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Are print magazines' days numbered?
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 22429
Location: UK

PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 3:35 pm    Post subject: Are print magazines' days numbered? Reply with quote

Hi all,

It's been suggested in various quarters that print magazines are in decline, in terms of circulation, thanks to the internet in part, and the increasing cost of the magazines themselves.

Is this the case, with regard to motoring magazines in particular?

The shop shelves are rammed full of all manner of motoring magazines, some very broad in their scope while others focus on particular niches of what is already a fairly niche interest, and they seem to survive.

RJ
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peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
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Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 5:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The only magazine that I subscribe to is the club mag of the Jaguar Drivers Club.

It's an obligatory part of membership and doesn't compare well with some the more technically interesting mags of other one clubs. In the past I just collected them but I was happy select the on-line version when that option became available and I dumped most of the collection.

The on-line version is not as easy to read as the paper copy but does avoid piles of paper building up.

Peter
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Rootes75



Joined: 30 Apr 2013
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 8:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I take out a yearly subscription for my father but don't buy anything for myself now, not when a single mag is £4 ish.
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V8 Nutter



Joined: 27 Aug 2012
Posts: 587

PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 9:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I edit the club magazine for the American Auto Club U.K. that comes as part of the membership. A few members would prefer an on line copy, but most members seem to prefer the paper version. Generally speaking most commercially produced magazine are too expensive for the limited amount of content in them and they are just padded out with loads of adverts. But I think their is a place for the more specialised magazines.
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Ray White



Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 6282
Location: Derby

PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

peter scott wrote:
The only magazine that I subscribe to is the club mag of the Jaguar Drivers Club.

It's an obligatory part of membership and doesn't compare well with some the more technically interesting mags of other one clubs. In the past I just collected them but I was happy select the on-line version when that option became available and I dumped most of the collection.

The on-line version is not as easy to read as the paper copy but does avoid piles of paper building up.

Peter


I also get the JDC magazine but fortunately as an honorary life member of the club I get mine free. I too have dozens of back issues taking up space.

I used to take The Automobile magazine but following a falling out with the assistant editor over some (I felt) inappropriate hot rod material and a change in the font which made it even more difficult to read, I cancelled my subscription.

I have long since lost interest in Practical Classics, Popular Classics and all the other old car publications as they tend to repeat themselves - which I suppose is inevitable.
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Bitumen Boy



Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1733
Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire

PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 10:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've noticed the repeat articles, particularly in Practical Classics where the same old stuff seems to come around with monotonous regularity now. I haven't bought magazines in a long time now and I suspect the price is what's going to kill them off in the end. A magazine is, essentially, a throwaway item much like a newspaper, but when a single issue costs getting on for a fiver you don't feel inclined to throw them away. They're bulky and heavy in any quantity, nor do they stack or store tidily on shelves like books do and so you end up with bulging, collapsing boxes full of the damn things all over the place. When you eventually have to throw them out it still feels like a wrench, even when you've spent months cursing the things for the space they take up, the dust they collect etc etc etc - that's the main reason I stopped buying them.

I hit on an idea a while ago to just save interesting articles - torn or cut out and stapled together - in cheap cardboard wallets, but I've still ended up with heaps of those and will probably have to cull them before too much longer...
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Keith D



Joined: 16 Oct 2008
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 1:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I only belong to one old car club nowadays (Veteran Car Club of WA) and this club is state wide and consists of twelve country branches with our monthly magazine containing info on future meetings and events, past meetings and events, spare parts and car ads and news of people. The mag is offered on-line, but I still prefer to get a coloured paper copy on 32 pages of good photographic quality paper.

The only other mag I receive is "Restored Cars", an Australian produced mag that is exactly what it's title suggests. Apart from articles on restored cars, it is full of ads to help you restore your own car. I've subscribed to this mag since it started in 1972.

Car magazines in general leave me cold, as I find them boring and repetitious.

Keith
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Ray White



Joined: 02 Dec 2014
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Location: Derby

PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 2:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I too receive a news letter. 'Swallow Ramblings' is the quarterly publication that I used to produce years ago but these days it is larger and being in colour also better. With Ramblings also comes the magazine of the Austin Seven which is produced by the Austin Seven Clubs' Association - and I have lost count of how many of those I have - but being quite small they don't take up as much space!!
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consul 57



Joined: 09 Nov 2017
Posts: 482
Location: somerset

PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 10:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i used to subscribe to total off road as i also play in the mud, but it got less and less relevant to me and when it took over it's rival mag 4x4 it was worse more full of posers 4x4's that never saw mud, now i only buy practical classics and i may not buy that much longer unless there is something in it for me.
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
Posts: 1950
Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 11:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

practical Classics I might pick up...but generally not for the 'readers restorations' type of article. Sometimes the tales of woe, and'how to' articles are of interest...if only to affirm I'm not such a big bodger as I imagined?

I went off them when they adopted a very self-righteous stance over the recent MoT-free issues for 40 year old cars.
Almost as if they though they were 'playing to an audience'.....but completely missing the point of being balanced in their views.

The Classic Car Mart I avoid,having consistently found huge errors based on ignorance [or poor editing?] in articles in the past...besides, I couldn't care less about the values and market trends...I'm not 'in the game' for investment.

The Automobile? I cancelled my subscription, but I do like the editorial style.....and some very interesting content....on occasions.

Club magazines ? I eagerly await, and keep, my Dellow Register Bulletins.....but cancelled my membership of the MOCGB as I felt its magazine wasn't worth the annual subscription...quick flip through, then it's binned.

The FSOC mag I get, sometimes keep [as a reminder/reference]...but I'm never really interested in the 'social' aspect....being decidedly anti-social in temperament...
Same goes for the Ford Y&C mag....even though I am unlikely to ever be able to get a Ford Y...much that I'd like to, I haven't the funds to do so. I did once have aspirations....then I got the Mustang...which, in its way, is a remarkably easy old car to run/fix/mend/restore[delete as appropriate?]

Online [esp. Facebook groups] has made contact easier than ever....questions get answered a lot more quickly than the old snail mail days.

But online has it's drawbacks as well..[witness the debacles over photo hosting sites?]

But I don't 'keep' mags as I used to.....thankfully, I have a thing called a 'blue bin'.....
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Rootes75



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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The only club I now subscribe to is the HCVS, but thats not for the magazine although it does quite often have some relevant and interesting reports inside.
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Rick
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 1:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rootes75 wrote:
The only club I now subscribe to is the HCVS, but thats not for the magazine although it does quite often have some relevant and interesting reports inside.


How do you rate the HCVS? it's one club I've thought of joining on occasion but never got around to.

RJ
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ukdave2002



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

20 years I used to buy PC every month, but as others have found after 5 years or so the same stuff effectively gets regurgitated and I have less interest in vehicles of the 80's or 90's but don't begrudge them being included as they are now older than many of the vehicles that I got interested in some thirty years ago!

In the Morris register we produce a monthly colour magazine mailed to UK members, also available as a PDF for a reduced membership charge to reflect the reduction in production and shipping costs.

Incidentally we have recently moved from a polythene mailing bag to a paper one, to do a little bit in reducing single use plastic Smile

Dave
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Rootes75



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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The HCVS is quite good and I have a lot of friends in it. I also do it because the insurance through HCVS has free recovery for commercials included.
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Clactonguy



Joined: 20 Mar 2018
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 2:38 pm    Post subject: magazine costs Reply with quote

I rarely buy a glossy magazine these days ( now retired) as yes. too expensive and many are niche or full of advertisements .
I do but the 'paper' type such as Classic Car weekly but not every week.
I scan quickly and if articles take my interest I buy.
also get a club magazine every other month and another club. just starting to issue its first quartile magazine . one is high gloss like a thing book ..part of membership fees.
other is free at moment though club. will be looking to whom uses/contibutes etc to see if will be long term. this is more like the small glossy mag I get form other club but printed on paper non glossy ( save costs)
vast amount of mags out there but essentially unless your into a very specific field ..you may not want to buy thus a limited market .
not keen on 'modern ' classics though each to own ( bit like being into American or Japanese cars .each to own)
deliberately not buying a rover SD1 as too near a modern looking car even though far outstrips my Rover p6b handling and ease of parts etc .
I wanted 'chrome' etc. much like MGB's with chrome numbers have that 'look' I think . historic etc
price increases alway have a negative effect .eg postage. stamps . we try and avoid sending letters theses days and often cheaper to get a card. made and sent online rather than buy in a shop and post!
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