What Magazines/Websites/Writers Do You Read? (Merged x3)

[one five five]

A shame to lose any motorsport publication....

....Is AMC still part of the same stable?

[GTRMagic]

[GTRMagic]

From the long time editor... read from the bottom to the top..

[gomick]

Had many a year free subscription from them before they went online...

[Axeman444]

interesting that there is still the option to subscribe on the Chevron "My Magazines" website, and no mention of them folding or what they intend to do with subscriber's money on the mnews website.

[eduardo1]

Originally Posted by Axeman444

interesting that there is still the option to subscribe on the Chevron "My Magazines" website, and no mention of them folding or what they intend to do with subscriber's money on the mnews website.

Given it was only made public on Friday they will probably address that this week.

[Mixer]

I really really liked the MN online magazine and I would have happily continued to pay for it. It was the right move at the right time. The print mag was just so out of date by the time I got it.

[GTRMagic]

The competitive tension in the news gathering process is now gone. Each of AA and AdCafe seem to regurgitate press releases these days, and indeed on more than one occasion, convert the rumour that pops up here into something more...

The passion & urgency to be 'in the know' is lost

[eduardo1]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

The competitive tension in the news gathering process is now gone. Each of AA and AdCafe seem to regurgitate press releases these days, and indeed on more than one occasion, convert the rumour that pops up here into something more...

The passion & urgency to be 'in the know' is lost

That passion and urgency is gone because there's no way AA can compete.

Even if they break a story - Speedcafe can get their copy at 6am and have it on their site at 6.15 long before most people have even got their copy.

Until AA compete on the same platform, there isn't any competition.

As a result - AA simply replace 'first' with 'loudest', going more and more tabloid.

It's very hard to fill a weekly 'newspaper' with predominantly V8s so it relied mostly on adapting quotes into headlines.

'Frosty - why I can beat Whincup'
'Whincup - why Frosty will never beat me'
'Van Giz - I'm the love child of the orphan that was rejected for Betty - that's why I left Erebus'.

Motorsport News had one half of a good model. It had a decent quality monthly for features - it just needed a digital presence to keep up customer engagement. It could have worked given the legacy goodwill for the masthead.

Unfortunately that didn't happen and it's now gone.

[fomoco]

Originally Posted by eduardo1

That passion and urgency is gone because there's no way AA can compete.

Even if they break a story - Speedcafe can get their copy at 6am and have it on their site at 6.15 long before most people have even got their copy.

Until AA compete on the same platform, there isn't any competition.

As a result - AA simply replace 'first' with 'loudest', going more and more tabloid.

It's very hard to fill a weekly 'newspaper' with predominantly V8s so it relied mostly on adapting quotes into headlines.

'Frosty - why I can beat Whincup'
'Whincup - why Frosty will never beat me'
'Van Giz - I'm the love child of the orphan that was rejected for Betty - that's why I left Erebus'.

Motorsport News had one half of a good model. It had a decent quality monthly for features - it just needed a digital presence to keep up customer engagement. It could have worked given the legacy goodwill for the masthead.

Unfortunately that didn't happen and it's now gone.

And now we are stuck with Adcafe dictating the terms of motosport news.

bugger, maybe all us fans and volunteers should start our own motsport blog, as we all hear the same stuff throught the season.

[Axeman444]

Originally Posted by fomoco

bugger, maybe all us fans and volunteers should start our own motsport blog, as we all hear the same stuff throught the season.

Isn't that what this forum is? Which some claim (with a fair amount of evidence) is where AdCafe get half their stuff anyway?

[fomoco]

Originally Posted by Axeman444

Isn't that what this forum is? Which some claim (with a fair amount of evidence) is where AdCafe get half their stuff anyway?

have to agree, took adcafe a day or two to pick Dean Cantos story, you read it here first

[eduardo1]

Originally Posted by fomoco

have to agree, took adcafe a day or two to pick Dean Cantos story, you read it here first

Actually I read it first on Twitter - where Dean posted it.

Which is probably where Speedcafe got it from too.

[Terry S]

Just reading about the demise of Australian Motorsport News so thought I should register and do my first post.
I bought it from when it started and took out a subscription when it had digital edition. Sub ran out with Dec 2013 edtion and I did not renew.
Over last two years it was getting worse and worse. I'd open it and a few seconds later have it finished as nothing to read, certainly no news.
The thing I did want to mention is their DECEPTIVE CONDUCT with page numbering. THe last page is numbered 98, but there are NOT 98 pages.
Pages 43 to 58 inclusive are missing, ie 16 pages. Did they think we were fools?
Also title is Australian Motorsport News but it was hardly that.
From some quick calcs on December, only 26% was on Australian circuit news.
Of those mere 22 pages, some 9 were on an interview with Courtney.
31% of mag was ads, and 22% was International stories.
People will vote with their feet, and these guys didn't produce what people obviously want. So I don't feel any pity for them.
It is not completely due to digital age, just not giving people what they want to read. One wishes for the good old days of Racing Car News.

[eduardo1]

Originally Posted by Terry S

Just reading about the demise of Australian Motorsport News so thought I should register and do my first post.
I bought it from when it started and took out a subscription when it had digital edition. Sub ran out with Dec 2013 edtion and I did not renew.
Over last two years it was getting worse and worse. I'd open it and a few seconds later have it finished as nothing to read, certainly no news.
The thing I did want to mention is their DECEPTIVE CONDUCT with page numbering. THe last page is numbered 98, but there are NOT 98 pages.
Pages 43 to 58 inclusive are missing, ie 16 pages. Did they think we were fools?
Also title is Australian Motorsport News but it was hardly that.
From some quick calcs on December, only 26% was on Australian circuit news.
Of those mere 22 pages, some 9 were on an interview with Courtney.
31% of mag was ads, and 22% was International stories.
People will vote with their feet, and these guys didn't produce what people obviously want. So I don't feel any pity for them.
It is not completely due to digital age, just not giving people what they want to read. One wishes for the good old days of Racing Car News.

The Motorsport News masthead was not an accurate title for what the magazine had become. It was a legacy from when it started in 1993 when it was a genuine newspaper. The change came several years ago when the e-mag took on the news and the printed mag became a features monthly. To produce a more accurate title, they would have had to re-launch with a new brand - costly and confusing for the customers (and newsagents).

Page numbering - unless there's evidence of it in other issues I'd guess that was a production glitch. It happens sometimes.

And if you're wondering why it was closed - probably because there were only 31% of ads. So you were getting a 69% content - which is a very high proportion in publishing. Usually they go for around 40% of ads - at least they did in the old days when I was in magazine publishing.

There would be a collection of reasons that the magazine was closed. I found it a quality read, but you didn't.

But the only magazine dedicated to in-depth features for all Australian motorsport is gone. That's sad.

[sizzle]

Originally Posted by Terry S

Just reading about the demise of Australian Motorsport News so thought I should register and do my first post.
I bought it from when it started and took out a subscription when it had digital edition. Sub ran out with Dec 2013 edtion and I did not renew.
Over last two years it was getting worse and worse. I'd open it and a few seconds later have it finished as nothing to read, certainly no news.
The thing I did want to mention is their DECEPTIVE CONDUCT with page numbering. THe last page is numbered 98, but there are NOT 98 pages.
Pages 43 to 58 inclusive are missing, ie 16 pages. Did they think we were fools?Also title is Australian Motorsport News but it was hardly that.
From some quick calcs on December, only 26% was on Australian circuit news.
Of those mere 22 pages, some 9 were on an interview with Courtney.
31% of mag was ads, and 22% was International stories.
People will vote with their feet, and these guys didn't produce what people obviously want. So I don't feel any pity for them.
It is not completely due to digital age, just not giving people what they want to read. One wishes for the good old days of Racing Car News.

Originally Posted by eduardo1

The Motorsport News masthead was not an accurate title for what the magazine had become. It was a legacy from when it started in 1993 when it was a genuine newspaper. The change came several years ago when the e-mag took on the news and the printed mag became a features monthly. To produce a more accurate title, they would have had to re-launch with a new brand - costly and confusing for the customers (and newsagents).

Page numbering - unless there's evidence of it in other issues I'd guess that was a production glitch. It happens sometimes.
And if you're wondering why it was closed - probably because there were only 31% of ads. So you were getting a 69% content - which is a very high proportion in publishing. Usually they go for around 40% of ads - at least they did in the old days when I was in magazine publishing.

There would be a collection of reasons that the magazine was closed. I found it a quality read, but you didn't.

But the only magazine dedicated to in-depth features for all Australian motorsport is gone. That's sad.

From memory the missing pages were the lift out state racing wind up weren't they.

[Terry S]

It is very disappointing to see apologists for these people
They ended up producing something that people didn't want to buy
As for a "production glitch", oh spare me
From a quick look in my cupboard it seems the deceptive conduct started with the November 2012 issue. That's FOURTEEN (14) issues to December 2013
Is that ENOUGH evidence?
Don't understand the comment about state racing windups?
As for statement I should be happy to have 69% non ad content...
7% was speedway and drags, 6% was bikes, 4% was cover and index etc etc
This is not what the content should have been.
Would you be happy with articles on surfing or gardening to make up the 69%

[eduardo1]

Originally Posted by Terry S

It is very disappointing to see apologists for these people
They ended up producing something that people didn't want to buy
As for a "production glitch", oh spare me
From a quick look in my cupboard it seems the deceptive conduct started with the November 2012 issue. That's FOURTEEN (14) issues to December 2013
Is that ENOUGH evidence?
Don't understand the comment about state racing windups?
As for statement I should be happy to have 69% non ad content...
7% was speedway and drags, 6% was bikes, 4% was cover and index etc etc
This is not what the content should have been.
Would you be happy with articles on surfing or gardening to make up the 69%

Sounds like you've got a hell of an axe to grind.

Btw, I said: 'Unless there's evidence of it happening regularly' it might be a production glitch.'

But further to your point - so a national Motorsport magazine should not be covering bikes, speedway or drags? And it shouldn't have a cover - or an index?

It was a general motorsport magazine that covered most areas - so what should it have run for those 13% that speedway and bikes were occupying?

[eduardo1]

There's a new motorsport website - AutoFore. Not sure how long it's been going, but figure it must be fairly new if nobody here's mentioned it before.

Seems to have an association with a couple of motorcycle websites that use the same template and posts are by Alex Gobert, so guessing he's involved in it.

More motorsport outlets is definitely a good thing. Free ones especially so.

[Terry S]

I have just received the latest issue of Australian Musclecar Magazine, issue 74.

Three questions please that I raise for comment:

1 There is no longer shown the two months it covers. Why?
I am suspicious wth this crowd when they do this sort of thing.

2 The magazine is now 122 pages. It used to be 128 pages.
What really intrigues me is how can you reduce a magazine by 6
pages. It they take out sheets of paper that would be multiples of 4
pages. I just can't see how it can be 6 pages less.

3 8 pages in the middle of the mag are now given over to posters.
Given the "mature" age of the readership, do readers really want
posters or would they prefer 8 pages of stories.
Imagine what my wife would do if I started putting up these posters
in the bedroom. I believe posters are for girls to have of boy
bands and boys to have of exotic supercars.

[eduardo1]

Originally Posted by Terry S

I believe posters are for girls to have of boy
bands and boys to have of exotic supercars.

Or boys to have of girls.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by eduardo1

Or boys to have of girls.

Ah those were the days

I totally agree about the posters takin up so many pages. Maybe they can release a poster book with some of their best photography once every six months or so? I'm sure it would sell well-I could see people wanting something to put up on their garage walls etc.

[one five five]

Originally Posted by Terry S

I have just received the latest issue of Australian Musclecar Magazine, issue 74.

Three questions please that I raise for comment:

1 There is no longer shown the two months it covers. Why?
I am suspicious wth this crowd when they do this sort of thing.

2 The magazine is now 122 pages. It used to be 128 pages.
What really intrigues me is how can you reduce a magazine by 6
pages. It they take out sheets of paper that would be multiples of 4
pages. I just can't see how it can be 6 pages less.

3 8 pages in the middle of the mag are now given over to posters.
Given the "mature" age of the readership, do readers really want
posters or would they prefer 8 pages of stories.
Imagine what my wife would do if I started putting up these posters
in the bedroom. I believe posters are for girls to have of boy
bands and boys to have of exotic supercars.

That is a shame to hear about the latest edition.... especially as AMC is the last big motorsport title left in the Chevron range

I had been pleasantly surprised by the preceeding "Baldwin Ford" cover issue. It seemed to reverse the ever-increasing trend that had set in since Mr Oastler left of more & more V8Supercar stuff encroaching into the magazine... ever since Mr West came in as editor the magazine has also felt more like a 'boys club journal' in some ways as well.


----

AA also seems to be continuing its long downhill spiral as well. I bought my first copy of that in months last week, still too much 'rumour hyping' and not enough proper stories....

It's a real shame given what AA once was. With hindsight, the rot set in with AA back at the start of 1998 when Steve Nally took over as editor, that was when AA seemed to change from giving everything a fair go, to becoming much more V8Supercar and F1 based, with everything else being fitted in only if possible...

[naca]

ZOO magazine always good for keeping up with V8SC news and some nice pics too!

[DAVID PATERSON]

I leave the posters in the magazine as I fear it will devalue them if I remove the posters and I have this dream that one day I will sell the entire collection for a fortune. (I have every issue)

I find the list of theme songs in the contents page silly and annoying.

Of course, I would like to see far more coverage of Group C & Group A touring cars...