New F1 Magazine Help

[Wizzo]

Hi all,

I'm toying with the idea of launching a monthly online F1 magazine. This would be distributed to subscribers via e-mail and would cover all aspects of F1. The magazine would initially be funded by GPWizard but then hopefully some sponsors would contribute to the costs. I already have a joint editor and designer on board and I'm aiming for a really professional (but free) publication.

My question here is: Are there any members who feel they would like to be involved in the early stages of this publication? I'm particularly looking for anyone who can contribute articles and/or photographs but as always I'm open to suggestions.

Please feel free to discuss this below or send me a PM or e-mail.

Thanks

Wizzo

[Alianora La Canta]

Sounds interesting - I think I would be prepared to type some articles for you, especially if I knew what sort/style of articles you were looking for.

[Steven Roy]

I am happy to contribute but do you really want to take this on?  There is not exactly a shortage of magazines so it is going to have to be special to stand out.  Do you have a plan as to how the magazine will look, its style etc?

This is going to take up a lot of your time so you have to make a sensible profit or it will detract from your main business.  Running it on a break even basis long term is probably not a good idea.

The one thing which I think could be used to hook new readers are some of your competitions and the fabulous prizes that go along with them.  Hopefully we will also pull a few new posters in to the forum.

I know I suggested giving everybody job titles but I didn't think you were going to give us all jobs.

[Wizzo]

I know I suggested giving everybody job titles but I didn't think you were going to give us all jobs.

 

Thanks for the offers so far, this not a plan to have a large magazine. The idea is to start off with more of a multi page PDF to send out to subscribers, a much more condensed version of GPWizard if you like. Remember I am only 'toying' with this idea and wanted to get an idea of who would like to be involved.

As part of my research does anyone know of a free F1 e-mail magazine? and more importantly would you read one?

[Ian]

A great idea Wiz, but I think Steven is right, it will be a helluva lot of extra work for what could be little return, even if you do well for sponsors. Apart from GPWizard, you have your own job to run, plus you need spare time just to relax with Mrs Wiz and Toby. Just thinking of you Wiz.

              Ian

[Alianora La Canta]

Free F1 e-mail magazines? Well, Spyker did a free F1 magazine during 2007, but it was a fancy multimedia website rather than an e-mail. Red Bull does a very good PDF magazine that might be a more helpful template for you - again, it's not e-mail,  Grand Prix + is an F1 e-mail magazine, but it definitely isn't free. Numerous sites do free e-mails of their F1 stuff, but they aren't magazines... ...you get my drift.

PDFs could be a problem. My e-mail system automatically classifies all PDFs as spam, along with any other attachments which it hasn't previously been told are from a safe address. A PDF download (which people can request to be sent by e-mail for future issues), or a plain-text e-mail, would be a lot easier to get through the spam filters of the world. Given what you're trying to achieve, download/e-mail dual-access method would be more practical.

Would I read such a magazine? Yes. I've read through all the Spyker magazine issues (wonder if Force India will continue the idea?) and I read the Red Bulletin, albeit intermittently (at three or four issues per weekend, reading all of them in detail is quite difficult). I refuse point-blank to buy Grand Prix +, because at £25, it's almost as expensive as my F1 Racing subscription and I'm not convinced it's as good.

The trick would be getting the sponsors on board without over-monetizing the magazine. However, that is a problem for later. The other thing to advise is that the set-up costs and the costs of change are the greater part of magazine expenses.

Oh, and I almost forgot; I proofread the student paper at university for two years, so if you need someone to do that, I'm open to proofreading (the original offer to contribute content is still open as well).

[Scott]

Not the literary master, but pretty good with photoshop.  I could help with photo sourcing and editing.

Yes, I'd read it - especially since F1 Racing is in slow death mode.  Just don't make yourself a target of Max, especially if you 'publish'.  I think a forum as this is considered non-libellous, but I bet an e-mag would be considered a publication and might put you in people's sights.

[Wizzo]

Very valid points raised by all, especially me not being able to relax with Toby...oh yeah...and Mrs Wiz to. 

There seems to be one stumbling block here - content! I know I haven't got the spare time to research and write articles for the publication, and I want to ensure my focus is not taken away from my other commitments (including GPWizard), hence the reason I would only be joint editor.

So thinking about it logically the process would be as follows:

1. Members contribute articles and photos
2. Myself and the other editor decide what goes and when
2. Designer puts the whole thing together and makes it look great
3. I distribute the publication to subscribers

The stumbling block is getting a reliable amount of input from the members. Some of you have already offered your help and I cannot thank you enough for this but I can't see there being enough articles for a regular publication. Perhaps I should start very small and have a quarterly publication.

Your much appreciated thoughts please?

[Steven Roy]

I don't think quarterly publications/meetings etc work.  If something is once a week or once a month people get locked into a schedule so that they go to the meeting or the pick up a magazine or they produce an article.  If you are going to make an impact you have to be hitting your readers monthly.  It would be better to publish 2 pages monthly than to produce 12 pages quarterly.  I have experience of this kind of scheduling in other fields and the only thing you can do to lock people into a schedule is to program them to be somewhere every Thursday or every 25th of the month.  Anything less frequent causes problems.

In addition to the problems with readers you will also have problems with contributors.  If someone knows they have to produce 600 words on today's McLaren launch by Friday the odds are they will do it.  If on the other hand they have to produce it in 7 weeks time it will have such a low priority that they will in all probability miss the deadline.

As an exercise why don't we commit to producing a pilot issue by 31st January.  It doesn't have to be published but it will gibe you a chance to assess whether people can deliver.  If the pilot issue is a disaster you may have to go back to the drawing board but if you get three times as much content as you need and all of it of sufficient standard then you know that you can commit to a monthly schedule.

[cosworth151]

Count me in, Wizzo! I'll help out any way I can. I do have one or two F1 pix in my files, and would be happy to write whatever I can.

Cos

[Alianora La Canta]

Good thinking, Steven. "Little and often" seems to be the way to go on the internet.

[Steven Roy]

Any update on this Wiz?

[Wizzo]

Things are moving very slowly and to be honest there is more thinking going on than action at the moment. This is quite intentional as there are many things to consider and you have all raised many valid points.

My main concerns are the amount of work involved from my point of view (it cannot affect GPWizard in anyway) and more importantly how reliably each issue be produced, each one must be distributed on a month to month basis reliably. Quality? well it goes without saying really.

Only time will tell, if anybody can offer any additional input then I'm all ears.

[cosworth151]

Would a stockpile of non-topical pieces help? Some of us could type up some historical piece, track reviews, personal race memoirs, ect. that you could keep on hand to fill space as needed.

Just a thought,

Cos

[Alianora La Canta]

Cos, I think that's an excellent idea