Issue 19 : Jul/Aug 2001
No one has ever mentioned the lack of text all over the cover of Good Old Boat. We hear from readers regularly about our paper stock. (Yes, really! Some say it’s too heavy and expensive; we should save money and weight. Others say it’s impressive paper and just right for archiving issues of the magazine.) We hear about many issues that we think are internal considerations: reader service cards, subscription cards, mailing labels, polybagging, and so on.
But no one has ever said, “Why don’t you have text all over the cover, tantalizing newsstand prospects with promises of content within?” No one. And no one has ever said, “Thanks for not shouting at us and spreading stupid text all over the cover photo.” No one.
I’m wondering why. Is it possible that no one’s noticed that, in this one detail at least, we are distinctly different from the others? Ironically, we did make a weak attempt at promotional cover text on our premier issue in June 1998. We had such a naive concept of publishing at that time we actually believed that we should put text on there because that’s what magazines do and because the magazine might just be sold on the newsstands (magically somehow). We are on the newsstands now, of course, but it took another year and a half before we appeared there. By then we’d decided to forgo the cover shouting and posturing. It’s not our style.
Our covers are meant to be a quiet invitation to enter our world. Sailing takes us all to a pleasant and quiet place. This is never so noticeable as just after we shut off the engine. Ah! Peace. Serenity.
We hope it will be a comfortable experience when you open our pages. We hope you’ll come back. We think of you as a friend. We believe that, as a reader, you have a brain of your own and know how to use it. We don’t think it’s our job to manipulate you into a buying frenzy for the products advertised within or for the magazine itself. If you want to buy something, you will. You don’t need to be goaded into action, shouted at, or manipulated.
Our role is to gather and present information you need, to entertain in some cases, and to reassure. Got an older boat? It doesn’t have all the latest gadgets? It’s not the biggest on the dock? Join the club of good old boaters. We’re actually in the majority.
No cover text? No shouting? No manipulation? It’s a subtle thing, perhaps. Still, I thought someone would have mentioned it by now.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
