CABLE, Wis. – The 2010-2011 publishing season will mark the 30th year of Cross Country Skier magazine – 30 years as the first name in Nordic ski publications and the #1 source of all things Nordic. Since 2000 Cross Country Skier, LLC, Ron Bergin and John Torinus principals, has published Cross Country Skier. During that time Bergin has served as publisher and editor. “The 2010-2011 publishing season also marks our tenth season as publisher of Cross Country Skier,” notes Bergin. While there have been several entities that have held the reins at Cross Country Skier over the past 30 years, Bergin’s 10-year tenure not only represents one-third of the magazine’s history, but also the longest running entity to publish Cross Country Skier. “This, I feel, underscores our commitment to the magazine, our readers and advertisers and passion for the sport,” Bergin emphasizes.
In homage to the magazine’s lengthy history Cross Country Skier will publish and post several vintage articles from its archives – a Blast from the Past! “We did a fairly major series of retrospectives during our 25th anniversary season,” notes Bergin. “This time around I thought it would be fun to dig through the archives and find a number of articles of interest, be that from a perspective of pure nostalgia, curiosity or “no matter how much things change, the more they stay the same.”
At the same time, Cross Country Skier announces a transition to a three-issue print publishing schedule: November, December and January/February. With these issues Cross Country Skier will continue to produce the same information-packed, high quality magazine as it for the past 30 years. But this does not mean that the October issue will disappear.
Beginning this year the October issue of Cross Country Skier will be available only online as a digital magazine. This will be a stand-alone issue with the same training, destination and diverse features as in the past, just in a digital format. “We regret needing to take this step,”
says Bergin, “but considering the alternative, it seemed a reasonable and necessary compromise. By embracing the digital playing field and utilizing this technology, we hopefully will be able to offer our readers a few new and additional things in this format and in the end the October issue will ultimately continue.”
“I want our readers to understand,” Bergin clarified, “that we will still publish, in print, the November, December and January/February issues. These will still be available by subscription and at retail.” Current subscribers will not be affected, as all subscriptions are on an “issues remaining” basis. Every subscriber will receive the number of issues for which they paid. “We have no intention of eliminating the print version of the magazine,” Bergin reiterated. “Our research has shown that our readers are not ready to go there, and neither are we.”
The November, December and January/February issues, however, will also be available online as digital editions. Readers will be able to print, email, download and archive the digital editions, take them with them digitally or read them on a mobile device. Cross Country Skier will be working with Zmags, an international provider of an online magazine platform with more than 2,500 publications in 50 countries. Last season Cross Country Skier dabbled with digital editions, which can all be viewed at www.crosscountryskier.com. “With some basic experience with digital editions under out belt,” explains Bergin, “we hope to expand what we do with the new online issues.”
With available technology presenting ever more and newer options to both deliver and enhance content, Cross Country Skier plans to stay abreast and take full advantage of these options to provide more and better content. With all of Cross Country Skier’s printed editions also online, advertisers will be able to considerably extend their reach with little or no additional investment.
Cross Country Skier’s website, www.crosscountryskier.com, will continue to provide national, regional, U.S. and Canadian ski team and ski business news, with over 400 postings annually. In addition to the online editions, the site will include periodic web-only features, event listings and several guides. The site continues to enjoy heavy in-season traffic, with over 17,000 unique visits and over 600,000 page views monthly.
“It’s going to be an exciting season,” Bergin concludes. “The past decade has been anything but simple in the ski and publishing industries. This I feel is terrific way to move forward without sacrificing that which has become the core of Cross Country Skier magazine’s being.”
