Magazines

[Keith Hart]

Hi Charles

Printing The Thread:

Just go to the first page of the thread and at the bottom of the page it will have an option: Show Printable Version . Simply select this option and the whole thread will be ready for you to print off.

Keith (beat you to that JK) Hart

[John Kennett]

Originally posted by Charles
HMS and Co will be over here in two weeks time. I will print out this thread (how do I do that JK?) and present it to him.

Scroll down the page and you will see an option to "Show Printable Version". Click on this, then File : Print and you're there.

Alternatively click the next link and just email them an invitation to come over and see for themselves.

John

[John Kennett]

Originally posted by Keith Hart
Keith (beat you to that JK) Hart

Smart arse

John (only by four minutes) Kennett

[Mike Garside]

Originally posted by Pepper

... Anyway, you missed my point - imho the editor or writer of the article could have saved the publication's credibility by making the article relevant to the magazine's topic instead of offering something which we could have read in the free local advertiser.

No, I didn't. You made it well. Being, on occasions a pedant, I am apt to spell out the blindingly obvious.

And you're right about a BIBOA section.

But I'm not getting drawn into telling a publisher who has built himself a nice little earner how to please that section of his customer base upon which the longevity of his magazine is dependent. If his readers desert then the advertisers won't be far behind.

Then someone else will have a go and, with any luck, do a half decent job.

[Keith Hart]

Mike - re Poll

I'm off to work now, you'll have to wait until tonight.

Keith (faster than JK) Hart

[John Kennett]

We are all up early today aren't we!

If anyone is prepared to write the type of articles that they would like to see, then I will be happy to find a home for them in the features section!

The second part of Paul's article on rough water handling is now up, and I've got another from him which will be added shortly (quicker than the last one, anyway!)

Something else that we could consider is making "proper" articles from some of the more interesting and enlightening forum threads.

John

[Richard B]

Originally posted by Mike Garside
Being, on occasions a pedant, I am apt to spell out the blindingly obvious

We must be two of a kind on that one!

When's your new RIB magazine coming out then, Mike?

[Daniel]

Having only just spotted this thread I thought I should take a few words to agree with most of what’s been said.

I, like most it appears, subscribed to RI ‘coz there was nothing else and I could not find it locally (although it seams this is almost intentional???). I wish I hadn’t.

I don’t like to be overly critical of anyone trying to do something well, but this is a commercial publication and I am quite sure I could do a better job myself (ie without a publication team) without any prior knowledge of magazine or press in the TWO months between issues.

Who ever mentioned the lack of proof-reading – that REALLY niggles me too.

Sorry HMS, and the RI team – it’s not on – introduce a readers letter (good idea) section and we will tell you so…
…could that be why there isn’t a one of these?

Dan

[Daniel]

Oh, i forgot...

RIBex IS a good thing though.

[John Kennett]

Surely someone must have something good to say about RIB International! It's not that bad is it?

Don't be shy just because of Mike Garside's ranting. If you're a RIB International fan, then let us know.

Let's see if we can get some balance to this discussion . . .

John

[benjamin]

For what it's worth, I subscribe both to RI, and to its French cousin 'Bateaux Pneumatiques'. This latter is equally glossy, and similarly contains huge percentage of press release material. Content of specific RIB related items is thin, but coverage of RIB cruising grounds around France in Sep edition is interesting.

[Brian]

Good things about RI
-it's inexpensive. The cover price is £3.20 If you subscribe, it's £18 pa (£3.00 per copy) including posting to your home AND the occassional freebie like 2 free tickets to RIBEX. I think this is not a lot to pay for the only magazine source of info. Although I am sure the "value for money" argument is going to be raised by someone!
-it is glossy isn't it? Be fair. The photography is often quite good.
- it does cover international shows/events etc. We are sometimes in danger here in the UK of "breathing our own oxygen" perhaps a bit too much. To find out what Rayglass are doing in NZ or what the latest Fabio Buzzi design machine looks like is something that I am unlikely to find out about sitting at home in Paignton, Devon!
- I have met and know 5 out of the 6 people pictured on the editorial page. In my (non-business and non-commercial) opinion they have always been nice and kind to me and I would certainly not like to personalise in them what I perceive to be the mags shortcomings.
Bad things?
I have yet to disagree with any other opinion expressed on this thread.

[Brian]

I have just noticed something else.
Have you seen how many "views" and "replies" this topic has had?

[MarkWildey]

I used to subscribe to RI but, it appears like a few people here, I found that most of the magazine started to carry things that I wasn’t so interested in.

As a consumer I chose to stop buying it.

Now if enough people did that then Hugo isn’t all that daft, he would change the format/information it put over.

So this leads me to think that he has found a formula that gives him the circulation that insures he has a meal on the plate and a roof over his head.

My only criticism of the magazine would be a lack of a regular/any update about Alan Priddy’s outing. I sure there is a reason but that is AP's and HMS's issue.

You can’t please all of the people all of the time.

We should be grateful that we have BIBOA/ RibLines, RibNet and RI as mediums for learning and exchanging information. Without each one there would be a gap in the market.

I remember when Hugo first put up the idea for a magazine all us knowledgeable chaps thought that it wouldn’t work and we were wrong and I’m glad.

Personally speaking RibLines has the information in I’m interested in and since Jim and Yvonne took it over it has become superb.

So big-up to John Kennet, HMS and the BIOBA for making the effort even when it does lead to making a profit ( I refer to RI only ).

Regards

Mark

[Keith Hart]

Some questions........

1) Which came first RI or Ribex
2) What are the circulation figures for RI
3) What is the overall attendance figure for Ribex

Keith (on the case) Hart

[GraemeCooper]

One of the problems I find with RI is that it can tend to be a little out of date, or irrelvent by the time you read it.

I subscribe to the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association, and they used to produce a Magazine every 3 Months, then every other month, and had the same problem.

Now they produce a MONTHLY magazine in the Season - March to September, then less frequent during the 'closed' season (closed to major competitions that is - as shooting is an all year Sport)

This made the magazine able to cover events, and give more timely reports on them, as well as being better for advertisers, which covers the costs of more frequent productions.

It is interesting though that a publication coming out of an organisation like BIBOA can be more interesting and informative than a professional glossy magazine!

[Alan]

Originally posted by Keith Hart
Some questions........

1) Which came first RI or Ribex
2) What are the circulation figures for RI
3) What is the overall attendance figure for Ribex

Keith (on the case) Hart

Can answer Q1 Kieth, Rib International came first but dunno quite when. I can recall reading it prior to purchasing my first RIB so '97ish. RIBEX started in 98 at Weymouth.

Cheers,
Alan

[Keith Hart]

I just saw this on another thread:

Have a look at this test by RI.

So....they are good for something then!

Keith (never even seen RI let alone brought it) Hart

[Daniel]

You can drawl over larger boats with bigger engines than yours in the ad's section - thats a plus point.

Mind you keith - suppose you can do that in the model shop!

Daniel

[Keith Hart]

Daniel, Big boats are for whimps

Anyway, I've found the answer to a couple of my own questions.

RI claims a world-wide readership of 30,000. Of course this is not the number of copies sold. There is an accepted formula in publishing regarding the relationship of number of readers for each copy sold. However I don't know what that figure is.

In 2001 there were 8713 visitors to RIBEX.

Keith (just thought you would like to know) Hart