American-V 107!

Breaking News: American-V 107 is in production!

Andy HAmerican-V 14 Comments

It has been a long time coming and we’re not quite there yet, but we have been too quiet for too long!

What’s going on?

Basically, we have been working out how to take the magazine forwards in a viable form, in line with the expectations of our core readership – who want a printed magazine, as do we – and it’s not as simple as just pressing a different button.

Publishing is changing and many will not survive: some have already failed, and some big names among them. We have talked about this in previous issues, and the current fiasco pandemic has only underlined our need to evolve. So evolve we will.

It’s 1984 all over again … the launch of the Evo motor, that is, not George Orwell.

I think.

I hope!

But we are still here and are as committed as ever to printing American-V, but the current thinking is that the triple issues – like 104 – will be the rule rather than the exception, and they will be arriving quarterly. Effectively three monthly issues rather than three bi-monthlies.

Does that mean we’re going monthly again?

Yes … and no.

The plan is to produce a digital monthly that will feed the quarterly, but it will NOT be a turn-page issue, it will NOT be the full issue and it will NOT be like anything you’ve seen before.

  • The digital turn-page issues will still be available, but they use the print artwork so will be bigger and arrive quarterly.
  • The digital monthly will effectively be American-V Lite and will feature heavily edited content and fewer images than you would find in the full magazine because it’s hard to get that amount of detail into something that – at best – is about half the size of one side of a two-page spread.
  • We genuinely believe that even the most cynical anti-digital critics – a group in which we include ourselves – will find the digital monthly engaging, and hopefully even compelling.

None of this happens overnight: there is no existing path that we can follow and money doesn’t grow on trees.

We have got to get this right first time, raising our profile to attract a wider audience as well as keeping our loyal readers on side, and working closely with the right advertisers to the benefit of all.

That’s a ridiculously easy thing to say. It’s very much harder to deliver on, and it is important to us that we deliver on our promises: that is why I’ve been careful to refer to our evolution as ‘current thinking’ and ‘the plan’, and why this message has been a long time coming.

Watch this space.

Comments 14

  4. Well, if it proves to be as good as the sneak preview I have seen recently, then you should definitely be onto a winner!
    I certainly look forward to seeing the first release of this concept put into practice: I know for sure that I am totally convinced by it.
    It will be an exciting new dawn for AMV … xx

  6. Hi Andy
    That is great news mate. When I didn’t get a reply to my last email I feared the mag had gone the way of so many others, or worse still, Covid got you.
    I think we are all just grateful to still have the mag in some kind of paper form, so whatever works best for you is fine by me.
    Thank you and your crew for all your hard work in keeping AV alive during the past two years.
    Here’s to the future of AV in all in all it’s forms.

  8. Sounds like a plan and the last triple mag was a good read. Gotta be honest , I’m really not sure I’m going renew my subscription though. Whilst the mags quality and content has always been a step above, the lack of communication recently has not instilled me with confidence. In saying that I genuinely appreciate it would have been hard for you guys and I genuinely wish you well for the future

    1. Post
      Author

      Hopefully we will be able to give you confidence again as this settles down. We have been a couple of days from being about to say something for the last three months, but never within reach, and rather than going off at half cock with the real news close to hand, it got deferred.

      1. Good positive plan Andy, all good things take time & the wait will be worth it – total confidence in you & the team such that I have increased subs for the next two years.
        All power to your elbow.

  9. Hi Andy
    All sounds very promising and exciting.
    A dawn for Amercian V look forward both print and digital. After all you can’t swat a fly with digital edition 😜
    Keep on keeping on

  10. Hi Andy,
    Thanks for the update & good luck with your endeavors, looking forward to the paper issue (to join with the others in my collection).

    Great to read that your still with us as well.

  11. It looks like the magazine may have finally gone under. Given that there have been no updates for over 3 months (since before Christmas), when it was stated on Facebook that the new issue would definitely be out by the end of January, things don’t look promising. It’s a bit of a shame really, as it was a great magazine which I’d been subscribing to almost from the beginning (and was about half way through my current 2 year subscription!). Never mind – I guess there are bigger things in the world to worry about, but the mag would have been a small bright spot in these difficult times. It won’t be the first time I’ve lost my subs on a bike magazine (and probably won’t be the last)!

    1. Post
      Author

      Hi Paul, sorry for the tardy response: deadline was unpleasant and then we’ve been pitched straight into sorting out new website hosting, which is proving to be fun, and which is why I announced the return on Facebook 🙂

      I will update the social hub as soon as all the dns stuff has been resolved in the background.

      I’m a little confused by the two year sub: I didn’t know we were still doing those, or that the last ones were still running? But that’s the joy of outsourcing the subs operation. Expect a response from the subs department imminently – I’m waiting for a knock on the door to mark the arrival of my office copies. 🙂

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