Canadian Airsoft Magazine

[whisper_kill]

I've been asked by Jackal not to post in his thread re: the magazine, hence this second threat related to a national airsoft magazine. Sorry for any duplication or confusion this may cause.

Just a quick bit of intel. I have been toying with a magazine concept for some time and have been looking for the right mix of content to allow enough flexibility in the advertiser base to sustain the publication for more than 2 years.

Advertising rates are determined by distribution (mainly). The cost of the individual magazine is determined by the cost of printing/production (mainly).

My suspicions are that if "my" magazine got off the ground it would be a meager beginning at say 36 or 40 pages, full colour. I also suspect the price to be approximately $15.00 per issue.

Advertising rates would parallel the publications development and distribution and slowly rise as the size and quantities of the publication rose.

The key to a successful magazine (in my opinion), is the magazine maintains very high standards for both editorial content and advertiser content. Pertinent, well written articles mainly focused on Canadian airsoft, however not neglecting both the U.S. and overseas.

And yes, I very much do agree that there should be some very sexy "airsoft models" strategically placed in the magazine. It's a reality of the demographic.

My partner, who specializes in advertising feels she could sell this publication, so that being said, it is a matter of finding the right mix of content to be able to draw in a substantial and consistent revenue stream from advertisers and the capital to get it off the ground.

I am currently seeking the following from across Canada (no commitments are being made at this time), if you are seriously interested in applying for a job... please provide samples of previously published written work or a quality photographic portfolio:

Editorial contributors for both regular columns and "one-off's"
Photography contributors
Product Reviewers
Game/Event Reviewers
Music reviewers
Anyone interesting in placing advertisements

As I said, this is still in the probing stage.

[Armyissue]

no body gives a crap what the dude who sells pants thinks. But I see a lotta of the AS in the area so I could tell few stories. One off in a while np. Whisper if you can hobble together a mag the guys will read it, I will sell it and you will continue to be broke. But if its something you wanna do, I'm behind you.
Cheers

[Ronan]

Props to you if this works. Its going to cost a bunch!

[Lawdog]

I am quite confident WK has the infrastructure to make this happen if he chooses to do so. If you want to see your name/work/team in print, he would be a good guy to provide content to.

Ld

[BawBag]

I don't know how well this will work but, to help keep the cost down in regurards to:
"I am currently seeking the following from across Canada (no commitments are being made at this time), if you are seriously interested in applying for a job... please provide samples of previously published written work or a quality photographic portfolio"

Why make it a job? I'm sure there will be more then enough people that can be willing to send photo's for free, however might be a bit harder to find a publisher for free though..

[techobo]

The key to a successful magazine (in my opinion) is maintaining a constant and high amount of advertising running in your book. Most specialty magazines are born from specialty retailers that band together to create a medium to help sell their product. And in some cases, the magazines are owned by the retailers.

I hope that if you embark on the project, considering the state of Canadian publishing, you will be successful. I think a Canadian Airsoft magazine would be cool, albeit, maybe unnecessary. I am sure you must have run some favorable to still be considering this project. So I wish you good luck!

[whisper_kill]

Originally Posted by BawBag

Why make it a job? I'm sure there will be more then enough people that can be willing to send photo's for free, however might be a bit harder to find a publisher for free though..

Because I come from a world where people's time is valuable and talent should be remunerated. And I use the term "job" quite loosely.

[lt_poncho]

Isn’t this forum *somewhat* of a loose collection of reviews, articles and stories – if you printed the AAR’s in a concise format, and the reviews of products are very well done for the most part, if you take out the use of the word ‘crisp’.

Some of the successful Airsoft Magazines published stateside have been offered in PDF format for free – as nice as it would to purchase a printed copy, you would think the price of advertising would pay for itself. Difficult competition there.

Airsoft in Canada is not as mainstream as we would like to believe. It’s certainly a lot less ‘commercial’ since the entire economy is underground.

[NovaKaynE]

Then why not make it more mainstream and bring it out of it's shell? To inform the not so well informed people about our sport, it could be a great idea to add a safety procedures column in every magazine. Maybe have one full page dedicated solely towards our rules, regulations, safety, restrictions and everything pertaining to how the sport is run in as professional a manner as possible to keep non-players safe and the under agers on the side lines until they are of age.

Mind you, this kind of magazine probably won't be sitting on any magazine racks in your corner store. But instead of explaining to each and every person you encounter who enquires about the sport, why not just hand them a mag and tell them to read up?

[lt_poncho]

Originally Posted by NovaKaynE

Then why not make it more mainstream and bring it out of it's shell? To inform the not so well informed people about our sport, it could be a great idea to add a safety procedures column in every magazine.

Wouldn't that be a different intention that what the magazine would be intended for? I'd want to purchase an airsoft magazine with a target audience of AIRSOFTERS, not for NON-AIRSOFTERS interested in the sport.

There's a 'hearty' debate on that whole mainstream promotion of Airsoft - i'd say you have a little ways to go time and experience wise before making your final conclusion on that topic.

[NovaKaynE]

Yes, I realise airsoft is at a stalemate in that aspect. I'd like to keep it the way it is right now too. But if for whatever reason, the magazine ended up in a non-players hands, wouldn't you like safety promoted? Like it always is?

[lt_poncho]

It would certainly be interesting, never the less - would give an organized, serious perspective to our sport.

Honestly, and perhaps this is just me, but I quite enjoy the After Action Reports on games, especially if there are 'embedded' reporters from each side. Right now it's storyboarded with photo's from photographers - the addition of storywriting would make excellent reminders of big games.
A fantastic opportunity and something that I would pay for, no question.

[SurplusIG]

Have you decided how much it would cost per ad and how much space would be allocated to the advertisee ? You could sell half page or full page ads and since you don't even have a market yet nor do you have stats or any other form of selling tools you should offer a free month or more to potential customers.
Also, where are they going to be sold ? At local kiosks ? Convinient stores ? Army Surplus stores ? I could sell them for you in Montreal ... you might have to translate the magazine into french as well, or have a french section which i could help you with. Discounts should also be offered to resellers.

[whisper_kill]

Ahh, a good point. French. I'll need to look into that.

Right now I'm investigating government of Canada subsidies for CANCON publishing. It will be a little while until I get to some hard numbers as I am still trying to figure out a mix of content that would throw a wider net onto advertisers as ultimately they are the primary revenue driver.

As for why a magazine when there is a great forum like ASC and a multitude of websites out there. Another good question. There is something to be said for a printed... tangible publication. It adds a certain level of sophistication and legitimacy that the web doesn't always provide.

Publishing is far from dead. In fact, statistics are telling a different story, even in these "green" times.

I really enjoy picking up the latest copy of Airsoft International and flipping through the articles and checking out the ads. The portable format is nice too. Take it camping... to the washroom, read it while having sex, whatever. LOL.

As I said before, there may be an interesting mix of content in this pub to satisfy advertising needs.

[SurplusIG]

With such a creation we could have games like East versus West more often. Like the eastern provinces face off the western provinces with different camos. You could have a section with best brands for camos and which stores carry them in the country, you could describe each camo and where it's from... I could take care of the french part and if the french part is just as intricate as the english we can be an example to other emerging airsoft markets like in France and other french speaking countries. As a retailer as well as a wholeseller I know many stores in france and other stores that purchase from us and they could also sell these magazines.

Idea is amazing, i'll suport in any way