THE Cub Report- And Then There Was One…
Well howdy there all ya rc maniacs, welcome to this week’s Cub Report. It is Not new, it is Not improved, it simply is what it is. And here we go…
Life in the print biz is tough now days. A tiny lil’ thing call the internet came blasting onto the scene and created all sorts of havoc for the newspaper and magazine world. Some magazines have prospered, others have folded up shop, but either way, life in the print business is no piece of cake.
I have a friend who runs a mag (not in the rc industry, btw) who has made the changes it takes to keep moving units and has done really well. His mag focuses more on the lifestyle of an extreme sport and his relationship with the sport’s top athletes allows him to provide content that is both valuable, and exclusive. Over the last 20 years I’ve watched his mag go from his garage, to a good sized building with 20 employees. And while his sales have not kept climbing, they have remained steady in recent years, despite a recession in his industry.
And… because I am a big motocross guy, I still sub to several mx mags. Why? Everybody knows how much I hate mags, but I sub because they make it worth my while. They pay me to to sub to their mags. How is that? Well, just take a look at THIS, or THIS. The first link shows that a year sub for MXA costs $19, but I get a $25 gift card to one of my favorite motorcycle retailers when signing up. Seeing as how I buy at least a couple grand worth of mc accessories a year from that particular retailer, they are essentially paying me 5 bucks a year to receive their mags. In addition, both the mags I shared in the links truly care about their readers, they work their tails off to make their subs as happy as they can, and feature some truly talented writers and photographers that make looking at them a pleasure.
Not all magazines are that way, in fact, some seem to not care about their readers at all, some seem to only care about having high pressure meetings with their advertising sales staff to milk every single penny out of their advertisers. When your sales staff is more important than your writers or readers, that is a recipe for disaster. I’ve spoken with multiple people working at various mags in different industries who just don’t seem to think it is possible to keep the doors open anymore, but IMO that isn’t true at all. It boils down to the product- put out a great product, make it a great value, and people WILL cut the check.
On a different subject…
Have you been glued to a TV watching your college basketball bracket play out? Our Sweet 16 March Bash-ness bracket is live RIGHT HERE, so click and go vote! The March Bashness contest is loads of fun to vote in, interesting to see where the upsets happen, and pretty neat to see which truck ends up winning the whole thing.
So there ya have it, we hope you have a great week in the world of rc and support your local hobby shops and bash spots when ya can.
YOUR Cub Reporter
