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From: Robert Ralph (no email)
Date: Fri Aug 01 2003 - 07:41:54 EDT
Bob, et al - First of all please understand I posed the question to my
friend from the same perspective, that there must be a market for such a
publication like "Good Old Boat" aimed at power boaters. I personally
don't have any experience or first-hand knowledge of the publishing
business so I'm just relaying the comments of one person.
The argument against such a magazine is, I believe, based on the premise
that the big advertising dollars come from the big boat builders. And
since a magazine aimed the owners of older boats doesn't seem a likely fit
for new boat ads then you assume the new boat builders would have little
interest in buying big expensive ads. That leaves two sources of revenue -
smaller advertisers and subscribers. If smaller advertisers aren't enough
to pay the bills then that leaves subscribers.
I have no idea what it costs to publish a full-color, glossy magazine at
mail it to subscribers all over the country (or world). But I'm sure it's
a lot of money. There's also a price point out there that exceeds what
most of us are willing to pay for a magazine no matter how good it is. So
the question comes down to how many people are willing pay how much $$ for
a niche publication. So far it appears no one is willing to step forward
and put up their own money to test the market for our niche.
Someone else mentioned that "Good Old Boat" was a labor of love, published
on a shoestring, etc. That's a different perspective than trying to build
a profitable, growing business with a healthy bottom line. If someone
wanted to publish our type of magazine out of his passion for the subject
and with a desire to basically just cover the costs of publication and
distribution then it would probably be an easier place to start. Who
knows, maybe it would grow into something else.
One final observation. If there truely is such a huge market for a
magazine devoted to the interestes of the owners of older boats wouldn't
one of the major boating publishers have already responded to that market?
They have the resources in marketing, publishing, writers, etc. to launch a
new magazine and yet, so far, no one has done it. Why? I know we're a
clever bunch on this list but are we really that astute to see a niche no
one else in the business has recognized?
I personally would love to see the magazine we all envision and I hope
someday, someone can figure out how to bring it to market .
Rob
> [Original Message]
> From: Bob Peterson <>
> To: <>; <>
> Date: 7/30/03 10:52:33 PM
> Subject: RE: PassageMaker Magazine
>
> Rob, two question for you:
>
> 1. You mentioned that the editor said "there just isn't enough potential
> subscribers out there to generate enough subscription sales at an
acceptable
> subscription price to make such a magazine a legitimate publishing
venture".
> I'm wondering, does that literally translate into he feels that there are
> MORE owners of new vessels than there are owners of "used" vessels? It's
> hard to understand how anyone could reach that solution.
>
> 2. I'm also curious about his basing his assessment on "not enough
> potential subscribers", when I thought you had pretty well established
that
> it is the advertisers that pay for the magazine, not really the
subscribers.
>
> Thanks, Bob Peterson
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Ralph
> Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 7:30 PM
> To:
> Subject: TWL: PassageMaker Magazine
>
> <snip>
> The majority of boating magazines seem to exist for the purpose of selling
> advertising. But apparently advertising pays the bills and not
subscribers.
> I happen to know one of the editors at PMM and asked him over lunch
recently
> if there wasn't a market out there for a "Good Old Boat" type of magazine
> aimed at the older-power-boat owner. He didn't even hesitate to answer
> "No." His opinion was that there just isn't enough potential subscribers
> out there to generate enough subscription sales at an acceptable
> subscription price to make such a magazine a legitimate publishing
venture.
> <end snip>
--- Rob Ralph
---
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