American Iron magazine…

I read an interesting comment or two on Facebook a few days ago from Buzz Kanter, the guy who publishes American Iron magazine. The gist of the Buzz (pardon the pun) was that motorcycle periodicals are fast disappearing (or decreasing their publishing frequency so much that they may as well disappear), but American Iron was still printing 13 copies a year (they publish every 4 weeks).

Buzz also commented on press releases, noting that he receives more than a few from folks who don’t advertise with his magazine.  A press release is when people like us send a note to the publishing world about something significant we are doing, like a new model release, a trip through Baja for our customers, and things like that.  We do it all the time at CSC.

My inference from Mr. Kanter’s comments was that folks who send out press releases would get more editorial coverage if they advertised.  That was actually refreshing to read, as I always suspected it to be the case.  Pre-Buzz, every magazine I ever talked to (when they were hitting us up for advertising dollars) told me there was absolutely no link between their editorial and advertising functions.  Yeah, right (methinks the lady doth protest too much, as the saying goes).  I never believed any of it.  Our experience has been pretty good in the press release department, though.  We’ve received a lot of editorial coverage based on our press releases, but there are a few magazines and newspapers that just won’t print anything we send to them.  Win some, lose some, I guess.  Anyway, I’m getting a bit off topic.  The fact that this Buzz guy was being honest about things caught my attention and made me a lot more interested in his magazine.

Until yesterday, I had never read a copy of American Iron, and I am most definitely not a Harley guy (which is what I assumed the magazine was all about). I used to be a Harley guy, but that was 20 years ago and 800-lb motorcycles are no longer in the cards for me. Maybe a Buell someday if I can find a clean used one. Or a vintage Harley if I could find one at a price that wouldn’t break the bank (nobody’s ever made a bike more beautiful than a 1965 Electra-Glide, with the possible exception of the 1965 Triumph Bonneville).

Anyway, to get back to the main point of this piece, I had jury duty yesterday, and I thought I might make the time pass a little more quickly if I had something good to read. So I picked up a copy of American Iron on the way to the courthouse, and I have to tell you, I was impressed.  American Iron (Issue 360) is a 100-page magazine counting the inside covers, and that’s something you don’t see too often. Yeah, there were a lot of advertisements, but that’s okay because it’s mostly what magazines live on (or so I’ve been told), and I like studying the ads in magazines as much as I like reading the stories. The stories, though, were what made American Iron a worthwhile purchase for me. There were six feature articles (mostly on custom bikes, and you can bet the new CSC San Gabriel motorcycles are going to be extensively customized when they start arriving), another six  “how to” articles, a few product reviews, a vintage motorcycle story, and (best of all) a feature on Frank Fritz (the guy on American Pickers).  I love that show and I feel like I know Frank (even though we’ve never met). He’s a motorcycle guy, and that’s what the American Iron article covered. I enjoyed every word. The bottom line for me? Even though I’m not a Harley guy, American Iron was a good read.  The writing and the photography are superb, the stories are well-edited, and it just felt good to hold a real magazine in my hands.

Buzz had an editorial in the magazine about his background in publishing, and the way the winds are blowing in the publishing world. On that second topic, it’s not good. I grew up reading car and motorcycle magazines.  Somehow, the wheels came off the wagon with the advent of the Internet, mindless error-ridden blogs and Internet videos (yeah, I know), iPhones, YouTube, Facebook, and the rest of the so-called social media platforms.  That social media madness is a form of addiction, and it’s not good.  Like everybody else, we use Facebook and we boost our posts on it, but if it was up to me and if it was possible, I would uninvent Facebook.

As I sat there in the jury assembly room yesterday along with several hundred other people, I looked around. Fully three-fourths of the folks in that room were glued to their smart phones, mindlessly mesmerized by videos, tweets, Facebook posts, and other bits of nothingness on those little screens. I was the only person in the room reading something printed on paper. It was weird. It could have been a scene in a science fiction movie (you know, evil people controlling the world through little computers you get the people to be controlled to pay for themselves, or something along those lines).  I don’t think this is a good thing, folks.  Nope, I like reading, and I like reading things printed on paper.

Back to the main point of this blog:  I enjoyed reading my first issue of American Iron, so much so that I bought a subscription. It’s inexpensive ($24.97 for 13 issues). You might consider doing the same and if you want to do so, here’s the link for an American Iron subscription.  It’s better than vegging out on your iPhone.  Trust me on this.