Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 131, June 2020 June 2020 | Page 5

What is a good
running read each
month worth to you?
By Sean Falconer, Editor of Modern Athlete
I’ve been running for nearly 30 years, and
have been buying running magazines
throughout. I can remember in 1993 paying
R5.95 each month for a newly launched mag
that appeared on the SA market, and when I
began working for that magazine in the year
2000, it cost R10.95. Today that same mag
sells for R65 per copy, appearing every second
month, while another SA running mag that
appears every three months costs R60. Both of
these mags are sold in stores and thus have to
factor expensive printing and distribution costs
into their cover price.
Meanwhile, Modern Athlete has been on the
market since 2009 – which is when I joined this
mag – and today we are the only SA running
magazine still being published monthly.
Also, just as was the case in 2009, this mag is
still distributed for free. The reason we can
still do that is because we have transitioned to
an all-digital mag through the years, eliminating
printing costs, and reducing distribution costs.
We have always covered our production costs
out of the revenue we bring in from selling
adverts in the mag, and in recent times this
has mostly been event-related advertising.
However, with all events postponed or
cancelled until further notice due to the
COVID-19 lockdown, we have been hit really
hard in terms of lost revenue. And that’s why
we need your help, please.
The question we’d like you to ask yourself is, how much is a good monthly
running read worth to you?
THANK YOU!
We’d like to say a huge thank you to all who
responded to our previous calls for financial help
in our April and May editions. Your donations
helped us to keep going through the darkest
months of the lockdown, and we are hugely
grateful to every one of you!
For over 10 years we have
brought you a FREE running
publication every month. Now
we are asking you to repay the
favour by supporting your
favourite running publication
during this COVID-19 shutdown
that is threatening our business.
We have never charged for this
magazine, and we do not want
to start doing so now, but we
do need to pay the bills in order
to keep producing a mag each
month.
Every donation will help, no
matter how big or small, to
keep Modern Athlete running
until normal business resumes.
SA's Biggest Running Publication
MAKE A DONATION
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