From Mike:
The short version of this announcement is that the print version of the magazine cannot be sustained at the current cost of publication and is no longer in print.
While a lot of knowledgeable people have worked endlessly on a variety of possibilities to stop the losses the print magazine has been incurring, the reality is that without the volume of the big magazine publishers we would have to double the subscription cost of the magazine to cover production and postage and that just prices us out of the market, even for our most ardent supporters. In talking to readers whose subscriptions had expired and were eligible to renew, none were willing to pay more and most were already saying they were eliminating print magazines entirely as they would rather just get news faster on-line.
As someone who grew up on motorcycle magazines, reading every word cover-to-cover, no one is more saddened than I am to announce we are going to have to revamp the publication and move to an electronic format. Because this new effort will have to be all-volunteer, this is going to be a slow process as we put a new team in place.
We will be working on refunds for the balance of your magazine subscription but ask for patience as we figure out all the logistics required. Unfortunately, this is going to be a manual process and will take several weeks. A follow up letter will be mailed mid-June with refund details.
Thank you for your support; we had six great print years. Words cannot express my appreciation and respect for Editor Bill Shaw and his endless teams of volunteers who have worked so hard on the print edition of the magazine.
The short version of this announcement is that the print version of the magazine cannot be sustained at the current cost of publication and is no longer in print.
While a lot of knowledgeable people have worked endlessly on a variety of possibilities to stop the losses the print magazine has been incurring, the reality is that without the volume of the big magazine publishers we would have to double the subscription cost of the magazine to cover production and postage and that just prices us out of the market, even for our most ardent supporters. In talking to readers whose subscriptions had expired and were eligible to renew, none were willing to pay more and most were already saying they were eliminating print magazines entirely as they would rather just get news faster on-line.
As someone who grew up on motorcycle magazines, reading every word cover-to-cover, no one is more saddened than I am to announce we are going to have to revamp the publication and move to an electronic format. Because this new effort will have to be all-volunteer, this is going to be a slow process as we put a new team in place.
We will be working on refunds for the balance of your magazine subscription but ask for patience as we figure out all the logistics required. Unfortunately, this is going to be a manual process and will take several weeks. A follow up letter will be mailed mid-June with refund details.
Thank you for your support; we had six great print years. Words cannot express my appreciation and respect for Editor Bill Shaw and his endless teams of volunteers who have worked so hard on the print edition of the magazine.