YM February Edition - Moan on Monday

[Cheeky Girl]

Just started to read the February 2005 YM on Sunday to cheer me up. Great competition to win a holiday but what do I find competitin closes on 17th January!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the heck is going on someone at YM trying to keep the prize for a friend??

Rant over but after all it is the most depressing day of the year.

 

[FergusM]

The cover date seems to have lost all links with reality. I remember when the mags (PBO definitely, and I think YM) came out in the last week of the preceding month, so that the February issue hit the shelves in late January. I think they now have the February issue out in late December. I really don't know why they do this.

 

[Cornishman]

[ QUOTE ]
What the heck is going on someone at YM trying to keep the prize for a friend?

[/ QUOTE ]

My YM Feb arrived weeks ago. Did you buy yours on news stand?

 

[jamesjermain]

I can't answer your question about the closing date for the competition though I will try to find out for you. It does seem unreasonably early.

As for the publicaiton date, the reasons for such early publication are complex. YM is officially published on the third Thursday of the month preceding the cover date. This usually works out as around the 17th.

Issues which lead to this date include historic battles for circulation with rival magazines, but this is only one reason, and not the main one as some people believe. At least as important are questions of booking slots at printers to reduce cost and make more efficient use of presses, and staggering the publication dates of the IPC titles to get better coverage on bookstalls.

At least one other large publisher has stopped putting a date on the cover except in very small print somewhere on the bar code. This is tacit acceptance of the fact that it doesn't really matter when a monthly magazine comes out as long as there is roughly 30 days between each issue.

As a traditionalist I, like you, would like to think my February issue came out on 1 Feb - it's kind of neat and tidy and you know when to seek it out. But it doesn't really matter, specially when it's on a sub and drops through the leterbox automaticaly.

 

[snowleopard]

never bother with the competitions these days, they are just raffles. when they had tom cunliffe's prize quiz it was the first page i opened every month, the fact that careful thought and research could put you in with a serious chance made it worthwhile. the current 'quick quiz' is pretty trivial.

 

[Cotillion]

Totally agree. Five questions could keep the reader amused (VFM). Just filling in your name and address... Yawn, Yawn, Yawn.

kim

 

[westernsailor]

My Feb edition arrived in last Friday morning.

Slow mail boat to Ireland !!!!

 

[Shanty]

[ QUOTE ]
............ it doesn't really matter when a monthly magazine comes out as long as there is roughly 30 days between each issue.


[/ QUOTE ]

OK - if it doesn't matter, why not be honest about it & give the actual month of publication?

 

[bob_tyler]

" I remember when the mags (PBO definitely, and I think YM) came out in the last week of the preceding month"

Right from issue No 1 PBO was scheduled to be out on the 3rd Thursday of every month preceding cover date, never in the last week.

 

[tcm]

simply put, it's cos

1) other mags started doing it: by moving back your publication date you can ramp up sales in a slow year. Tho most are now at the limit - and can't move back without contracting sales by a twelfth i that year.

2) it's vaguely handy for customers - if in jan you see a mag than says "feb" you know it's the new one. Gotta be, hasn't it? And there's a whole month in which the publisher can ship/deliver around the world and it'll be "new" there as well.

 

[jonjo]

It is good to see some honesty on this matter at long last! At least you did not use the classic publishing industry lie that the issue date just exists to tell a retailer which month to clear a magazine off the shelf.

 

[Cantata]

I thought it was actually a much older issue. The feature on Deauville mentions that "...you can still get a good lunch for less than 100 francs......" !!

 

[westhinder]

Mine arrived yesterday, Monday 24, but then it had to travel all the way across the North Sea to Belgium.

Johan

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Now there is a country I do not often hear mentioned with respect to sailing.

What is Belgium like for cruising, what size cruising fleet do you have?

Where do you sail to?

 

[bob_tyler]

"What is Belgium like for cruising, what size cruising fleet do you have?"

Great if you like moules avec frites en mayonnaise!

Don't know about the boats.