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PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 10:49 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2012 4:19 pm
Posts: 1644
Alright Guys and Gals, I've got some updates:

I spoke to Art on the phone yesterday to gather as much info as possible about the ZCCM. Here are the main points, with an attached PDF that contains all the details. Please keep in mind that the following information is paraphrased, and although I was taking notes as it was being said, there is the chance that I mixed something up. When in doubt, Please check the PDF, or PM/Email me for verification.

This is what I have gathered:

The ZCCM is by the people, for the people.
Clubs are highly encouraged to participate. Whether it be by writing articles, sending pictures, advertising club events, whatever Z Club related thing your doing, the ZCCM wants to know.

The ZCCM is an effort to strengthen club membership.
The whole point of the magazine is to keep a strong community of Z fans and to encourage people to join their local Z car club. You aren't allowed to submit an entry if you aren't a member of a Z car club. The magazine started with the goal of getting people to club gatherings and to promote Z clubs. You know how Frank says "most of us know most of us"? This magazine is just like that, but relationships between Z clubs.

Art actually said that we're one of the first clubs in a while to actually follow up with him, after showing initial interest. He also mentioned that the word amongst the crowd is that we are an internet based club. I guess we should get in on this magazine to show we're just as awesome "in the real world" as we are in "cyberspace"! :)

So how much is all this going to burn my Z burned pockets?
Drumroll please….. $2.50 per issue, assuming you are signed up with the club. The club will not have to pay a "club fee" of any sort. Offering a drastic discount to those who are in a club is Art's way of staying true to his original mission, to create more active clubs, nationwide. There are 6 issues each year. A whopping $15 per year for all this Z glory!

Does it come to my house?
For $15 per year, no. However, each person who subscribes to the magazine will also get a digital version to their email address. The way things are set up "from the factory" Art delivers the magazines in one box to one address. These magazines can then be distributed to members at events or monthly meetings.

What if I can't make it to the monthly meeting?
Not a problem. When you receive an email from ZCCM, there will be an option there that will allow you to choose to have the magazine shipped to your individual address. This will cost an extra 2.17 per issue. So the total for all of your magazines shipped to your house will be $28 PER YEAR!

What's the hook?
None, really. With the exception that we need to have AT LEAST 10 members signed up for this to happen. I'll be #1 to sign up. I'm sure we can do much more than the required 10, right folks?!

Lastly:
The Magazine is currently on Issue 4. Art can backorder through #1 if you are interested.

Who do I pay?
This will have to be discussed amongst the club officers, given that there is enough interest. Let's see it, folks!

Attached are some pictures of previous issues, so that you can get an idea of what you're ordering.

Website:
http://www.zcarclubmag.com


Attachments:
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ZCCM Partner Club - Details.pdf [131.8 KiB]
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Last edited by Filipe on Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 10:53 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2012 4:19 pm
Posts: 1644
Let me know if you have any questions! I'm sure Art (the driving force behind the ZCCM) will be posting here soon as well.


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PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:59 pm 
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Joined: Sat Feb 16, 2013 3:42 pm
Posts: 282
Location: Rochdale, MA
I'm in!

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Adam Perry
Datsun 260Z
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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:00 am 
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Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14779
Location: CT
Great work, Filipe! Thanks for following-up on this. It looks like a lot of usable information for a reasonable price. I'll be #2.
Good work, Membership Dude! :wink: :thumbs_up:

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1970 240Z


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:01 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2012 4:19 pm
Posts: 1644
Great!!

I will start the list here, if you can, copy and paste this list into your reply. If not, don't worry about it, as I'll be checking here frequently to make sure everyone who would like to gets on the list.

Club Member Subscription List (So Far)

1. Filipe
2. Adam Perry (Padam07)
3. Frank T


Last edited by Filipe on Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:10 am, edited 3 times in total.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:03 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2012 4:19 pm
Posts: 1644
Frank T wrote:
Great work, Filipe! Thanks for following-up on this. It looks like a lot of usable information for a reasonable price. I'll be #2.
Good work, Membership Dude! :wink: :thumbs_up:


Thanks, bud!

I've got big shoes to fill ya know. :wink:

:thumbs_up:


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 5:08 pm 
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Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14779
Location: CT
I zee Art signed-in today. Hopefully he'll spend some time here and get to know us.

Hey Art, welcome! We're a real Club, buddy. We're not an internet chat room or anything. We hold monthly meetings and gather for events and have annual picnics and go cruising together during the Zeason. There are more than 600 of us and most of us know most of us. This is a real Club. Hang out with us awhile and get to know a few (hundred) of us, will ya?

Frank T

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1970 240Z


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 Post subject: Thanks for the welcome.
PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:48 pm 
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Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2013 4:29 am
Posts: 59
Location: New Mexico
I'm not much of a talker, but I do check-in everyday to see what is happening. I'm posting a link to the online version of the magazine. All CTZCC members can take a look at the first four issues of ZCCM to see what it is about. The link and password will be good for about two weeks. This is everyones chance to see if this is of interest to the club. As time goes on and and if the club becomes a partner with ZCCM I will post more details on how members can submit articles to the magazine. Anyone in the club can submit a tech, DIY or how-to article if they don't have a subscription, but to get a car as a Behind the Wheel or a Feature, the member must have a subscription. That was my promise to all partner clubs and I have to stick to it.

Here is the link to the magazine:

Link:
issuu.com/ZCarClubMagazine/docs/zccm_issue__4?e=8063424/5554552

Password: 300zxtt


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:51 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2012 4:19 pm
Posts: 1644
Art, that link brings me to issue #4. What do I have to do to be able to view the others?

Thanks,

Filipe


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:57 pm 
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Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2013 4:29 am
Posts: 59
Location: New Mexico
Keep scrolling down, they are stacked on top of each other starting with issue #4


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PostPosted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 8:23 am 
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Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:35 am
Posts: 34
Location: East Prov, RI
You can sign me up x2.
Ill be sending a copy down to my old man in Tampa too.

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PostPosted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 9:00 am 
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Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:35 am
Posts: 34
Location: East Prov, RI
arts.zccm wrote:
Keep scrolling down, they are stacked on top of each other starting with issue #4


Art, I get the same thing. When I get to the end of Issue 4 it just stops.
Regardless, I think Issue 4 is more than enough to get people hooked. I only had time to read the first few pages and skim the rest and Im hardly able to contain the excitement. I cant wait to get my hands on these. Great product. Thank you for making this a reality!

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 Post subject: Try this
PostPosted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 10:10 am 
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Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2013 4:29 am
Posts: 59
Location: New Mexico
I'm not sure why you can't see all 4 issues. When I went and logged in it lets me have the option of reading all 4 issues.

Try doing this: Go directly to zcarclubmag.com, click on member login, type in 300zxtt, and let me know if signing in this way allows you to view all 4 issues. That is what I did and it worked for me.


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PostPosted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 10:25 am 
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Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14779
Location: CT
My link doesn't open for me.

This is a great idea. A nationwide magazine dedicated to Z clubs and sharing information has long been a goal for the Z community. But there have been drawbacks, hurdles and failures along the trail. We saw Sport Z and Nissan Sport, both erstwhile publications staffed with excellent writers and professional photographers, both fail. That was (I think) a result of trying to publish a hard-copy magazine and distribute it to every corner of the country where someone *might* have an interest. It was hard to find an issue at your local Barnes and Noble. And you had to KNOW about the magazine in order to order a subscription. The associated publishing and distribution costs almost exceeded their income. At the end, the writers were submitting copy from their homes and Merlin Blackwell was trying to edit it all himself, and all those cut-backs still weren't enough to keep them afloat.

In this age of electronic communication, it is really tough to compete using hard copy publications. Even well-established newspapers across the country are struggling and closing, or being forced to convert to electronic news.
Most people just don't buy newsprint today, getting their "news" from their computer.

If there is to be a national Z publication, maybe this is the successful applicant. None of the other Z mags tried to offer e-news or e-publication, and your idea of bulk mail for local distribution (instead of mailing each copy to individuals) should save you tons of money monthly. Maybe this mag has the key to survival. I prefer to get a hands-on copy of what I read, but I'm only one voice. My intent is to subscribe to this, even if it goes to someone else en-bloc and he/they distribute it to me at a meeting.

My main question, Art, is who will edit this publication for content and so on? This Club has a strict "family" policy which prohibits harsh language or subject matter, and we don't need to stray very far afield to find other internet websites or forums which don't care what kind of language their contributors use, or don't actively police their own pages. Our steady membership increase shows us that is what family members want ~ a clean Club they can be comfortable introducing their family to.

If ZCCM bases their main traffic on articles from the general population, somebody's going to be very busy cleaning up the input.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:18 am 
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Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2013 4:29 am
Posts: 59
Location: New Mexico
Frank, you brought up some good points. Doing a traditional mainstream magazine is very costly especially when doing a niche magazine. When Nissan Sport shut its doors, I was ready to go back to the real world and get a different job. But in the process of doing that I started thinking about doing what I have always wanted to do: a z club magazine. I hated the idea of walking away from something I liked doing and also walking away from the 1,000's of Z contacts I had made over the years. So I sat down and made a list of all the good things about doing a magazine and all the bad things about doing a magazine. The list of bad out numbered the good list by 10 to 1.

So I decided to create a business model using only the good. The three major things I needed to incorporate were:

1) First, find out if there was an interest in a Z only publication. My goal to starting this venture was I needed to contact a minimum of 30 Z clubs and see what they thought of a Z club mag. There are over 100 Z clubs worldwide and around 70 in the US alone. I still have a lot of phone calls to make. I have 32 clubs signed up right now and my goal is to have 70. The more clubs, the bigger the magazine becomes.
2) Control costs of publishing a magazine. I found a local printer that is top notch and offered a great price for printing (1st cost savings: no shipping charges). the magazine will not be on newsstands or bookstores (2nd cost savings: example-to put a magazine in Barnes & Noble you must go through a independent distributor. Say the bookstores want 2000 copies, it cost the publisher over $4,000 to produce those copies. The return on those copies from the bookstore (on a great day) might be $300. Tough to make a niche magazine work when you are throwing $3,700 out the window every issue just to be in the bookstores. I could go on with controlling cost, but you get the idea.
3) Dealing with distribution. Offering an online version as well as a print version helps control mailing costs. By shipping in bulk to clubs I created a set fee for shipping. My shipping costs don't change issue to issue (unless new clubs join) and I don't get sticker shock every time a new issue comes out (thank god for priority mail). Mailing to individuals in itself is not a problem, the problem is people move all the time. When someone moves and they don't let you know, it costs about $8.00 to replace that one issue. Because of that the publisher is now paying for the rest of that subscription. Times that by 100 and you can see the problem. I do offer 1-year subscriptions to the general public but it is more expensive then going through a club.
4) Pricing structure. I had to come up with a per issue cost that would not freak out the z community. Being a Z person myself I can say this from experience: Z owners are cheap b@stards :)

SportZ and Nissan Sport tried doing it the traditional way. Great if you have 20 other titles and can co-op advertising. Not so good with a stand-alone. ZCCM is 4 issues in and it has paid for itself since day one. I want it to do more then that and I believe it will as time goes on.

As far as editing, I have 2 other editors that help. I understand that a lot of people are scared of writing an article. That is why I tell people to do the best they can and we will make them look like professional writers in the end. When it comes down to it, writing can be easy. If its a good story all you need is a beginning, middle and end. :)


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