Letter from the Editor
A warm welcome to the April issue of Scootering.
It’s common practise for publishers to make tempting offers aimed at attracting new subscribers to a magazine. We do it now and then, sometimes via email or post, other times by means such as Facebook. As far as email and postal offers are concerned, you either get an uptake on the offer, or you don’t. However, when it comes to Facebook, you can be guaranteed of one thing… a response! Whether that response be good, bad or ugly is another thing, but you’ll get one either way. Generally speaking, other than the positive response from people accepting the offer, one of the few negative retorts we receive is this: “What about something for the loyal subscribers!”
Well, you spoke... we listened: Scootering Extra is a new club offering our loyal subscribers something more. Of course, being a subscriber you already get a huge discount on the cover price of the magazine, free postage, and the magazine delivered to your letterbox before they go out on the newsstands (Royal Mail permitting!). So what does Scootering Extra offer? Well, a number of things… firstly, we are in the process of digitising our entire historical archive of magazines, and there are nearly 10 years’ worth of mags uploaded already… all fully searchable with keywords!
You wanna find an old review of an exhaust? Search it on Scootering Extra. You wanna find an old Vespa tech article? Search it on Scootering Extra. You wanna seek out that old picture of you at a rally, or a scooter you once owned which featured in the mag? Search it on Scootering Extra. It’s all there, with more being added each month, and that’s just for starters. We’re also teaming up with valued partners, to bring our Scootering Extra members a series of exclusive offers: discounted insurance, discounted scooter products, helmets and clothing. Scooter legends VE and national insurance companies Lexham and Bikesure are already on board, and we have more in the wings waiting to be added. But hang on, there’s more… every month we have more material than we can fit into the magazine, it’s like trying to stuff a gallon into a pint pot.
So the web becomes our perfect portal to add those unseen images, extra clips, and behind the scenes action… exclusively for Scootering Extra members. We hope to build such a valuable array of tangible offers, searchable archives and unseen material, that the thought of not being a subscriber drives you insane! If you’re already a subscriber, see the advert on page 99 for instructions on how to log into the new system. For those who haven’t yet subscribed, all you need to do, to save money on the magazine cover price, have it delivered to your door each month, and access the Scootering Extra magazine archives, exclusive offers, discounts and added bonus material… is ring the team on: 01507 529529 or alternatively visit: www.scootering.com/extra and sign up.
Sorry for the ‘hard sell’ this month, it’s not my usual editorial opener, but I’m so damn pleased to be able to offer these fantastic extras to our loyal subscribers, I had to shout about it for at least one edition! It’s not often you’re able to open such an amazing and valuable archive of back issues to the wider audience, so the fact that we can is well worth shouting about! Anyway, enough of my ramblings, it’s another belter this month… enjoy the issue.