What are the magazines missing?

[Chuck Baier]

I guess I have been reading boating magazines since the bug bit me as a child. So perhaps this is part and partial for my observations. But over the years I have seen not much more than rehashing of the same old stuff over and over by the same and sometimes different authors. There seems to be no fresh information other than the latest in technology and no new angles to the same repetitious, reworked stories over and over and over again. So my question to our members is this. What do you find missing? What would you want more of? What are the articles and information that draws you to one publication over another? If those publications could provide you with just one article per month, what would you like to find in that article?

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Chuck Baier

I guess I have been reading boating magazines since the bug bit me as a child. So perhaps this is part and partial for my observations. But over the years I have seen not much more than rehashing of the same old stuff over and over by the same and sometimes different authors. There seems to be no fresh information other than the latest in technology and no new angles to the same repetitious, reworked stories over and over and over again. So my question to our members is this. What do you find missing? What would you want more of? What are the articles and information that draws you to one publication over another? If those publications could provide you with just one article per month, what would you like to find in that article?

That sounds quite familiar!

OK, one article:-

I love reading about folk who have "normal" boats with a bit of character in my part of the world, have owned them for a few years, put some TLC and some love into her, made a few practical mods (even if I think to myself "that is the first thing I would remove if I bought your boat - simply for aesthetic reasons!"), talks about where he cruises and how / who with, maybe recalls the odd incident......but nothing that on it's own would sell a Book........just the sort of stuff that when I read I can think to myself "I could do that" or "that is pretty much what I am doing" plus "nice boat".

One of the UK mags used to run a series "One Man and his Boat"......probably stopped cos' it was hard to wrap adverts around


Alternatively any article with photos of semi naked bimbos works for me

[jdoe71]

Last month's Cruising World contained a bunch of reviews of boats they'd already run once. Jeez what's with that? But by the same token, that issue had a great series of articles on the Bahamas. I'd like more of that type of stuff.

[Pura Vida]

Reality or at least approachable fantasy.

Remember some of the first Tom Neale articles? Well told stories that I could see myself involved in. They didn't have any real moral other than "we got out there, and had some real fun doing ____." I guess from that point of view the term "space western" comes to mind. If an article is going to keep my interest it has to make good use of the literary devices that make any story good. Too often the articles are nothing more than log entries. I'm glad to hear that someone saw a whale, now make it inspire me inside the first three paragraphs.

Tell me something I need to know. I know so few people who have bought a new sailboat. Most of the guys out there are in old plastic and it has its special issues. Also new cruising grounds are something that I can get excited about. The regional magazines are great for this. It won't sell nationally but frankly there is nothing less interesting in Rockport (any Rockport) than there is in a most of the Bahamas.

This is part of the thought behind the Magazine Poll. The pages were getting heavy with advertisements pretending to be boat reviews and office professionals pretending to be bikers pretending to be sailors. I know you have put a few articles out there (maybe more than a few). Thanks for asking, most of the publishers never will.

[Pblais]

But over the years I have seen not much more than rehashing of the same old stuff over and over by the same and sometimes different authors.

Sorry, it's about selling magazines. It's what they want to buy. I can't say I agree with it but I quit buying the magazines a a while ago. I guess that is where you end up.

[Chuck Baier]

Paul, That is where I am and I believe many more have also given up on most of the publications. But are only the new folks just getting into boating subscribing now?

[maxingout]

We stopped subscribing to the cruising magazines quite a long time ago because they largely had become advertising platforms with a smattering of articles that we were interested in. When we were learning about boats and figuring out how to outfit a yacht, all of those advertisements came in handy. Now with the internet, you don't need all the advertising, and there are also plenty of websites that have great articles and stories for free. One of my favorites is setsail.com. They have correspondents sending articles from around the world.

After we started world cruising, our best source of cruising information was the Seven Seas Crusing Association bulletins. (ssca.org) There were lots of stories, adventures, misadventures, and tons of infomation about the different destinations around the world.

Traditional publishing uses paper and ink and is expensive. You can accomplish the same thing on the internet for a fraction of the cost. It's also publishing, but the publishing is in cyberspace, and it's free to the browsers.

There is a time and place in the life of every yachtie for paper magazines. I find that the internet is exciting because it is a level playing field. Everyone can publish their adventures and inspire others to live their dreams unencumbered by the need to make a profit from the experience.

Forums like this one also get you in contact with other sailors around the world. You get first hand information on a timely basis rather than hoping that someday someone would write an article on a subject in which you are interested.

[Ex-Calif]

Advertising defines the magazine because it pays the bills.

There are a couple of niche magazines that I have enjoyed but so far I haven't subscribed to anything.

Zthe only thing a magazine is good for is taking on a plane where there is no internet connection...

[Pblais]

But are only the new folks just getting into boating subscribing now?

All the yachting magazines are popular with people that don't own boats. Arm chair sailors can sail for the cost of the magazine. In that way they serve a purpose.

[Amgine]

The "content" in magazines, like on TV, is only there to attract eyes which are connected to wallets. The price paid for a subscription is there to defray the cost of publishing, and to refine the target market (IOW: a very expensive magazine is only expensive because it means fewer poor people are going to be reading it, giving the audience and writers a wholly unjustified sense of elitism.)

That said, who here is going to avoid reading another article about anchoring?

There's nothing inherently wrong in writing and rewriting articles about the same basic skills and facts. In fact, I don't think you can work in a specific topic area without doing so. But, as others have pointed out, the quality of the writing must be excellent, and in addition to these base topics a periodical should contain entertainment articles such as travelogues, retrospectives, and introspective "inspirational" pieces - each of which should be of even higher calibre than the informational articles.

And really, honestly, knock off the ad-copy disguised as "new gear reviews". That shit don't fly. I don't care how much you get paid for it.

I know that maritime-related magazines have a huge quantity of over-the-transom submissions. There is a great temptation to troll through the slush pile and pick out better than average writing, pay the author a pittance, and publish it. Professional authors produce better writing, and this is important to us, the audience. Really good and patient editors - the ones who have actually studied english and the writing industry - can develop promising submissions from the slush pile into great quality articles, and maybe even develop promising authors into professional authors, but it takes time and commitment and it's probably cheaper to work with professionals to begin with, though that's not true in the long term.

In short, the kind of magazine most cruisers seem to love and admire is one which is not run primarily for profit, but for the love of cruising and admiration of cruisers. It should have a focus on good quality writing, just as we expect products for cruising to be of excellent workmanship. As has been repeatedly shown by the most popular/collected maritime periodicals, cruisers are more than willing to do without expansive glossy photo spreads. Even though we drool over the images, some of the longest-lasting magazines continue to publish in black and white on near-newsprint, and content is king.

[mickmul]

I agree wholeheartedly - and especially about the new gear reviews. We have a national publication here called "Afloat", and while searching over the years for a boat, the brokerage section here was useful. The internet superceded it. Tom Cunliffe used to write a Sailors Confessional on Yachting World (or Yachting Monthly) - Great, down to Earth sailor, but the internet superceded it - there's a sailors confessional on this forum almost daily updated. Letters page - the internet and forums like this wiped that out!! I could go on - only time I buy one now is going to an airport too! Or for a specific report on a boat I was interested in.

[GordMay]

The masthead of Good Old Boat magazine states:
The Sailing magazine for the rest of us!
About 'Good Old Boat": Good Old Boat: About us

[rtbates]

Less articles about boats like Bruce Hood's $1.7M 55 footer. It sure isn't aimed at me!!
I'll be letting my subscriptions to CW, Sailing and Latts&Atts expire and keeping just Good Old Boat. It's the only one in which I can relate to all the articles in one way or another.
It's also the only one that isn't 80% adds.

[ess105]

I have grown tired of reading the same rehashed stories but I want to point out that the first time I read them, they did not appear rehashed to me. So as well as appealing to the armchair sailors, they also appeal (at least from my perspective) to sailors on their learning curve.

Having said that Cruising World just did a side by side comparison of a number of radar solutions. This, I found very useful. I would like to see more side by side comparisons - life rafts, batteries, dinghies, etc. It's a bit radical for the mags to take a stance for and against their advertisers but I think it was said before on this board, the car mags in the Uk made this change and became successful as a result.

[rleslie]

I no longer subscribe to mags, primarily because the mags never catch up with us. That said, before we began cruising, I personally learned a lot from the articles in CW. But, as mickmul points out, the advent of the internet (this forum and the SSCA forum), we are able to learn much much more. The ability to ask specific questions and get informed replies is invaluable.

As for the magazines, they serve a purpose.....they allow people to dream. Otherwise, no one would purchase them.

Dreams pass into the reality of action.
From the actions stems the dream again;
and this interdependence produces the
highest form of living.

Roger