Hey readers of Wend and the Wend blog, we just finished up our first reader poll and the answers were just about exactly as I expected. Half of you are married. Most of you own a mountain bike, and most travel internationaly at least once a year.
What we didn’t ask, was what inspired you to subscribe. And more importantly why you the blog reader has not subscribed.
We are looking for feedback here, so please take a second and speak up.
What do we need to do? Of course good swag always helps, or a reminder to support independent media… contests? Giveaways? Or we just keep putting out great stories and you will all join the ranks of the wend lovers.
Go ahead, you know you want to.
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For me, a reminder was all that was needed.
I subscribed because it’s such a unique magazine. Many other outdoor mags have articles by writers who do moderately-interesting things, and mostly things that simply require a cash transaction (e.g., I hired a guide for a 5 day tour of wherever). Wend’s articles are honest and authentic pieces by non-writers doing entirely unique and interesting things. That’s what sold me on the mag. The CSR and Bhutan articles are about things that I would never be able to do, and I look forward to more like this.
I just bought my first copy of Wend and was very excited to find a quality outdoor magazine. Over the last several years I have grown disappointed with the other big magazines and the declining quality of the articles and stories. They have gone so main stream and lack any true content. I truly enjoyed reading your articles and that they are written by people actually doing the activity/adventure. I plan on subscribing if you make a promise…….please no articles with titles like 100 best ______, 25 best places to live, The ultimate workout in 30 minutes, The sexiest outdoor woman or Top outdoor jobs. If you can keep that promise I will get subscriptions for my friends too.
Thanks for the comment Chip.
I can easily make that promise to you. You will never see advice, where to go, or best of articles in Wend. The only stories you might find in Wend with numbers in the title would be something like cycling 300 miles at 13,000 feet.
Ian
Ditto Chip, stiv here, senior editor. The whole concept of the magazine is to be a Journal of getting out and going. I don’t give a crap about the foo-foo kinds of ‘in flight magazine’ kind of stuff and frankly, I don’t want to have to make zach layout ‘diet tips’ and such— which is a moot point because zach wouldn’t do it anyway.
Regarding our gear section aka ‘the survival kit’ — Ian came up with a way to showcase companies gear that we like without it being all ‘six pack guy model crap’— we use real people in this section and are commited to making the reader identify with the model— ie- real women and men— no makeup, no ‘one perfect cosmo body type’ etc.. We just shot the photos for the next issue in Mexico and since its themed ‘surf wear’ and some ‘skin’ is present, we used four different women models, all with drastically different body types because NEWSFLASH!!! (to the publishing world) women are all different shapes and sizes— Or as Sir Mix Alot says, “So Cosmo says you’re fat, well I ain’t down with that.”
And do you know what the beauty of not taking ourselves too seriously is here? We can make our models get their faces grinded into the sand by ‘instructing’ them try to catch a barreling shorebreak wave on an inflatable Orca.
I just sent my subscription in. The magazine is a great kind of grass roots style that I have not seen in a long time. I have lived out of the country for most of the last ten years, but always have access to a military base or embassy, so not too far from american stuff. There was a magazine called ‘Mountain Freak’ back in the 90′s that was great, unfortunately they didn’t make it and went under. I look forward to my next issue and wish you guys all the best.
Cheers and OnOn!!
Rover in Baghdad
Thanks for the response. I am sold. As promised I will get a subscription and two additonal
I can’t get enough of your mag so i subscribed right away once i found you. However i still can’t get all the old issues i missed. Are y’all going to start selling back issues or better yet, publish them online, at least for subscribers?