An informal survey for our readers
Issue 66 : May/Jun 2009
As the national and world economies started heading south, Good Old Boat magazine made some rigging changes to help us weather the storm. Most of these changes have been more significant to our staff than to our readers, which is as it should be.
Our newsstand readers may not know that our subscribers receive two publications from us. They receive a paper-and-ink printed magazine and, in between these printed issues, they also receive a newsletter with different, but complementary, content. The one change that did affect some of our subscribers was that we stopped printing and mailing the newsletter and moved it to an entirely electronic distribution. Only about a third of the newsletters we published were printed and mailed, but these represented the vast majority of the costs involved in producing the newsletter.
We shall leave the print magazine, which you are holding in your hands, very much in its current form: all color, printed on quality paper, and distributed by the postal systems of the world. We prefer this format for the magazine because, quite simply, it may be the only viable format for a reader-oriented magazine. Besides, we like it that way.
What is next as the economic storm gathers force? We continue to ask ourselves what the role of Good Old Boat magazine should be in the sailing lives of our readers. What must stay the same to satisfy the reader base that subscribes and, in so doing, provides the vast majority of the income that keeps this magazine running? What might we change to attract more subscribers without losing the base we have now? What should Good Old Boat magazine be like, going into the future, so we can remain a strong voice for the things that interest you about your hobby?
We continue to ask ourselves these questions, but maybe we should be asking you. We founded Good Old Boat magazine as a reader-oriented publication, which is a unique orientation in this business. The reader pays the fiddler, so the reader calls the tune. We have conducted reader surveys every few years since the magazine started and we meet readers and exchange emails with readers often, so we have some idea of what our readers are thinking, but why not simply ask you all to tell us what you think the tune should be? I thought I’d try that.
What should Good Old Boat magazine be like going into the future? What should change? What should stay the same? How can we best serve you, our readers? How can we help you go sailing?
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
