BOATING MAGAZINES JUST DON'T GET IT

F

ffheap

New member
Last night, I was going through a magazine rack at a local store, trying to find some thing interesting to read that is not just sales articles about new boats. I came across an article about "cruising boats for $50,000.00" The selection was the usually fat SeaRay type of trailer boats, but no 22' C-Dory. Why don't they get it? The rest of the magazine was articles about various equipment we can not go boating with out ( according to them).

I compare the modern boating magazines with the YACHTING and RUDDER magazines I have from 1940 to 1945, the copies of SMALL BOAT JOURNAL I have saved from the 1960's. These magazines have very interesting articles about how to fix things, make things to better our boats, and interesting cruises made by boaters.

Why don't the magazines stop being catalogs for new boats and equipment, and give us interesting stories about boating and how one solves a problem with out going to the West Marine catalogue.

Just an idea.

Fred
 
Fred,
Try this months Soundings magazine.

One of the featured boats is a C-Dory 19. Article includes the dealer up in NH and quotes from Jeff at the factory.

Check it out.
Gene K.
Lansdale, PA
 
Also it appears that if it aint made by some offshoot of Brunswick Corp.or sold by Marine Max , that particular magazine isnt interested .
Us independent dealers notice these things................
 
Fred,

I hear you, but the bottom line is that it comes down to money, both advertising dollars and what the general (read as the current trends) boating community wants.

Having been a marine writer for a number of years (Midwest editor for Boating World, contributing editor for SAIL, Cruising World, SMALL BOAT JOURNAL, project editor for GREAT LAKES SAILOR, among others), I know that the boating magazines typically don't give much editorial space to the smaller manufacturers, like C-Dory, who don't have major ad dollars, which is where the real profit comes from. If circulation is maxxed out, publishing costs are usually covered.

Small Boat Journal, which was an exception by not pandering to the current run of "new" boats, lost millions in its relatively short publishing run, due to its of covering small, funky character boats, rather than mainstream craft with the money to advertise.

Boating World, which morphed from Small Boat Journal, after being purchased by Billian Publishing in Atlanta, is now successful, but just another cookie-cutter boating mag which I no longer read, even though I wrote for them for a number of years, including my sea trial of the CD 22 which ran in the early '90's, during the transition period from SBJ to BW.

When I was projects editor of Great Lakes Sailor, I wrote the saling designs column where we focused on interesting designs and had a line-drawing and short write-up on certain boats. I made the choices and usually focused on what I thought was neat stuff: Nimbles, cats, tris, trailerables, Flickas, Danas, Vagabonds and so on. Man, did I get flack from the publisher and the editor, who received complaints from advertisers. Once, the publisher asked me, "What do you want us to be, Small Boat Journal?" He didn't like my reply.

Hey, this is not an excuse for what's out there, just a real-world explanation. I'm in complete agreement with you. Small Boat Journal was my all-time favorite boating magazine and I'm proud to have been published in it.

Best regards,

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
These days, most magazines are advertising-driven; the advertising is where they make their money, not from the subscribers. Some magazines give away subscriptions because they can then charge the advertisers more, based on the higher readership. In the "olden days" :wink: , magazines were started based on the interest of the subject matter. Some of the smaller mags are still that way (like Small Craft Advisor and many of the regional publications). It's just the nature of the beast so they can stay in business.

I used to be a regular contributor for one of the magazines in the photography business. We had to be careful of any mention of specific equipment so the editor didn't consider it "product endorsement." Now, that same magazine is rampant with exactly that: if an advertiser runs a bigger ad, an "article" will often be written about that product. You see the same thing in the glossy boating/sailing magazines. My personal take is that it is tacky journalism.

Fortunately, a good product can make it in the marketplace. And a company with deep pockets can get their product mentioned (and advertised) almost anywhere. That's why it's necessary to go beyond the advertising and articles when researching a product (and why this forum is such an asset to C-Dory and those of us who buy their boats). My two cents.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Well, if things go as planned, the January issue of Motor Boating Magazine will have a major feature story about CD25s, featuring Anna Leigh and Daydream on our Alaskan adventure this past June. Story by Capt John Wooldridge and photos by Neil Rabinowitz. John spent three days cruising in SE (Behm Canal, Misty Fjords National Monument, New Eddystone Rock, etc.) and Neil took pix from a helicopter at Allison Harbor, BC. This will be very significant publicity for C-Dory! Here is a shot of Neil photographing the boats!

Anna_Leigh_photo_shoot_Allison_Hbr_BC_July_96.jpg
 
Pat and Patty,

Congrats! That's great news. Rabinowitz is the best out there. That issue will be one to treasure.

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
Interesting issue, Fred. I also long for straight-up information presented without an axe to grind. Let ads be ads and articles be informative.

Nick wrote "...the bottom line is that it comes down to money, both advertising dollars and what the general (read as the current trends) boating community wants."

I'm on board with that in general, but wonder about the chicken and egg thing. Do they reflect what the boating community wants, or tell the boating community what they are supposed to be salivating for?

Money certainly makes much of our world go 'round, but it is tiresome to have the content of most every avenue of information tweaked for maximum marketing value. Gives me that sickening feeling I used to get walking in downtown Vegas (Clark County was a client). Everyone's working an angle on how to relieve you of as much money as possible with as little effort on their part as possible.

Down off my soapbox now... Go get 'em Fred.

T
 
Jim,

You're right, the publishing industry used to be a lot "cleaner", with a clear line between advertising and editorial. I believe that the main reason for the change is the very thing that is enabling us to communicate as we are doing right now: the Internet.

It is a way for any company to reach the maximum number of people for a minimum number of dollars. if you look at any mainstream magazine, you'll notice how thim they are; ad space is way off, mainly due to the "net".

I remember right after we started-up Great Lakes Sailor, one of our subscribers approached me at our booth at the Cleveland Boat Show and said how he liked our magazine, "Because we didn't junk it up with ads"! My reply, "If we don't junk it up in the next year, you won't have anything to read."

Rick,

Your comment on "the chicken and the egg" is valid.


Best regards,

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
An interesting magazine covering both sailing and power repairs is "Boat Works" ... I think that is it. "Passage Maker" also has some good articles. Most of our Midwestern oriented magazines all have the pointy bowed, raked back windshields, massive horsepower type small craft emphasized and little info on the off=season and/or cruising boater. John
 
I can understand the dynamics of the dollar shaping how journalism does business in the boating world. Pretty sad, though.

You don't suppose some of the mag rags are owned by Brunswick or similar mega-corporations through a chain of holding companies or such, do you?

I think I've heard, in a smiliar situation, that Car and Driver is owned by GM.

Joe.
 
While I agree the fallout in traditional print magazines is due to the Internet, it's due to groups such as this - not a company's web site, or a magazine's online presence.

Reading about something in a magazine is nice, and sometimes informative. That, and there's no doubt it gives many people the warm fuzzies when it validates an expensive purchase they've made.

But...magazine reviews are seriously handicapped compared to the unadulterated feedback you can find online. A review is typically one person's perspective, based on one sample they don't even own, written over a limited amount of time due to deadlines. And short of a couple letters to the editor that might get published a couple months later, there is no mechanism for debate, clarifications or alternative viewpoints.

Purchasers of expensive and more specialized items have clued into this...I don't know anyone who would depend on a magazine review to make a boat purchase. Most of them will trust "real" feedback, from actual owners, far more than any other medium. And there's no more efficient manner to get this info than via the Internet.

As has been mentioned already, product placement in print is heavily influenced by ad dollars. C-Dory is no Brunswick...they have to make wise marketing decisions with relatively limited resources. Ask them sometime, where their sales come from, and what advertising medium they are most interested in...and you'll start to understand why they take customer satisfaction so seriously.

The best advertising C-Dory has is us, and it doesn't cost them a nickle in marketing dollars. Rather, they've realized money and time are better spent ensuring we remain happy...a decision which benefits them, as well as us.

I'll take that over a magazine article or ad any day...
 
Da Nag":3pm6f8bt said:
The best advertising C-Dory has is us, and it doesn't cost them a nickle in marketing dollars. Rather, they've realized money and time are better spent ensuring we remain happy...a decision which benefits them, as well as us.
Click to expand...

Uh, what about the ton of money they send you each month, oh Nerd? :roll:

Seriously, Bill's right on the money about smart folk seeing beyond the marketing, and the Internet fast becoming a wealth of real user reviews, good and bad. We see it in C-Dory, but it's also alive and well in the RV world as well as other niche markets. Vehicle specific forums abound and owners benefit from comparison shopping and, just like in our modification forums, learning from those owners who step out of the box and demonstrate what can be done to improve the basics. Potential buyers benefit the most by far if they're clever enough to find and study our forums.

On the other hand, there will always be a minority who stumble upon a C-Dory in a showroom somewhere, fall in love, put down a deposit and only then find this group and learn just how lucky they were. Put me in that group....

Don
 
Sneaks":jl9lyui3 said:
Da Nag":jl9lyui3 said:
The best advertising C-Dory has is us, and it doesn't cost them a nickle in marketing dollars. Rather, they've realized money and time are better spent ensuring we remain happy...a decision which benefits them, as well as us.
Click to expand...

Uh, what about the ton of money they send you each month, oh Nerd? :roll:
Click to expand...

Sheesh, what a dummy. I'd have paid you a chunk from my millions to keep quiet. :P
 
Can't argue with the Big Bucks drive advertizing issue, It's a fact of life in everything from Boats to cornflakes.
However, like many others at the recent Sequim gathering (and many other events) is is patently obvious that this group, this web site and the love that we have for our boats attracts significant numbers of boat seekers who are savvy enough to search the internet for more objective opinion than they get in the PAID press.

In attending Sequim, I personally met one actual and two probable buyers just in transit who approached me to talk. They all admitted they had "lurked" on this site and were impressed by the open minded comments.

At Sequim, we had two or three more couples actually came to see the boats "because they knew we were there".

The internet and groups like this certainly prove that any savvy buyer has the means at his disposal to find out whtever he wants before deciding.

I certainly do not buy anything of any consequence based on paid advertising. I always check for pro and contra web sites.

The real good thing to my mind is that we are all relatively content consumers who are looked after by our chosen supplier, and I may be old fashioned but I think that is one heck of a good way for a relatively small supplier to succeed ! Kinda goes to pre MBA days....

just my humble opinion from 400 miles away, after 24 hours of travelling and not enough to drink !!

Go Brats !!

Merv
 
Hi Folks,

I didn't realize I would hit on such a popular subject. Thanks for the info.

I have to confess. I contribute to the loss of readership. At one time, I had about four or five subscriptions going. Know I do most of my boating magazine reading when I am back in Hingham. I catch up with the past issues at the Hingham Library, and read the current issues at the Barnes and Noble book store while my wife goes shopping. It just might be the only reason she can get me out shopping with her, the book store and lunch. I just grab a fist full of magazines, but a cup of coffee, and write down most of the ideas I pick up in a notebook. I also check out the new boating books. On occasion, I buy a magazine. Last night, I did purchase SOUNDINGS, which along with NEW ENGLAND OFFSHORE are two I like. The only subscription mags I get are BOATUS and it's trailer issue, ENSIGN from being a member of USPS, and MESSING ABOUT IN BOATS, which is a funky magazine with a very strong following of very small boat owners. The editor wants me to write about our Erie Canal Cruise. I am still working on last years cruise.

Thanks for your support.

Fred
 
I would like to second the recommendation for PassageMaker Magazine. Admittedly, it is aimed toward larger trawler types, but C-Dory does advertize regularly in there as well. I believe they have mentioned an upcoming review of the C-Ranger Tug.

Even among the trawler population there have been gripes about too much emphasis on speed and power, as opposed to lower cost full-displacement boats. The editors responded that their readers were going in that direction, usually because of the need to get there and back during their limited vacation times. Slower boats would be ideal (and cheaper) for retired folks.

Despite all this, the technical and how-to articles in PMM are the best I've ever seen. Recent issues included in-depth discussion of blistering, based on the chemical and physical components of various fiberglass technologies.

Another article discussed painting, and the often unexpected print-though of fiberglass cloth when painted with dark colors. The curing process occurs up to ambient temps, so a perfectly fared hull will look beautiful after painting. Unfortunately, dark colors can increase hull temps by 30-50 degrees, further 'curing' the fiberglass and leading to print-through over the following year.

A recent article began an in-depth description of electrical systems, and in particular, the proper use of digital multimeters. Even if you're not an expert, the author clearly described situations in which he could help customers troubleshoot (and often fix) their systems by phone, if they had a DMM on board! If not, they were SOL until they could get an 'expert' to work on their problem.

If you're not familiar with PMM, I'd suggest picking one up and taking a look. (It might otherwise not appear relevant to the C-Dory . . . )

BTW, there was also a previous article about rats on board . . . . :-( , a topic that arose on this site some months ago. It made it real clear: YOU DON"T WANT RATS ON YOUR BOAT!
Wiring :cry
Sanitation hoses :crook
Cushions :sad

ejg
 
Why would I subscribe to a boating magazine when I have this site delivering me a daily dose of opinions, reviews, outstanding technical information, funny stories, adventures, and thousands of photos not to mention an annual party in Seattle?

Thanks every one.
 
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