RE: Introducing Strada Magazine
Discussion
NathanChadwick said:
MDMA . said:
It would have been a decent thing to inform all us subscribers (who have already paid) prior to finding out on the grapevine, that we weren't going to receive any more issues. At what point are we going to get a refund?
An email – I am told – will be sent later this week with two options, one of which will be a refund. I can't go into it anymore than that.I understand the frustration – I truly do – but I can't say much more.
Appreciate it seems out of your hands Nathan, more if anyone else is reading this who is involved.
NathanChadwick said:
MDMA . said:
It would have been a decent thing to inform all us subscribers (who have already paid) prior to finding out on the grapevine, that we weren't going to receive any more issues. At what point are we going to get a refund?
An email – I am told – will be sent later this week with two options, one of which will be a refund. I can't go into it anymore than that.I understand the frustration – I truly do – but I can't say much more.
MDMA . said:
NathanChadwick said:
MDMA . said:
It would have been a decent thing to inform all us subscribers (who have already paid) prior to finding out on the grapevine, that we weren't going to receive any more issues. At what point are we going to get a refund?
An email – I am told – will be sent later this week with two options, one of which will be a refund. I can't go into it anymore than that.I understand the frustration – I truly do – but I can't say much more.
Agree with the other comments that issue 1 was great and sad there won't be any more. As they are low on stock of issue 1 so effectively a sell out first issue there is clearly something else that has gone on as popularity hasn't been the problem and if a lot of those subscribed then cashflow forecasts should have been fine too assuming the original business plan was sound.
Having had to work from home like many others throughout Covid and staring at a screen all day when I would usually have been out on the road half the time a print magazine was a refreshing change as more screen time for something digital is the last thing I need.
Nathan has worked bloody hard to keep this alive. There are factors beyond his control which have brought this situation about. I've owned and run several businesses over the years, and I know that sometimes even when you have a good product and a willing customer base, the stars don't always align, no matter how hard you try to push them.
There is no blame to be laid, IMO.
There is no blame to be laid, IMO.
Shame as I felt quite invested in the magazine. I also echo the other posters that it would have been nice to have had some sort of communication rather than learning about it from here.
It will be interesting to see what the "offer" is for subscribers. Having been a subscriber to MC and ending up with a couple of months of Car magazine (still unopened) when it failed and now having paid for four issues and getting one I don't think that i'll be bothering to subscribe to another new and exciting magazine.
It will be interesting to see what the "offer" is for subscribers. Having been a subscriber to MC and ending up with a couple of months of Car magazine (still unopened) when it failed and now having paid for four issues and getting one I don't think that i'll be bothering to subscribe to another new and exciting magazine.
Sorry Strada hasn't worked out, I had hoped it would flourish and provide high-quality coverage of the cars in between 'new' and 'classic'.
It's worth recalling that evo magazine only barely survived its first year, it really was close to going to the wall. And that was the best car mag ever, in the heyday of print, occupying a fresh vacancy in the market and picking up known and experienced journos from Performance Car. It's clearly hugely challenging to build a magazine from scratch to the point that it's self-sustaining.
My feedback after buying issue 1:
I really like the types of cars featured, interesting / fast cars from a really good period. Had it continued I'd probably have hoped for some more obscure models like the Alpina Z1 - there's nothing like learning about a car you never knew existed - but I'm totally interested in reading about all the cars that appeared.
The photography was good, and I enjoyed the number of pages allowed to each feature, it really let you feel you were getting to know about a car, photos from different angles etc.
The production was good, not just the paper but the print quality. The layout, just enough extra space to make it feel a bit special, without wasting acres of space.
I'd probably prefer smaller, more frequent issues, although I understand this may have been an aspiration for the future. The price point of £10 felt spot on for the size and quality of the magazine (could even go to £12 or so IMO), I'd rather pay a bit more for something great.
I like some of the bespoke design elements - taking a graphic from each car and adding it to the pages, like the M Power stripes. I like the line art profile view of the cars. The pie charts did nothing for me because the categories aren't independent. 'I had one' is surely a subset of 'Nostalgia Overload', so it's nonsensical to me to put them as separate ingredients in the 205 GTi's appeal. The concept is sound, but needs a bit more clarity of thought to establish the categories.
The written content is probably the most important element of a magazine for me, and I found it a mixed bag to be honest. Going into depth and putting cars into historical context is something I really appreciate, understanding the reasons why a car came out the way it did. However, to me most of the writing was workmanlike; it didn't transport me to the location, didn't give me the vicarious thrill of being behind the wheel that the best writers can, didn't indulge in storytelling, despite the admirable length of the features. I imagine it's not easy to get the best writers involved, but it's tricky to produce a great mag without one or two.
The best bits were the interviews, lots of interesting insight and colour from the interviewees. So great work doing the interviews.. but need a bit more from the actual writers too, IMO. It's this last area that had me on the fence on buying issue 2, a question now obviously moot.
Still, I'm glad I got the one and only issue; there are some really nice photos and historical background around a very interesting collection of maybe-attainable cars.
RoadRunner220 said:
samoht said:
Had it continued I'd probably have hoped for some more obscure models like the Alpina Z1 - there's nothing like learning about a car you never knew existed -
That was in issue 1, page 128Doofus said:
Nathan has worked bloody hard to keep this alive. There are factors beyond his control which have brought this situation about. I've owned and run several businesses over the years, and I know that sometimes even when you have a good product and a willing customer base, the stars don't always align, no matter how hard you try to push them.
There is no blame to be laid, IMO.
This. It must have been a slog to get it off the ground. He gave it a go and unfortunately it didn’t work out. Nathan, I hope you give it another try at some point. The first issue was fantastic and you should be congratulated for getting that far. There is no blame to be laid, IMO.
Mark_Blanchard said:
Magneto looks quite pretensions magazine, but I'll give it a go. And it's better than loosing my money.
Yep - if I don't enjoy Magneto I'll not renew but I've already spent the money so it's lost whatever way I look at it In the meantime thanks to the suggestion earlier from PH'r "thegreenhell" I'll subscribe to classic retro modern
cerb4.5lee said:
I've asked for a refund because that Magneto magazine looks s
te. Very poor form imo to just transfer you across to a magazine that I'm not interested in. I'm not happy at all and I'll certainly be very wary of subscribing to magazines in the future for sure.
Understandable but If everyone took that approach we wouldn’t see a new car mag again ever. Maybe we won’t, I hope not. I appreciate the principle here but in essence we backed a start up which didn’t succeed - it happens.te. Very poor form imo to just transfer you across to a magazine that I'm not interested in. I'm not happy at all and I'll certainly be very wary of subscribing to magazines in the future for sure. 
Mark_Blanchard said:
Magneto looks quite pretentious magazine, but I'll give it a go. And it's better than loosing my money.
Same here. I've seen it previously, but always swerved it as it is frankly aimed at people far more well-heeled than I am. I recognise some of the editorial names from other titles, but anything that has a person in charge of 'luxury advertising' generally gets a no from me.
https://www.magnetomagazine.com/about-us.htm
For many years I used to have a subscription to GQ magazine but on receiving an issue that had 38 pages of adverts for watches, boats and expensive pens before getting to any editorial content whatsoever I decided that they were taking the piss a little and it wasn't really for me any more, binned the subscription.
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