Shares Magazine was totally revamped this week.

Out has gone the tabloidy style, and aticles on small caps, in has come long articles by market 'experts' and large cap reporting.

The Prospector has been axed.

I am disppointed with the changes, and wondered if anyone else here subscribed or bought Shares, and had a view they wold like to share?

I am a new subscriber to Shares also and have just read all the above comments.

I must admit I found it a hard read at first but have now got used to it which is why I subscribed.

I have not received a copy from the distributors for 3 weeks either now, I received all the trial issues on time and since my subscription kicked in they have not been arriving

As an aside bjt, I notice that you reside In Birmingham.

If you are interested we meet quite regularly In the centre roughly once a month (see the "Birmingham Pie & Pint" thread) for all details.

Required field,

"possibly somebody nicking my copy ? :( "

-----

Judging by the last edition I flicked through in Borders, if they had, they would have returned it PDQ!

I was in Smiths on Waterloo Tuesday evening, and thought I would buy a copy to see if there had been any improvements.

First thing that struck me was how thin the magazine is now, and, after a brief flick through, I couldn't bring myself to part with 3.75 for a mag that would have been read before Woking.

I guess there is a downturn in advertising, and then the mag has to lose pages to compensate, but it seems half the mag it was a year ago, literally.


edit

To be fair, I picked up the IC, and after a brief flick through that, didn't buy it either, for the same reason.

For the small cap investor there is nothing to read now it seems.

Must agree with you Andy, it is not the read that it was and like you spent little time on the latest issue. I have a subscription with the FT for my core reading and cut out articles for future reference. For me the FT is a must and helps the mind reflect.

I didn't receive the mag for 3 weeks but now have received 2 by post in 2days.


My major grumble of is the quality of print, choice of founts and background page colour.

Before anybody says anything, I know I am old!

I,ve been taking the mag. for years and used to read every word , now a quick flick through and in the bin , can,t put my finger on exactly what has gone wrong but for one thing it is now borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring

Ive found it a bit improved over recent weeks, with some readable bits and stuff coming back.

However, the last 2 weeks seem to be going the other way again.

Sub is hanging by a thread now.

No Diary section again this week.

queen1,

I wonder how the "new" and "old" circulation figures compare?

I cannot understand why they did this, the format is soooo boring now, IMO.

I much preferred the tabloidy feel of the old mag, and enjoyed reading it too, the small articles were simply an introduction to a stock, a starter for more research, whereas now there are limited articles, hence less introductions to new stocks.

Unreadable mag now - complete waste of money.

Cheaper (and far more useful) to buy the FT twice a week (or just the Saturday weekend edition).

Shmag is surely doomed. So much of its content adds nothing to what is available elsewhere online free of charge.

Agreed Andy and I'm sure the new figures compare poorly with the old.

Don't bother reading it any more just flick through the pages. Before revamp I read every word.

I cannot see one constructive comment on the mag.The question needs to be asked,"Did the editor feel that the changes made were for the better?"And if so,in what way?

chessplayer,

And for whom were the chnages made?

They effectively changed the content of the mag, so anyone already buying was clearly buying for the old content, and was unlikely to be happy with the new, as there are few company reviews now.

In particular, the number of small AIM listed companies being covered is much lower now.

forward diary has now departed,,WHY !!

Perhaps they are trying to find an excuse to close down without refunding our subscriptions?

I suspect they are seeing falling sales - nothing surprining in that - times are harder now, Volumes down - so opportunistic buyers maybe don't buy from the news-stand.

I fail to understand why they have used grey ink,
why the Issue date is twisted 80 degrees and reversed and very difficult to read . . . it's quite important, esp when sorting through back-issues.

Some omissions (like the EPIC) are now fixed

And it would be nice to have the "Buy at" price, because MM's move prices up as soon as a share is mentioned in Shares! ( SO, I'd prefer to wait.)

Nevertheless I buy it each week.
Sadly the post is late here (S>London), so I need to go to the shops to read it before lunch!

hangon--you sound like a bit of a masochist to me.Still,I expect you have your limits as well!