WE ARE STARTING A MAGAZINE - ARE YOU SAM?

Starting a Car Magazine Online

Hello, I'm new here I just found out about the SAM website a few days ago, especially the old forum until I wanted to post I was reading around, but then I figured it wasn't active anymore and I couldn't post anything :P

Anyhow, so now I signed up here, and I'm ready to let you know what I'm up to.

I'm working on a car magazine that is Free and Online, I've got a few business models I'm working on, website is in development right now, I hired a professional web designer that is interested in Cars, himself. It will be distributed digitally, via a PDF file. It's going to be community oriented as well. With a rather nice incentive to join into the community. The idea behind the magazine is to find the right car for everyone, not like Top Gear (Which is in a way a competition for us), which tries to find the best/fastest car in the world... and then add some English sarcasm to it.

So I've read around the old forum and I found some rather interesting information there, but I would like to ask a few questions:

1. Will PDF format be problematic for people? I know that most computers nowadays have Adobe Acrobat.
2. Are online magazines profitable? Say even if I would go for something like HTML instead of PDF, I know that for magazine publishers we need to believe in advertisement, and that's what I'm thinking, but then again, web form would be problematic with all of todays ad systems which give you nothing almost, even with a good circulation (Digg/Google Adsense for example).
3. Are YOU interested in such a product? That's free car magazine, digital version and maybe, just maybe later a published version, with emphasis on community.

That's for now... Thanks for any feedback :)

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tammy Luke on December 28, 2009 at 10:58pm

Good questions! I love your concept, by the way. . .

1. You're right, most computers have some type of Adobe Reader program (and free download from Adobe.com) that will allow someone to open PDF files. In my opinion, PDF might be problematic for some people. As you know, it all depends on the capability of your computer. I have a couple of computers in my household and on one in particular, although it's fast, whenever I try to open a PDF document on that one, it freezes everything. So I tend to avoid PDF for that one. Thank goodness for my other PCs, but if that weren't the case, then I wouldn't bother trying to open the file, even though I'd really want to see it.

2. I would image that any form of publication can be profitable if done right. Your revenue would come primarily from selling slots for ads. Also, PDF versions are probably better than HTML for ads (among others). I think people are more likely to print a PDF than an HTML page because you're getting exactly what you see in presented in front of you, the page count, etc. PDF have that easy digital-to-print capability that is appealing to your audience, and possibly also to advertisers. // I'm not sure if you're looking into a "donation" type deal for your site, but I've come across a lot of publications that ask for even the smallest donation to help keep their publications free to the public. Again, just my opinion. I think you can turn a profit. You'll have to figure out how best to do so. I've been here on SAM for only a few months but have learned so much form others that make my hopes for my magazine seem more and more possible.

3. I would be interested in such a product if I were in the market for getting a new car or were really into cars, as you are. Like I mentioned, I feel your concept is strong, your desire is obviously there, and I feel you can help a lot of people with your publication.

Have you a clearly defined target audience yet?
What made you decide to go digital as opposed to print?

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Permalink Reply by Sergey Sedlovsky on December 30, 2009 at 12:50pm

Hey, Yes, I'm using PDF and thanks for letting me know of that limitation, I'm thinking of going on print as well later on, though I don't know how that will work out? Perhaps free sponsor/car-related only locations for free, don't need too much to spread it in print because the main idea is that it should be easier to access via the computer, and anyone can always use some PDA or something (iPhone/iPod Touch?), but people who still want it in print form can have it in select places, or something like print-on-demand. But yeah, PDF is much easier for advertisers.

I'm looking for the magazine to jump start me into the business world and also get me some good profit so I can work on other projects (One of which, think about Top Gear, what they offer...), so I'm relying on this business and really want it to work out! Regarding the donation type deals, we'll try a business model of free/premium (Where premium folks get some extra stuff), will also try a few Donation campaigns... if it will work out, great, people will win some really nice things :) If not, I will still think of something.

My defined market is pretty much what you said: Car enthusiasts and car buyers, age demography is 16-50 since 16 is more or less when people start getting interested in cars or want to buy a car (Since they get their license in many places of the world, and until 50 which is top, though not restricting people further, you know, a lot of different people watch top gear, even at younger ages and older ages.... Getting the age demography is hard because you'd be thinking about the language you're using, but in the end it comes down to every person as a separate personality and what they want, if they like it, sure, they could read it :) Of course I know males are more interested in cars than females, so that's the target audience, but female are not excluded. And Yes, it's global, we got linguists on our team, one of them is me, I know 3 languages and I'm hoping to learn japanese, as well. So if I see demand for other languages than English, for better targeting certain areas, we'll do several languages, and perhaps with content most related to the place (For example, russia would have different ladas mainly) Anyhow, the plan is good, it will be a dynamic project, I do have an idea though what I'm going to do with it.

What made me decide to go digital as opposed to print was the entrance costs, it's much easier, with not much of a budget/funds, but with enough talent, it's a doable project.

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Permalink Reply by Tammy Luke on December 30, 2009 at 1:03pm

Very nice! I'm extremely excited for you and your publication! I think the Basic/Free vs. Premium option is a nice touch as well.
Best of luck, and definitely keep us posted on your progress!