Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Stance is Everything had a brilliant analysis of trends in online media vs print "Killing Automotive Media"

in response to a Killing Automotive Media http://www.stanceiseverything.com/2016/04/were-killing-automotive-media/

and I was inspired to leave my comment after reading what a couple dozen others had written.

Here's my take on the cool article Stance Is Everything wrote:

Damn glad to read your thoughts, and your analysis of the print killed by blog, killed by instagram is well done. A clear look and grasp of the big picture. Advertorial... Ha! Yeah, magazines did well for a long time on free products to improve the shop rod while writing articles on the newest carb, cam, trans etc etc. No one since has gotten that schwag thrown their way. Oh, some have scored rain x, floor mats, etc whatever, but the magazines really raked it in. Magazines sure have died and went away in the past decade though, and I am sure it's due to the birth of the websites, cell phone cams, etc. Though only a teenager (the internet is what, 19 years old?) it's toppling of the old regime is mighty. The new talent that has grown and created good new stuff like Bring A Trailer, Petrolicious, etc has far eclipsed the previous medium for specific services or great content. HAMB, Hooniverse, Jalopnik, Bangshift and others sure swooped in and took a lead. Also, blogs and websites bloomed and withered with lives in single digit years. Some real good sites have come and gone, Winding Road, Carros Antigos, and others... about 4 a year by my standards, and the odd thing is that they had cool content, but never a crazy fast way of getting syndication like this Tumblr - Instagram - Facebook thing. 10 thousand followers? Holy shit! I've been blogging for nearly 10 years, and was inspired by sites that I stumbled across while surfing the web, and seeing that ANYONE could be a self publishing machine, and put anything they wanted on their own site. So, without advertising it, I did to. People stumbled across it, and I made friends, acquaintances, and free press passes to SEMA! Haven't made a dime yet, because, well, I wasn't focused on that, didn't realize the BAT idea before they did, or advertising like Jalopnik, and still haven't gotten anyone soliciting me to advertise on JACG that I can respect. Edelbrock, K&N, Holley, Hurst, etc. Just schmucks in lousy car insurance companies, desperate for traffic. Blogs were a great way to link up, then they were passed by when Tumblr and Facebook made connections faster, easier, and more insanely numerous than anyone can cope with. 10 thousand followers? That is great, but tell me 200 names from that pile of readers? Nope, it can't be done. Blogging still gives me readership traffic, but I can tell you the 50 or a 100 people that comment frequently and that I reply to, on a daily or weekly basis. I'd rather stick with that than point to the app on the side of the site that shows 220k readers and not know a single one. Of course, if JACG were paying bills, or getting ad rates based on traffic, I'd likely change my mind for the sake of income. But, I don't have the luxury of selling out. There are far too many who somehow have nailed the sales and marketing, in addition to great content, and are out there getting paid for me to consider my site in their league. I know better than to think I can monetize JACG. It's no where near the content quality needed to make more money than minimum bill paying requirements that it would take to get to events and cover them like I do now because I've got a job unrelated to online aspirations. I hope to leverage my online accomplishments, traffic, and content to prove I've got the chops to get a job with a big corporation that will pay me handsomely, have medical benefits, and cover the expenses to get around to the kick ass events I want to cover first hand (Goodwood, can you hear me? I'm talking to YOU!) In the death of small magazines, and Zines (remember the 90s when the brave tried self publishing?) some really good stuff was created like Rodders Journal and they inspired Street Rodder Premium, and Motor Trend Classic... and the Hot Rod crew has been voraciously trying to stay alive somehow, while killing off Custom Classic Trucks, 5.0 Mustangs, Popular Hot Rodding etc etc (trust me, they killed off the weak runts around the office) and tried things like Overkill, Hot Rod Deluxe, and television was desperate to try and get ANYTHING to compete with Top Gear, then gave in and made a USA weak lousy version, just like any other British show that is cool getting an American version. Sorry, I digress. Wrapping this ridiculously long note up, the best are going to survive, and those that consider themselves good, but fall by the wayside, are going to either give up, or rethink and reinvent themselves and try again to make their goals happen. Some incredible talent was unknown before the internet, maybe they came of age at the right time, or maybe, digital cameras, same day online publishing, online video sites like You Tube and Vimeo, etc have made it easy for the talented to get a fast foothold instead of waiting for old bastards to die off and create an open position at Car and Driver, Motor Trend, or Road and Track. Lets face it, the old guard of magazine titles were where they got lazy and stopped being hungry. Some real talent was in there among a lot of mediocre lucky bastards on the gravy train, but there was no room for growth and addition of incredible new young talent like Stefan Marjorham, Bruce Holder, Larry Chen, and John Jackson. Some guys had to take a huge financial risk and go for broke with their own magazines, (Luke Ray with) Fuel, Sunday Slackers, (Coby Gerwertz with) Church and let me sing the praises of the hungry, the young lions, the new force pushing aside the cruddy old mags your dad read. Hef was a hungry young lion once, and made a effing incredible breakthrough in magazines with Playboy. He effing broke the lines, crossed the effing man, and walked past. Set up clubs, had a swag jet, and a Hollywood mansion for his private harem and incredible parties. (I bow in his general direction as I'm not worthy) and still was including the literary giants in his magazine, to read once you'd absorbed the eye candy. His kind of revolution will never come again. Everyone seems to want to focus on a narrow market now. Hef was showing you the artists, stereo gear, and the cars. And damn it, you bought that magazine. Thank you Hef! (Raise a glass to Hef the next time you're in a bar!) Because he paved the way, and proved you could make your own magazine, create what you wanted to see and sell the hell out of it. Ain't many people want to risk it all, fight the man in court for free speech, and sell keys to the Playboy Clubs, but, we all know we can print our own magazine, showcase the finest artists, sculptors, custom car makers, designers, and photographers, and write whatever we feel like it, and not have any damn editor, censor, or management tell us otherwise. We will live or die on the internet if we've created a wave that swells and breaks just so, where others want to surf (Petrolicious, you lovely bastards) or we'll wash out and quickly disappear. Some will make it, and have glory, just like the rebels in the 60s; Von Dutch, Barris, Roth, and others will maybe get a retrospective because they died of cancer or car crashes (Jae Bueno, Paul Walker) while we kept marching singing their praises. But like you pointed out marketers will try to imitate, or rip off, the successful, and new things will come up that we can't even imagine, and new young lions will have been inspired by those of us in the here and now, when we are old and gone (Von Dutch hats and clothing). While I'm still posting, I'll still be hitting events, taking photos, and posting new content and coverage. Maybe I'll be able to afford to get further from home and cover new events, or maybe I'll surf the web, and just show jaw dropping awesome stuff I've found, and share with my readers the coolest and most creative things other people are doing. I don't know what will be, except, I'll be enjoying it anyway I can, and sharing it on just a car guy.  Because whether I've taken the photos, or someone else has, I'm not creating anything, I'm just sharing what I've found cool, with wheels 

13 comments:

  1. Content: 90% farmed from other sites
    Opinions: Inane
    Tech articles: Nonexistent
    Original writing: Comparable to a 7th grader plagiarizing his History report from the encyclopedia
    (He's talking about you - minus the ad revenue you can't get )

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    1. hell, I have to ask, who did what? He - who - is talking about me? That whole letter up there is my writing, responding to what he wrote about magazines vs blogs and then Instagram vs blogs. I think my content is mostly from other sites too. But, I never claimed to be doing this blog for anyone but me in my old age when alzheimers knocks out my memory, then everything her will be tailor made for my tastes, and I'm going to enjoy the hell out of it

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  2. Looks like your comment got deleted.

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    1. they haven't posted it yet, or they aren't accepting more comments, I've asked them through their facebook page which it is

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    2. it's posted now, they were busy with stuff and hadn't gotten to comments yet (Me too! I just got online to do mine, which is to say, yours)

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  3. I look at cars, art, design, good ideas, pretty color combos (Harley is the hands down winner) and inspiration. Throw in some historical tidbits and I am good.

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    1. well said, I can go with that

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  4. Nice write up. I haven't quit any magazines because of the web, it's just nice to get the extras in-between.

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    1. thanks... I haven't either, but 4 of the ones I used to subscribe to quit on me. PHR, Motor Trend Classic, Rod and Custom, and another I can't recall. Church fizzled out, Sunday Slacker did too.

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  5. Content: Who cares where it's from?
    Opinions: Honest and original.
    Tech articles:Oops! Wrong blog!
    Original writing: Put down the computer and read some Vonnegut.
    If you want to see an interesting variety of all things that have wheels
    you came to the right place! Never a dull moment here. Carry on Jesse,
    and Thanks.

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    1. thanks! Vonnegut, I still haven't gotten around to Slaughterhouse 5... maybe someday, but I doubt it... and here I go to carry on!

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  6. Jessie...you and I have very different opinions on things. In fact, after our little tiff, I vowed to not return to your site. But, to be honest...I still secretly catch up on it at least once every other week. It still is one of the best sites out here, and the variety of content is still addictive. That said, I agree with your post on the article. It is one of the few times I think we agree 100%, and I couldn't have said it better. While you and I may never be Jalopnik, neither of us really is aiming for that. I have no intention of selling my soul for a few dollars, and I can tell from your site that you wont either. One thing...it is not just the creation of original content that is important. It is in some cases, just the collection of unique content from the vast internet and placing it on one site that is important. You may pull images from other sites, but it is stuff that most of us would never see if it were not for you. I still love your content. Your articles and writing are solely original, as are mine...and, though we will never get rich off of any of it, we still can hold our heads high against the others who do not create. Hef is a great example...though we do not compete on that level, what we do is still competing. You create your site, your way, your rules...and that needs to be recognized more and appreciated. Anyway, great post...great site. I still dont agree with you on a lot of things, but you can count me in on that list of regular readers and commenters that you are connected to. Congrats on a killer site...still. Chris Raymond

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    1. Awww shucks. (looks down, kicks a pebble, tries to disappear into a hole) That ol tiff? Whatever that was about I'm sure you're sorry and won't do it again. (Ha! I kill me! Sense of humor that can't be held down!) I don't remember what that was about. Seriously, that was years ago, and the world kept rolling along, and my memory was shit then and hasn't improved, just like my income and lots of other stuff. I hope you're doing better, and taking vacations! You're right, sometimes it's just being the outlet that filters through everything and only posts good stuff. Isn't that what the newspapers do? And magazines too, and websites aren't any different. We look at all the stuff but only post or repost the things we want to share. Just like National Geographic. The whole world out there is available for them to feature, but they pick and choose. None of us has the money and time to see all the events, so we have to get what we can from the other websites... it's the best we can do to showcase the cool stuff. If we were under some rule to only show what we create, well... Foose and a couple others would be ok, but everyone else is showing what other people create. We have to. We can't limit by spite or ego, content that is only deemed worthy if it's original. How many people can take a photo of a one of a kind vehicle? Not many, so the rest of us have to re-use their photo. Same with movies, we can't all be on set to take photos, so we can only repost the ones that leak out. Hell, when it comes to news, NO ONE is the first on scene every time, it's all repeating what SOMEBODY else said, and that is never the same 1st responding news person or agency. How many cool stories are simply reposted and gleaned from viewing hundreds of other stories? Like the tank in the basement, or the barnfind from Hawaii? The Stance Is Everything article, imho, is written by someone that does a good job of originating all his content, but, he can do that as his content is so focused on just one facet of the car world. He won't be putting motorcycles in his covereage, or WW2 tanks. It's certainly easy for him to talk down to anyone that just puts out the cool stuff from all the many vehicle sports, as he covers none. Or news, or barnfinds, etc etc. But, we are obliged to keep telling our readers the news so they are prepped to deal with stuff. Like oil and gas news, recalls, and other stuff. I feel that some things simply need the coverage, like women in racing. It's the right thing to do. Thanks Chris! Your review is still the most poignant I've ever found.

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