Agreed Mark, I dont live near mountains but try to get to them once or twice per month. I like to have fun reading about the sport I enjoy

Like others here, I am a bog reader and I much prefer a paper copy when I do this (a pull out section at the back using softer paper wouldn’t go amiss for the occasional emergency!).

Personally, I haven’t purchased the likes of MBUK or MBR in several years – the poor advertiser biased editorial content plus the fact that websites such as IMB and Pinkbike produced almost identical content with the bonus of video links made them superfluous. STW works for me because it does take a different approach – the website has the latest newsfeed, a clear editorial policy and the library for subscribers and the print copy has a ‘slower’, more considered approach – something you can sink into (although I do miss the old mid-week movie slot).
Would I stay if it went purely digital – no, that money would instead go towards an alternative print option, be that something like cyclist or more likely, coffee table style adventure books.

http://www.declinemagazine.com/ is a good online format

the-muffin-man – Member
I’m not sure who you use for your print Mark, but I’m in the print trade and I’m buying in print for a lot less than we were 5 years ago.

Is it worth having a look some of the big printers in Europe?

Erm… you do know about Bre…..

You’re not allowed to do that kinda thing any more.

Tut, tut. 😛

Every year at subscription time I start debating whether to cancel my DD but as you can see I am still here.
Mainly because the mag actually has some interesting stories and photos. I am perfectly internet literate but I am an old fart and like something to repeatedly browse without resorting to a device. I think as the older generation of MTBers disappear the focus will inevitably become more digital. How this will be paid for I don’t know as most people seem to regard the advertising as the worst part of the digital experience and ignore it.
So keep on with print, perhaps go bi-monthly but keep photo and article quality and yes put the price up

I’m not a fan of the print copy as they just clog up the house once they’ve been read.
I’m also happy with the digital subscription.

Big fan of the printed version. Much more enjoyable a read than on a machine. Happy to pay more if that’s what it takes, or to get a better quality magazine less frequently.

I expect Mark is down the post office now sending his skid marked beige Y-Fronts off

I expect Mark is down the post office now sending his skid marked beige Y-Fronts off

People pay good money for used grundies – a new revenue stream perhaps!?

I got a digital sub through the film backing that ST was part of, after one edition I upgraded to a print subscription and haven’t looked back and won’t be changing back either. I’m happy to pay the subs increase, at least for the time being.

Like others have said, I stare at a VDU for 8+ hours a day, and I have come to the conclusion that I like printed matter, there is just something about having it in your hands that I find pleasant, be it ST or a book.

I have lost count of the number of times I’ve gone back an reread articles in the magazine because they are lying around. The one that springs to mind is Jenn’s article on the Tour Divide, in the last month I must have read that 10 – 12 times.

Reading mags these days is a weirdness I find it takes a bit of focus to stay on task
Often if I see something of interest before I know it the mag is on the bench and I’m reading about it on my phone
Odd behaviour

Every issue we publish is available as both ePub and Kindle version. We were the first cycling mag to do this. We’ve done it for years. We were the first cycling mag to produce a digital version way back in 2008. We won an award for it.

For those of us less-than tech savvy: if I buy an android tablet (planning to get one for Christmas anyway) will I be able to read the mag in a magazine-style format? I’m currently a print subscriber but can’t really justify the cost for the amount I actually read. The digital subscription might be an option.

Bumped MBUK & MBR a good few years ago, they became too repetitive and the advertising bias became laughable.

Subscribe to grit.cx and just added singletrack because the quality of the writing seems higher and also they seem like good people.

Like others have said, I stare at a VDU for 8+ hours a day, and I have come to the conclusion that I like printed matter, there is just something about having it in your hands that I find pleasant, be it ST or a book.

I’m half there with you. If it’s text-only, I’m very happy – and in fact prefer – my Kindle. As soon as photography comes into the mix, I prefer my reading material printed.

I’ve been pondering whether to renew my mag subscriptions recently. I subscribe to Singletrack for my MTB fix and Cyclist for the road, but when I look at the pile of these magazines – and how much I’ve spent on them over the years – I do wonder if it’s a luxury I can manage without.

Well I just went to signup after reading that but their online signup is shockingly old fashioned… I hate to say it but, I don’t particularly rate the mag but I wouldn’t mind paying £30 a year as I think the forum has legs.

However at least invest a little in the user journey for easy signups if you genuinely are interested in enticing new customers.

Stripe, Gocardless, whatever… the website is so dated I’d be ploughing more investment into that if it was me

I bought a digital sub recently purely to support the forum. It really wasn’t difficult.

Printed media is a hard place to make a living these days when there’s so much content available elsewhere. News in a periodical magazine? Fine back in the 1970s and 1980s when the magazines for alternative sports like climbing and biking were often the only way to find out what was going on outside your immediate circle. I remember waiting for each edition of Mountain to appear to find out the latest news. Now you can watch Red Bull Rampage or whatever live so know the results as quickly as anyone else.

The problem with online advertising is that it is so often so irrelevant to either the page being viewed or the viewer that it’s worthless. Why would I as a fifty-something bloke need tampons? (Don’t answer that!) Adverts are a waste of time to me: I don’t look at them and I’ve never clicked on one except if the page redraw caused by poor coding pushes my intended link out of the way. Sponsored articles might be the way to go (with prominent banners at top and bottom of each page) but what happens when the sponsor asks that it appears as a normal article? Do you say yes or do you turn the money down?

No doubt Mark and Co have looked at various models but maybe something along the lines of Pannier or Sidetracked (or Alpinist from climbing media) with the physical magazine being quarterly and having high quality articles and all the news and reviews on the website.

I know it must be part of positioning it as a “premium” product, but I don’t think I’d buy any fewer copies if it was printed on thinner paper, like what most of the rest of the magazines I see do..

I still find I’m flicking back and forth thinking I’ve turned two pages at once, it’s so much thicker than anything else that finds its way into my hands.

it’s so much thicker than anything else that finds its way into my hands.

f’nar f’nar

stopped reading the mag years ago – it doesn’t interest me these days.

I love print though – digital is no substitute IMO.

I buy Rouler, Peleton and maybe cycle sport or pro cycling regularly.

I also think the magazine cyclist has a good balance of articles.

I just cant read someone describing the terrain and the smell of the mountains etc.

I would be sad though. Infact I’d be willing to order a subscription.

I noticed Rouler recently reduced the size of the mag – not quite as nice but better than going out of print.

I used to love the mtb magazine from the people of Rouler – perfect IMO

When you spill ale onto a magazine you get crinkly pages at worst.

once you have finished reading you can use it to get the log burner started!

I used to love the mtb magazine from the people of Rouler – perfect IMO

Yes that was an excellent magazine on the whole. Like Rouleur it stood on the quality of the writing/articles rather than anything else, and had a proper journalistic feel rather than ‘what I did on my holidays’ which is what ST mag felt like when I cancelled my sub some time ago.

Well I just went to signup after reading that but their online signup is shockingly old fashioned… I hate to say it but, I don’t particularly rate the mag but I wouldn’t mind paying £30 a year as I think the forum has legs.

However at least invest a little in the user journey for easy signups if you genuinely are interested in enticing new customers.

I’d second that, I spent ages trying to subscribe as I’d been sent an offer for the digital subscription. After trying for an hour or so I emailed STW and after a bit of discussion it was found that the special offer had to be by direct debit which wasn’t mentioned in the offer and didn’t come up as an issue when I was doing it online. I don’t want direct debits apart from bills and they wouldn’t accept a card payment for the offer.

I did try to help!

Did Privateer not re emerge as Cranked.

I still like to re read all the old articles from my stockpile (all of them) of Singletrack. For me its the trips to Scotland, the pine trees and the whisky drinking.

My sub will hopefully keep rolling on as long as the print continues but if it went completely digital I would stop subscribing.

Let me know if it’s the beginning of the end Mark cos I’ve got a load of tyres that need reviews typing up 😉

Also, let us know like a few weeks in advance when the Forum closes would you, if you’d be so kind.

We’ll have to go find proper jobs once its gone, that may take some time for 51% of the population.

😉

if I buy an android tablet (planning to get one for Christmas anyway) will I be able to read the mag in a magazine-style format?

There’s an android app; it’s quite good, has more pictures, works for me when on holiday or if the proper magazine is in a different room and I’m lazy… 🙂

Have a look at what Like The Wind are doing as a running magazine.

They are quarterly, there are no adverts, there are no product reviews, there is no news. They’re simply stories about and related to running.

Product reviews and news are meaningless these days, as they’re immediately out of date before you’ve even published a print magazine. Digital wins there.

Publishing good stories and articles about actually riding bikes. I could see that as a good format for STW.

I stopped my subs to STW print after a run of poor issues a few years back. I still have an occasional leaf through the digital edition but I struggle to want to read digital magazines as I don’t own a tablet. If it was available in the shops here (like Cyclist) I may buy an occasional copy but it’s not. Quite happy to pay a couple of quid to support the site though.

There does seem to be a mixed response to what we think ST mag should do. Some are very happy with a premium product at a premium price, less frequently. Others – like me – would be quite happy with a more frequent mag on cheaper paper and more adverts, as long as the content is as good and preferably better. Well written articles and good photos are my priority. Nice smelling, heavy paper I can manage without.

I don’t really want a “premium” coffee table magazine; I’d rather have cheaper paper and a tatty well-read magazine that I can send for recycling without it feeling like a waste of money. I still have loads of old copies of Rouleur, Privateer and Singletrack that look in great condition and I therefore don’t want to get rid of, even though they’re cluttering up the place and probably won’t ever get read again.

The contents of this forum would put me off subscribing, all leftwing politics and roadbikes, I would assume the magazine was the same.
If that’s the editorial stance then that’s 50% of your audience who have lost interest.
Perhaps offer an older one to download for people to sample?

For £1.49 you can read them all. 110 issues! Plus turn off ads on the site and get discounts of everything in our shop and in loads of bike shops.

£1.49!
£0.0135 per magazine

Or half a pint of northern beer.

A grab bag of Dorritos at the services if they are on offer.

🙂

There does seem to be a mixed response to what we think ST mag should do. Some are very happy with a premium product at a premium price, less frequently.

This is a very valid point, STW falls between the ‘cheap’ monthlies like WhatMTB or MBR, but is a fair way off a top class mag like a Rouleur or Blizzard (if you are a football fan).

Also the elephant in the room is Grit.cx, whose resources could surely be focused on making STW a better all around product (web and mag).

oldtalent – Member

The contents of this forum would put me off subscribing, all leftwing politics and roadbikes,

Are there many other places you loiter around online, for free, while tutting, and disapproving of the content, or is the inimitable pleasure of your company, and the benefit of your dazzling, incisive wit enjoyed exclusively by just lucky old us?

just bought a STW bob hat, so that should keep the wolf from the door……

I work in print publishing as both a print production/design person and a content supplier. The former is going downhill fast (the massive Daily Mail printworks a mile for my office got photogged by me today for a story about its imminent closure).
And the content side? Nobody wants to pay for that, and pretty soon the web ad revenue bubble will pop. You will all be reading user generated content with no editorial control soon.
Happy days.

I’m assuming you’ve shopped around for a cheaper print company ? I work in the trade and we always have companies coming to us for cheaper quotes than their existing supplier.

DIDN’T KNOW THAT ABOUT THE SUBSCRIPTION FOR THE OLD MAGS 🙂

Id be happy to pay £10 (like Rouler) if it had content I was more int interested in.

🙂

mahalo – Member
just bought a STW bob hat, so that should keep the wolf everyone from the door……

As others have said, I wouldn’t mind thinner paper and more ads if it keeps the print mag going.
I enjoy reading before bed, in the park at lunchtime, on the loo, these are all better with paper than on a screen IMO.
I would definitely prefer more stories in the mag and keep reviews for the site.