boatme

so sorry to hear

thirdchildhood

iTrader: (6)

I have to agree. A quarterly magazine that you could read from cover to cover in a couple hours? No subscription available? $7 and hard to find? Certainly not your fault at all, Matt, but c'mon. I want a magazine every month. The only ones I get that are still consistent are BoatUS & National Geographic. I used to always have a back-log of boating mags piled on the table.

Matt Trulio

[QUOTE=cigboat1;3846368]No big loss----------------- When you put seventeen pages of truck crap in the mag.advertising and the mag. is only about fifty or sixty pages long; And then charge almost seven bucks at West Marine for the privilege of buying it ,What do you expect???????Bring back Powerboat!!!!!!!Not your fault Matt!

Some validity to your points, but just for the sake of clarification: The largest issue of Sportboat had 46 pages of editorial. Within that 46 pages there were eight pages of truck editorial. The editorial was there to support the truck advertisers (those pesky advertisers always expect support, damn it) who, in turn, played a significant role in supporting the magazine. And the truck content did at least come from a great source, Truck Trend magazine.

Again, just clarifying. Your other points are valid. Your point on truck content in Sportboat wasn't necessarily invalid, just a bit inaccurate.

And thanks for the kind words and support, Jim and all. Much appreciated.

cigboat1

Matt you are correct about me being inaccurate !!! A fop-aw on my part.......Instead of seventeen pages, there were only sixteen pages if you count the tire add in the Winter issue of Sportboat 2013.And there was seventy two pages if you count the back cover ;not fifty or sixty like I said in the first post. My whole point was to try and point out that all the publishers cared about was the bottom line and gave you very little support . Too bad !


Jim

On Time

[QUOTE=Matt Trulio;3846527]Being a pretty old guy of 58 and having grown up with the now ancient art of paper based publication, I always appreciated a slick 8.5x11" 1/4-1/3" lightweight multipage device I could roll up and carry in a jacket or pants pocket and pull out when convenient. Now thank God I have arrived!! I now get to lug a 10lb. 16" electrical product wherever I go whose battery goes dead too soon and I must be careful where I leave it or it will grow legs.

All kidding aside just what is your opinion of reason for the failure of performance boating print? Don't just say advertisers because we already know that. Is it paper costs, distribution, or what? How much would a subscription or news stand price be if it was largely paid for by the consumer?

Matt Trulio

Jim, we are talking about two different things, advertising pages and editorial pages. They are different. There were 46 editorial pages in the biggest issue of Sporboat and of those editorial pages eight were truck content. The other 38 pages were boat content. That's a fact.

You are lumping ad and edit pages together as one, and they're not the same thing. Sporboat, like most magazines, was run on a 60/40 ad/edit split.

As for the advertising pages, boat to truck, I am not sure what the split was exactly (not my department, as they say). But I know that for a time there was more truck advertising than boat advertising, which is telling.

My question to you would be: Do you really care about the ads in terms of balance? I didn't know that readers cared about that stuff ... I certainly don't in the magazines I read.

I do appreciate your support. Please don't misinterpret what I'm saying. I'm just clarifying my point.

Matt Trulio

[QUOTE=On Time;3846567]Here is my ballpark figure for the cost per issue to the consumer sans advertising support:

Astronomical.

I can't get more accurate than that because such a publication (other than Consumer Reports) has ever been done successfully (meaning it lasted) before. There's probably a reason for that, and my educated guess is that the cover price to support such a venture would be prohibitive.

As you've heard many times before, the price of subscription barely covers postage.

But if someone were to do a truly dedicated magazine online, which is not, I know, what you're asking for, the printing and distribution costs would be gone. The trick in that is monetizing (i.e. finding a solid revenue stream) in a worthwhile way.

I'm not saying that can't be done. I am saying it hasn't been done yet, at least at the level of quality, consistency and frequency that consumers expect. Yet.

thirdchildhood

iTrader: (6)

Matt, an on-line magazine is not the answer. I can sit at the computer for hours and browse free boat reviews, forums, articles, videos, product ads, etc. It's all there for free. Maybe someday everything will be on-line but we are not there yet. Not everyone owns an i-pad. I like to lounge in the boat with a magazine and be able to see it in the sun and not worry about getting it wet or covered with sun-tan oil. I really miss my boating mags. Now when one comes in the mail it's like a miracle! I thought that advertising paid most of the cost and the more magazines sold, the more the ads would cost. Therefore the bargain subscription prices to get distribution numbers up. And I still say that it has to be monthly. Good luck to you in finding more work. It sounds like you are in a tough business right now.

MonkeySea2

I am very angry that Sportboat is done! I used to wait every month for my Powerboat Mag to show up in the mail. Recently, I'd wait for months to get the new issue of Sportboat. Now there is nothing left. Personally I can't stand reading online magazines. I prefer a nice glossy magazine every month with lots of photos and great reviews. I know it's a sign of the times but it sucks. When I was younger, I'd cut out photos from Powerboat and hang them on my wall. Writers like Matt really educated me on boats. Now people laugh at me because I "know everything" about boats. But it's thanks to all of the magazines that I read for so many years. Shame!!

Matt Trulio

I hear you. I know an online magazine, regardless of how well it's done, is no substitute for a print magazine for those who love print. (as clearly you and I do). However, I'm not sure that a print magazine exclusively covering the high-performance powerboat niche is economically sustainable.

I am 52 years old. I grew up with magazines and I loved them. I knew they were my calling. But the generation behind mine and, more to the point, the one behind that? Little to zero exposure to magazines. For most 20-somethings now, and even a lot of the 30-somethings, print is irrelevant. Their information delivery systems—how fancy is that—are electronic and they are comfortable with that medium. For the industry to have a chance to reach those folks, the media that covers it has to adapt.