API magazine is closing

Magazines die because people stop buying right?

I think API was a great magazine, when I started investing I really looked forward to buying my monthly edition, however I stopped buying years ago for whatever reason it just did not do it for me.

Before anyone crucifies me I am not saying it was a bad magazine, but perhaps it did not keep up with the times? what investors want to read today? I don't know, just saying? .... and perhaps the gurus and their blogs are providing more meaningful information... don't know??

Of course I don't like to see anyone closing shop and people losing their jobs, not nice at all and I wish Kieran the best moving foward

MTR

 

Great interview on Sky Business Real Estate just now Kieran. Rock solid 101 investing advice.

Also especially ballsy effort given the week you've just had. Well done.

PS, sorry about the mag too. I've been buying for 10+ years, its served me well and been one of the resources I've used to educate myself and build a $8m portfolio

 

I see what you are trying to say and I agree too

I still purchased it every month as if I learnt anything new, it was well worth the $10

but I did notice an inlfux of OTP ads and "young gun " type stories,

which to me lost a bit of credibility,

however I guess you got to give what everyone wants,

so if it brings in revenue then good for them, its a business, and a business doesnt survive on good feelings

 

@Daisycutter4 Kieran, people who have been doing a good job will always find new work opportunities. Because that's the way it is. Just keep faith. Good Luck

 

Power of positive thinking... it works, I know, I am the come back kid

 

I am guessing this is what API didn't do. It didn't give its customers what they wanted, in a format that they wanted. Many years ago, I used to be a subscriber but I stopped. API stopped doing it for me.

Business owners don't close a business because they are profitable. They either keep them or sell them. It is only when a business bleeds money (and the owners see no way to stop the haemorrhaging) that they close a business.

It is tough being a business owner. Not only must you deliver what your customers want today (and that is tough enough), you have to work out what your customers want tomorrow (even before they know it, which makes it really tough). Otherwise, you don't grow/survive - there are a lot of 'dead and injured bodies' on that road eg Kodak, IBM, Xerox, ...

I owned my last business for 20 years. In that time, we morphed ourselves 4 to 5 times. So much so, when I sold it in 2010, it looked nothing like the business I started in 1990.

Interestingly (and sadly), the two guys who bought me out went belly-up in less than 3 years. They lost everything.

Yep, being a business owner is tough.

 

Daisycutter4, can you post a link? Sorry to hear the news about API. Maybe there is an opportunity to launch a PChat related publication...

 

Online/PDF publication perhaps? It seems to be where the "modern era" is heading...

 

ye sagree with you,

to survive its fair to say thta they had to sell copies, whether it be by seasoned investors, beginners, dreamers or for the GPs waiting room magazine shelf

so I guess they would have to sell to the people who were most likely to buy,
if the most likely to buy in the mass isnt seasosned investors, Iguess they have to give what the mass wants,

so if the mass doesnt want serious disucssion, then they will have to do whatever is needed, even if it disagrees with loyal readers

 

I understand what you are saying but that 'mass' didn't buy. API is closing.

To be successful in business, you have "to listen to your customers" and you have to "NOT listen to your customers".

Yep, it is tough.

 

@Daisycutter4 So sorry to hear the sad news mate. As someone who has been keeping a property blog for about 6 years (with no income from it other than maybe $20 a year worth of Google banner clicks), I understand the importance of quality journalism.

Some posters here have mentioned the importance of 'moving with the times' in regards to print etc. This is a double edged sword so readers, consumers, and investors should be careful with this line of thought. See, we are living in a time of fake news, poor quality digital journalism (or lack thereof), vested interest bias by 'journalists' with hidden agenda and so on.

Sheep-le seem to gobble it all up. Why print matters is really very simple: its expense to produce and distribute it is actually its saving grace in regards to the quality, truth, and verification of the information contained within the stories. In digital; thia fades away because everything is so cheap/free to produce, publish and share; that corners are usually cut due to much tighter budgets. These corners are often things like checks and balances; face to face interviews with (multiple) sources, and a budget to cover verification and 'on the ground' research/travel to actually witness any phenomena being scribed.

Print also excels in "church and state"-ing content versus paid ads and paid content (mandatory labels such as "advertorial" or "advertising feature" too distinguish it from journalistic content).

Digital is a murky murky blended mess. I know because my dayjob is in selling ads digitally. 'Native' advertising for instance is very much blurring these lines and often to the detriment of the consumer.

Sorry folks, but if you want quality journalism you need to pay for it. Print or digital; nothing worth publishing/reading can remain free forever. All of those who continue to use APB Plus and other banner ad blocking tools are actually hurting the very published content you are clearly so intent on reading. There is a value-exchange we consumers make for 'free' content; being a tolerance of the ads to support its free-ness. Remember this.

Kieran again, so sad to hear the news and I can only wish you and the wider API team success in 2017 in your next adventures. If you do stay in property journalism and would like a (free) contributor for content who has no skin in the game (no property company, spruiker, agency etc.), hit me up.

 

Thank you for your time and contribution and hoping the creators of Api move on to something bigger and better.

Nothing lasts and when it's contributed it's purpose it's time to move on and create something else.,

I'm honoured to have been part of it multiple times.
I think I was in August edition but have been too busy to get a copy and see what they wrote - just heard about it from other people.

 

I guess that means my recently purchased 3 year subscription is no longer!

 

Noted @C-mac and thanks. I hope there's room for diverse commentary and discussion in the future. What is rarely seen is the amount of editing to remove special interest commentary as well trying to pick columnists and contributors who have something valuable for investors beyond promoting their brand. I hope to be a part of that somehow in 2017.

 

ok, the main edition I was looking for I cant find right now, but im looking

in the mean time this article I thought was great for regionals and becoming a slumlord, and pretty much pointed me in that direction, which I also read a lot

and yes my scanning sux

 

This one is pretty old



Huge thanks to Kieran and team not only for you magazine but for also helping me out when I reached out to you earlier in the year for presentation I was doing on property. Kieran personally replied in less than 24 hours on my questions as well as providing me a copy of the front page from December 98/Jan 99 edition.

End of era but as many have already said I'm sure it's the beginning of something even better.

 

Yes but yip does a lot more online, and a lot less volume in print compared to api.

Yes it will be interesting to see how PF set up their funnel now, from my chats with PF through managing the discount group access that I do they told me the conversion rate from the free membership to the 200per month retail product was super low so I don't know why they persisted or what they will do now.

Lance that was many of us yrs (or even decades ago) and I for one have been on and off subscriber for last 10 yrs. The data in the back was what taught me to become a data based investor and fall in love with the numbers.

Yeah those issues are up for debate but ultimately in the hands of the owners, if they felt the business had a dim future then they have made a hard call. I am also very sorry to Keiran and the staff for the sudden news I would not wish that on anyone.

Well @Daisycutter4 whatever you do in the future you know you have a slab of the investing community to talk to about it right here. All the best mate.

 

To be honest with you have not read the magazine in years for reasons I mentioned.

What went wrong not clear, I was just stating the obvious, no buyers, no business

I don't read YIP, no idea how this compares?

 

In my opinion all other Australian and New Zealand property investor magazines are rubbish.

Today I bought the current edition... for old times' sake/prosperity.
(And to have the numbers in the back of the mag forever...).
xxx