A few weeks ago I was contacted by mail about my R&C subscription. Your subscription is running out next month sorry we havent had you to renew or something like that. Hell I thought I have a two year sub. I looked IM eight months from it ending. Not one phone number in the letter for me to contact them. I went online and sent my info to them explaining I still have mags coming. No reply....... I sent another asking about subscribing and why in the hell would I renew my subscription when you wont reply and answer me with eight months of magazines missing from my account? No reply Piss poor customer service. I still buy and read the old R&C Little books from the fifties. I dont need any new magazines screw them. This is another industry thats lost its way.
I'm just baffled by this... Who goes to a forum and believes a bunch of yahoos without using a little abstract thought and deductive reasoning? The beauty of forums is that everyone, no matter their status/skill level/age/intellegence etc... Has an equal voice... And as has been proven here lately, no matter how much evidence and truth and substantiation is provided, people are still going to doubt all assertions unless they are predisposed to agree with them... For every 'certified source of info' theres 50 people who think they're full of shit... So ultimately, it's entirely up to you to disciminate the information you're provided, no matter the source, or the method, or the tone, or the language... Sorry, there's just no way around that.
What do you bet that Fritz guy is in advertising? He's like a user car dealer. Kidding. Seriously though, what are the traffic numbers here? My last spec sheet said that jalopyjournal.com gets 16 million page views per month with 2 million uniques? ACN claims that The Jalopy Journal is the largest modified/vintage car publication in the industry with a rating twice that of Street Rodder. Yeah, Ryan is nuts.
How to make big bucks in car magazine biz: Get private backing to print and distribute first issue of Parts Test Magazine - no ads. Test parts and report results honestly. Charge $10 an issue. Reinvest profits in magazine (hire me!). By 12th issue, it's #1 magazine. Live happily ever after - or become Chairman of American Motors (formerly GM and Chrysler).
Thats a good one. I got a generic subscription letter from them today asking me to re-new. I wrote them a nice letter back .....it was worth the 42 cent stamp.
Fuck... I dont know... I'm just a consumer. Just give me something I'd spend my money on. I'll still spend big bucks on the right Magazine. ( I still have one thats about $140 a year ) But I used to have a couple that cost next to nothing, and were worth less than that. Those are the ones I dont have anymore...
Are these the magazines we're not gonna be able to get anymore??? Aww man I love Hot Bike. And mopar muscle and chevy hipo and car craft and.....SHIT!
I dont have any big qualifications about the ins and outs of magazine businesse except i,ve been a reader of rodding mags since I was a kid reading 'Hot Rod' at the corner drugstore.[circa 48' or was it 49?] I still have a bunch of old mags stashed in my garage which I drag out and reread now and then. yeh I know it sounds a little crazy , but i just can,t let some of them go. I think of how people like Pat Gahnal, resurrected R&C, and the way he did it was awesome, he knew the secret of getting readership. Many of the old articles in past mags are priceless, and all the pics are real history. As far as advertising, you can,t beat Street Rodder when you want to look up an ad for a certain part, or vender..Also I can go to ebay and find long lost mag articles that i want for my collection containing articles activities, and people that i was connected with or certain time frame that I had interest in. So yeh the print is going down for now but it will be back with the right stuff later.It has to.
I got to sit in a talk that Steve Jobs gave some of us at our company. He continuously underlined that Apple's focus is solely on building a great product for customers, and that everything else is secondary--- revenue is just a means of building more great products. The proof is in the pudding... Apple products are simply beautiful. Apple today reminds me the Big 3 back in the day--- people used to wait in anticipation to see what's next, wait in line to get into the auto show to get a glipse. People wanted to have the hottest new car every year. This is the kind of behavior Apple drives today. I think its due to obsession over building the best. The product should always be the centerpiece. Advertising overload helps kill advertising. That song has begun playing already... BTW: Apple's product markets itself. -scott noteboom
At least I'm not the only one who might be stuck with some long term subs that might not go long term. I truly believe what is wrong with the business world today is the continued process of "investors" buying up fairly successful companies be they magazine publishing or any sort o manufacturing or retail operations and sucking the proffit out of them and letting them go to hell in a handbasket to be able to claim a loss. 1Shot; I think there are ten magazines on that list that I get on a regular basis. Not all car or truck rags as I have a wide variety of interests. My mailman might think I have moved out if the load lessens that much every month.
I agree with Ryan that advertising is over-valued (and I am in the business!) But the problem is not the advertisers, it is the over-saturation of magazine options. Yes, good business is to find a niche and fill it, but when every concieveable type of car and interest is covered by a seperate magazine, with all installing a small block Chevy built by "big-name manufacturer, the uniqueness of the hobby disappears. The content has become repeatable. Much to my wife's dismay, I have tons of old magazines, and I can find articles that are over ten years old reprinted, with a few tweaks. As with all industries, expansion has stopped and the industry will shrink into a more palatable selection. Ad prices will go down,subscriptions will rise with less options for the readers dollar and ROI will adjust to a palatable level for the advertiser. Magazines will continue to live. It has been shown readers actually prefer the tactile pleasure of printed material, even finding it easier to read, due to the perceived 3-D effect of inked print. At least I hope of of this makes sense, or I need to change occupations!...lol
No, no, no! They are are going through a restructure. They may off some titles and merge others. Hot rod will always be around and some of the other big names like R&C and Street Rodder, but seriously how many damned Mustang magazines does the world need? They have titles that compete against each other Super Chevy and Chevy High Performance, Classic Trucks and Custom Classic Trucks, Popular Hot Rodding and Car Craft....ok ok, Car Craft is way better than that other mag. Hopefully they will shit can some of the lame management and unshackle the editors.
Used car dealer? Nothing so lofty! Naw, I'm just a lyin' sleaze ball advertising hack that loves to ruin your reading pleasure with all those damn ads for products you already knew about and were just about to buy anyway. Ha! I wanted to be a machinist too, but I don't really like to actually work. ;-)
I can't make an informed contribution on the merits of print or online advertising but being a customer of automotive magazines since the early 60's I think it would be safe to say all the automotive, and guns and hunting type mags are losing their customer base. Us "Older gentlemen" (more than a few on HAMB) are biting the bullet and heading to the strip in the sky and there are very few fresh meat new guys coming along to fill our shoes. Try and find a kid on your block reading ANYTHING in print half of them can hardly read at a 1st grade level and never read anything in print to them it's a chore and not done for entertainment. In our day all the "guys" in the neighborhood used the pedal our bikes down to the newsstand to pick up a fresh off the presses copy of Hot Rod and if we were flush with cash maybe a Rod and Custom at the same time. Look around the next time you are in a book section of the mega store and notice that MOST of the customers are Seasoned citizens with nary a kid to be seen. No need to wonder why the whole print business is on the way down there are fewer and fewer customers every year for any thing that involves reading printed material. My .02 to add to the debate
No, that was unrelated, it was due to a distribution agreement that's been settled. Agreed. I've been an editor on one of the magazines mentioned in this thread for almost four years. I take pride in my features and the vehicle owners appreciate when the photos come out really well. I'm constantly trying to improve. There are a lot of freelancers out there that are just guys with nice cameras. I currently am on the staff of one magazine and I contribute to two others on a somewhat regular basis. I typically write 35+ pages of edit per month although it will be more as we keep losing coworkers to lay-offs (I've survived 8 or so "meetings with the Bobs" as we call them. If you've seen Office Space you'll understand). The majority of the editors I work with put in 40 hours during the week, travel to events on weekends, and are constantly asked to do more with less, all while getting paid peanuts. If we weren't enthusiasts we would go somewhere else.
Well, not really... Ever heard of Bailouts? I trulyhope the newspaers don't end up getting taxpayer dollars, but I am betting they will. This is a great thread. Ironically my subscription to Hot Rod is up to be renewed within a few months, I get a notice about twice a week. I sent them this, via email, on Monday: I have been a fan of Hot Rod since the late '60's. I hope that David Freiburger helps you to reform your magazine back to its former glory. Seeing he is coming back was the highlight of your June 2009 edition. Pretty much everything else was truly ho-hum. I am a subscriber, otherwise the cover would have told me to not buy this months magazine. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: list .5in">Billet intake, billet turbo. yawn. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: list .5in">Shelby road trip through India. yawn <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: list .5in">Muscle Truck.. hmm cool. Wait, WTF, a '74? Was the goal to pick one of the ugliest truck models ever built as your project? How about picking anything pre-72? Talk about throwing good money after bad. The tech part good, the candidate for being a test mule, not so good. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: list .5in">Inside the front cover. aarggh. Mustang Drift?? With a bunch of Japanese lettering?? The only "drift" people buying Hot Rod want is the drift you get from a posi when the hides are smokin. Would you put an ad in your magazine for Vagasil? Reign in your advertisers. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: list .5in">And the article on the Detroit Job Shops. You entice us with a 2 page spread with some very cool cars in the back and then don't talk about the '30's coupe and roadsters or the bad ass 55 chevy? This is Hot Rod Magazine. WE WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE 55 CHEVY! Not talk about the Lincoln V-6 twin turbo with the Vista Cruiser roof or a chop topped Rolls?... yawn <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: list .5in">A '84 Camaro? That guy will never recover his losses. Looks like a weekend job to change plugs. marginally interesting. A '72 Vette? With nasty black rims, too. ...yawn. Now if it had a 427 with a 871 huffer sticking through the hood... that's Hot Rod. Starting Line, Second Opinion & Where it all began Bristol, was cool. Oh yeah and the Camaro in the Nitto ad on the back cover was interesting. I am betting the Toyomaro blunder from Apr '09 alone will cost you guys 10% of your subscribers all in one fell swoop. Come on gang, controversy at the expense of subscriptions is suicide. That article made me have that nasty bile taste in my mouth, like I was about to hurl. (And I even own a Toyota Tacoma.) I got a few months before my subscription runs out. I am holding out hope now that Freiburger is back.
To me, the reason Hot Rod became a great magazine was because the individuals that started it had a passion for hot rods, racing, etc. Those passionate people controlled the content and the business. When the magazine was sold/bought/became part of a publishing empire, the people that controlled the magazine had more passion about business and money than for hot rods. Apple makes great products because the guy in control, Steve Jobs, has a passion about creating great innovative products relating to computers, music and communications. If Steve Jobs didn't have a major stake in the company, we wouldn't see these great products. The reason HAMB is so great is Ryan has a passion for traditional hot rods and customs. This is his vision. He controls this site. He participates. If he were to sell it, heaven forbid, we would complain because someone new would be trying to maintain Ryan's vision and not their own. His passion would be lost and that's what makes this online community special. Source Interlink Cos. is a publisher, who just happens to publish automotive magazines. I'm sure the owners are more passionate about their business than they are about cars. Passion is what makes you buy that rusted out hulk and make it into something special against the better judgment of others. Passion creates great cars, great magazines and great websites not business decisions. In the end, Hot Rod Magazine and many of the others will survive but will we "love" them? I doubt it. The passion is gone.
I was a long-time subscriber to 'Mustang and Fords' primarily because they at least offered a smidgen of pre-'65 coverage. When they combined with another rag and went overboard on 5.0 Suckatangs and skimpily-clad women, I voted my displeasure by not renewing. I'm nearly 50 and could care less about female models in a car mag - I want articles and photos that I wouldn't be embarassed to leave on the coffee table or let my wife see. I agree with Ryan and others - hopefully those who focus on content and editorial craftsmanship will rise to the top, but pray that they do not get skimmed off. I may just have to subscribe to Legendary Fords Magazine for my print fix of Ford blue, get back into writing tech and historical articles and try freelancing.
It's all about perception... And marketing... Apple uses proprietary technology and strategic business relationships to if not outright 'force' people to use their technology in certian mediums, at least strongly suggest that they do. In some respects Apple has sold it soul over the last few years and in essence turned it's back on it's most loyal and vehement supporters. From their relationship with Intel, to the way they handled their file sharing technology with their iPods, to their relationship with At&T on their iPhones... Is all very 'Microsoft-like' and a vast departure from the company that brought us the Mac... So how does a company that has sold itself as 'the reform candidate' for years, make the transformation to agressively protecting it's front-runner status? Big Strategic Marketting and Advertizing budgets...
Maybe math ain't my best subject, but when a company has 1.9 billion in debt against 2.4 billion in assets I don't know so much about calling that company "profitable". Like Gordon Gecko said "Greed is...Good". The decline started when Pete sold the company to EMAP USA back in 1999. Since then it's just been another corporation to be bought and sold. I wish the best to Kinnian, Freiburger, and Riz, here's hoping they can pull something positive out of this huge mess. Here's another thought - some of you guys seem to be able to string a few halfway coherent sentances together, why not try submitting some editorial to the mags and see if they bite?
There is the key to everything. Isn't that why most of us are on the HAMB? To view and read about the creativity of the forum participants? Ryan, doesn't need writers like Rizzo and Cerrodino and the others in the magazines. He has YOU, the forum members. Its your creativity and sharing it with others that makes this medium work. You probably spend a whole lot more time on the Internet forums than you ever did reading cellulose fiber magazines. And the way the PC computer has evolved with the ability to store pictures and content, on your very own computer, has made finding space for all of your old car magazines unecessary. With a scanner, you can scan to an Adobe pdf file the important parts of the old magazines and then sell them to some clueless collector on the HAMB Classifieds or on eBay (forgive me for referring to that "place"). Oh Look! Another way to raise cash for the hot rod project in the garage.
The last long thread on "traditional" rodding started out with a question on why old timers weren't stepping up to the plate and passing on their knowledge to the younger generation. A lot of that knowledge came from the magazines a lot of you are knocking. As the owner of an ad agency specializing in the hot rod business, I'll be the first to admit that pimping editorial for ad space was the way of doing business. BUT, and that's a big but, if the product was no good, I can guarantee that the sales would reflect that point no matter how many ad dollars you spent. Recently, somebody made a post implying Offenhauser was out of business. How irresponsible was that? Here's a company that thrives on selling traditional speed equipment and doesn't even have a website or email address! There's room for web and print media to co-exist for a long time to come.
I can't say I'm surprised. I have to agree that most of the younger generation like electronic media and that advertising in print is not what it used to be. From the few products I sell, I find that when I get a call from an ad I placed in Hemmings or Old Autos the guy is over 65 and doesn't have a computer. I still advertise because I couldn't get access to them any other way. Most of my other sales are over the internet. I subscribe to Hemmings and most of my professional magazines in electronic format. I can print them for the train ride or PDF them to store the articles which I can search for on my computer in the future. Where would I keep all those Hemmings magazines? The other reason is lack of focus. I was a loyal subscriber to Custom Rodder until it turned into a '60s billet Chevy mag. Now I subscribe to Kustoms Illustrated and spend my money building my 1954-60 Rod & Custom, Car Craft collection. I just ordered the new Trend Custom Car 2009 annual which looks good.
I don't get the "advertising is over-valued" comment, what does that mean exactly? I just signed up for a few mags, but some of them like PHR are not interesting to be honest.
The Jalopy Journal
