Motorcyclist Magazine is a bunch of clowns

[diabolik37]

Originally Posted by DaFoole

That there is a sig line!!!!

Does fly shit really looks like pepper?

I can see a business opportunity here....

[kbroderick]

Motorcyclist is in the business of selling eyeballs to advertisers—the advertisers, not the readers, are the customer base. I've been reading it for maybe a year and a half now on free Roadgear subscriptions (give personal info to Roadgear so they can spam you, Roadgear signs you up for a magazine). At that price point, I'm happy to read it—it's moderately entertaining and I don't feel any compulsion to keep old issues like I do with some heftier magazines.

And yes, it took me a good three minutes to figure out WTF they had going on with the GS typo—the caption, photo, and article seemed to all disagree about which bike was pictured, but it mostly made sense on further consideration. Overall, they seem to do a pretty good job of being a middle-of-the-road magazine, with some cruiser coverage, a lot of sport bike coverage, and some ADV-type coverage.

[Rinty]

I don't subscribe to any of the moto mags, but I get the MOA News as part of my membership. I look at the mags at the newstand, and if there are any articles of interest, I'll buy them.

I find there's fewer articles of any interest to me each year; about all I buy anymore is Cycle World. The Brit mags are good, but I can't relate to them.

I do enjoy Peter Egan, Kevin Cameron and John Burns' stuff; they're very consistent.

[Wuwei]

I'm in the publishing business and I attribute this to what practically every magazine is going through. They've all experienced a huge drop in advertising revenue and they've all had to cut way back on expenses. That old anonymous editor in the back room who knew every motorcycle model and year like the back of his hand was fired years ago. The name editors have had to take over editing their own and each other's work, while also cleaning the bathrooms and taking out the trash. They are all PO'ed because they haven't had a raise in five years, and their health insurance has doubled. They're all trying to hang in there while they figure out this Internet thingy and how they might be able to get back to maybe half the revenue they took in five years ago. So, they suck up to advertisers, they do double the work for no extra pay, they keep one eye on the help-wanted ads. That's today in the publishing industry.

[bomber60015]

Originally Posted by Wuwei

I'm in the publishing business and I attribute this to what practically every magazine is going through. They've all experienced a huge drop in advertising revenue and they've all had to cut way back on expenses. That old anonymous editor in the back room who knew every motorcycle model and year like the back of his hand was fired years ago. The name editors have had to take over editing their own and each other's work, while also cleaning the bathrooms and taking out the trash. They are all PO'ed because they haven't had a raise in five years, and their health insurance has doubled. They're all trying to hang in there while they figure out this Internet thingy and how they might be able to get back to maybe half the revenue they took in five years ago. So, they suck up to advertisers, they do double the work for no extra pay, they keep one eye on the help-wanted ads. That's today in the publishing industry.

This is true . . .

However, it does little to explain the fact that they are literally giving Motorcyclist away (perhaps to up the subscriber count to advertiser? I don't know).

Personally, I though Boehm was not better (or worse) than Caterson -- both came off a smug, slightly overweight member of the AV club that got off on keeping you OUT of their lil association . . . they've lost a few great writers, and the book is a mere shell of what it was.

Other magazines seem to be doing better (business wise), and, in my opinion, they are doing better because they are producing a better product, and not slagging their customers . . . . . .

Sad, in any event.

[Wuwei]

However, it does little to explain the fact that they are literally giving Motorcyclist away (perhaps to up the subscriber count to advertiser? I don't know).

You guessed right on the answer. The larger the circulation, the more they can charge, theoretically. Another aspect of the problem is that most of the magazines were bought and sold several times by various huge media conglomerates for high prices, and then when advertising revenue dropped off bean counters in some distant corporate headquarters decided that the thing to do was slash costs. The most expensive part of the budget that could be cut was the staff. The bean counters know nothing about motorcycles, or any other subject, other than bean counting so to them as long as the pages are filled with pictures and articles they think they have a worthy product. As others have pointed out, the real "customers" are the advertisers, for whom everyone is catering, so you see more and more "new product round ups" and "reviews" of the latest stuff that does little other than describe the bike. Advertisers don't want to see articles that are critical and they vote with their dollars. When you are giving the magazine away to build numbers what you are throwing at the readers doesn't really matter. It is a vicious cycle. It is the same with most magazines right now, with the occasional spirited independent bucking the trend. They are usually not owned by a big media conglomerate, and often the editor is also the publisher is also the writer, etc. I believe RoadRunner is like that.

[bomber60015]

RoadRunner IS lilke that, yes --

Cycole World is not, yet continues to put out stuff that people are actually willing to pay for . . . . .

Hmmmmmmm ;-}

[Rinty]

...what practically every magazine is going through...Wuwei

Good to get your input on this, as an industry insider. I worry that the days of print media may be coming to an end. I would miss not being able to read Excellence, Octane, Vanity Fair, Flying, and others.

And I would miss reading newspapers.

[jjgres]

The plus side to all this internet/economy/mag industry fallout is that lesser known talents willing to work for vanity wages get a shot.

[Wuwei]

The plus side to all this internet/economy/mag industry fallout is that lesser known talents willing to work for vanity wages get a shot.

Unfortunately, most of the "lesser known talents" are lesser known for a reason. Yes, there is good stuff out there to read, but it is like finding the needle in the haystack. Many of you here are too young to remember the days when some of us looked forward to the arrival of each magazine, and then we spent the better part of an entire day reading the entire thing cover to cover. Now, I feel lucky if I find one or two articles I'm interested in.

[Rinty]

Many of you are too young to remember the days...Wuwei

I still remember as a kid, I was home for lunch when a Life Magazine arrived with the Navy's bathyscaphe Trieste on the cover. And I could hardly wait to get home from school to read about its dive into the Mariana Trench.

[Terence FFM]

I stopped reading Motorcyclist shortly after John Burns left. The magazine went downhill afterwards, not necessarily because of his departure alone, but more likely because what he saw coming come to fruition.

[ph0rk]

People still pay money for magazines?

[dirt donkey]

What's a magazine.

With all the Internet forums, YouTube, a magazines is competing for the eyeballs

Originally Posted by ph0rk

People still pay money for magazines?

[fullmetalscooter]

Yep as one guy said they suck up to advertisers. The one mag that dared to do real helmet testing got screwed over by advertiers. Really I would give a crap if I end up have to pay for the mags I read for free.