On May 3, 5:59�am, Tim wrote:
On May 3, 7:55 am, Larry Weiss wrote:





end.user wrote:
Powerboat Reports, a boating equipment 'consumer reports' like publication,
has printed its last issue (May 07).

Too bad. It was an important publication - the only boating publication
that I am aware of that told the truth.

After being a subscriber for many years I decided not to renew my
subscription last year.

I don't know the actual reason they've decided to close, but if it is
due to declining circulation then I would speculate that they hurt
themselves very badly with their ridiculously over zealous subscriber
renewal campaigns (probably managed not by them but by a subscription
company they hired). *From the moment one renewed their subscription,
subscribers would immediately be deluged with obnoxious and endless
reminders to renew yet again. *Although it was probably less frequent
than I imagine, the renewal notices were so annoying that it seemed to
me like they came weekly or even every few days. *My complaints to
Powerboat Reports about this fell on deaf ears. *I found the renewal
notices so obnoxious and annoying that I decided not to renew. *So, I
believe, did a significant portion of their subscriber base. *Funny, but
once my subscription ran out, so did the renewal notices - at the time
when they probably would have actually done some good.

Good reporting - bad marketing. *Too bad.

Larry Weiss
"...Ever After!"

ps: This coming from me - famous for creating one of the most
notoriously obnoxious yet immensely successful advertising campaigns in
the history of radio and television. *That's how bad the Powerboat
Reports renewal campaign was.

Bass Player Magazine has decided to call it quits too. *too much
publication and printing costs, forcing higher subscription rates,
with fewer subscribers.

The electronic media is doing them in.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

A lot of folks assume that the internet is damaging magazines, but
that's not the case. Specialty and "enthusiast" magazines are
thriving, to the point where a lot of new titles are appearing as new
players seek to get in on some of the action.

I am intimately acquainted with a publication that has seen its page
count triple, advertising revenue quintuple, and press run increase
60% since the year 2000. In fact that particular title moved to
publishing every four weeks rather than once a month, (thereby
creating 13 issues per year rather than 12) in order to respond to
reader's demands for particular types of articles.

Among boating magazines, the "controlled circulation" (aka "free
pickup") model is working very well for regionals. In the Pacific NW
there are three leading "controlled circulation" publications, and
even these are pretty highly specialized. One claims to be a "sailing"
magazine and concentrates specifically on sailing. One claims to be a
"yachting" magazine, and concentrates on sailboat racing, transoceanic
cruising, $XXmm megayachts, etc. One claims to be a "boating"
magazine, is almost 100% powerboat oriented, and includes coverage of
local and regional events as well as boats from 16- 100 feet. I
think all three are doing pretty well. So well, that 2-3 titles from
California keep trying to find a foothold, there's a constant stream
of low-budget local startup attempts that typically stick around for
90-days to 2 years before collapsing. When lots of folks are trying to
get a slice of the pie that's a sign of a healthy industry.

Books and magazines have not been destroyed by the internet, and
probably won't be anytime soon. Maybe one of my all time favorite
encounters with a reader at one of the boat shows helps illustrate one
reason why;

I was standing at a particular publication's boat show booth one day a
few years back when two guys walked up. They were ticketholders
"doing" the show on a weekday afternoon.

One guy exclaimed "Oh, yeah! (name of publication)!" That's my
absolute favorite. I never miss an issue!"

The other fellow looked at him with some surprise. "Really? I've read
that and I think it's OK, but I really prefer that other boating
magazine; the great big one that's more of a tabloid format."

The first guy replied, "Oh yeah, I tried reading that for a while but
I finally gave up on it."

"Why did you give up on it?" asked the fan of the large-format
magazine.

"It's just physically too big. It keeps falling off the back of the
toilet."

Sort of a humbling encounter, but a lot of reading gets done at times
and in places where a computer isn't practical. A lot more people fall
asleep with a good book or a magazine than with their laptop spinning
away atop the covers.
When computers figure out a way to duplicate the "experience" and
portability of print, books and magazines will suffer.