Quick preview of the new issue.
STARTGATE 124
SPRING CLEAN
OK, so you should have noticed straight away that there have been a few changes with the mag. The most obvious being the size and format, we’ve gone a bit shorter. Why? Well…err…we fancied a change…and we wanted to improve the quality of the paper that we print on. Over the last few years paper prices have rocketed, so much so that we have had to drop the grade of the paper we have been using…and that’s not right. The feel and the quality of the magazine is massively important, and the old stuff just wasn’t ‘doing it’ for us. So a smaller size and a bit of juggling has meant that we can now use better paper. And, coincidently, the new format is better suited to our iPad version of the magazine. We’ve been amazed by the numbers of iPad subscribers we have. Is it the future? We’ll have to see about that.
We’ve also made a few changes with the content of Dirt. With the ever–present onslaught of the internet, and all the good things it can offer, we have decided to switch things around a little. The magazine will become more feature based, articles will be able to have a bit more space to breathe (there’s still nothing like a big photo printed in a magazine is there?). We will still have bike tests and our Hammered section (now renamed ‘Wear and Tear’), but most of our product stuff (what was once called Fresh Produce) will be online. We can use more photos, embed videos, use graphics and have more space to write about products online. We can give you more information, and we can do this as soon as the products come through the door rather than a month down the line. And of course you can have your say (immediately) in our comments box at the bottom of each article. We have a lot of plans for our online content, and we really believe that the magazine and website can work hand in hand.
This may sound a bit corporate, but how people consume information these days is changing rapidly. We have to constantly look at what we do and how we can react to these changes. We have to ask ourselves some tough questions…I mean, will magazines still be around in five or ten years? We have to be flexible. We are lucky here at Dirt that we can react quickly to stuff as it happens, so we are in a strong position. They do say that a change is as good as a rest.
But enough of this, we also have to remember that the reason we all do this is because of our love for bikes and riding. Without those two wheels Dirt would be nothing. Enjoy the mag.
Mike Rose.
