Topic: APK Magazine

[Jordan Dominguez]

How would we cover the most important part of Parkour/Freerunning..... video?!

lol, We would need a pretty dedicated effort to produce a hard copy. Printing, editors, etc.... It would be awesome though!!

You could have something like a "Magazine" tab on the APK front page, then when you get there you could go to something like "Videos of the Week" or "Videos of Issue #" and have links to the videos there. That way, say someone is writing a tutorial for a certain move in the mag, they could be like "And check out so and so video on americanparkour.com/magazine to see more".

[Justin Frank]

please make this happen!
I'd buy

[Hamish West]

please make this happen!
I'd buy

hi,
im thinking of making a parkour e-zine, heres the link for more info:
http://www.americanparkour.com/smf/index.php?topic=18758.0
Thanks,
HR3

I could make this happen, if anyone was intressted in helping,
HR3

[Skipper]

Hamish, The e-zine idea is not the one in questions. APK already has The Freerunner e-zine. What everybody wants to happen is a physical hardcopy magazine that they can take with them.

SDTrace, not a bad idea, it'd be cool to find ways to refer people back to the website like that!

[Jon Fox]

2 things that i was thinking about
apk posters as an extra in the first issue of the year (or maybe stickers)?
discount coupons on apk gear?

if its gonna be a quarterly what quarters are you gonna set up (ie. what three month segments) i think it might be a good idea to stick with seasons as much as possible

also a thing to think about if some people don't have internet or have crappy dial-up (i realize that they are a dieing breed) they don't have the crapload of time most of us do to browse the net whenever we have some time to kill so they may not be familiar with the site but familiar with free-running or parkour, so this would help expose parkour, apk, and inspire people to start training and would tap a section of people that only use the internet for work and other important stuff (a lot of adults don't spend the insane hours we do browsing stupid crap on the computer)

so i think that the mag would also help tap a new consumer pool and further expose parkour in a well explained and a smart way (not a guy hearing about it from a friend and going off of his knowledge)

additionally it could be easier to show friends what its all about than trying to get them to look it up on their own or explaining it off the top of your head ( i realize that this has been said numerous times but i agree with it so much i said it again)

if its under 40 bucks a year ill definitely subscribe

[Brett Robert]

Hamish, The e-zine idea is not the one in questions. APK already has The Freerunner e-zine. What everybody wants to happen is a physical hardcopy magazine that they can take with them.

SDTrace, not a bad idea, it'd be cool to find ways to refer people back to the website like that!

Most magazines do this now.  A friend of mine writes for Esquire and I read his articles online (free), then also pick up the hardcopy, just to have to refer back, loan to people and support him.  Sometimes content is exclusive to the website, other content is, or can be exclusive to the magazine.

I think there's things about a magazine format that would be interesting.  There'd be ups and downs and I think definitely controversy and haters (in PK, no?). 

I'd hope the magazine would try to avoid putting traceurs on pedestals and glorifying them, but I think hero worship by the weak minded, or young and impressionable, is an inevitable side-effect of large full color glossy photos and ads.  Also, as the magazine would be selling ad space, this would intensify the already in motion process of commercialization of parkour.  Who would advertise?  Innov-8, 5.10, Nike, Addidas, APEX Movement, Red Bull, Bud Light?  Would other companies notice this new market and try to sell us "the perfect hair gel for that active lifestyle"?  Maybe.

I'm not going to opine whether any of these are good or bad, other than to say that they're all a bit of both.  I just thought I'd throw the idea out there.

In the end, I'd subscribe, and try my damnedest to submit a few articles, too!

[Jon Fox]

I'd hope the magazine would try to avoid putting traceurs on pedestals and glorifying them

berreta has a good point the mag should focus on parkour not the traceurs.

however just because people are in print doesn't necessarily make them immortal gods of awesome for example the jonas brothers are in print and i hate them more than a broken leg.

 whether there on the website or in a magazine dosent matter people idolize people like Belle because they are pioneers of the movement not because they are in a magazine or on a website. actions speak louder than words (or in this case a magazine)

sorry if i took words out of context Beretta it just facilitated my point

[Matthew Wang]

The only problem with a quartly magazine is that the news section would be really outdated. The big important events and moments of the community could go in and still mean something, but even then it would still be outdated. That's the only problem I can see with the quarterly issue.

I'd hope the magazine would try to avoid putting traceurs on pedestals and glorifying them

berreta has a good point the mag should focus on parkour not the traceurs.

however just because people are in print doesn't necessarily make them immortal gods of awesome for example the jonas brothers are in print and i hate them more than a broken leg.

 whether there on the website or in a magazine dosent matter people idolize people like Belle because they are pioneers of the movement not because they are in a magazine or on a website. actions speak louder than words (or in this case a magazine)

sorry if i took words out of context Beretta it just facilitated my point

Yes, I agree that they shouldn't glorify some traceurs, but it can still show what they've done and accomplished. A short paragraph on what they've been up to recently for the community would be fine as long as it doesn't make them sound like the Chuck Norris of Parkour (AKA Mr. Belle )

[Jon Fox]

i don't know if this was mentioned but you could put in all the POTW from that quarter in a big 2 page spread or something. if thats too much you could do a pic of the month or a pic of the quarter
if your wondering what POTW is (and you shouldn't be)
http://www.americanparkour.com/gallery2/v/POTW/2009/

[Team Avian]

i don't know if this was mentioned but you could put in all the POTW from that quarter in a big 2 page spread or something. if thats too much you could do a pic of the month or a pic of the quarter
if your wondering what POTW is (and you shouldn't be)
http://www.americanparkour.com/gallery2/v/POTW/2009/

or like they do with POTY (Pic of the Year)

so have like, Pic of the Month (All 3) and then a fourth that is bigger as Pic of the Year

-Kyle(Rage)

[Jon Fox]

or like they do with POTY (Pic of the Year)

"momy i gotta go poty!"

but yeah that (the potw/potm/potq/poty idea) sounds like a good idea in general
i think that the mag should be like a better written and more inclusive version of the website (just my opinion) and not necicerily a completely different thing, there should be some congruences with the website and the mag, but as it was said before the mag needs things that you cant get on the website to make it buy-able.

another idea going off of the potw idea; subscriber art (any artists an apk?)

*note at this point im just brainstorming not really thinking things out that much 

[Hamish West]

Hamish, The e-zine idea is not the one in questions. APK already has The Freerunner e-zine. What everybody wants to happen is a physical hardcopy magazine that they can take with them.

Ok, i was actually talking a proper ezine thats like  50 pages, not the apk 1 page, and people could print it off if they want a hardcopy.

[ZacharyCohn]

Producing 50 pages of content is a lot of work. I think our current strategy of six or seven quality articles, and then a little bit of peripheral content is pretty effective. We can keep quality high, and keep them coming out consistently once a month.

[Hamish West]

Producing 50 pages of content is a lot of work. I think our current strategy of six or seven quality articles, and then a little bit of peripheral content is pretty effective. We can keep quality high, and keep them coming out consistently once a month.

It would be a lot of work and it would only be quartely, but thats why im asking people for help

[ZacharyCohn]

Instead of starting your own, by yourself, why don't you email me (zac@americanparkour.com) and lets see if we can work together. It sounds like you have some good ideas, and American Parkour already has an established newsletter that we're always trying to improve upon... So it would probably end up being better for everyone (us, you, and the community).