Land and Lodges

[ACEINTHEHOLE]

When does the next issue come out. Seems like its been a while since I got one.

[crackhead]

how many issues did they print?

[Trip]

Seems like I got 3-4

[crackhead]

my guess is that deal will go tits up.

[ACEINTHEHOLE]

I hope not, I really liked it.

[blgros1]

I think that its a quarterly magazine, ill have to check I kept all my issues

[farmerc83]

Heard some rumblings that it's not doing well. At one point they were supposed to start publishing an issue every 2 months.

[Double R 2]

Haven't been involved with it since late last May, early June (2011), but from the outside looking in since then I think you can finally stick a fork in it.

[Wildfowler]

I signed up for a subscription last summer at the extravaganza. I never received anything. Used to work with Cindy in my past life. Certainly don't wish any ill will on her.

[DanP]

I'm a paying advertiser and haven't heard a word in six months.

[JDgator]

I guess print circulation is unsustainable? But just like Garden & Gun the readership is probably educated and affluent. Maybe on online version with paid ads is the way to go.

[tuscaloosahunter]

Print circulation is not unsustainable. That's a myth created by people who are accustomed to the glory days of 40% EBITDA and leveraged themselves accordingly. I know the magazine you're talking about and actually offered some advice to the lady (Cindy, maybe?) prior to the launch. Magazines are a tough go for the 1st two or three years because they rely heavily on subscriber revenue. They've always been that way - even when the economy was great and the internet wasn't an issue. Without getting too much "inside baseball," starting a magazine can be a catch 22. To do them correctly, and with the quality that makes them attractive, requires significant expense. Because of that, the CPM (cost per thousand) of the advertising rates tends to be much higher than other print mediums. In order to command those rates you need paid circulation that guarantees an advertiser consumers aren't just trashing it. You can see the rub here. It's tough to have significant paid circulation at startup. The rule of thumb with magazines used to be to try and break even for 24 months and then hopefully turn a profit. That timeline is likely much longer today.

Print, particularly newspapers, have gotten a bad rap over the last 10 years based on some bad operations shutting down or cutting publication days. The truth is print, specifically newspapers, don't have anything fundamentally wrong with their business model. Consider this: 445 banking institutions have closed their doors since 2008. Yet, no one is beating their chest screaming about banks being unsustainable. BAD banks are unsustainable. Just like BAD newspapers, BAD car dealerships and every other BAD business operating today.

When Tribune Media, parent company of the Chicago Tribune, filed for bankruptcy in 2008 the Chicago Tribune actually had an operating profit of $100 million in the previous FY. That doesn't sound like a fundamental business problem to me. It sounds like someone wasn't spending less than they were taking in.

The bottom line is this - I operate a small daily PRINT newspaper. I'm on pace to do about 25% cash flow this year. And, I'm not alone. My company owns and operates 15 newspapers throughout the country and they're all profitable. I'm curious... can anyone think of a business that wouldn't kill for 25% in this economy?

Sorry for the rant. I'll get off my soapbox now.

[mudsucker]

I too sent in a check and only got first issue sent to me of which, I had one courtesy of Get Ducks!

[bdogtippo]

[eSJay]

I was wondering about this the other day. The last one I received was the (nov, dec, jan 2011-2012) issue. Unless my (feb, mar, apr) issue got lost in the mail, they are behind!
A google search proves something's not right. Can't really find much on them on the interweb & their advertised website no longer exists. Yall rekon we've been "scammed"?
Anyone have contact info on Cindy Gray? I'm sure she'll be more than willing to give us all a refund