Kickstand Magazine Update

[ratdaddy]

Saw this on Facebook this morning. It was in response to a post that went something like this (my paraphrase):

KS: Gonna ride this new cruiser we got for free from 3G tonight
other person: blah blah blah
other person: blah blah blah
Frustrated Reader: Maybe in your spare time you could put out another magazine.

Kickstand Magazine: ‎@JC i know! we have just finalized a deal with REI, which is the reason for the delay in issue 10 coming out. In one fell swoop, the magazine's circulation is expected to x10 by the end of 2012 (going from 20k to 200k). This requires massive retooling of our operational structure and a large cash infusion.

KSM has been a passion project from the beginning, and has pretty much been created by burning the Midnight Oil... As you can imagine, the success of any project depends on its commercial success, and we have successfully bootstrapped this project with 9 full issues with a skeleton crew of unpaid, yet committed, staff; we are proud of doing it in the WORST ECONOMY since the 1930s. I am certainly not making excuses for our tardiness, but attempting to share with our fans friends and supporters the challenges we have faced the past few years.

Our hope is to generate enough revenue this year to be able to hire a full-time staff to regulate the flow of our magazine and get it into a more periodic production cycle. With this new partnership with REI, we hope to extend our love of the freewheeling life to a larger audience and turn our passion into "real" jobs.

So there ya go. It's going to be a while for the next issue...again. But it looks promising I must say. I too have been impatient, but they have been doing this unpaid, and have been putting out a pretty decent magazines. I have only published smaller newsletters and zines, and have spent inordinate amounts of time trying to do those. I can't imagine the work it takes to put out a magazine. Getting advertisers, artwork, blah blah blah.

So yes, I have been frustrated by their inconsistency, but I get excited every time an issue comes out. I'm just stoked somebody thinks our little subculture of bike weirdo's is worth publishing a magazine for. I'm up for cutting them a little slack till they get their crap together.

All the news worth repeating....

jeff

[Rat Rod]

Thanks for sharing that Jeff.

I had traded emails with Brad last week about it all and wasn't sure when he planned to announce the merger.

Hopefully it will help put things on track to more consistency.

[big kountry]

Who do we contact to get a subscription started I'd be willing to pay upfront I love magazines an the fact that these guys are doing it outta there own pockets is awesome that means they believe in what they are doing an will put out a great ragg

[CeeBee]

So how much is the subcription? $24? Lets see $24 X 20,000= $480,000.00. How many issues have they actually provided? Less than 10? $48,000 in sales per issue plus free bikes that they ride instead of producing the next issue that 20,000 people have already paid for. Now they act like they are saints because they have plans to take $4.8 million from 200,000 subscribers. Didn't Berny Madoff go to jail for something similar?

[CeeBee]

Oh yeah, forgot in the previous post: In addition to the nearly half a million in subscription sales they have taken, what about advertisers who have bought ad space from them. Do not be fooled--these people are thieves!

[Rat Rod]

Brad could speak more to this than me, but I think a majority of their magazines end up being sent to bike shops around the U.S. and I'm not sure that they are charging the shops for them.

My LBS carries the magazine and they give them away for free.

[CCR]

It works great for potty training btw

[bradkevans]

Thanks for sharing that Jeff.

I had traded emails with Brad last week about it all and wasn't sure when he planned to announce the merger.

Hopefully it will help put things on track to more consistency.

It's not a MERGER! we are partnering with REI to provide their customers with Complimentary magazines starting with issue 10! This is a pilot program that will launch in all REI stores in UT, MT and CO with an eye on a national presence in the future. It's an exciting next step for our baby publication, and one that has been in the works for almost 2 years! We've continued to publish the best magazines as fast as we can with our limited staff and resources... it's a miracle of sorts that we have gotten this far!

[bradkevans]

S

So yes, I have been frustrated by their inconsistency, but I get excited every time an issue comes out. I'm just stoked somebody thinks our little subculture of bike weirdo's is worth publishing a magazine for. I'm up for cutting them a little slack till they get their crap together.

All the news worth repeating....

jeff

jeff, thanks for your patience. We've committed to this project over and over, nine times and counting. Both in time and in real dollars. As you can imagine, starting something is always fun and new, but once you get rolling with that "great" idea, one asks themselves what am I doing this for? The real deal is that we love bikes, and that passion continues to radiate throughout everything we do... we caught something on the line with the magazine, and sometimes it turns out to be a whale on the the end of the line... yup, I said it... KSM is a whale.

whether or not I ever really get my crap together, that is an entirely different story. I'm not pretending that we knew what we were getting ourselves into, but we are committed to continuing the quest to be THE OWNER'S MANUAL FOR A FREEWHEELING LIFE. Our new partnership with REI is going to reach a HUGE audience - which will allow us to fund this project more fully so we can build a top-notch staff that can produce a magazine that comes out more regularly like People Magazine! Until then we thank each of your for your patience.

Jeff, thanks for your support. To all of our friends and supporters, we will continue to publish, and everyone that has paid for their subscription will received their full allotment of magazines.

To those that post here that we are dead, or are some how scamming our readers... maybe you should listen to what your mom told you and if you don't have anything nice to say. Mom's advice applies to the internet and blogs too.

[CeeBee]

Wow! Thanks for showing your professionalism in that last paragraph. Pretty much goes along with my already less than impressed opinion of what you stand for.

[inshane64]

To those that post here that we are dead, or are some how scamming our readers... maybe you should listen to what your mom told you and if you don't have anything nice to say, STFU. Mom's advice applies to the internet and blogs too.

Exactly the attitude that will inspire me and MANY others not to subscribe, takin' notes from Spirit Airline's CEO? Public Relations is KEY and word of mouth spreads fast on this forum.

[509clunk]

Thanks for confirming my attitude toward the mag, I will never re subscribe! !

[largek9]

I replied to the other post on 4/28.after a email Brad sent to me. As far as I'm concerned he told me an UNTRUTH saying that all subscribtions where up to date as of 4/15/2012! and it would take me 6 weeks to get mine . Boo on this Mag. You cant mess in your mess kit! and expect it to be forgotten!

[CeeBee]

Well at least they cleaned up their "text" talk abreviations for the profanity. Maybe they aren't so bad after all.

[Peatbog]

My mom taught me not to act like a donkey.

Different mothers teach different things.