Best RV Magazines for us vintage folks

[Curtis in TX]

Originally Posted by Senior Chief

Why would anyone pay inflated dollars for a print magazine that is inferior in speed, content and information to any number of internet forums?

It's why print is dying.

A website, now, devoted to vintage might actually have legs.

I'm with senior Chief on this one. Paper Magazines are a thing of the past. Dinosours that are having a hard time dying. You can get Electronic Books that will run circles around a paper magazine. And storing and sorting articles is easy with thumb drives or memory cards.

I retired 3 years ago and have magazines from the 60's in foot lockers that someday will fuel my fireplace. Now don't panic, I'm scanning in the article I want to save into electronic form. I figure if I have to have a paper copy, I'll print it out to share with my Grandchildrens. Besides you can get 1000's and 1000's of magazines in one memory card.
Takes up a lot less space and doesn't weight a thing. So your RV milage may improve.

And the Forums are great because you get to bounce questions and ideas off the Author and Audience and get real time answers. Try that with a Magazine!

Not to mention I can block a lot of the Advertising that I don't want to look at!

Something else to think about. If you're gettting old like me having my Computer tied to my TV, I can blow up the articles to as big a print as I want. And really study the pictures too!

Yea, you've probably figured it out that I made my living in the growing Technical World!

This Website can be a great source for us Vintage RV'ers.
Curtis in Texas

[Senior Chief]

Originally Posted by Bilito

I have a magazine rack in my bathroom and while spending time there today I noticed I have several "this old House" and a "This Old Boat" magazine in my collection, Why not a "This Old RV" rag? The internet is great but when you are sitting around reading about how some Guy or Gal found a cool. way to polish up your rusty dirty wheels or how to keep your wiper blades from deteriorating or how to bleed your brakes, I am not gonna head to the internet to look that stuff up and 20 bucks a year for DIY info and some ads for stuff we could really use would be nice to see.

The costs of mailing and printing a paper magazine are mind-boggling these days. Have you noticed almost all magazines are stuffed with advertising? Its because subscriptions only pay for a fraction of the costs.

A limited resource group like vintage RV owners will probably never be able to support its own paper magazine, due to the huge costs and (relatively) small readership. But an e-zine?

THAT is a distinct possibility.

Would you pay a modest $5 or $10 a year for a subscription to colorful, informative electronic magazine about older RVs? Would you contribute?

If you have an iPad or a Nook or a Kindle Fire, you can still read it in the bathroom

I'm serious, now.

[QuietWater]

So just exactly what would you want to see in a vintage magazine, ezine, etc.? Installations, renovated rigs, vintage friendly campgrounds, upgrades, maintenance, vintage pets? What would pull you in?

[MattC]

I'm happy with my 1973 GMC. I'll never be able to replace it, I can barely afford gas for anymore.
I would like something that tells me about neat places to go and possible gadgets and things, but has no time for the brand new $$X00,000 coach as this is no interest at all. Maybe it will have upgrades done to old coaches - Kind of like the Good Old Boat Magazine.

Matt

[BigJack]

I'm a low tech guy who still likes to hold a magizine in my hand. I've subscribed to Motor Home mag since 1984 and I still look forward to it coming each month. I have two file cabinets in my barn with all the old issues and I find myself going through my personal archives fairly often. Hard to teach an old dog new tricks!!!

[TBirdCastle]

Originally Posted by baraff

Hmm, sounds like a business opportunity to me..... a vintage RV owners mag. You may have identified a niche market. Hmmm.....

Get it rolling, I'd Subscribe.

[Bilito]

Originally Posted by TBirdCastle

Get it rolling, I'd Subscribe.

Me too, I'll subscribe and I would like to see things about camp grounds written by campers that have actually been there (The good and the bad), what's bad for one person might be good for another and not ad exec's pushing a campground. I would like to see stories and pics of remodeling jobs, repair jobs, tips and tricks, anything that would be of interest to a vintage owner trying to keep the rig going and making it a little nicer

Bad for me would be a place that is kid friendly, good for me would be a place on the water where I could bring along my 13 ft boston whaler

We are removing carpet to make floor repairs and finding a jillion staples in it, tips on replacing that carpet with resiliant flooring would be nice and how do you edge steps to look nice etc

[RedneckExpress]

Me, I try and find all of the old Popular Science, Popular Mechanics magazines from the 60s-80s I can find if for no other reason than the neat old RV ads in them. I've got a nice book that was actually published by Trailer Life years ago called "RX for Performance and Fuel Economy for your RV" or something very similar in name.

We've got some National Geographic magazines going back to 1900 in our library. Will never stop getting print material (Well vintage print material anyway), it's far too easy to lose it all (and far more likely) in a digital format than in a print (Chances of you being hacked/virused or your chinese made computer taking a dive are far more likely than a house burning down).

[katmat]

a magazine is nice . i work 3rd shift some times when my machine is running ive got time to read alittle plus lunch but no internet excess. a diy mag would be nice. we do have this section here!!!

[mikelcan]

Originally Posted by Senior Chief

The costs of mailing and printing a paper magazine are mind-boggling these days. Have you noticed almost all magazines are stuffed with advertising? Its because subscriptions only pay for a fraction of the costs.

A limited resource group like vintage RV owners will probably never be able to support its own paper magazine, due to the huge costs and (relatively) small readership. But an e-zine?

....

+1

The more limited the market the harder it is to make work as a business model. The advertisers subsidize the high cost of printing and mailing but will not advertise if the number of subscriptions are low. Another downside is that the advertisers will try to see where there money is coming from and kill ads in venues that do not have a return on their investment.

A related interest group is the bus conversion folks. There used to be a magazine in printed form that has fallen on hard times. There are people that have recently paid for subscriptions even though it has been a long time since the last printed version mailed. There is promise of one printing soon but they have heard that promise before.

I do understand the desire of folks that like the tactile feel of a magazine compared to e-readers or forums on the internet however the money is following the technology. So an e-zine in pdf format that gathers articles, and maybe an FAQ built from forum topics would be the way to go.

Another plus for electronic medium is the ability to search for topics.
Mike

[camperme2]

RV Lifestyle Magazine is the best I have found. Good tech, towing tips and reviews of products. Good Sam is mediocre but I do like to see how the staff have helped people with problems.
RV Lifestyle iss Canadian and can be accessed at www.rvlifemag.com and digital at www.rvlifemag-digital.com Tell them Mark sent you.

[Bilito]

I went to the contact us link at the top of the home page and wrote to the admin of irv2 and mentioned the interest in a subscription monthly vintage RV E Magazine and they wrote back saying thay have been considering such a thing, perahps if everyone dropped them a line we might speed it along

[Bilito]

Originally Posted by Bilito

I went to the contact us link at the top of the home page and wrote to the admin of irv2 and mentioned the interest in a subscription monthly vintage RV E Magazine and they wrote back saying thay have been considering such a thing, perahps if everyone dropped them a line we might speed it along

Here is their answer to me about an e Magazine, I suggested a 5 or 10
Full View [iRV2 #FHR-826324]: iRV2 Forums Contact Us Form - starting an e magazine


From:iRV2.com Support <support@irv2.com>

Add to ContactsTo:kubiakw@bellsouth.net


Thanks for the interesting suggestion. We actually are considering something along those lines and would be happy to contact you when we're closer to implementation. iRV2 members have so much knowledge and it's cool to see so many folks willing to help out.

Janet


Forums Staff dollar a year subscrpton price

[TBirdCastle]

Originally Posted by RedneckExpress

Me, I try and find all of the old Popular Science, Popular Mechanics magazines from the 60s-80s I can find if for no other reason than the neat old RV ads in them. I've got a nice book that was actually published by Trailer Life years ago called "RX for Performance and Fuel Economy for your RV" or something very similar in name.

We've got some National Geographic magazines going back to 1900 in our library. Will never stop getting print material (Well vintage print material anyway), it's far too easy to lose it all (and far more likely) in a digital format than in a print (Chances of you being hacked/virused or your chinese made computer taking a dive are far more likely than a house burning down).

check google books, many free mags there.