By Dean Adams
Cycle World magazine will cut production from 12 issues a year to four, according to a news release from Bonnier, Cycle World’s parent company. Their release states that Cycle World will publish 4 coffee table-sized journals per year.
Bonnier bet big on motorcycle publishing some years ago and it clearly hasn’t gone well, with Bonnier laying off bike mag employees and shutting down magazines like Dirt Rider and Sport Rider. The usual trite phrases about “changing markets” and “building brands” and “refining print content” come with the announcement that what was a decades-old monthly is now going to be a coffee-tabled sized (?) journal published four times a year because enthusiasts won’t buy/read a thin magazine.
Someone also convinced Bonnier to also take on many other roles: MotoAmerica’s publishing partner, and buying events like the Indy Mile.
Clearly the writing has been on the wall for some time; print is dead.
Oh, wait, what if a publishing house didn’t buy every ailing American motorcycle magazine and then have to prop them up for years by blowing a fortune, didn’t try to become a one stop shop for magazines, events, sanctioning bodies and ad agencies?
RIDER magazine, published by EPG Media in Minnesota, didn’t waste a fortune by trying to be every thing to seemingly no one.
RIDER magazine is still published monthly (that’s 12 times a year) and its subscriber rolls are growing.
