[Closed] Read issue 56 front to back today.................

+ 1

i really like the mag in general but did find this one a bit light on interest really. good job dirt arrived shortly after!

from a man with two closed posts in as many days this is a dangerous step ton old boy... will be checking twitter to see what ton comments appear 😈

Some good bits in there I thought Like the ferrento bits as always, and the single page articles like up that was good. didnt get the JAzz bit though saying that I dont get jazz 😉 Also the minx artice was for me a waste of a lot of bike related pages.

But some people will love it so the ST chaps are never going to win eh :mrgreen:!?!

One of my jobs is as a section Editor with an international publication that has (the luxury of) a much higher readership that STW and I have to say that they do quite a good job against what must be unfavourable odds. It's always going to be difficult to produce material that will be of interest to most of you, most of the time and within budget. There are a few additional techniques they could employ to make the magazine more interesting (simply look at the format of some of your favourite publications for an idea of what I mean). Advertising is always going to be essential (both to find organisations who want to advertise with you and balancing the amount of advertising to the amount of text). When times are tough you'll find lots of advertising (when times are tougher, v little advertising and a thinner mag!), and lots of big spaces with bigger pictures and less text. Mmmmm....
I tell you what though, far from getting banned, they'll probably love you for ever if you turn this post into a positive one and list the things that you'd really like to see in the mag - especially if your ideas are original and appeal to a wide audience of MTBers.

[quotefrom a man with two closed posts in as many days this is a dangerous step ton old boy...

What, for expressing his opinion?

His 2 closed posts were more about something which had the potential to get a lot out of hand and although i personally found nothing wrong with them, big brother obviously did.

The downside to this post is that there was a massive debate last month on the same subject and also Marks expressive remarks. This to alot of readers therefore will be 3 consecutive months of bad publications and content, which with them being the consumer and already expressed there disappointment over previous issues, is a sign of possibly no improvement in content for this publication. Alot of people will unfortunatley therefore ask themselves, SHould i buy next months/cancel my subscription??

Radogair, I think they probably work on most of the content three months in advance with the exception of the news, most things of the content will already be dicided, so not that quick to change

Radogair, I think they probably work on most of the content three months in advance with the exception of the news, most things of the content will already be dicided, so not that quick to change

So, next month we should see a change??

I had no problem with it myself, not the best or the worst issue but worth the entrance fee.

radoggair - if they listen to what people say, and they make the changes, and it is the right time scale then yes.

for example, i used to work at future, and they could tell me with in a month what bike group tests there were going to be about 6 months in advance

Seriously, the best thing you can do is to tell them what you want. The fact that so many people spend so much time on this forum when there are so many other interesting things to do (deliberately provocative comment said tongue in cheek, ignore it ;-)), is testament to the fact that we all enjoy reading and talking about mountain biking issues. Posts that tend to generate the most interest are ones that strike a chord with people and/or are well written/amusing. They're not fortunate enough to have a Jeremy Clarkson or AA Gill on the payroll (like them or loathe them, they are great columnists) so rule number one is content - they must provide what you, the readers, want in an original format. Tell them. STW, meanwhile, could also do a lot worse than look at the features in some of the more successful publications outside of the mountainbiking world to get a few ideas too - maybe generate some original ones of their own to supplement what is already a pretty good magazine if you ask me.

have to agree with ton. I used to look forward to Singletrack falling through the door but these days I'm looking harder for the kind of articles that used to capture the imagination. The inspiring foreign trips, the crazy people whose lives genuinely evolve around mountain biking, a bit of nostalgia and insightful product tests. Unfortunately these have been lacking in the last few issues. It's also starting to feel a little cliquey meaning those of us who do not live in Calderdale feeling a little left out.

I also work for a publishing company and understand greatly the effects of the recession on both circulation and advertising revenues, both crucial to the content of quality magazines but I have to say, from an ad point of view, that ST is looking buoyant so I'm assuming there's no financial crisis at Singletrack.

Please guys, let's get some of those awesome features back, start with bringing back the one ton weekend and features on foreign riding and the really inspirational characters that mountain biking has to offer.