Content for sailing magazine?

[Greenheart]

This month, a re-rigging special: Hemp, jute or sisal?

I suppose there are two fairly defined markets here, each unlikely to enjoy the other's intended magazine articles;

...one is rather modern - a customer-base that never used to exist, which has discovered affordable low-maintenance yachting through the availability of mass-produced GRP sloops. And it cannot be ignored, business-wise - they're too numerous;

...the other group has older and deeper roots; it encompasses both meagre and mighty vessels and relies, for its common interest, on regarding everything practical, from chartwork to reef-points to barnacle-scraping, as rewarding, varied aspects of going to sea.

Obviously those in the first group routinely dip their toes in the others' realm; there are unlimited opportunities for AWB crews to show masterful seamanship and experience, and they certainly do.

But I find most magazines are keen to seem avant garde, and encourage movement towards high-tech solutions to labour-intensive tasks, relishing the superficiality of the users' involvement. And I don't actually want my sailing to be effortless.

I suppose I'd think of that as 'Convenience Boating'. But having always accepted a good deal of inconvenience as being inherent to sailing (and easily worth putting up with), I'm not attracted to quick-fixes, nor the journalism that welcomes them.

I'm not actually hoping for a magazine to advertise charts with depths in fathoms. But I'm sure the best sailing involves unrefined tactile interpretation of the forces at work in the water and rig. The more immediate the experience, the more intense and memorable...

...so, powered winches, bow-thrusters, plotters and in-mast furling are an anaesthetised version. I know, that's nonsense. But it's an ineradicable tenet in the minds of traditionalists, and the big magazines don't do much to interest those plentiful readers.

Everyone enjoys the aura of a traditional boat, and everyone seems to admire the solid virtues of low-tech practices. But collectively, the yachting press inclines towards finding galley-space for dishwashers. Replicating domestic convenience on the yacht, dilutes all the fun we go to sea to find.

Can't the mags cash-in, by evoking the excitingly different flavour of being at sea - danger and inconvenience included?

 

[dylanwinter]

New columnists

Surely there's a gap in the market here that a similar publication might fill.

they would have to get some new columnists who knew what they were writing about though



Dylan

 

[reginaldon]

I am fortunate in having two years copies of Coast & Country - formerly East Coast Digest - some 30 years old - they really are good reading.

 

[Lakesailor]

Have you finished them yet?

 

[Lakesailor]

Surely there's a gap in the market here that a similar publication might fill.

Give it a whirl.

I can assure you, having contacted hundreds of small magazine publishers in the past couple of years that they are either doing it as (an expensive) hobby or are muddling along paying for little copy or pics and usually doing something else as well.

There is a bit of over coverage in some areas as well. How many Vintage Tractor or Narrow Boat mags are required? (Narrow-boating is a pastime with quite a bit of money floating about )
Often run by people who are banging a drum on which the skin has long since perished.

 

[doug748]

In the USA among the sailors of small boats I make Cunliffe look like a pigmy

Dylan

Good man.

Willie Rushton always used to say he was very big, Down Under.



Here is another American publication that looks after it's cover pictures:

http://www.goodoldboat.com/

We need a Manky Little Old Boat Magazine as well, I would buy it

 

[Evadne]

Good man.

Willie Rushton always used to say he was very big, Down Under.



Here is another American publication that looks after it's cover pictures:

http://www.goodoldboat.com/

We need a Manky Little Old Boat Magazine as well, I would buy it

I subscribed to Good Old Boat for a year, it's bimonthly so only 6 issues. It is quite a good read, small but densely packed but is aimed purely at the American market, as you'd expect. Boat reviews and cruising articles are outside anything I am familiar with, and probably ever will be, even though their boats are closer to what I sail than 90% of those reviewed in YM & PBO.

I think a MAB magazine might suffer from "5th gear syndrome", sadly, although I'd subscribe. 5th gear took over from Top Gear in doing all the traditional and serious motor journalism things, and very quickly went from a popular hit programme to one with tiny, specialist audience appeal. We want to be entertained, more than we want to be informed, it would appear.

 

[snooks]

I suppose there are two fairly defined markets here, each unlikely to enjoy the other's intended magazine articles;

Don't forget about the non boat owners!

Those who don't own a boat, don't own a boat yet, are in between boats, those who sail on other peoples and have no intention of buying a boat, those who can no longer sail and those who just charter.

It's quite a big group

 

[Greenheart]

Quite true! I'm 'between boats' myself...but, I'm still firmly on the sextant, splicing and sculling side, rather than the microwave and microchip-chart brigade.

I just had a look at February's Yachting Monthly contents. Pretty good, I must concede.

It'd be nice if all boat tests (and reports on classic yachts) included full, double-page photos of the interiors, not splattered with lines of text and other smaller images. I reckon top pictures are a sure-fire draw, to potential customers. If the photography leaves me feeling I've been aboard the boat, I'm much more likely to buy the mag.

 

[snooks]

You don't even need to buy the mag!

If you want to see more pics I put a gallery of extra images up of almost every boat test I do clicky clicky

Not only that we also do the 360° tours

It's good to know there is someone out there who appreciates good pics...

 

[Greenheart]

Oops! Many thanks, for that excellent link...but now I've less reason than before, to buy the pics on paper!

 

[snooks]

Oops! Many thanks, for that excellent link...but now I've less reason than before, to buy the pics on paper!

Just remember though....it's the pic on the paper that pay for all the free bits on here

 

[fergie_mac66]

Okay, I'm decades younger than him, then!

I really believe though, that the brash in-your-face approach to 'selling' each month's edition, doesn't in fact appeal to a readership that was looking for that magazine, anyway! Preaching to the converted.

All that's wanted is a pleasant, evocative pic, and discreet print suggesting that when we buy it, open it and read, we'll learn useful stuff and feel immersed in the happy camaraderie of boat-folk. That's what we want, and routinely don't get!

Here's a weird comparison...

...I used to like the early episodes of Poirot, from the late 'eighties, early 'nineties. They were one hour long, light and humorous, and in very good taste - rather old-fashioned, but fun...

...but I CANNOT watch the episodes made this century. They're movie-length now, and slow to start/resolve. The wit has evaporated, and in its place we get fairly starry casts, mostly of very young actors and very pretty actresses, and the adaptation is keen to make the characters look outrageous in every thought, word and deed...

...And good god, it's dull! If we were actually still in the 1930s, it would be tantalizing. But in 2012, the only appeal about the 1930s is the innocence. That's nostalgia - remembering the past, with all the uncomfortable corners knocked off. Fat old David Suchet, greasing his moustache and eyeing the totty, is foul, not fun. It's not his fault - but the writer and director have gone wrong...

...and in yacht-mag terms, the sexed-up hard-sell isn't what we want for our £4.95. The glossier it gets, the less I like it.

Let's have some substance instead. Actually, I'd readily fork-out for a sort of "Old Ted's Quayside Advice", printed exclusively in black-and-white, covering rivets and whippings and ColRegs and tricolour bulbs, and the countless themes that aren't frothy enough to excite editors.

I'd buy that.

Come to think of it, I reckon there's already a magazine that's mainly about whippings...

+1

I wouldn't mind a page from the past ... not recent past but pre war thirties or even older.

Some good suggestions there, Particularly the covers!. When you have bought the mag you want a nice cover on the coffee table/shelf to look at not a load of ads. The old index in the december edition was a nice touch,but then a lot of the "last few years content" is not worth indexing .

 

[Nostrodamus]

So can you try one month with the old style covers and see if it makes any difference. Most people on here would seem to prefer the old style?

 

[Greenheart]

QUOTE: When you have bought the mag you want a nice cover on the coffee table/shelf to look at not a load of ads.

That's it exactly, Fergie_mac.

A really fine full-cover photo of a vessel under sail or in a lovely anchorage, or even a great image of the saloon set for supper, is a picture which, without words, makes the yachtsman remember how much he'd rather be on board.

A picture like that makes the passer-by very sure he wants the mag, even before he's looked at the contents. It's like hearing a favourite piece of music with meaningful associations.

And if those contents predictably include more of the same high standard, the buyer will always gladly shell out in advance. I bought Boat International every month in the late 'eighties; it was very expensive, and only the stuff of dreams, but I never needed to check if I felt it was worth my £3.

Bland pictures, obscured by urgent, large-print imperative wording, eg.FIND THE RIGHT BOAT FOR YOU!!, laden with exclamation marks, are only of momentary interest. And who would want to keep such an eyesore for re-reading later? It's a horrid tabloid tone.

Paper quality makes a big difference too. If it feels cheap, I'll have to be enthralled by the contents or I'll walk on.

What I think is sad, is that in the 'eighties, I never, ever needed to think before buying Yachting Monthly; it was restrained and classy but not exclusive...whilst today, I barely buy two YMs per year. It no longer provides that same atmosphere.

That's a pity, because it easily could regain its distinctive appeal.

In the old days, I felt that Yachts & Yachting was the dinghies/racers' mag; Yachting Monthly was an excellent, broad overview of sailing today, Yachting World was a rather loftier, international equivalent, and Practical Boat Owner did what the cover suggested - much less of a plutocrat's guide to trendy Cote d'Azur marinas, and more likely to be actually interesting.

Today, I honestly can't distinguish between YW, YM and PBO, except by the names on the print-splattered covers.

 

[snooks]

So can you try one month with the old style covers and see if it makes any difference. Most people on here would seem to prefer the old style?

I think it would be too much a financial risk, I'm afraid.

 

[Richard Shead]

If we did subscriber only copies without cover lines would you subscribe ? We do on some titles (non boaty).

Not a sales pitch a genuine question.

Cover lines for the news stand will need to stay I am afraid.

 

[Nostrodamus]

It would be interesting to know if the circulation of YM has increased or decreased over the last few years.
I would suspect it has gone down. Some of this might be to do with the internet but I also believe that IPC is unwilling to listen to readers.
On this post and a previous one's people overwhelmingly said they would like a return to previous covers.
They also have given suggestions of what they would like to see but no doubt there will be the usual recommissioning for next season and re hashed stories but nothing new!

 

[Richard Shead]

It would be interesting to know if the circulation of YM has increased or decreased over the last few years.
I would suspect it has gone down. Some of this might be to do with the internet but I also believe that IPC is unwilling to listen to readers.
On this post and a previous one's people overwhelmingly said they would like a return to previous covers.
They also have given suggestions of what they would like to see but no doubt there will be the usual recommissioning for next season and re hashed stories but nothing new!

I really don't get this previous cover thing ? I mean do we all still go round in sixties an seventies clothing ?

We do listen to readers but readers views have to be realistic and not all the suggestions on here are.

Next time you get the reader survey please fill it in !

To add would you say your knowledge of sailing has increased or decreased over the years ?

 

[Puggy]

If we did subscriber only copies without cover lines would you subscribe ? We do on some titles (non boaty).

Not a sales pitch a genuine question.

Cover lines for the news stand will need to stay I am afraid.

I am a subscriber, and I would go for this.