Good Old Boat magazine receives reviews from the toughest critics: you, the readers
Issue 2 : Sept/Oct 1998
The initial feedback was overwhelming. “We love your concept!” you told us in letters, email messages, and phone calls. But a concept is just that: a concept. We had our vision for what Good Old Boat magazine would be. What if yours was different? What if we launched a magazine, and it didn’t live up to your expectations? What if? What if?
“Let’s go for it,” Jerry said. “But we’ll do it our way.” And by foregoing an in-house staff of pros, an extensive advertising budget, and a sales staff for advertising, we could afford to print a pile of magazines and fling them into the world to see whether our concept was what you had hoped.
Then, the performance over, we waited breathlessly. Would there be applause … or rotten tomatoes? The world grew silent as we held our breath.
Suddenly we began to hear from readers, and checks for subscriptions arrived in the mailbox. Most of the responses have been somewhere on a scale from positive to wildly enthusiastic. And those who sent them subscribed. A few offered constructive criticism and advice. Some of these subscribed; some didn’t. A few threw tomatoes. And some of these subscribed anyway. Some ignored us altogether.
We take heart that our concept meets the expectations of many good old boat sailors and that some of those who expect more from us are willing to give the magazine time to evolve before passing final judgment. Many have asked that we seek advertisers in order to reduce the subscription cost. We are seriously considering this alternative; however starting that way would have been a very different kind of financial endeavor. There is no start-small-and-grow-larger stage if you must have advertisers at the start. Instead, our start-up was appropriate for the philosophy of Good Old Boat magazine. We involved the people who will be most concerned with the magazine and its content: you the readers.
Hang on to those premier issues — they could be collectors’ items some day — and hang on to the concept as we grow: Good Old Boat magazine is here to help owners and lovers of older sailboats in three ways:
- To maintain and upgrade your boats so you can be out there sailing safely and affordably,
- To make connections with each other and the suppliers of parts and services you need, and
- To reinforce your pride of ownership and love of sailing.
Is it working? Yes it is. We’re giving our technical articles extra room for lengthy discussion, so our readers can have the whole story, rather than an overview. We’re working hard at developing lists which are shared openly in print and on our website without charge to anyone, because we believe those connections are the key to solving problems and making improvements. We’re printing articles about the softer side of sailing and using as much color as possible, because sailboats are too beautiful for black and white.
Will we be able to launch a successful publication without resorting to the standard, and very expensive, model? Can we start it with the entire focus on our readers and their boats? Yes, it appears we can. We have heard your suggestions and applause.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
