USMS Magazine

I'm with Tom for an "undecided" vote. I read both the SwimInfo article and the Convention summary from the EC and must say it appears that the EC did their "due diligence" but am afraid it's going to be one of those things that only "time will tell" who's correct in their arguments. Jim :(

this is a terrible idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've worked on marketing new magazines. The cost for magazines is tremedous because both paper & labor are so explosive. I can't believe that an organization like USMS believes that thye can put out a magazine. It is ridiculous. The only benefit is that because of the 501(c)3, there woudl be no taxes on profit. The IRS freaks out when nonprofit memberships start doing things like this because it looks so questionable. I've worked on marketing new magazines. It is almost impossible to make a profit. Most go out of business before they are even heard about by people. The staff necessary is huge. the costs are very hard to contain. I can't believe an organization like USMS would even think that thye could come up withthe upfront cash to cover the printing contracts. Generally the innitial costs are huge and then they don't stop. IF ANYONE CAN STOP THIS DO SO NOW. MAYBE AFTE SOME RESEARCH CAN BE DONE, IT MIGHT BE VIABLE. i DON'T BELIEVE THAT ANYONE KNOWS THE TRUE NUMBERS. OR DO THEY. WAS THIS OUT OF THE BLUE OR CALUATED??????

Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com this is a terrible idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've worked on marketing new magazines. The cost for magazines is tremedous because both paper & labor are so explosive. I can't believe that an organization like USMS believes that thye can put out a magazine. It is ridiculous. The only benefit is that because of the 501(c)3, there woudl be no taxes on profit. The IRS freaks out when nonprofit memberships start doing things like this because it looks so questionable. I've worked on marketing new magazines. It is almost impossible to make a profit. Most go out of business before they are even heard about by people. The staff necessary is huge. the costs are very hard to contain. I can't believe an organization like USMS would even think that thye could come up withthe upfront cash to cover the printing contracts. Generally the innitial costs are huge and then they don't stop. IF ANYONE CAN STOP THIS DO SO NOW. MAYBE AFTE SOME RESEARCH CAN BE DONE, IT MIGHT BE VIABLE. i DON'T BELIEVE THAT ANYONE KNOWS THE TRUE NUMBERS. OR DO THEY. WAS THIS OUT OF THE BLUE OR CALUATED?????? You're slightly misinformed. USMS is not starting their own magazine. USMS has a contract with Sports Publications to produce a magazine for USMS, has for some 12 years. About every 4 years this contract expires, and a new request for proposals for a publisher is pout out. This includes the current oublisher and potential other publishers. This time the decision has been made to go with a different publisher. Magazine already has a built in 40,000 subscribers as you get it when you pay your USMS yearly dues. This was not out of blue at all. What IS out of blue is that many people haven't been aware of this process, simply because they don't tend to read the administrative portion of the USMS website where EC comittee, BOD committee and various other comittee and other business minutes and newsletters are posted for ALL members of USMS to read.

What will happen to those of us who subscribe to SWIM and are NOT USMS members? Will there be 2 lists of subscribers--those with USMS memberships and those of us who are non-affiliated? Or will we be stuck with whatever the current publisher decides to publish in place of USMS/Swim magazine? Having seen at least 2 the other publications that are done by the current publisher--I don't want them! There was another publisher who tried to put out a swimming magazine for adults (Rodale?) -- it failed miserably.

Wouldn't this poll be more useful if it was accompanied with a summary of the changes and the reasons for the decision?

SPI will continue to publish SWIM and independent subscribers will continue to receive it. Absent editorial input from USMS, it remains to be seen how much the "flavor" of the magazine will change. I expect SWIM to continue to be a high quality publication and am sure they will aggressively market it to the adult swimming community (something I've never really been sure they were doing since we handed them 30K+ subscribers in one basket). I hope SPI will be successful in keeping lots of USMS people as subscribers and will further develope circulation far beyond our ranks. Having multiple thriving adult swimming publications in the marketplace will serve our interests better than having just one.

Hey Allen: Possibly you could add an undecided vote to this poll.....at least until we have listened to all the facts surrounding this change.

Originally posted by msgrupp There was another publisher who tried to put out a swimming magazine for adults (Rodale?) -- it failed miserably. Which is a shame, because I thought it was a good magazine. Just because it failed, doesn't mean it didn't have value. Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com Also, I read, over the internet, several swimming newsletters. Some local swimming groups have extremely good newsletters that cover moe than just their area's news and events. When I was reading over the documentation, the possibility of (specific) LMSC newsletters being an insert for the member's magazines, was being investigated. I was struck that, before ad revenues were considered, the new magazine would cost only 1% more than the current magazine. (This was an estimate. This included start-up costs.) Even with limited ad revenue, it would appear to cost less. A lot of your questions are answered in the documentation that Jim M. linked above.

Obviously the cost per member will be the cost to publish less the income/revenue brought in divided by the total membership. Projections of each of these are in the materials from the convention. The way USMS is structured, an over budget expenditures in one area does not have a direct impact on other budgeted costs. So no essential budgeted services would be cut to fund cost increases. The converse of this is also true; increases in revenues (ad sales, membership dues, etc.) do not automatically increase any budgeted expenditures. As for the terms, as I understand it, there is no contract. However, the proposal from Douglas Murphy stated a proposed 3-year arrangement.

WhenI started in USMS, I really thought that it was great that it seemed to be a very open organization. This seemed intersting becasue I live in a relatively isolate area of Illinois. I've read many of the post from the executive commintttee and other administrative posts. Plus I generally read Swim from cover to cover, I don't recall reading about the organization looking into starting a new magazine, only that proposals were being taken. I've gone back and looked at many forum discussion threads from the past that still exist. Editorial content is not always as important as many rganizations believe it to be to get their word out. The cost to publish magazines is constantly going up. That is why so many magazines are filled with advertisements. When you look at the staff pages of most mgazines, the ad sales department is (generally) the largest group of employees. Some argue that niche magazines are easier to sell becuse they have well identified vendors ( Adolf Keifer,etc.) to get to place ads. And also, a very recognized readership. This is truly a benefit. this certainly is a bigger, more intense discussion htan what is a lega; *** stroke kick. Many professsional membership have started to publish magazines as do many fraternal social organizations. These magazines are part of the membership benefits, if you will, that come through the dues. This is very simular to Swim. These types of organizations tend to have a very large memberships with very diverse backgrounds. The magazines tend to function as a newletter. They genrally all look alike and most aren't throughly read. Also, I read, over the internet, several swimming newsletters. Some local swimming groups have extremely good newsletters that cover moe than just their area's news and events. But they are all relavtively small ( they largest I've read was 24 pages). Some of these newsletters have ads. They are done by volunteers at a relatively low cost. Here in Illinois, we have a good one. But one major problem is the cost of mailing the hard copy of the newsletter. Postage is a major cost for magazines. Mnay publishers ofmagaazines say that postage costs are more likely ot destroy a magazine than are the other concerns, Im not sure this is true. It is however a very imortant consideration. All of this is to come to my real worry. How much will the magzine cost per member? Are there safeguards ot ensure that if something happens that causes costs ot increase, the magazaine will not begin to eat into membership dues that have been appointed to cover other necessary costs? Also, I haven't found anywhere a statement about how long this contract will last.