Automotive Traveler

Questions with Editorial Director Richard Truesdell

1. What do you consider the single most important achievement your magazine has accomplished in today’s marketplace?

Automotive Traveler is an online publication, but our readers describe us as a magazine, not a web site. This confirms our belief that the magazine reading experience is not defined by paper and print. There are things about the web that have no place in a magazine, and things about a magazine that have no place on the web. Our pages are optimized to fit your computer screen not the newsstand, and flashing banner ads are banished from our pages. We believe the end result delivers a magazine experience that is enhanced by being on the web, not diminished by it.

Editorially, we have defined ourselves as spanning the gap between print and the Internet as well as between two core categories, travel and automotive. Almost everyone owns a car and takes vacations. With this in mind, our easiest job is developing compelling content. When we launched back in April, my E-mail in-box was carpet bombed with outstanding queries from automotive as well as travel writers. Their E-mails told me that we had tapped into an underserved niche, which when launching a new magazine, is very important to identify.

2. Looking back, what was the most important hurdle you were able to overcome?

Getting out the first issue, that is always the most important hurdle.

More importantly, moving forward, it’s the fact that potential advertisers are having a difficult time getting their collective arms around what we offer. We are producing all the elements of a traditional magazine but with a difference, we're delivering Automotive Traveler digitally with no waste. Think about all the trees we're saving, the ink we're not using, the postage we're not paying. I think this is reflected in the quality of our content package, which many people have told me compares very favorably to long-established publications in both sectors.

Until Automotive Traveler came down the road, no one had been able to capture the lure of travel and the allure of doing it in the “right” vehicle, in a format that read like a magazine, provided fingertip resource of the Internet and provided advertisers direct and immediate linkage with engaged consumers. Automotive Traveler has provided a paradigm shift to both the travel and automotive industries. But at the end of the day, we’re trying to sell what can best be compared to traditional display advertising in a banner and pop-up online world. We’re hopeful that with the recognition we gain with this award, we’ll get additional opportunities to “tell our unique story.” Here’s a great example. 

The challenges and opportunities we face are very different from the world of print. The limitations are different. For example, where back issues are of limited value in print, as long as an issue is online it is evergreen. For example, if an advertiser likes a story in a back issue, we can go back into the issue – which is available 24/7 in our online archive – and insert new or updated advertising. This is impossible in the print world and a huge advantage for us.

3. What was the biggest pleasant surprise?

From readers, the fact that they are "reading" the magazine online; in a web world, where the time on a particular site is normally measured in seconds, our visitors are spending 10 minutes or more. From my standpoint as editor, this has been very rewarding.

Every time I walk into a Starbucks, a Panera Bread, a Barnes and Noble or Borders and see all the open laptops, all surfing the web, I see opportunity. We just need to find cost-effective ways to tap into this market. I also think that while we want people reading Automotive Traveler online, with all its interactive features intact, I certainly wouldn't discourage them from downloading it as a PDF and reading it on their laptops offline while on long-distance airplane flight. But overall, their cumulative response of the readers has convinced us that the format is perfect for today’s fast-moving, fast-living, fast-acting audience.

4. What is the biggest challenge you are facing today?
 
Getting advertisers to understand exactly what we offer, a reader that is engaged with our content, readers that love cars and are passionate about travel. On the automotive side we've been very careful not to focus in on the 0 to 60 attributes of a traditional automotive buff magazine. On the travel side, we're not as lifestyle focused as many of the glossy travel magazines. It's not about celebrities on the cover, or pages of $300 flip-flops, it's about giving our readers a blueprint for their own automotive-flavored travel adventures. It's how we can make the car, the road, the destination, and the people all work together in harmony. It's all about the experience and I think that we're doing a good job in this area, but with just four issues under our belt, everyone on the team, our editors, our contributors, and our designers, we all know that there's lots of room for further improvement.

We also know that we must continue the process of educating readers, writers, and advertisers as to the “new” world of online publishing. The fact that it reads seamlessly, operates smoothly, entertains wondrously and quite simply – just works! Once they have given it a test drive, they’re hooked.

5. Imagine you have a magic wand and you can strike the magazine and make it human? Describe that human being.

I think that we've already put a human face on the magazine, our columnists and contributors are having a dialog with our readers, not just talking to them.

We're very diversified, with an editorial team split almost 50-50 between men and women, and more importantly, we're about equally split between the automotive and travel sectors. We want our readers coming in from the travel side to find relevance in our automotive content. Conversely, for those "car junkies" we want to give them great destinations to plan their next road trip. 

Here’s another way of looking at our human side. One day, actually a long time ago, I was plodding along in my daily stop and go commute, looking at the comparatively empty lanes on the other side of the median. It struck me that maybe I was going the wrong way not just on the freeway, but maybe in life. About this time a Porsche 911 went zinging by in the opposite direction.  The Targa top was open; two pairs of skis pointed upwards form the rack on the back, and a smiling couple sat beaming inside. The Porsche growl spoke of adventure and excitement, even the car was in on the deal. 

I have dreamed many times about where they might have been going; the Porsche winding its way up some twisty mountain road, that lucky young couple drinking hot buttered rum next to a roaring fire in a rustic ski lodge. 

So if there were to be a human embodiment of Automotive Traveler, then it would be that couple in the Porsche, off on their next great adventure.

6. The number of new magazine launches has been on a steady increase. What advice do you offer to someone wanting to start a new magazine?

There’s an old saying, let me paraphrase it here. How do you make a million dollars in publishing? Start with five million. It’s really important, on the business side, that even in the online world, to have investors prepared for a long struggle to reach what I like to call, critical mass.

On the editorial side, make sure your content strikes a responsive chord with your core audiences – readers and advertisers. Deliver a product that is compelling and programs that are competitive. Work hard and keep pushing. You have to be relentless.

7. Finish this sentence: In 2011, your magazine will be…

…the leading source, online or in print, for those for whom the journey is just important than the destination. From that I envision that Automotive Traveler will be the lead product in a nimble, cutting-edge multi-media company that leads the way into the era of digital communications. The enthusiasm captured in Automotive Traveler will evolve into additional publications that share its drive, excitement and vitality. There are so many underserved enthusiast niches that lend themselves to the same kind of treatment. We know that it would be very difficult and expensive to reach them with a traditional print publication