Auto Magazines filed Bankruptcy

Take Dice Magazine for instance.
Or rather, my experience:

I had never seen an add or squat about them, but I did find out about them from "the grapevine", ie: other bike owners at the parts desk.

Word of mouth is priceless as much as it is fickle, I imagine the key is spreading the right word to enough people the right way.

 

I think we are all screwed.......magazines going under.........and the internet is running out of band width fast, and internet "brown outs" are just around the corner.

We will be in the same boat as hot rodders in 1947 (pre- HOT ROD magazine).

 

best way to do it, probably 100 times harder but when all else fails......DIY (dee eye why).

 

Primedia lost me the day they sent a collection agency after me, after one of my kids marked the box I didnt know about, and DEMANDED Payment for a magazine they never even bothered sending.

 

Having a web site with high traffic numbers does not mean sales either, our web site has great numbers and were linked to be many club sites, home pages, etc. But it does not translate into sales. And the similar can be said about printed media. Presently consumers are swaped with advertsing images, i am programed to ingore any ads i see online as a distraction to the imformation i want. I do read ads in printed magzines

finding the right magazine that is read by guys that are ready to buy is very tricky,

problem is the old car hobby has become very fragmented into specialzed groups, the fragmentation makes it hard for one a small number of mags to cover all venue's with success.

Basically one of the problems is us. Street rodders doent like rat rodders, custom guys dont like resto guys i wont go to that show cause they let this type of car in.

Magazines that have little to no adversting seem to have a more unstable readrship and publication dates, like your pocket size hot rod books every one thinks are so cool but never seem to be "in print" and staff that is not accesable to the public or advertisers we looked at this venue and declined to deal with this bunch of crooks.

I personally do not like recycled artilces i am tired about hearing about some shit that happened in the 60's.

I was lucky to try advertsing overseas in swedan finland brazil, and other piston head countries just before the doller reduced in value a few years ago, did very well export tons of parts, made a good reputation in many smaller markets. But that market has regressed as demand was satisfied.

Shows used to be easy just show up and sell but now customers dont go to shows.

And lets not forget the sleazy side of magazine distribution source interlink was more of sleazy distributore than a publisher but they wanted to sell there own "content" more magazines have failed due to sleazy distribuotrs than other reasons.

 

David Freiburger back at HRM would be great! But how does that affect Rob Kinnan or Jerry Pitt?

 

i heard today that most, if not all news papers are in the same boat.

Buffet said, he wouldnt invest in them no matter what

or something like that..here is the clip
http://finance.yahoo.com/insurance/...Capitalists;_ylt=Ai52jhQsg_HZF9V4vhEuXtYazJV4

 

I can't stay interested in most on-line magazines. They're just too busy and pandering, with all the type and panels and banner ads. They look like some super store ad in Street Rodder. I dig having a good magazine that's clean, well designed and full of interesting stories laying around. I watch TV. The Computer is more TV. I think the handful of magazines I like could do well on line AND in print indefintely, IF...The culture doesn't stagnate, which it seems to be doing.

Putting new car parts in/on an old car and then calling it "genius" is beyond old. Building a machine out of Home Depot and barn yard salvage or even the amazing
"Pro-Tour" stuff is already old, and it just STARTED!!!! Thanks to the flood of our current communication technology folks are jaded and "over" anything before the actual THING rolls out of the garage!

It's not going to change. I believe the key is forcing hands-on interaction. PARTICIPATION instead of TALK. A real print magazine helps with that. Not as much as BUILDING, DRIVING, RACING, CRASHING or actually TOUCHING something, but a cool magazine laid over the fender of a badass '55 with some folks standing around shooting the shit has always been supercool to me. I like this Jalopy Journal format too. I can get on here between paint coats or after my kids go to sleep and talk/learn about cars...pretty cool.

As far as advertising $$$$ or marketing in general, overall I think it's an ugly, stupid business, run by disrespectful, money grubbing "smart" people who want to wring every last gasping drop of $cool$ out of something and then move on. Too many magazines became these guys. So did our car companies. After a while, everything gets so damned expensive all anyone can think about is money, which is soon followed by low quality auto pilot and the Duoane Spencer Roadster becoming the PET ROCK.

My Dad had a great saying when that movie "Urban Cowboy" came out. There was a "real" western store in every mall and he felt almost goofy riding his horse, much less having to pay too much for tack....He'd say, "Son, I cain't wait for this urban cowboy shit to blow over so we can get a decent deal on BOOTS."

Whatever's left of us after all this crap shakes out is going to be the real thing. I don't know if anyone will be able to make a living at it, but I can't wait.

 

Well said Conder.

 

This post has made its rounds through the automotive publishing world at SI. There are a lot of pissed off people about the things said by some of you and a lot of people with smirks on their faces as well. I guess I'm one of the guys with smirks.

I used to work on the lines with various publications including one related to Street Rods. I'm now a little higher up and deal with ad sales strategy and development for a number of titles. Having been with the company through various name changes and buy outs, I can safely say that we made a huge mistake as a company. We ignored the reader and we refused to understand the internet.

The first mistake was going overboard for our advertisers. They are our only revenue source and the only reason we can print magazines. It's been this way for some time. Certainly before I got here. But when we started to allow them to dictate content on a regular basis, we hurt ourselves by hurting the reader.

On top of that, we aren't diversified at all. The economy got bad and the only people we can lean on are our ad buyers. They are hurting too and couldn't support us.

Then there is the internet. We made some acquisitions online and promptly killed them with our lack of experience. Then we tried to compete with our own properties and did the same. We just don't understand the internet as a company. We aren't young enough.

Now here we are. Bankrupt. And it looks to me like we are going to keep the same model of business and make another go at it. This is not a good time to be in the publishing business.

 

Ah yes.... the common ethos between, say, the SCTA in the 40s and first-wave punk rock.

DIY publishing may have gotten easier than fanzines xeroxed and stapled at Kinko's.

If you can lay out a 'zine in, say, InDesign, and upload a pdf., a company called MagCloud does the heavy-lifting, press-wise. (Finding a distribution network is a whole 'nother, however.)

But here is one example of what can be published these days:



More here: Nitro Kitty Beat Quarterly

 

Yep...um...I know I'm changing the subject here but...Mendy Fry can do no wrong. She can also go WHEREVER she wants. Print, internet, Funny Car, Rail... d d d d d DANG.

 

They should be VERY pissed off; for getting themselves into this mess.

Are we not the target market of these magazines ?
Everyone here used to buy a lot of magazines, every month.
Back then, there was no alternative, now there is.

The "Doesn't matter what we sell, they will buy it" attitude
doesn't work for Detroit any more, and it doesn't work in magazines.
Especially since the Internet has changed the "rules'.

The world is different, the Adrian Lopez/Street Rodder model is out of date.
Your customers have voted with their wallets.

"Doing the same thing, over and over, expecting a different result" ?
Sounds like Detroit. Large corporations run "by the numbers",
with poor understanding of the products, market, or the end user.

If management doesn't understand the products and the market,
they can not be successful. Doesn't matter what high priced Business School they went to.

These magazine titles were built by people who were passionate about
cars, first. That kind of leadership can only be provided through profound knowledge,
the kind earned with sweat equity, not a diploma.

The Tail doesn't wag the Dog. Not any more.

 

Something smells funny

Are you some kind of Jedi that can make a post yet the post count is still Zero?

Since we are supposed to believe ANYTHING we read on the Internet (including that this ACTUALLY came from an SI employee, yeah right!) I have just declared myself a GAZILLIONAIRE!!! I'm hoping some little Leprechauns are out front with my new Unicorn TOO!!!

 

I saw that as well but I'll play along.

Since you know what is wrong you can fix. No need to carry on if you're not going to change.

 

Ditto..or in the copy business..copy that!

in other words couldnt have said it better..Nail on the head

 

This post reads kinda like that old saying "If you admit to your faults, you're not morally obligated to change them".

I got into a forum war (on another website) with a Primedia zine editor a couple years ago. Made the mistake of criticizing the mag's editorial content and made a few suggestions as to how they could improve it.

What I got by way of reply was personal attacks posted on a public forum, and threats that I would get a beat down at a show by the mag's staff. Guess that's one way to increase mag sales, huh?

 

ditto.....

 

No... I still spend my money on Magazines.

But the ink on those has been dry for 30 to 50 years....


Amazing value for money.

( at least, they are to me...)

 

And I also don't mean to derail the thread.

My feeling is that the fruits of the DIY ethic is what is going to going survive in the print world --if not possibly flourish -- while corporations and banks continue to cannibalize each other, kill titles and fight over table scraps.

Using a new "Print on Demand" service like MagCloud, anybody can put out a magazine. But again, "moving units," however, is a whole 'nother ball of wax.

Without distribution, and therefore probably without real advertisers, you have no paid contributors. And sometimes the content quality is directly the rate paid to "content providers."

But some of my favorite rags from the punk rock era -- Flipside, Suburban Relapse, et al. -- paid its writers and photogs next to nothing.

But I still have those 'zines in my reading room. Therefore, by definition, they are collectible, more so than the titles listed in this thread that are protected by bankruptcy. Maybe those old rags will have some modern companions...

And yes: technology has made an oldm tired medium suddenly viable, if you have enough enthusiasm to shoot photos, write stories, copy-edit, edit and then lay it all out.

I guess the next question is, as per new 'zines like Nitro Kitty Beat Quarterly: does one take the time and effort to make it Kindle-ready?

 

..."And most of the guys I know that are actually at the magazine title level are pretty damn good guys that are really passionate about cars." - Ryan

If the Ramchargers ran Chrysler, would it work? I'd like to think so.

Mr. Coonce, I say move forward with the Nitro Kitty Beat Quarterly endeavor. I humbly offer my assistance.

 

this is a good sign...

somethings have to die, inorder to thin the herd....
when the culls are thinned, we all win.

It's a return to quality

 

When I go to the big rod shows and someone is selling pre1970 car mags for the life of me no matter how hard I try. I always buy some old rag with something interesting in it. Those old B&W (rickman photos) are great. It was mostly do it your self back then. and I like to read it. I don't throw any old mags away. recently I was getting 8 mags a month, now I'am down to 2 and falling. SRB was great when it 1st came out now everything is old hat. What is Bucaroo's out look?



Ago

 

in 20 years , i do not see me with a collection of website pages .....i will take mine printed as long as i can get them....

 

I quit subscribing to SRM back in 1999, when they tried to take my domain name away from me. I got REALLY pissed, when they tried again in 2007. My small town lawyer and I beat the hired gun "Intellectual Property Specialists" at their own game, so for selfish reasons...I kinda chuckled when I saw this thread. http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2007/d2007-0703.html Since the WIPO ordeal, and after my nearly 10,000 image photo gallery got hacked, I have let the site sit rather dormant, mainly to get under the skin of those bastages that wanted to take the domains. (ok...my own apathy may have something to do with it too...)


SRM lost it's focus, a LONG time ago, and "Arin Cee" has wandered back and forth over the past several years. I pick up a copy of R&C periodically, flip thru to see if I know anyone who's car is in there, and usually stick it back on the shelf.

 

Some thoughts on DIY publishing: I applaud those who take the plunge and put their hearts and hobbies into print (or on the Web.) But there is no free lunch and the payment for that chow is often a product that is difficult to read, sometimes painfully so. Enthusiasm only gets you so far. After that, you need some communication skills. It's the difference between reading a professionally published book and one self-published. Sometimes the self-published work is just too difficult to get through because when it was created on someone's home desktop computer there was no consideration given to things like proper editing, layout, design and graphics. There are standards that became standards for a reason. Every try to read an article where the font, size and color change every paragraph? Man...

BTW, this is not a slam on any of the works -- which I have not seen -- others have mentioned in this thread.

I'm a print guy, having published a bi-weekly motorsports newspaper for several years just before the Web arrived. (I've also done plenty of Web publishing since, as well.) It's a tough business and I totally agree with the views expressed here on how the advertising model has devolved into a whore's game. There was always pressure to cave to the wishes of advertisers but it obviously has gotten out of hand. I've pretty much stopped all my subscriptions and news stand buys. I have experienced the other side of it too, doing ads for national publications and seeing how an ad buy can translate into editorial copy. Just amazing what goes on.

I can't wait to see how this all turns out. The Internet is a wonderful resource but it's not the do all, be all for everything. Most companies don't know how to use it to their advantage and that would include newbies pursuing their hot rod passions.

 

Fair enough. But just playing Devil's Advocate, allow me to say that many of those publications that meet the above professional criteria are also unreadable -- albeit not for the reason you listed, but unreadable just the same.

I walk by those magazines at the newsstand -- magazines at one time I couldn't wait to pick up -- and don't even give them a passing glance anymore.

 

Same goes for the web. There are standards for a reason...