"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." - Mark Tw
Actually our third issue (which I admit took forever to get out) is 100% in the black! While It's been a ...... year for many print publications, (out of 258 reporting only 40 had ad revenue growth), I feel incredibly fortunate to launch a magazine in the midst of an economic meltdown and be able to prove the concept of Kickstand Magazine.
The reality is that we're not a giant conglomerate publisher that has a staff of thousands to produce this thing, or a trust fund to pay for it; we love cruiser bikes, and love to ride them - and after the 2009 "test" year, we are looking forward to a great 2010! Starting with Issue #5 we will have added a Managing Editor, Alaina Gonzales, who's got mad skills, and loves cruiser bikes, we've hired an ad agency to help refine/define a brand strategy for the publication and the events side of things, and everyday we're getting great feedback from folks around the globe about what we're publishing and writing about.
Issue #4 is in the works and will likely ship in mid February. If you are thinking of subscribing, I'd suggest that you do so ASAP because the rate is going up to $20.10 on January 15th (this is my secret that i'm leaking to all you RRB folks now). The reality is that our success depends on folks like those here on RATROD to be telling their friends about us and helping get the word out about what we're up to. We're launching a KICKSTAND STREET TEAM program in February to help get the magazine out nationally to more local markets, how about signing up and being our feet on the ground in your Town/City?
Things to look for in Issue #4 (and beyond)
• 2009 Rad Rod Build-off winner Adam Copeland's bicycle will be featured as our Centerfold bicycle
• Kenny Prather from Freak Bike Nation will be one of our profiled builders
• RRB will be part of a segment on customizing
There's tons of stuff that we don't even know about, so if you know about events, or people or stuff going on that you think we should be writing about, by all means, let us know!
[email protected]
Best, and thanks!
brad
