ok back to the magazine again. I was at work last night, which means reading a ton. there are a bunch of skateboard mags there, and the magazine is almost all ads, but the one unique thing about the magazine, is how the articles, the few there are, make skating seem cool. Now I don't skate, and couldn't if my life depended on it. but reading the interviews, looking at the pics, and the ads, it really does make it look like fun. Why can't we do the same thing with a magazine for shooting sports, at least the action based ones? It should be easy to do, and properly marketed could bring in a lot of youth and new shooters.
IPSC Magazine
- Thread starter Slavex
- Start date
Slavex said:
Skate mags are a great template. Excellent photography and graphic design, mixture of ad-sources (equipment manufacturers, clothing, music etc...)
Start up capital & talent are the only things holding something like this back.
Someone posted about public money, the Canadian Magazine Fund does support some magazines. In my experience it is geared more towards established monthly magazines.
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/ac-ca/progs/fcm-cmf/index_e.cfm
Slavex said:
I believe in the publishing world the ratio of ad's to articles, the ad to ed(itorial) ratio is basically defined by the revenue model.
More ads = more pages of real articles. Most magazines you see on the racks are sustained by the advertising revenue with a small number of (poorly) paid writers generating the content.
Looking at the USPSA house magazine it is clear that this is sustained by the subscriptions rather than advertising revenue.
If collectively we want to get this off the ground why not submit articles to dilligentia? It 'ant glossy but has an existing circulation base. We'll written article reprints could be given to IPSC newb's to get them into the sport.
well.... why don't we stop talking about it and start with Dilegentia.... start submitting articles to Sean and see if it will be published.... if that goes well and when the costs become too prohibitive then start seeking advertisers .... once there is a working model then we can approach IPSC World to have it go global... all the ideas are great but talking about it is one thing someone taking the lead and making it happen is another....
My 2 cents worth,
I agree with Slavex,
We could learn alot from the skate magazines. I'm 40 years old and have never been on a skate board but when I leaf through one, for a moment I want to skate.
I don't know anything about running a magazine but I can see that the business side of things may be a challenge. GunGames did fail for some reason. Ultimately, for a high-production quality glossy magazine to succeed, the readership is going to have to be much broader than just active IPSC/IDPA shooters. You need the guy (or girl) who takes their Norinco/Glock/whatever out to the range 3x/year to get stoked about pistol shooting. Also, the people who don't even shoot or own a handgun but see the mag and think it looks cool. Sponsors and advertisers are going to have to be broader than just firearms/ammunition/parts manufacturers - clothing, sports drinks, sunglasses/eyewear. The editorial articles may need to have more lightweight/introductory articles for the novice/nonshooter.
Action shooting has much greater barriers to entry than to get into than skating. Any kid/teen can buy a skate mag, buy a board and go to their local skate park and try to emulate their role models, even if they don't succeed. To get into our sport (in Canada anyways) - you have to take your safety course, get your restricted PAL, take the Black Badge, drop some more money on a suitable gun and gear. That takes some commitment and money but then so does playing hockey or motorcross.
I think that more articles and content for Diligentsia would be great but it isn't the same thing. The people who read it are basically us, active IPSC shooters who don't need convincing that what we do is cool but maybe want more technical information or advanced tips/instruction.
- Andrew
I agree with Slavex,
We could learn alot from the skate magazines. I'm 40 years old and have never been on a skate board but when I leaf through one, for a moment I want to skate.
I don't know anything about running a magazine but I can see that the business side of things may be a challenge. GunGames did fail for some reason. Ultimately, for a high-production quality glossy magazine to succeed, the readership is going to have to be much broader than just active IPSC/IDPA shooters. You need the guy (or girl) who takes their Norinco/Glock/whatever out to the range 3x/year to get stoked about pistol shooting. Also, the people who don't even shoot or own a handgun but see the mag and think it looks cool. Sponsors and advertisers are going to have to be broader than just firearms/ammunition/parts manufacturers - clothing, sports drinks, sunglasses/eyewear. The editorial articles may need to have more lightweight/introductory articles for the novice/nonshooter.
Action shooting has much greater barriers to entry than to get into than skating. Any kid/teen can buy a skate mag, buy a board and go to their local skate park and try to emulate their role models, even if they don't succeed. To get into our sport (in Canada anyways) - you have to take your safety course, get your restricted PAL, take the Black Badge, drop some more money on a suitable gun and gear. That takes some commitment and money but then so does playing hockey or motorcross.
I think that more articles and content for Diligentsia would be great but it isn't the same thing. The people who read it are basically us, active IPSC shooters who don't need convincing that what we do is cool but maybe want more technical information or advanced tips/instruction.
- Andrew
- Location
- Newfoundland
I also think that having a magazine that shows our sport in a positive light and that it is something acessible to anyone and not just the hotshots of the sport would open up for more new members. I remember the Gun Games fondly , it is one of the few mags that I ever bothered to subscripe to . Something similar even open to the shooting community in general would fill a niche where no mag is currently
