SZMAssocPub

Hi ZPirate, the magazines sent to the clubs (there are only two clubs with the now defunct Associate Level that you speak of. The Washington club was the third but they have decided to become a Partner Club starting in January) are sent (at a discounted rate) in hopes of using them to help promote the club and help it expand. personally, I think it's a bad way to promote the club when all the club does is sell the issues to current members. This just shows me that I made the right decision by only having one option instead of the original three.

If I remember correctly, Roger is the spokesman for your club and he has told me that his club would never be a partner club because he refuses to pay for editorial content when he thinks it should be free. That is not the reason we started the Partner Club promo. We started it due to poor participation from Z clubs around the country. You get what you want out of it. I can't explain in detail everything about the Partner Club promo because it would take too long. Clubs are the last on the list to recieve magzines because they were never intended to be used for newstand sales to club members.

When presented properly, clubs see the benifits of becoming a Partner Club. Just ask the officers of DZA (Desert Z Association). They are the poster club for using the promo to their maxmum advantage. it's a win/win for both the club and the magazine.

By the way, what are you being charged for the magazine? Just courious.

publisher

[QUOTE=SZMAssocPub]

If I remember correctly, Roger is the spokesman for your club and he has told me that his club would never be a partner club because he refuses to pay for editorial content when he thinks it should be free.

Art, really. Did not know that.

FREE = BANKRUPTCY Roger.

Roger, think back about 6-7 years ago. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

Bob
SZM Publisher

publisher

Andy, I'll say (roughly) to you what I said to you on G35driver.com.

I am humbled by your comments ZDayZ leader.

Thank you Andy and Happy New Year to you and the hundreds of devoted ZDayZ followers.

BTW, if you're within 1,500 miles of the mountains of North Carolina around Memorial Day; make your reservations now. What a party. Driving the Dragon is kewl, very kewl.

Bob
Sport Z pub

ZPirate

Roger is our club President and founder so he is more than a spokesman for the club. Several of our club members were subscribers (Roger and myself to name two I am certain of) prior to Sport Z offering club memberships. Our club offers the magazines to club members for $3.25 per issue, but we also use them as giveaways at our annual show, our swap meet and other events. We also provide them to prospective members who attend our functions. So they are also used to promote our club.

Roger's complaint with the club membership issue is twofold. First only your "Partner" clubs get any coverage in Sport Z. Hence his issue with "editoral content" as you describe it. In other words if a club is not a Partner club it doesn't get coverage in Sport Z. Second, as I understand it (and please correct me if I am wrong) in order to be a "Partner" club all members of the club must be subscribers to Sport Z through the club. Our club has approximately 35 members. Based on polls we have conducted at our meetings only half of which want to subscribe or want to have the club dues raised so that each member gets a subscription.

I understand what you are trying to accomplish and that you are not in the business to provide magazines for free. However, there has got to be a way that a club can be a "Partner" club, assuming only one membership level, without requiring that each club member get a subscription. Why not consider a minimum level of participation based on the size of the club? Perhaps we need more education on the program, I don't know. I also suspect that many club members of Z clubs may have been subscribers like me prior to you instituting your club programs.

I like Sport Z and what it provides the Z enthusiast. If this issue isn't resolved I may go back to subscribing directly. However, it seems to me that if you really want to help clubs you would make it easier for them to participate so that it is mutually beneficial to both you and the clubs.

ZPirate

[QUOTE=publisher]Bob,

Not sure what this means. Roger is not a member of my350z nor to my knowledge has he ever been on this site. However, that being said I will pass this on to him.

John

publisher

[QUOTE=ZPirate]Roger is our club President and founder so he is more than a spokesman for the club. Several of our club members were subscribers (Roger and myself to name two I am certain of) prior to Sport Z offering club memberships. Our club offers the magazines to club members for $3.25 per issue, but we also use them as giveaways at our annual show, our swap meet and other events. We also provide them to prospective members who attend our functions. So they are also used to promote our club.

For the first 2 1/2 years of Sport Z Magazine, we supported EVERY request from Z Car Clubs in the USA. I was also $250,000 in the red at that place in time. Changes had to be made immediately or close up shop. I chose to keep us going. I was never a rich man and I was closing in on becoming a senior citizen (I'm there now). BTW, by our data, only 18% of club members were subscribers despite the hundreds and hundreds of magazines we provided for club events. We had to do something!

Roger's complaint with the club membership issue is twofold. First only your "Partner" clubs get any coverage in Sport Z. Hence his issue with "editoral content" as you describe it. In other words if a club is not a Partner club it doesn't get coverage in Sport Z. Second, as I understand it (and please correct me if I am wrong) in order to be a "Partner" club all members of the club must be subscribers to Sport Z through the club. Our club has approximately 35 members. Based on polls we have conducted at our meetings only half of which want to subscribe or want to have the club dues raised so that each member gets a subscription.

We understand yours and Roger's position; I would hope you would respect ours as well.You absolutely do not need to be a Partner Club member to be a subscriber to Sport Z Magazine. We welcome everybody.

I understand what you are trying to accomplish and that you are not in the business to provide magazines for free. However, there has got to be a way that a club can be a "Partner" club, assuming only one membership level, without requiring that each club member get a subscription. Why not consider a minimum level of participation based on the size of the club?

We tried that and it did not work. Our Partner Club program was being ignored by most and the number of Z Car Club members who subscribed to SZM remained about the same.

Perhaps we need more education on the program, I don't know. I also suspect that many club members of Z clubs may have been subscribers like me prior to you instituting your club programs.

Yes, club members subscribed to Sport Z long before our Partner Club. I am absolutey convinced that Roger knows our terms; however, if you would like to review our provisos, simply email Art Singer at associatepublisher@sportzmagazine.com and he'll send them your way immediately.

A little update ZPirate. When we offered three versions of our Partner Club program we had about 5 clubs on-board. We now have 25 or 26 (Art Singer help me out here). Most joined when we went to our present Partner Club format. It is 100% win-win. You help us, we help you.

The content and quality of SZM does not appeal to everyone and Art, Dave and I knew that coming in. As we enter our sixth year of publishing SZM we strive to better ourself with each new issue. I am now $350,000 in the red and we're trying desperately to begin an upward curve to profitability. The current Partner Club program is but one way for us to do so.

I like Sport Z and what it provides the Z enthusiast. If this issue isn't resolved I may go back to subscribing directly.

We would love to count you and your buddies as SZM subscribers.

However, it seems to me that if you really want to help clubs you would make it easier for them to participate so that it is mutually beneficial to both you and the clubs.

Hopefully my words herein help you understand where we're at. Hopefully, Art Singer can elaborate on my comments when time allows.

Bob
Sport Z pub.

SZMAssocPub

ZPriate, I have talked to Roger and I have no problem with his decision to not have the club be a partner club.

We never said that a non partner club could never make it into the magazine. What I do tell people is, Partner Clubs come first when space is available. I have 25 clubs participating in the partner Club promo, so when one of them comes to me and submits a club article/event I have to try and honor them first if space is available. As the Parnter Club promo grows it will be harder to get clubs outside the promo in the magazine. There are exceptions such as the National Convention, West Coast Nationals, and other events around the country that will get a spot in the magazine.

When we first started the magazine, Roger was one of the only people to send in articles and we published them a lot. We are in a postion due to space and the fact that we now have 20+ clubs in the promo, that it is harder to find space for club events.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset with Roger at all. I respect his decision. I wish there were hundreds more like him who are dedicated to the club and the Z as he is. But I also am a realist, belonging to the local Z club in my area and I'm well aware that only about 5% actually participate on a regular basis. This promo started with me asking myself one simple question: What do I get for my $20.00 membership each year. I realized that as a Z nut, it sure would be nice to get more then just discounts (they are free to clubs anyways right?).
And if I'm getting nothing, and I show up to almost every event, then what are the people that pay dues every year but never show up to an event and chances are if they did, I wouldn't be able to tell you their name. I will tell you this, my club has never asked that person why they renewed since they never show up to an event, and they definitely don't hesitate to deposit their check.

When the promo was first started I had three different levels. The first one was a do nothing and recieve $2.00 off coupons to hand out to club members. The second was to order a minimum of 10 issues at a reduced rate and get $2.00 off coupons to hand out to club members. To this day I have had only about 10 $2.00 coupons sent back to me out of around 600 that I sent out. This is where the problem is. If I give people an option to do nothing, they do nothing. The sad part is, there are 45+ Z clubs in the US and they amount to 18% of our subscription base. We never thought that we would be chasing people that belong to clubs that are about Z's. But we are.

It's not like the promo is a one way street. We offer a very good discount and guaranteed exposure in every issue of SZM plus the added incentive that if they are having a decent size club event, we are willing to send them some givaways as doorprizes. The size of the club makes no difference. We have Partner Clubs with over 150 members on board.

Please let Roger know I mean no disrespect in anything that I might have said that could be taken the wrong way. I'm only trying to give some answers to your original question.

Art
assocpub

ZPirate

Art,

First thank you and Bob for taking the time to respond to my questions. In reading between the lines it sounds like a purely economic issue to me. You are in the business of selling as many magazines as you can. Basically as I am prone to tell clients "if you want to play you have to pay." In other words in order to get the benefits of a Partner club the club must purchase a subscription (at a discounted rate) for each club member. Otherwise the club can purchase a minimum of 10 magazines (at a discount) and take its chances that it might get some exposure or other benefits. Obviously the free market economy will bare what it will bare and we in the private sector are all driven by the free market. It appears that at this time there are numerous Z clubs willing to pay to play. Unfortuately mine is not. You are to be congradulated for your sales abilities since you have been able to sell so many clubs this concept.

Again I appreciate the magazine and what it provides the Z enthusiast and I plan to continue to purchase it. Although I am not trying to speak for Roger, I think what gripes him about the whole deal is that he provided articles and information to you as you mentioned above when the magazine first started and when others did not. However, now that things have changed with regard to club participation his articles or stories are not being used while Partner club info is because our club chooses not to be a Partner club. Obviously that is your choice as it is our club's choice not to be a Partner club.

I am not trying to fault you for your stance on this matter just trying to understand were you are coming from and let you know were I am coming from.

John

shezzzhot

iTrader: (5)

I received my copy and let me say that this magazine keeps getting better.
I'm going to repost what I typed about it from another site:

"Amazing!! Worth the wait! I read the entire article with Joey Kramer in a few minutes and drooled on every picture. Greg Sherry did an awesome job. I like the style of and type questions he asked, the layout of the text, and the candidness of Kramer; his comfort level is palpable.

The opening piece, Half a Decade and Counting, is a nice look into SportZ's history and future. Way to go!

I enjoyed the fatcs given on the new GT-R. No rumors just clean facts!

Terry Parkhurst has a nice feature too, Go, Speed Racer, Go!, shows how the love of Z and Nissan can occur at any age. The white 280ZX looks like it rolled off the assembly line this month!
The Canadian 1984 300ZX Turbo is impressive as well.

The write-up on ZCON was terrific too. And the racing section is good info...I'm not finished with the mag, but managed to read all of that lastnight when I returned from my trip and found the mag in my mailbox! Will finish later today."


Bob, Art, and the rest of the SportZ crew have a fantastic magazine. Keep up the great work.

If you don't have a copy you can buy it on the stands at certain book stores (larger chains like Borders and Barnes & Noble) but subscription is the best!!

publisher

You be hot shezzzhot. I always appreciate your comments.

Bob
SZM pub