Small rant: YM PLUS

Koeketiene

Koeketiene

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www.sailblogs.com
Anyone noticed the "more on our website, see Yachting Monthly Plus".
Mostly concerns readers letters and this month a whole lot of ARC stuff - safety checklist, gear breakdown, etc... Last month equally interesting stuff on weather etc...

What is the [--word removed--] point of putting it on the website only? This is EXACTLY the kind of stuff that should GO IN THE [--word removed--] MAG!!
What are they afraid of? That they will have TOO MUCH content? Is content taking up valuable advertising space?

Here's a suggestion: why don't you put nothing but content in the mag, and the adds on-line only? That would actually be a mag worth paying for!
 
Have to say that I really enjoy reading the letters pages and this months letters seem perfectly good quality to print. Shame really.
 
i work for a publishing company in Southampton... we do it, and I don't really see the problem. This is extra content that would otherwise be cut because it wouldn't fit in a magazine's allotted editorial space, so you're actually getting more info than you would if the printed copy was the only medium.

And you can't simply say 'move the ads'... they pay for the editorial and it works on a strict template - so many ads equals so much editorial space per year. The web actually gives you more editorial to read, rather than it being lost on the cutting-room floor, so to speak.
 
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i work for a publishing company in Southampton... we do it, and I don't really see the problem. This is extra content that would otherwise be cut because it wouldn't fit in a magazine's allotted editorial space, so you're actually getting more info than you would if the printed copy was the only medium.

And you can't simply say 'move the ads'... they pay for the editorial and it works on a strict template - so many ads equals so much editorial space per year. The web actually gives you more editorial to read, rather than it being lost on the cutting-room floor, so to speak.

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You've made my point: why is there such a thing as "allotted editorial space"? Surely (call me naive) the content is what it's all about? Adds are just "filling".

Don't tell me the ads pay for the content - WE DO - every time we buy the mag!! If ads pay for the mag, it should be free!

But I fear you are right: ads pay for the mag. And he who pays the piper calls the tune! We're just being ripped off - again!
 
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Don't tell me the ads pay for the content - WE DO - every time we buy the mag!! If ads pay for the mag, it should be free!

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Most magazine publishers will tell you that their dream revenue balance is 50% copy sales and 50% advertising revenue. They will also tell you that it's almost impossible to achieve this balance, and that advertising revenues are what make the difference between profit and loss. There are exceptions to this rule, particularly with specialist information and business to business titles, but if it weren't for the ads, at a guess, you'd be paying £7 or £8 per copy.

Hope that makes you feel better /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I gave up PBO becouse it was 90pages ads an 10 editorial!!!Then cost to much! last week in London i bought "Landrover world" £3.65!! the last one was £3.40! But while there is some content the most is adverts for which i bought it!!

But sail mags are not the same! Im not buying a GPS every day! Last one was a mistake before that a Garmin 120, now i hope a Garmin 72 for the nex 10 years then most of the editorial is advretising --bavera reviews waterlog evaluation-if they exist--and plotters etc in fact the little editorials 99% advertising.

The mags are just hopeing the market stays bouyant and they make huge profits now!

Reading the PBO in a book shope a realpain just to find any content takes ages!!
 
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Put more pages in, then you can have more editorial!!!

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Erm... you have a business model, there are costs involved, you work to your model. Say you sold paint in 5-litre quantities for a living, but I wanted to get 10 litres out of a can. Would I be justified insaying toy ou: "Put more paint in then!" /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Correct, but they're a completely different business model. (1) Because they belong to a not-for-profit organisation and (2) because they are entirely subscription-based sales to members of the Consumers Association.

Publishing is generally a low margin business, believe me, and although magazines are often glossy and glamorous, one look at an average publisher's premises will give an indication of the level of control exercised on overheads. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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Erm... you have a business model, there are costs involved, you work to your model. Say you sold paint in 5-litre quantities for a living, but I wanted to get 10 litres out of a can. Would I be justified insaying toy ou: "Put more paint in then!" /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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No - you should be selling 10ltr cans
 
"The mags are just hopeing the market stays bouyant and they make huge profits now!" Sorry Trouvile; stick to talking about what you know about. I work in magazine publishing; huge profits don't really exist outside the 3m-circulation ladmags. Note that outside subscription sales, the newsagent chains regularly take up to 50% of the cover price, and then destroy unsold copies so they can't even be sold as back issues.

Consumer magazines like the boat papers exist because the advertising can be found to support them. Something like 50% of new titles fail within their first year. The mags provide a service for the advertisers and for us. Sure, you have to filter out the ads, but did that ever stop you buying a Sunday newspaper? And sometimes you'll pore over those very ads to find just how much to pay for that new wotsit you've decided on.

Regards, Mudhook
 
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Here's a suggestion: why don't you put nothing but content in the mag, and the adds on-line only? That would actually be a mag worth paying for!

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Don't quite follow the reasoning here. If they said YM plus available at subscription rate of ..... yes, I agree with you!

But , if additional content free of charge...... errmmm, what's the problem.... am I missing something?

Must admit that I find adverts in the mags useful as it gives me a benchmark of swindleries prices to beat!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Which is fine - and you'd charge twice as much (or so) for the larger can. But would you pay £7/8 a month on a magazine twice as large? Doubt very much enough people would.
 
I would be willing to pay £7/8 for a magazine the same size, but without the ads!
A magazine that relies only on cover/subscription price for it's revenue!

Ideally: a sort of "WHICH" for the boatie world. A magazine editorially independent, a magazine on OUR side, not an industry mouthpiece
 
The argument seems to have shifted to getting rid of advertising, when it was originally about YM Plus.

What would it cost, per issue, to add a few additional pages with the YM Plus content? I can't see why it should be more than a few pence. And it would siginificantly improve the percentage of pages containing editorial.
 
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Ideally: a sort of "WHICH" for the boatie world. A magazine editorially independent, a magazine on OUR side, not an industry mouthpiece

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That's called a fanzine.

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Shift due to an "industry reply" stating that too much content would get in the way of the advertising.

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I don't know much, but I guarantee I know more about that "industry" than you and I felt, with all due respect, that you were talking rubbish. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

All I was saying is that you can't simply chuck content ad lib into a magazine that runs to an annual budget, which takes into consideration printing prices, delivery weights, contributors costs, paper costs, editorial staffing levels and so on. Except in an ideal world. Hence the reason for online facilities for free EXTRA content such as YM Plus.... to haul the thread back to where it started,
 
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