Unsurprising & lame after leading some on about continuation.

Good to know we still have a magazine and site devoted to what we do.

Congratulations Chris on being one of the last men standing.



Uncle Dave

 

Unsurprising & lame after leading some on about continuation.

Good to know we still have a magazine and site devoted to what we do.

Congratulations Chris on being one of the last men standing.

Uncle Dave

Your right about the last man standing...this site and magazine has not been profitable for the principal. However, when publishing is all you know and magazines revolving around boating it is tough to do anything else.

Sad to see for sure! So what happens to those who renewed their subscriptions? Do they get a refund? I still have the envelope that I was going to send my renewal in on my kitchen counter. Kinda glad I procrastinated!

Those that renewed are given alternative subscriptions to other magazines within the Bonnier brand.

Not unlike any of the once great "Iconic' publications, its sad to see it go hand , VIVA Performance Boats Magazine !!

I agree and long live the King.....Creole:roudolf:.
___________________________
Footnote:

Powerboat was the first boating magazine I subscribed to... and view it with fondness and admiration. However, I believe things happen for a reason and it is now a new era. A changing of the guard if that makes sense for all of us who have a passion for performance boats. This along with the downfall/internal demise of Hotboat really sounds the bell for change.

How so, well the remanants of the old guard have now been vanquished and only time will tell who will set the tone. The tone of future publications would be the primary source where the boater goes to for printed information on boats, and all things surrounding performance boating.

It is no secret I have always and forever remain a fan of the printed version of magazine publications whether it be in the mens room [aka reading room] or the coffee table. A good powerboat magazine is like an almanac.....something you can go back to for information. It doesn't matter if it is a boat model test or looking for that widget maker vendor the magazine is still king in my book.

So with that said here is a toast to the memories of old J. Nordskog/Powerboat and the future of Performance Boats Magazine. [Now throw glass into fireplace].

Very truly yours,
KAP

 

Sad to see for sure! So what happens to those who renewed their subscriptions? Do they get a refund? I still have the envelope that I was going to send my renewal in on my kitchen counter. Kinda glad I procrastinated!

 

Not unlike any of the once great "Iconic' publications, its sad to see it go hand , VIVA Performance Boats Magazine !!

 

I was the executive editor at Powerboat for nearly six years. During that time, the magazine was profitable only once in those six years (and that annual profit was less than $10,000). The other five years, the bottom line was red ink. The difference back then was the magazine was owned by Bob Nordskog, who was determined to publish the magazine because it was important to the industry and not a corporation just focused on profit. We never missed a monthly issue, and no checks ever bounced. I hope Chris continues to hang in there -- Bob Nordskog would be proud.

 

World of Boatracing, Hot Boat, Power Boat

These three magazines were basically started by the same person. They were never profitable. I worked for Power Boat Magazine he summer of 1967, I was paid by subscription. If I collected $5.00 I kept eh $5.00 AND SEND THE SUBSCRIPTION INFO TO POWER BOAT. This was a pretty cool way to get "Beer" money at boat races that summer of '67. Oh, I also wrote for Power Boat, for no pay.

That fall, Bob Nordskog bought Power Boat and said at the time, "He had bought Power Boat and would promote boat racing as he saw it." bob was rue to his words. He had income from Nordskog Industries, so Power Boat never had to make a dime. Bob changed the name to POWERBOAT, fired me as a writer, and ran th magazine as he saw fit until he died.

I think Bob enjoyed Powerboat Magazine, but he never tried to make a profit from it, it was EGO for BOB.

Now days, a print magazine is in trouble, Performance Boats needs to stick with on line ONLY!. Just my opinion.

Point being, Performance Boating Magazines have never made a profit... Including Speed and Spray, Boat Sport, Outboard, to name a few failurs...

 

I get 3 magazines, Performance Boat, Boating and Powerboat and just renewed my subscription to them. Guess I'm down to just two. I sure hope Performance Boat doesn't go away otherwise I won't be able to see any performance boats.

 

Just ordered my 2012 subscription!

 

I recieved this in an email this morning. http://links.bonniermarinegroup.com/servlet/MailView?ms=NTEyMDAzNAS2&r=MTA5NjcyNDg1MTUS1&j=MTkxMTM4MzE0S0&mt=1&rt=0

I let my Powerboat subscription lapse when the Performance Boats subscription department righted a wrong this Summer. Good luck Chris, I'll be a subscriber as long as you're in publication.

 

I think the worst thing for most of you is that both Hot Boat and Powerboat issued subscription renewals right up until the day of closing. Such bullshit. We just renewed our Powerboat sub this week for Brett and myself while they were contemplating closure.

As for last man standing; there will always be at least two titles for our industry. For now; Sportboat and PB. I am just glad that people now will not be confused whether PB means Powerboat or Performance Boats.

This is 27 years for me in publishing either Hot Boat and now Performance Boats. We will continue.

I would appreciate more of you subscribing though.

 

Considering new membership where you join for $500 annually and get to MEET all the models in one location at Casa de Davidson.

 

Ok

 

I just got my new Powerboat magazine, and they said something about going to an online version. I didn't see anything about the print version being cancelled. This has been a few weeks since the supposed new demise.

Any more/better info on what's happening? At least I didn't renewartyguy:

 

Absolutely 100% done...Not shelved - after a second round of "shelved" its Killed and put to ground. Very unfortunate too because things were actually looking up. Long story short; After general grumbling from the public to Bonnier about the initial canceling of the magazine Bonnier placed the mag with a manager that headed up less than stellar titles (titles that weren't producing large fiscal numbers). He decided to up and quit Bonnier a couple weeks ago. When he left, all his titles were pulled, Powerboat inlcuded.

Tough industry right now to make money in...Especially the media side of it. But I've been told Chris will go down swinging so at least he'll be here 'til the bitter end and with a little luck maybe he'll push through this horrid economy and come out ahead!)THumbsUp

 

Unfortunately for Powerboat; the previous owners never fully developed their own website and forums. Thus no traffic. OSO was primarily used as Powerboat's forum for the most part by both readers and staff members.

Print used to generated ad revenues upwards to $150,000 a month for both Hot Boat and Powerboat on a monthly basis in the mid 2000s. Now $30,000 is closer to average and that is bi-monthly.

As for going down swinging; we just aren't going down. Continual changes and adaptations to survive will occur but I would say 2012 looks to be much improved over 2011. Read my column in January. devil

 

That didn't actually sound good did it? I meant you wouldn't go down with out a fight...Not to insinuate you were going down. And when I said I "heard" that...I meant from you!:wink2:

Yes, fast moving adaptation to stay on top of trends and meet demands of readers is key. Fortunately for you, you are in control of your destiny. For PBM, they (like many titles) had a large publisher that only cared about the bottom dollar. If that dollar wasn't making money then it’s on the chopping block. No commitment, no faith, no support...Just chop the legs off when it stops bringing in the big numbers. It was frustrating to see a company turn their backs on a great title when they really ought to have seized the opportunity to put back into the title, grow the title, change and adapt, which I firmly believe would have resulted in major success. Even though Powerboat was still meeting its budget even in the bitter end, it wasn't bringing in the large amount of cash it once was when Affinity bought it (Powerboat was at one time the largest grossing magazine in their line).

I think you were a little ahead of your time by doing the joint online and print stuff and I think it is starting to catch up now which hopefully will aid to your success.

I wish you guys nothing but well, as I do for your last competitor in the market. I've said from the beginning; as a reader, a fan and a member of this small high performance boating community, it does nothing but bring me delight to have choices in my reading material (which subsequently equals more coverage) and brings me nothing but disappointment to see this industry in such shambles...

 

Good Evening Tank

Powerboat's current ownership doesn't have significant amounts of time or $$ invested in relation to the history of the title. It's obviously easier to cut and chop under those circumstances. However I predict that Powerboat will rise once again sooner than later.

As for Performance Boats; I don't think it is any secret that I have invested well over $1M into the project. The initial investment was in the start up costs related to establishing the brand and attending more than 50 events in 2008 and getting the word out.

Digital is not where I would like it and will take at least another 1-2 years to really catch on. There will always be at least 2 print titles for our industry. It is ominous to have seen 3 predecessors all go the way side in such a short period of time.

Although Flynt could always resurrect Hot Boat and really make things interesting. :grin:

 

Agreed....Except that unless you know something I don't (which could be the case)...I'd bet a large sum of money that Powerboat (and Hot Boat for that matter) will not be returning....You know someone that wants to part with 500k?! You trying to tell me something!? hand

 

I think with the popularity of online forums print has a hard time keeping up, by the time the magazine comes out its old news, much of what's in the print has already been seen..But I like having a print copy..Not that a whole Whole forums worth of info has ever disappeared or anything

 

UnsureUnsureUnsure I aint saying nuthin.

All kidding aside, no I don't know anyone yet. This has been the roughest in the last 25 years of publishing.
But I guarantee that 2012 is going to be better than the last 4 years. SEMA has become a GREAT indicator
for what we can expect each November. Ask Eddie or Joe at Eddie Marine.

 

This is going to be a very good year convention wise! The Orlando convention center has more shows booked this year than ever before and Vegas is so busy they are flying workers In from Orlando to help out

 

If more magazines focused on tech and "how to" stuff, Id subscribe to more of them like I used to. Many magazines are nothing but advertising now-a-days. My renewal for Diesel Power just came and it looks like I'll be cancelling that one too. Half the mag is adds and most the articles are just pushing products.

I find the boating, truck and etc online forums..and even you tube to be more informative to whats going on in the industry. I think more magazines should focus more on their message boards apposed to their magazines. If the Magazine focused more attention to adding info here...I would rather pay $20 to be able to log on to here for a year and a t "free" shirt, rather than have a pamphlet of all the sponsors come in the mail once a month that I'm pretty much done with after one trip to the shitter.