Who Would Want To See Another Printed Bus Conversion Type Magazine?

[Jeremy]

Developing and hosting your own in-house 'ezine' system isn't the issue nowadays as there are numerous fully-developed, remotely-hosted systems out there - it's an area I work in myself. The difficulty is not displaying the content, it's producing content to display.

Jeremy

[Seangie]

Is there any reason that an already successful magazine couldn't incorporate a regular occurring article on bus conversion into what it is already putting into print?

There are a ton of areas in bus conversion that overlap with the content of other magazines -
Car conversion mags,
Antique Car mags,
RV Magazine,
Diesel Power Mag,
busesmag.com
busandcoach.com

There are 100's more.  If anyone is motivated enough to get out there to take pictures and write some articles about what we do and how we are doing it and you can put together a professional level article about it you can get published.  Be prepared to get shot down a bunch of times but I think the stories and work that goes into this hobby are amazing and readers of any one of those mags would be interested enough to follow along.  Plus the mag that picks up the articles will get a guaranteed 100 more subscripitions  .  This way you can get paid for writing articles and everyone wins.

[Jeremy]

Is there any reason that an already successful magazine couldn't incorporate a regular occurring article on bus conversion into what it is already putting into print?

This is exactly right - I almost said in my earlier post that the best solution would be to get content into an established title, rather than try to start a new one from scratch.

Existing publishers are likely to be very receptive if someone was able to guaranteed them several extra pages of exclusive, well produced, print-ready content every month, along with extra readership and perhaps advertisers. I'd be thinking in terms of a regular section within an existing magazine, perhaps 2 or 3 articles, a page of editorial and product reviews, and maybe even a letters page and classifieds. No reason why it couldn't be done quite easily - and with limited space and no production issues to worry about more attention can be paid to the quality of the content and photography etc - something which I always felt was very poor in BCM frankly. Quite how you'd structure the financial arrangements with the host magazine I don't know, but they should at least pay professional author rates for anything supplied.

Jeremy

[Highway Yacht]

Well it looks like MOST would welcome a printed version of some type of bus converting magazine if either BCM did come back to life or someone else ventured down that road. I agree that a printed version would be more costly but it seems it would be more popular. You can get almost any and all information online as it is now even without an online magazine Even IF BCM came back to life with a printed version, I wonder just how many people would send their money to them with all that has happened in the past...that in itself has probably already doomed them from getting subscribers..

[Rick59-4104]

 Lots of folks restoring vintage travel trailers from the 40's into the 60's. Some of the aluminum trailers from the late 40's are a real high end camper when finished. See the website Tin Can Tourist's and you will see what I mean.

 Maybe a publication combining the bus conversion community and the travel trailer restoration crowd would help with the numbers problem. Could even include folks restoring some of the more tradition RV'S like BlueBirds, Barths,Newells.....I used to own several Travel Trailers from the late 40's and at one time had a little 22' Barth, they all have a following, all hungry for printed information. Probably would still not be cost effective and would require deep pockets as Cherie stated in her post


Rick

[Highway Yacht]

 Maybe a publication combining the bus conversion community and the travel trailer restoration crowd would help with the numbers problem. Could even invite folks restoring some of the more tradition RV'S like BlueBirds, Barths,Newells....
Rick

What about the schoolie conversions?? Seems there are more of them than they are us..

[akbusguy2000]

The long-term survival of any magazine rests with the relationship between its content and its advertisers.

The principle advertisers in a camper trailer magazine would necessarily be firms engaged in the business of making and marketing camper trailers.  I don't think they would be overjoyed to see the magazine also contain articles about how to make your own.

Here's a history lesson:

The original Bus Conversion Magazine was known as FMCA.  The content of its early issues were about bus conversions and not much else.  BCM came into existence about the same time as FMCA suspended the conversion content, and the early issues of BCM contained perfect copies of some of the same articles seen in FMCA before it went commercial. 

FMCA survived by broadening its advertising base, adjusting its content, and giving the readers a reliable product.

The lesson seems to be that there is no bank of available advertisers positioned to support this activity, which is, by definition - a hobby.

tg

[buswarrior]

Reality check:

Update the story a little. FMCA is in pretty desperate condition, compared to days gone by.

BCM has failed.

Whether those RV related publications and services that are left are navigating, or being tossed about, through the combined financial/internet/demographic storm... I suggest they are being tossed about...

The honey moon of the entire post WWII recreational vehicle experience is finally come to an end.

And that isn't a bad thing.

When there is such a freely available wealth of detailed and correct info being typed by us, for free, on here and other RV related sites, just what are the middlemen traditional purveyors of mediocre, incomplete and sometimes flat wrong printed content going to do? RV magazines pimped themselves out to the very thieves who made RVing miserable, taking advantage of folks with their poor quality and outrageous prices. Did you ever read a review in an RV mag that panned the featured unit?

They have no idea of what I type, or they wouldn't be in this mess.

You either serve your customers, or you shall perish.

The thing that has changed is that customers aren't forced to participate anymore, as there is true choice now.

Subscribers and advertisers are both customers to such a venture.

Before the internet, we, both subscribers and advertisers, got screwed no matter where we went, but what choice did we have? We subscribed, advertised, and joined.

Now, we have boards such as this one, vendors have websites, and we all have Google to find one another.

But, give MAK a call, BCM is still for sale.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[lostagain]

BCM still for sale? LOL.

Where is the value in a mag that hasn't put out an issue in months? With all the advertisers and subscribers long gone, it looks to me like a liability that nobody would touch with a ten foot pole...

JC

[Tikvah]

Jimmy and Bus Friends,

I'm up for the challenge.  I've given this a lot of thought.  As some of you know, my company already produces another print and web publication.  (unrelated)
I'm not worried about advertising, that isn't a problem, however we will be seeking advertisers.  What I am more concerned about is good quality content.  If we dive into the deep end of this pool we will need you writers to begin to come out and make yourself known. 

I've been thinking exactly along the lines that Rick mentioned, some kind of "Rolling Conversions" theme.  Anything from the very cool vintage trailers to schoolies, all the way to RTSs and our big coaches.

Certainly this will have a web base, with all the advantages of a website; that includes easy access to the current magazine as well as past issues and archives.  Plus the advantage of displaying video and additional photos.  Websites even give easy access to outside links for advertisers and email access to advertisers, writers, and more.

Those of you who follow the forums know that I've taken over the administration of the MCI Bus Talk forum (http://mcibustalk.com/bbs/index.php) and have made a number of updates and improvements, plus we've added many new members.

I don't have any intention of taking the BCM magazine (unless they open that door). They have done an awesome job in the past and there is no question the content and style of their magazine was excellent.  The same is true of this forum.  No place on the web has the quality of bus conversion content and pure quantity of users as the BCM bus forum.  I'd love to work some magic with the BCM website and forum, but for now, at least the forum, seems to be in good hands.

Before I would divert any of my company resources to this project I would want to see some interest from the writers.  I know BCM has a modest compensation program that truly isn't much more than a thank you gift to the contributors.  I don't believe we could offer anything more.  Contributions need to be simply for the love of the hobby and for the benefit of those who follow in your footsteps.  I expect we would mimic those compensations, at least until the magazine is able to stand on its own.

We would need the full list of topics:
Technical "how to"s 
Restoration Stories
Highlight or Feature Stories
Travel Stories
And much more...
plus, lots of short stories, jokes, and tips.  My experience is that the short one-line quips can have an incredible impact and advantage, especially during the layout process.

So, with all the above pros and cons aside, are you the writers able, available and willing to contribute to the project?  Those of you who enjoy writing and are willing to share your experiences and talents please send me an email.  Also, if any of you know folks that I should be talking to, let me know that as well.

You're response will give me an opportunity to gauge the potential of this project.  Let's see if we can get this off the ground. 

Dave
dave@tikvahmarketing.com

[luvrbus]

Dave, where I have a problem is all the guys want to help but when it gets down to writing the articles they all want to be paid if you are going to help other bus nuts convert their buses do it for free instead of asking for a 100 or so bucks.

I'll be glad to help on articles I know something about like the 2 stroke engines and the Allison transmissions won't cost you a dime now Bob step up and do one on your slide designs and AC that is what it is all about IMO lot's of talent on this board for doing articles

good luck

[buswarrior]

Is not everything a busnut needs on the various boards?

We all help the hobby for free on here, whether by typing or by checking in regularly and reading.

It's time it was said straight out:

UNWITTING TOWNSFOLK, WAKE UP, AND PAY ATTENTION!!

Your very presence on here is paying for the site via the Google ads income.

Same as every other site with those ads on it.

The more of us clicking, the more pennies in the jar from Google.

Nobody has to add a dime to keep the forum going, we keep it going by reading and clicking and typing.

Too many on here don't know that, as evidenced by the comments regarding lost subscription money.

And all the moderators/techies are volunteers. Be sure to thank them regularly for their time!

To be fair, it isn't a king's ransom, but I do wonder who is getting the cheeseburger combo with what's left over every month? I'll also bet it isn't being set aside for software upgrades...

However, to write complete and accurate articles for a publication, and hold the liability for those works, I'm going to have a hard time contributing to someone else's profitability and adulation for no compensation.

It has to be at least a symbolic kiss?

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Len Silva]

I subscribed to BCM starting with volume one, issue one, and continuing more than ten years, along with National Bus trader, FMCA, and many of the various smaller pubs that came along.  They were a wonderful resource to an information starved busnut.  However, after a few years, there was nothing new and the magazine just started repeating over and over again the same articles and stories, sometime literally reprinting old pieces.

Most of that was well before the internet and these boards came along.  There is far more current information here than in the magazine, and much more that that at a bus rally.

My guess is that there is very little a paper publication could add to the mix today.  It was a wonderful resource in it's day but no longer relevant.

[lostagain]

I would not pay a dime for a magazine. Knowing that it is not viable, I could not trust it to keep coming regurlarly.

All the information I need is here and on the other boards.

If anybody wants to write an article for free, it could be put on one of the boards and read and enjoyed by the rest of us for free. Let the owner/operator of the board collect the advertising revenue, if any.

JC

[Highway Yacht]

I'll be glad to help on articles I know something about like the 2 stroke engines and the Allison transmissions won't cost you a dime now Bob step up and do one on your slide designs and AC that is what it is all about IMO lot's of talent on this board for doing articles

good luck

If Clifford can't get the ball rolling...then no one can... Nobody I know has more knowledge about buses or has more connections than he does.. Heck..He could be a magazine all by himself..

Jimmy