"Motorcycle Explorer Magazine"

[Adrian]

I think it's all gone dead. Nothing on Facebook and the domain is dead

[MattW]

I think it's all gone dead. Nothing on Facebook and the domain is dead

Facebook content all still there.

Website (or the forum the domain pointed to) is now dead but there was nothing to see anyway. Bit of a fail by the MEM 'team' though (James on his own?) - never develop a website on a live domain. Just looks messy and unprofessional when it's unbranded, up and down like a *****'* drawers and incomplete even when it is up.

[Bigtim]

I'd have thought ABR / Alun wouldn't be too impressed about a person in a trusted position setting up in competition,

quote]

I might be wrong but I get the impression Alun has lost interest since his accident and is more interested in the adventure travel side of his business rather than ABR. Shame really. He doesn't even edit the magazine anymore. There are quite a few changes at ABR, PJ has gone and now it appears James has started some competition. Watch this space as they say.

[mondo traveller]

Its being set up by James691 A moderator forum ABR he also runs the ABR facebook page. (thumbs)

No competition to worry about then!

[johnnyboxer]

Will it arrive 'on time' each month :whistle:

[Redmurty]

Things evolve, things change and the more they do so the more they remain the same.

Alun set a magazine up he employs people to work on the mag, what's the problem with that.

With regards to any accident like all of us who have had a serious accident or witnessed one he probably re assessed his life.

Good luck to all involved in ABR and who have moved on and decided to venture out on their own adventures. We are "adventure bike riders" so you would of thought there would be an element of free spirit and progression within us all so it's no shock things have changed.

cheers Spud

[MattW]

I'd have thought ABR / Alun wouldn't be too impressed about a person in a trusted position setting up in competition,

quote]

I might be wrong but I get the impression Alun has lost interest since his accident and is more interested in the adventure travel side of his business rather than ABR. Shame really. He doesn't even edit the magazine anymore. There are quite a few changes at ABR, PJ has gone and now it appears James has started some competition. Watch this space as they say.

Yeah - I'd noticed that Alun is no longer at the helm of the magazine and it was a shame to see PJ go - the mag and forum definitely has a different feel now (and in my humble opinion, hasn't changed for the better) but change is inevitable and nothing lasts for ever. These days I dip into the forum and don't religiously buy every ABR mag like I used to - just doesn't feel the same without certain key people.

But regarding MEM - James is about to learn what a tough job it is to launch and make a success of a new magazine and forum. With a magazine, it makes no difference whether it's print or electronic, it's all about the content. People,want to read high quality interesting articles written by engaging authors with a high standard of presentation and high quality visuals. They want to read new stuff they've not read anywhere else and it can't stop - you are forever at the grindstone, churning out this interesting, engaging content - as soon as you stop, you've lost your readership. James is using facebook to ask for people to provide content but with the best will in the world, this is very unlikely to be the type of writing that will attract people to your 'magazine'. All too often you see this type of thing launch with a few articles donated by kind hearted friends and supporters and a bit of a fanfare, only for the content to dry up and the whole thing to fizzle out just to become 'yet another' seldom updated blog / website / forum. The internet is full of websites / e-magazines / forums and the biking and 'adventure travel' sector is already crowded. MEM needs to attract and retain people in this crowded marketplace.

In order to make it pay, you've got to attract advertisers and sponsors (unless you're bankrolling it yourself as a hobby). The hosting and bandwidth costs are significant unless you're going to try and do it on the cheap with free / budget providers but you'll never achieve a high quality presentation with these. But the advertisers and sponsors also want to see the same high quality content, big readership and page impressions before they'll give you money. This all adds up to 'risk' and lots of it.

However, I'm sure James understands all this and I wish him all the best but it's going to bleed him dry...

[moto al]

Hi, in chat with Fraser Scott, owner of scottoiler, he commented on abr achievement having all the main motorcycle manufacturers advertising in the mag,in such a short time no mean feet.abr for me is the only decent mag for sale in the uk, so I say thanks alun your doing a great job.regards al.ps and I call a spade a shovel ,and not a sickofant

image_2014-06-26.jpg (16.68 KiB) Viewed 2139 times

[davsato]

Things change, people move on.