John, Ken and others-- In 1971, I started my first independent magazine, for and about motorcyling in Canada. I came from a newspaper background where editorial functioned without regarding to advertising. Bringing that concept to consumer magazines was an immense challenge. When manufacturers did not like a road test, they threatened to pull advertising--and in some cases they did. We suffered financially all through the first decade until the circulation side had grown enough to contribute significantly to revenues, with the bonus being that impressive circulation--Cycle Canada outsold even the big glossies from the U.S.--made the magazine a must for advertisers. But they still could yank ads and inflict real pain on the bottom line. Only deep commitment to independence--even more so, the commitment to the commitment--enabled me and eventually my partners to persevere. In the early 1990s, I started planning to launch Trawler World as an independent magazine. I confess I was not a fan of PassageMaker Magazine and how, in its editorial pages, it played up advertisers and ignored boats and products that were not advertised, and how it tended to pontification. I felt the the market was in desperate need for a fresh voice and real journalism on the trawlering scene. Shortly after I announced my plans, the huge media corporation behind Cruising World magazine announced it was going to start Power Cruising. Suddenly, my five-year business plan became a 10-year plan, battling for advertising dollars against that slick organization in addition to PMM. I was certain readers would be attracted to a fresh new magazine, but advertisers, who could be promised editorial coverage only on their merits rather than advertising expenditures, they would be difficult to sell. Thus, when Cruising World offered to buy the Trawler World name and concept, I accepted. (They already had their concept in place; they were just buying off a competitor.) I was hot on starting a new magazine about the boating I had come to love, so I approached Pacific Asian Enterprises with a concept for a sponsored magazine. Happily, that idea came to fruition when the principals at PAE showed the vision that has made them leaders in the market. The fourth edition of Circumnavigator, the Nordhavn magazine, has recently rolled off the presses. (I also publish another sponsored magazine, about the Harley-Davidson lifestyle, and am developing a third title.) As we begin the 21st century, with the Internet becoming such a dominant source of information, and with so many so-called independent magazines become advertising tools, the sponsored route is about the only way I see that a small magazine publisher can survive and prosper. Specifically, in the trawler world, which , in the scheme of things, is a really small market, the only hope for an independent, objective news and information medium of the type you gentlemen have been discussing is the Net and a digital publication supported by a paid subscriber base. As a print publication, such a concept simply is not viable. One day, when I see sufficient interest and support out there, I may very well move the Trawlers & Trawlering site and lists in that direction. As you have said, an independent, objective information medium about trawlers and trawlering products would be a very good thing. --Georgs Georgs Kolesnikovs Your host at Trawlers & Trawlering since 1997 http://www.trawlersandtrawlering.com Your host at TrawlerCrawler.net since 2009 http://www.trawlercrawler.net