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Preseason Magazine with Rankings and Articles


Y2CJ41

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We are in the planning stages of potentially putting together a preseason magazine with rankings and articles in it.  One of the biggest discussion issues right now is what type of magazine would the users want?  Would they want a print edition or a digital(pdf most likely) edition.  Personally I like the print edition as I could take it on the bus or other places, but the digital edition would be easier to distribute and such.  The cost would be between $10-20 depending on a few different factors.

 

Here is a general layout of what we would have in the magazine.

1 page preview and preseason rankings per weight class

*Note these would be with projected weights of each wrestler

1 page preview of each of the college teams in the state

2 page preview and preseason team rankings

 

Other potential articles and interviews with coaches or someone others high up in the wrestling world.

 

Any suggestions, complaints, etc?

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Sounds like a decent idea if you can get it all to come together.  Here are some random ideas for topic that would relate well to wrestling.  Maybe a few would work if you can find the right people.

 

"International Update"  Being we have several wrestlers right now who are fighting for top sport in the national team it may be nice to hear what they have been up and events they have won while trying to make the next Olympic team.

 

"Stories from the past" section highlighting some of the previous moments of Indiana wrestling through the years.  

 

"Where are they now" section detailing what some of the former top wrestlers in the state who have went on to do something prominent since high school (college wrestling, excelled in business world, coaching, etc.).  Kind of a look into how wrestling changed their lives in some way.

 

 

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I like the idea, but the cost would be a big factor. A $5-$10 digital version with people volunteering to write articles seems more reasonable for as short as it would be. It would depend a lot on how many people buy in too. I would do it, but not for $20.

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If we did a digital version it would be closer to the $5-10 range, a print version in the $15-20 range.  Right now we are hovering around a 32 page format with the front and back covers all photos as with the inside of the covers. 

 

Here is a mini mockup of a couple of the pages

http://indianamat.com/stuff/IMPM.pdf

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Right now we are just in the discussion faze of this project.  We are going to look at what kind of time we can committ to the project and if it is feasible.  About 6 years ago there was a preseason magazine that was very informative, but it failed miserably so we are going to take our time in discussing what can and will be done.  As we get further along in the process we may be looking for volunteers for help with articles and such.

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Sounds cool. I've helped develop a variety of media, both print and digital, and in today's age print is largely dying with the advancement of technology.  Print is definitely convenient when sitting in the bathroom but with the costs associated with it, digital clearly should be the way to go if you are concerned about the bottom line.  That was one of the biggest issues with the Indiana Wrestling Digest.  It was a great publication but they lost thousands upon thousands of dollars printing it because many people that said they would buy it never did, whereas going viral would have made it much easier to distribute, easier to collect content, etc.  Again, this is a great idea and I would love to help in any way that I could but, in my opinon, going digital is clearly the prudent thing to do both short and long term.

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A few other random thoughts.

 

A recap of how individuals or the team did at national events over the summer.

 

Way for coaches to prompt the sport in the community, improve dual meet attendance, start or improve a youth programs.

 

Teams or individuals who have done something special for the community outside of just wrestling.

 

Anything that may add to the improvement of our sport.  Information from an expert/specialist on nutrition, refueling, weight management, lifting, cardio, preventing injury, how to go about marketing yourself to colleges, etc.....

 

 

It would be great if this was a bi-yearly magazine.  One right before the season and one after Christmas Break.  But I'm guessing with the season in full swing it would be hard for many of those involved in to get a second edition out.  Though if you had a ton of the articles made ahead of time (split them between each edition) and just updated the team in individual information based on the season it maybe possible if done in a digital form.  For two editions a year I can see paying a slightly higher price.

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Would it be possible to do a High School book like they do for football or basketball showing head shots of the returning guys along with school info and a schedule for each team in the state?  As a football player it was always a highlight of summer to get that book and look at who we were gonna stomp the upcoming year.

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I think that a print edition would be great so we could collect it and also have it laying on our desk so other people might pick it up and think or say  "This is Great".....If you need any help around central Indiana let me know....This is a great idea.

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Would it be possible to do a High School book like they do for football or basketball showing head shots of the returning guys along with school info and a schedule for each team in the state?  As a football player it was always a highlight of summer to get that book and look at who we were gonna stomp the upcoming year.

Not at this time it is not.  They tried doing one for wrestling a while back in conjunction with the football magazine and it failed miserably.  We don't have the manpower or time to go to 312 different schools.

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Not at this time it is not.  They tried doing one for wrestling a while back in conjunction with the football magazine and it failed miserably.  We don't have the manpower or time to go to 312 different schools.

 

Joe,

 

From what I remember it was impossible to get everyone to participate in terms of each team having a page....kind of like it is impossible to get all of our coaches to join the IHSWCA, or take part in surveys.  Maybe in the first years you could consider a smaller print edition like you described and an expanded online edition where you do have team profiles (or history).  If a team wants to have their information included in the online addition you could charge a small fee per page and require that the page be sent to you complete and ready to go in whatever format you would require so the work on your end would be minimal.  You could even have some sort of template for people to use.  To begin with it might be a small number of teams participating, but I think as time passed and people became aware of the publication, and the process, you could get pretty good participation and have a really nice document.

 

I would be willing to write something if you would need that at some point.

 

Thanks for your efforts.

 

Rex

 

 

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Rex,

We are basically thinking along those lines. This year's edition might include a preview of each semi-state or regional, but right now going into details by sectional, conference or individual teams would be an extrodinary task.  I like the idea of a template that coaches can fill out and send in.  As we go on I would hope it would be an embarassment to a team and coach if say New Castle wasn't in the book.  I know some schools would tar and feather their coach if they didn't send in their information.

 

Thanks for the ideas, we are taking all of them into consideration.

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They will only be on sale at fine establishments like the Waterloo Shell gas station, Huck's in Garrett, the Culver Stop and Save and the Sit'n Bull in Laotto.  :)

 

Please refer to it as Osborn's Mini Mart, or The Sportsman in Monterey.

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