The Cal-look Lounge

I was thumbing through the latest issue, great issue btw, and noticed that it seemed a bit lighter than normal. I went back to my collection and yep, its about 40 pages shorter than it was a few years ago. Is HVWs doing okay? I remember that VWtrends did the same thing right before it was pulled from circulation.

Thanks,

--louis

don't receive mine  :'(

I noticed that too Louis.  It's been like that for a while.  I just keeps getting thinner...  Wish I could say the same for myself.  LOL.

lol, I am actually trying to lose 30 pounds. Not much luck yet.  :-[

--louis

I think you'll find, it's not the magazine that's actually slimming down, so much as the industry... When the going gets tough, companies think they can save money by cutting down on their advertising = fewer pages in magazines. I don't think that scaremongering or starting rumours about HVW's health will do anyone any good.  :)

I don't believe I was scaremongering or starting any rumors, I just noticed it was shorter and asked a question. Its one of my favorite magazines and still has the best tech articles in the industry. I know its tough serving a niche market like ours and as a subscriber and supporter of our hobby I wanted to know why. I don't think that is too much to ask. My apologies if you read anything else into my post.

--louis

Thanks Keith for fielding that question about getting shorter.... ;D

Hot VWs is alive and well, and thanks for the concern. Yes, the amount of display ads, and the pages to support them are not what they used to be (although we have been at the same size for well over a year plus). HVWs has gone through cycles like this before, where the amount of total pages/ads goes down, but there will be a time when they start to creep up, and we'll add pages when they do. I think our all-time largest size and number of ads was way back in '86? So, all is not lost, by any stretch. We are confident that judging from the high attendance at most VW shows last year, the interest is certainly strong, it's just part sales are slow and retailers are cutting back as well.

And as far as comparing us with VWTrends... Their ads went well below 20 pages (in good times!), but was perhaps worse was they had been discounting their subscriptions for years (remember those 3 years for $9 deal on e-Bay?). Well, once you spend that income, you still have to send out magazines for years to come.... but at what cost? That ended up nailing them. VWT was owned and run by a HUGE corporation that looked upon that publication as a very, very small part of a much larger picture. Where as Wright Publishing is small (ten employees), and concentrates on only two publications, Hot VWs and Sand Sports.

Cool that is good to hear. I always look forward to my issue hitting the mail box each month.

Thanks,

--louis

Its still a killer mag and i like the callook issue 8)