I thought I would offer my input as someone else in the publishing side of boat mags.
As many of you know Ned owns and runs H2O Full Throttle. But what many of you dont know is the model he moulded H2O on was that of Powerboat Magazine. Its been around for decades and will continue to be around for decades. When Tom Newby was alive they set the standard, a very high standard, for amazing photography. Ned and Tom were friends and constantly chatted about who was shooting what and his goal was to try and aspire to Toms abilities. That was one of the things that made Powerboat magazine a great read then, and it still is now. Its the one magazine all of us here at Oceania Media hold as the yardstick to what we want to achieve.
They have some great writers on their staff and I personally enjoy Dick DeBartolos stuff, sort of reminds me of MAD comic :cheers2:
Yes times are tough out there with advertising and 2010 probably wont be much different but where you can help is to subscribe to them. Yes you can read a magazine online or get your news and press releases on the forum but NOTHING beats the enjoyment of a hard copy printed magazine where you can unfold it and look at a DPS of a poker run boat or a raceboat in full flight. Thats why people buy the mags. Rather than knock any of the magazines for putting out a thinner magazine how about taking a few minutes to subscribe to it and help ensure they are around for the long run. It would be a very sad day to see Powerboat magazine discontinued, but my personal thoughts are, it aint going to happen.
I know there are thousands of people out there who have enjoyed Powerboat magazine since its inception, so help them out and take out a subscription or renew your sub. Dont know what it costs for a sub but I can bet you it will be money well spent.
And with regards to seeing more pics in the mags, dont worry about that, the pics in H2O help make up that shortfall.
The other thing you guys may like to remember is that without the photographers out there then magazines like Powerboat and H2O Full Throttle wouldnt exist. These guys bust their asses to get out there and shoot as many events as they can. People like Jay Nichols, Pierce, Pete Boden, Tim Sharkey, Lori Gaines, etc spend a lot of time on the road to bring you those great images so why not try and help them out this Xmas as well by buying an image or two from them. I know they are finding it tough as well. I dont know many of their websites except Jay Nichols so here is it:
http://www.naplesimage.com
So take a minute and have a look and if you can buy one of his images then I know he would appreciate it.
So bottom line everyone hard copy print magazines are important to this industry, so do what you can to help ensure their survival. Everyone have a great Xmas and New Year from all of us here at H2O Full Throttle.
Cheers
Rick Williams
Admin Manager
Oceania Media Group
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