I welcome the Rake embracing technology and abandoning an expensive, outdated, and environmentally unfriendly distribution method.

Print to Internet I would like to see next: MnDaily, Citypages, vita.mn,

This sucks. THe Rake was always something I could count on to pick up at virtually every Minneapolis restaurant when I’m dining alone.

Good grief! Whose going to reject my short stories now???

when I’m dining alone

No comment. Help override the transpo veto, and you’ll have your share of dinner mates, Kevin.

A few more details from David Brauer, including how “Bartel said 15 of the company’s 16 employees will be laid off…”

sorry erica @ I meant I wonder how long vita.mn the rag will exist.

That’s what I thought you meant, but I thought I’d ask.

does vita.mn employ reps that are independent or are they regular strib ad reps simply selling another sku?

That I don’t know for sure, but I suspect it’s the latter.

ChuckT – “Does that mean the features and Rakish Angle are dead?”

Yep.

Thanks, for the kind word, folks. (It’s a welcome change from the overwhelming negativity.)

And I assure you, we will continue online as long as you keep reading.

Count me in.

The final issue cover story is “Stop the Presses?”

Ouch.

This market has the same print vehicles / population ratio as it has pro sports teams / population ratio.

Inverse to assured profitability.

Both the Rake and, currently, the Twolves paid the price.

With the cost savings the internet provides, is running PRINT media really worthwhile?

When the print edition was publishing = 16 employees.

No more print edition = 1 employee.

Please don’t discount our bloggers: That’s at least an additional 7 (somewhere thereabout) valuable people.

And MNSpeaker Rich Goldsmith will begin blogging for The Rake this week. Look for him here.

Just promise me Motley Kruse will be available online. I’d hate to go into moxie withdrawal.

Sweet! I was enjoying Rich at Just Passing Through.

I enjoy the concept of Just Passing Through immensely, even if I don’t always love the blogger du jour.

Cristina: Who are the 7 bloggers? There are at least 11 active blogs with regular writers at rakemag.com, in addition to the “revolving cast of contributors” blogs like Outrage and Just Passing Through. Who’s staying on board at this point? Iggers, Bauer, Robson, Zellar, god forbid Melinda Jacobs?

And what the hell ever happened to Lambert, anyway? The updates just stopped cold.

I guess you didn’t get the memo.

Am I completely out of touch with what Minnesotans want? Why is Brian Lambert incessantly provided high-profile venues in which to provide his “insight”? Who decreed him the official finger-on-the-pulse guy for local media? Seems to me he fails at everything he tries, but always lands on his feet.

With the cost savings the internet provides, is running PRINT media really worthwhile?

No more print edition = 1 employee.

Umm so were 15 people directly involved with printing and distributing the paper version?

If not, they must’ve scaled down their operation and gotten rid of writers. That doesn’t have much to do with paper vs. electronic. People can still write stuff online and have a wide audience.

I will admit, I am kinda sad about this. Rake was a cool mag. Made me feel like Minneapolis was a hip awesome city.

We’re still sorting out the details, so I don’t want to make any promises, but we hope to keep the majority of our bloggers, and even add a few blogs to our list.

Umm so were 15 people directly involved with printing and distributing the paper version?

I will admit, I am kinda sad about this. Rake was a cool mag. Made me feel like Minneapolis was a hip awesome city.

Since the Rake was free, advertising (I would assume mostly in the print edition) paid the salaries of those 15 employees who no longer have jobs.

I’m sure those bloggers are getting paid something, but I doubt it’s anything close to a full salary.

Can it be a eulogy it it’s written and posted before the news of the demise? Seems to be it’s more a response to news the mag is up for sale. At least before the comments.

I guess you didn’t get the memo.

Whoa, guess not. Thanks.

so how long till the rake goes UGC just like this heeyah site?

Rex was better when The Rake was here.

Thanks for that, Champs.

Sorry, just realized that could have been read as sarcastic. Wasn’t.

when I’m dining alone

No comment. Help override the transpo veto, and you’ll have your share of dinner mates, Kevin.

So are you going to line these up for me, or how’s this gonna work? I like beef, chicken, breakfast foods, pastas, tacos and things with cheese. No Asian sh*t. Blech.

It’s hard for me to come to grips with the print/online divide. I almost always prefer print, and only get annoyed when I’m recycling huge piles of newspapers. But I very rarely read the Rake online (I sometimes use their restaurant finder), and I doubt I’m going to start now. There’s something about thumbing through a magazine (or newspaper) and seeing all of the content there, without any of it being hidden away because it’s not the most read or most emailed. I still make a choice about what to read and what to skip, but with any online source, I tend to miss out on a lot because I’m too lazy to dig.

vita.mn, though…that works much better online. I don’t know why they take crap from their website and print it in a newspaper.

I was beginning to listen, until… vita.mn… whatever. If they’re doing things right online, then I’m at a loss.

Ok. I’ve had a couple of drinks now, and I probably shouldn’t be posting, but … I’ve never been good at keeping my mouth shut.

This whole 16-then and 1-now shit really has me bothered. It’s not a one-man or one-woman show. Regardless of the unfortunate loss of print, there will still be more than 12 people regularly contributing to The Rake online (most of whom have been previous contributors)  hopefully more than that, once things settle down a bit.

While Bauer appears to be quoting T. Bartel in his MinnPostpiece  “Bartel said 15 of the company’s 16 employees will be laid off”  this information is misleading and, in fact, quite destructive. Whether deliberate or not (and I honestly hope it’s not), it’s misleading information like this that augments the difficulties we (and all print-to-online publications) face today.

The Rake in print was a beautiful beautiful thing. That’s why I went to work there in the first place. My only hope  something I will put all of myself into  is to live up to that online. Please stick around. (And for those of you who claim never to read us online, I hope we change your mind.)

*Pours a facebook 40 ouncer gift in front of the Rake’s website*

This if for my homies.

It’s hard to dispute that 15 people lost jobs and that there are 15 fewer media (ad and editorial) positions in the TC now. Sure — lots of freelancers (making what per word or post?), but it doesn’t change the effect on the job market.

Glad you’re still around, Cristina, and that the Rake will be around in some form, but I don’t think Brauer’s analysis was meant to mislead or destroy anything.

My fault for the 15 of 16 information misunderstanding. That’s what I told Brauer. I should have been more clear. The real fact is that several of the 15 will continue working for rakemag.com in some capacity, including contributing much of the same stuff they did before the closure of the print publication. Also, some bookkeeping, data entry and sales people will definitely continue to work on a contract basis. Most of our contributors, including Britt Robson, Brad Zellar, Ann Bauer, Jeremy Iggers and others will continue without interruption. I also plan to write more myself, which I’m sure will please my critics here on mnspeak.

While I’m here, I thought of correcting a lot of misinformation that cropped up on the “Rake for Sale” thread, but if I did, it would result in the longest comment in the history of mnspeak.

I’ll just touch on one in particular. The figures quoted in the “listing” in the Brauer story were wildly inaccurate. Not Brauer’s fault. The lister, in addition to violating his confidentiality agreement couldn’t get the numbers right either.

My favorite comment though was from the person who suggested we try to sell ads. Gee I wish I’d thought of that sooner.

I also liked the one about printing not being expensive. That was a revelation, too.

Finally, I commend to you the piece Matt called the Rake’s eulogy by Brad Zellar. Zellar is just one one phenomenal writers and thinkers who have graced the Rake’s pages and website. Those of you who haven’t admired Yo Ivanhoe or his features over the years have missed some amazing stuff. I esteem his friendship, and that of all the other people I’ve worked with at The Rake, far more than any profit we ever might have made in the future or all the treasure we have lost in the past six years.

I gotta start asking the right questions when we talk Tom. Good Luck with the transition.

Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention, because it’s so obvious to me, that Cristina, besides being a joy to work with, is an amazing talent as a creator of content and as an editor of other folks’ work. That’s a rare combination. It’s hard for an outsider to see the amount of work she puts into our site every day. Believe me, it’s a lot, and she’s due all the credit for how good rakemag is.

OK, now I’m done.

goddammit. I leave town for one day and this happens. what will I read on the toilet now?

It’s easy to recall Tom Bartel taking such great pleasure in publicly gloating whenever he’d sign up some next laid-off local journalist, as his latest addition at The Rake.

And now the Rake ceases print publication, and becomes a shoestring-budget competitor of what? MinnPost?

Rather than pile-on any more negativity here, I’ll just stop at that.

Great. More Bartel content. Is it me, or does the Rake decline parallel Bartel’s decision to start writing that lead editorial? He’ll never, ever learn, will he?

The Rake magazine was special. Thanks for all the words.

Cristina and the rakemag.com motley crew, I never left, so hello again. Hello.

I just gotta say, I wish Tom had told me all this when I called about the listing last week. I’m really a reasonable guy, and I do call up everyone I write about.

I don’t think, in the end, there’s anything inaccurate about the 15-for-16 thing (and I appreciate Tom cleansing the record on my behalf). The simple fact is the Rake had 16 employees – and that’s a powerful term for those of out here who buy our own health care and pay our own Social Security – and now they’ll have 1.

It’s ALSO true that some of those people will work for the Rake again, in what sounds like independent contracting roles if I read Tom right. But that’s an additive bit of info that doesn’t contradict the first. Exactly who sounds like it is way up in the air, so I don’t blame anyone for not stressing it yesterday.

I realize I’m on some shit lists as a result of my reporting last week, but I am interested in knowing who Rake will carry forward when those decisions are made. And I’ll happily write about it, because I think the blog mix is pretty good and I hope as much of it is preserved as possible.

Brauer, like I said, I accept the veracity of your initial statement, but to say that the source of our content is “an additive bit of info” is absolutely absurd when you’re making it sound like a one-person show. And again, you’re wrong about the bloggers being “way up in the air” as well. [Why do you insist on this bullshit, Brauer? I don't get it. It's this loaded attitude that gets you on those shit lists, not good journalism.] I simply thought it best to nail down all the details before shooting my mouth off. Our bloggers will include (but not necessarily be limited to) the following: Ann Bauer, Brad Zellar, Julie Caniglia, Britt Robson, Jeremy Iggers, Jimmy “Dutch” Gaines, Rich Goldsmith.

In David’s defense, I would say that contract bloggers are different than full-time employees. David’s point remains the same: There is no “business” of journalism anymore, and instead most writers are having to piece together a living instead of being able to rely on a consistent paycheck. What was once an outfit of 16 full-time employees is now reduced to one. That fact still remains.

There is no “business” of anymore, and instead most are having to piece together a living instead of being able to rely on a consistent paycheck.

Is this a conversation about Unions, or are we gonna talk about developing a competitive landscape?

The filter pulled out my brackets.

There is no “business” of “insert profession” anymore, and instead most “insert job title” are having to piece together a living instead of being able to rely on a consistent paycheck.

Sorry to interrupt all Tom Bartel’s weepy good feelings for all his great writers, but for a little reality you might want to check this trackback from Minneapolisyncrasy:

“And it’s sad news for a friend of mine, a (now former) Rake employee who received a whopping four days of severance pay.”

It’s one thing to ladel on compliments on a website, quite another to reach into your pocket and help those great employees pay their rents and feed their families until they find another job …

As one of the (now formers) there was no wheepy good vibe yesterday.

To clarify, Tom B in this thread is the author of this blog.

As one of the (now formers) there was no wheepy good vibe yesterday.

“Have your shit out of the office by the end of the day” doesn’t leave much time for fare-thee-wells, I’d suppose.

Tom B, do you mind using your full name or a different pseudonym? Sorry to make you change, it’s just causing a bit of confusion with Tom Bartel. Thanks.

No!
It’s so sad. I’m really disappointed.

As another of the (now formers) I must have been in a different office. There was no good vibe but there was weepy shit from all sides. It wasn’t easy day for anyone.

delayed reply to cristina: I don’t really mean that vita.mn is this fabulous website – I rarely go there either. But when I do, I’m much more drawn to it because it feels like more of a social networking site instead of just news. Not that I’m a member, but it’s an option. And since I think their overall content is pretty weak, I’d rather see it solely online and not in print. Waste of paper, in my opinion.

As another of the (now formers) I must have been in a different office. There was no good vibe but there was weepy shit from all sides. It wasn’t easy day for anyone.

-For sure. But unemployment goes beyond not having an easy day.

As another of the now formers – though former since June 07 – I’d like to point out that Brad Zellar never beat me in an office push up contest.

I’d also like to wish all my former colleagues the best.

Cristina – I gave Tom an opportunity to tell me all that. Although it’s always fun to speculate on what’s in others’ heads, there was “no intent to make it sound like a one-man show” – in fact, the lead paragraph in my story noted the website would continue, with blogs.

My sense was that, a few hours into the print closing, no deals had been struck or re-ups cements – true at least in the case my friend Britt Robson, who is on your list and has since said he is remaining – and Tom was being careful about precipitating any agreements with his bloggers.

So I think you’re reading something in there most objective readers didn’t.

Stories are snapshots in time, and facts continue to emerge. That’s why I keep asking questions, and why I’m interested in the answers. I’ll make sure to call you up about the blogroll – should be an interesting conversation.

OK, a really bollixed-up graf, and I haven’t even been drinking.

It was supposed to read thusly, with one addition:

My sense was that, a few hours into the print closing, no deals had been struck or re-ups cemented – true, at least, in the case of my friend Britt Robson (who is on your list and heard about the mag’s closure from me. He has since said he is remaining, but wasn’t sure of his status when we talked that day). I think Tom was being careful about precipitating any agreements with his bloggers, but that’s just my guess.
Off to bed!

I’d like to see independent rags stay in business whether it’s in print or online. I’ve been a dedicated fan of the Rake since 2003 and I think they have a great staff. I use their website a few times a month, but it would be nice to be able to pick up their paper and browse over it while having a cup of coffee. They could have saved some money on printing costs by reducing the size of their paper and going black and white on the cover. Maybe something more like the NorthEaster or North News.

If the Rake opts for more of a social networking website, which I think they were trying to do with their Rake Raters for restaurant reviews then they will have an unlimited source of writers.

However, I can’t say the same for vita.mn. Sure they have a staff of writers and designers dedicated to their online website and repurposed for print, but they’re just a mouthpiece for the Star Tribune corporation targeting 18-30 year olds. They’re too yuppie and artificial. Can’t wait to see vita.mn go out of business.