That’s a good question. But I don’t know that the mountain bike (magazine) market is the same as the MUni market. A lack of interest in a mainstream bike mag does not necessarily mean this idea does not have hope.
The Unicycling Society of America has been doing it since 1973. There’s a lot of experience in that “market” to indicate what the pitfalls may be in doing a magazine venture.
The Skill Levels aren’t intended as a catalog of tricks. Neither is the Standard Skill list, but it’s a lot more extensive. As far as I know, nobody is compiling a listing of every trick people come up with.
1)would you be willing to buy a unicycle mag?
Of course. I already get several, from non-profit unicycling organizations in the USA, Japan and (occasionally) Denmark.
2)how big do you think the demand for a mag is?
I don’t know if there’s enough there yet. You can only try and see. How many copies do you need to sell to break even? If you keep the scope wide you will of course appeal to a larger number of unicyclists. It can be a MUni magazine and still cover everything from learning, to doing tricks, to forming clubs and how to work with them, to the obvious stuff.
3)what would you like to see in the mag?
Pictures (color would be nice, at least on the cover), stories of what riders are up to, information on upcoming events, how-tos on everything, equipment reviews.
4)how much do you think it should retail for?
I can’t speak for the UK. Obviously it will be more than a mainstream mag. Unlike mainstream mags, this one won’t have an alternative title to compete with. It will be produced in much smaller numbers, so expect it to cost more. In the US, we have a hard time getting people to cough up $15 for a membership, which consists mainly of four issues of On One Wheel.
5)how often should it be produced?
Quarterly or bi-monthly.
6)would you consider submitting articles/photos for it?
I might, but if it’s a profit-making venture I will expect to be compensated. It is very easy to post to a newsgroup. It’s quite a bit harder to get people to write complete articles that they know will be in a permanent medium. The people who do will need to be rewarded!
7)should it be on general release, eg wh smith, or mail order only?
I know little of WH Smith, but it is obviously a mainstream store. To produce enough copies to have two or three in each store might require a production run of many times more than you have readers for. Obviously the exposure would be tremendous, and would help promote the sport (and advertisers). But I don’t think it would be a moneymaking proposition at the moment. Beyond that, I think it should be made available in every way that works.
8)would you consider the exposure of the underground scene through magazine coverag a problem to unicycling?
There is no underground scene. Either that or it’s basically all underground. I think you have to have something aboveground for there to be an underground. Coverage will not hurt us.
9)do you see the opportunity for future growth of the unicycle scene?
It’s growing as we speak. It will never be huge like skateboards or Razor scooters due to the barrier of entry (it’s hard to learn). But there is still a lot of potential out there for much larger numbers.
10)do you know of anyone who would want to invest or advertise in the mag?
Yes. Depending on where it’s going and how it will be distributed, certainly Unicycle.com would be interested and probably others.
The UK is relatively small. If you make a magazine, I highly recommend aiming it at the English speaking world. There are more mountain unicyclists over here than in the UK. Even if the distribution is only UK-based, make it a mag about unicyclists everywhere and you’ll not only increase the market, you’ll get a better chance of getting quality submissions with lots of variety.
As said before, I’d prefer a quarterly mag with some meat to it, than a small mag. If you could fill it out ith quality stuff tho I guess bi-monthly would be cool, if not unrealistic maybe.