Auto magazine industry

[Spencer]

Back at CJTV there was a running discussion about the auto journalism business, which I can't seem to find. For those in the industry, is the economy taking a toll yet? How healthy is the industry? Is the print media still looking for fresh talent? Thanks for any insights.

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: Auto magazine industry

Print industry is on the rocks and the wagons are tightly circled.

With regard to the "fresh talent" question, consider this. They've axed the freaking copy editing positions at most of the books, big and small. Lots of staffs are now 5 or less people.

Good time to be a freelancer though. ;)


Brian

[Schtauffer]

Re: Auto magazine industry

They've axed the freaking copy editing positions at most of the books, big and small. Lots of staffs are now 5 or less people.

Ha. In one of the latest Super Chevy's, they referred to a Chevelle as a G-body. Not a big deal, mistakes happen.

But that kind of thing seems to be more frequent lately.

[malc]

Re: Auto magazine industry

"Back at CJTV there was a running discussion about the auto journalism business, which I can't seem to find. For those in the industry, is the economy taking a toll yet? How healthy is the industry? Is the print media still looking for fresh talent? Thanks for any insights."

This one ?

http://www.freiburgersjunkyard.com/forum/index.php?topic=47.0

[horsewidower]

Re: Auto magazine industry

With regard to the "fresh talent" question, consider this. They've axed the freaking copy editing positions at most of the books, big and small. Lots of staffs are now 5 or less people.

;)


Brian

No kidding, I've seen some really bad writing show up lately. I think in the latest PHR there is a run down on the top x number of cars at SEMA (I might be wrong, my memory isn't what it used to be) that had some of the most tortured writing I've ever seen. You wanted to reach the the magazine, pat the young writer on the back and tell him that trying to use big words and compound sentences wasn't necessary. God it was awful.

Bought a copy of Kit Car, it's got a full page letter telling everyone that they were closing up shop and we had the last issue in hand.

Bob

[MOPARS RULE]

Re: Auto magazine industry

Kit Car Mag was a pile before the economy took a dive, that whole industry is LAME.

Real car magazines now need to put out the very best possible product, so when enthusiasts see it on the stands they "just have to buy it" because it's so good. And when subscribers get their renewal notice, they automatically have a positive response because they don't want to miss an issue.

People may not have the bucks, or want to take the risks, to buy a new car or go all out on a project at this time, but they still want to keep their minds active and "escape" all the drama of real life. Car mags do just that.

The strong will survive.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Auto magazine industry

With regard to the "fresh talent" question, consider this. They've axed the freaking copy editing positions at most of the books, big and small. Lots of staffs are now 5 or less people.

;)


Brian

No kidding, I've seen some really bad writing show up lately. I think in the latest PHR there is a run down on the top x number of cars at SEMA (I might be wrong, my memory isn't what it used to be) that had some of the most tortured writing I've ever seen. You wanted to reach the the magazine, pat the young writer on the back and tell him that trying to use big words and compound sentences wasn't necessary. God it was awful.

Bought a copy of Kit Car, it's got a full page letter telling everyone that they were closing up shop and we had the last issue in hand.

Bob

I believe you'd be patting a young lady on the back with that one. Liz wrote it.

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: Auto magazine industry

hee hee ;D ;D ;D
no comment

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: Auto magazine industry

With regard to the "fresh talent" question, consider this. They've axed the freaking copy editing positions at most of the books, big and small. Lots of staffs are now 5 or less people.

;)


Brian

No kidding, I've seen some really bad writing show up lately. I think in the latest PHR there is a run down on the top x number of cars at SEMA (I might be wrong, my memory isn't what it used to be) that had some of the most tortured writing I've ever seen. You wanted to reach the the magazine, pat the young writer on the back and tell him that trying to use big words and compound sentences wasn't necessary. God it was awful.

x2

[fahrenschnell]

Re: Auto magazine industry

Kit Car Mag was a pile before the economy took a dive, that whole industry is LAME.

Real car magazines now need to put out the very best possible product, so when enthusiasts see it on the stands they "just have to buy it" because it's so good. And when subscribers get their renewal notice, they automatically have a positive response because they don't want to miss an issue.

People may not have the bucks, or want to take the risks, to buy a new car or go all out on a project at this time, but they still want to keep their minds active and "escape" all the drama of real life. Car mags do just that.

The strong will survive.

Really.....You can't appreciate a Factory Five Car? Pick one.....They are all pretty rocking.

Seth

[Falcon67]

Re: Auto magazine industry

I''l repost this here - a good read on ALL publishing:

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1877161,00.html

And the article is right - just got my copy of Time...hey, I already read that on the web, so what am I paying for...?

I hate to use buzzwords, but I think the industry is kinda queuing up for a "paradigm" shift. I've got 2 banker boxes full of old articles, mags, engine annuals, etc in the shop. Used to dive in that pile all the time (still do some) for info. Used to save all the mags, read from cover to cover then tear out the good stuff and file. I would assume that I'm not the only one in this bunch that did that. Note the past tense. If I want to know some detail or can't remember some fact what do I do now? google.com is what. Those of us that can are sharing info on the web and everybody else is looking. My 2V engine build page got 26,000 hits last year, the trans info page 23,000. If I thought I could charge a dime per copy, I'd have money to spend.

Point is - the one that figgers out how to get us to drop a dime or quarter or $10 for the info off the web either through the packaging medium/software or from the content will be declared the winner. How to deliver in a way that we'll bite on (re - carjunkietv) and how much the market will bear is the secret.

carjunkie had a good chance, but I think timing had a lot to do with the loss of that. It takes an incredible amount of work to shoot, write, proof and publish an article - just look at the lead times on the mags. Add video -shoot, edit, transmogify for web delivery - and drop your deadline from 3 months to next week. The web is a hard mistress. And expensive - look how long it was before Amazon.com showed a profit. I think it was 5-6 years or so.

I think publishing is going to go through the same hell that the music industry did before iTunes made them understand that people would pay .99 for a song - but we only pay the .99 because we have a handy device that lets us listen to the tune.

[horsewidower]

Re: Auto magazine industry

Kit Car Mag was a pile before the economy took a dive, that whole industry is LAME.

Real car magazines now need to put out the very best possible product, so when enthusiasts see it on the stands they "just have to buy it" because it's so good. And when subscribers get their renewal notice, they automatically have a positive response because they don't want to miss an issue.

People may not have the bucks, or want to take the risks, to buy a new car or go all out on a project at this time, but they still want to keep their minds active and "escape" all the drama of real life. Car mags do just that.

The strong will survive.

Really.....You can't appreciate a Factory Five Car? Pick one.....They are all pretty rocking.

Seth

That's why I bought it, they had a rundown on FFR's take on a '32. I also bought it from time to time because it had some interesting fab and fiberglass tech. You never know where you can pick up a good idea.

Bob

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: Auto magazine industry

there are far too many magazines
I have run out of places to store them

[nosnerd]

Re: Auto magazine industry

mopars rule and falcon67...



you guys hit the nail SQUARE ON THE HEAD...very well said.....

can this be the beginning of $1,2,3 and 4.99 tech downloads???....


al

[Falcon67]

Re: Auto magazine industry

Could be. The problem for places like Source Interlink is that ANY of us can do what they do now. If you can write and figure out how to run video editing software, there you go. If I stumble on your web site and I like your manifold install write up/video/xctera, I PayPal you $1.99 or whatever and I got mine and you got walking around money. And Source get's zip, even if the same thing is in their magazine on the news stand for $4.99.

If you want to write a book on something, say "How to Hot Rod your 445", you write it, add the pics, lay it out and go to lulu.com and you are now a book seller. Calendars, etc - same thing.

I see money - just can't get to it. Think of all the tech articles that DF is sitting on over at HotRod. 50+ years of stuff. Pics, old tech, write ups, road tests - you name it. Now if I had the means to get my hands on that stuff, "web" it all, catalog it, cross ref, etc - I KNOW I could package it in a way to get a dollar or two or three out of ya. Would you pay a small fee for for a complete digital, readable copy of an antique HR issue like this?


Bet some would. If the HR site was more like the magazine and gave you access to the folks inside AND had the History of HotRod archived there with some kind of access-for-fee structure, somebody might bite on that. I say Source is sitting on a long term income source, but they can't see past the paper.

OK, I'm rambling now..... :