Turner's Torque

End of an Era

Welcome to our May/June issue of the mag. A lot has happened in the last month and a half since our last issue, as most of you will be aware of the sad demise of Land Rover Owner Magazine. I’d heard the rumours around January time, but kept my mouth shut out of respect, and posted it on social media only when it was official.

Despite not remembering what I had for tea last night, I can vividly remember buying the first issue of LRO all the way back in 1987, then, after a few more issues I became a subscriber. Following LRO’s success other titles started to appear - Land Rover World, then Land Rover Monthly, next up Land Rover Enthusiast, and more recently Classic Land Rover.

I think it was around 2014 when I stopped buying Land Rover magazines regularly. I have kept them all, which means I have well over 2,000 Land Rover magazines scattered around Muddy Towers, and that count doesn't include a bunch load of American 4x4 magazines from the very early 1980s, as well as copies of Range Rover World nd the odd car magazine that didn’t catch on (Muddy Madam is thrilled).

It’s a sad sign of the times, and I would argue that it isn’t anything to do with the lack of Land Rover enthusiasts, rather that it is the ever increasing costs. I was chatting to another editor a while back who said that one of the main problems is paper manufacturers have found it more profitable, especially since habits changed during lockdown, to make cardboard boxes for the likes of Amazon rather than paper for magazines.

With back end costs rising, so it follows that the price increases for the reader too - most of the monthly paper mags are now coming in at over £5, and, with any spare cash we had being stretched, people have had to become more choosy about what they spend their hard earned cash on. It's not just in the world of magazines, it's also happening with TV. At one point we may have subscribed to both Prime and Netflix, but with the prolification of streaming services, we start to make choices that have fallout for business, and LRO is probably just the tip of the iceberg. Will another magazine rise from the ashes of LRO?

I have no doubt, there are a lot of enthusiastic, talented writers and editors, so I’m fairly confident one, if not more, will follow. I've already seen that there’s another classic Land Rover magazine ready to hit the shelves from the people that bring you The Landy.

That’s enough about other magazines, what about The Mud Life?

In truth, just like LRO, this month Muddy Madam and I were on the brink of closing the magazine. As a free-to-read (definitely not free-to-make) magazine we survived COVID, lockdown and even the great toilet roll stampede, but two issues away from our 50th magazine, and with a heavy heart, we were ready to announce that this, our 48th issue, was going to be our final magazine.

Why? In reality, a lot of companies are still struggling, and it remains difficult to attract revenue from those hard working advertisers that make great products. A lot are still feeling the financial pressure from lockdown and Putin’s dick decision to invade Ukraine, and so are we.

That said, we have a small, loyal group of Ko-Fi supporters, and a few wonderful advertisers who we wouldn’t have lasted this long without - but we need more revenue to survive. We thought about charging for the mag, then decided against it in these money-sparse times. Then at a recent business event wise words were uttered, and they stuck with us....‘Evolve, not revolve’

We realised we have been revolving (doing the same things over and over) for a little while, and now is the time to evolve. We took a closer look at The Mud Life to see where we sit in the market, and how we can make the magazine better for you, and in return more attractive to the people who want to tell you about their products - our advertisers.

We've done the research, and although there is a good amount of our readers who like to push their vehicles to their limit, there is a bigger group who use their 4x4s and SUVs in pursuit of a more 'outdoor lifestyle'. With this in mind, we want to write about what you, our readers, are up to out in the wider world, and what you can, and do use your vehicles for.

Over the coming issues there will be a subtle shift in focus from just vehicles, to what we actually want to do with them too - touring, overlanding and camping - from dedicated campsites to wild camping with an emphasis on leaving no trace, and of course associated vehicle mods.

Also, for a long time we have been concentrating our efforts on the magazine, and our once thriving website has fallen by the wayside, but over the next month or two there will be a brand new-look website that will have all the new 4x4 and SUV reviews, interesting daily articles, news, videos and monthly competitions. We want it to be THE place to go for vehicle adventure enthusiasts and outdoor life.

All these changes are on their way, though, with there being only the two of us, we can't give an exact timeframe - if you subscribe or support us on Ko-Fi you'll be the first to find out.

If you have any thoughts or ideas on what you want to see in the magazine, you can always let us know via social media, or send an email to damian@themudlife.co.uk