I APPROVE!! Go the N/As <3

Amazing zine once again. Loving the featured cars!

Awesome read. I love the interviews, it was a good idead to start putting them in the magazine.

Better than all of the magazine subscriptions I receive in the mail !!!! Great Job Ryu, keep up the phenomenal work

Go N/A's !!!!!!

Ok, so the inevitable question has reached its appointed time.





I'm thinking about expanding coverage of the mag to cover more platforms (i.e. Impreza/Baja/Forester/etc.).

Thats awesome! Hopefully some day soon enough i will be in there!

I say go for it, I'm always interested in what others are doing to their subies, regardless of model

OMG my pic made a headline background...that is SO going into my portfolio!(pic from the RI meet)

Yeah me too!

And an expansion would be cool, I love anything Subaru so I don't care what I'm looking at.

To my loyal SL-i MBR readers:

Recent events have forced my hand and have me going in a direction I was thinking about going in for a long time. As much as I have enjoyed the pursuit of this magazine as a free endeavor, things are beginning to go in a certain direction:

* Beginning to run out of room in my Photobucket account
* Finances are scary tight
* I am interested in finding out where this can go.

I've always been into interesting stuff (programming/challenges/driving/videogaming), but I've had this annoying habit of stopping, of quitting, of backing off just before stuff took off. I've messed up already a few times in life, missing out on opportunities which could have turned out big.

I'm digging in this time.

I've already sent email to Subaru of America to get started figuring out what is legally involved with using their name for a magazine. I'm gathering a list of potential sponsors for a magazine. I'm also thinking up some thoughts for the holiday issue (which, if all goes well, should be QUITE worth the wait ).

Not to worry, though... free issues should continue, most likely well into the new year. I'm not going to spring some half-baked idea on people and ask them to pay for it. Will it be as grassroots as when I first started? It's possible (even probable).

But it's also going to be more polished. (Well, hopefully at least a little.)

I'm working on a new magazine. But before I continue, just one question.

What would YOU like to see in the future magazine? What have you come to enjoy from SL-i MBR, and what do you want to see now?

God bless us all as I try. If I have a green light on this, then God willing, I'm going to give people a Subaru magazine once again. (Regardless of what anyone else says.)

Back to the lab again...
-ryu_haneda
-Editor-in-Chief, SL-i.net Members Rides Magazine

...stay tuned...

Hey Ryu,

I know what you mean, I been in positions like that before where I had a chance to do something big and dropped the ball hard. But when you do find another opportunity you need to dig in and grasp it while any and all ideas are still fresh in your mind. -my words words of encouragement

I can definitely see you doing something great with this magazine, and maybe making money off of it if that is your goal. Just thinking of an idea such as making a calendar/ picture book type thing, where in the end you want to sell it to members as a finished completed project. To get there I would suggest you keep doing what your doing, but in a way less. Make the free articles that you would put up shorter so that you can tease the reader to want to find out more, read more and therefore buy your calendar. Photos can ethier grab some's attention in seconds or it can distract them away, everyone isnt a aspiring photographer so not everyone's pictures are to die for. Getting in touch with Photographers (especially aspiring ones as they will shoot for free just so their name is out there) that are near the people you are doing a rides thing on. Get them to shoot thier cars, different spots and boom, nice pictures that will please and adding that polish to your calendar. Go for sponsors such as Group N and 4zero1 motorsports, small companies who sell parts for legacys as those are the ones that you will get the quickest reply from. You can ask for minor parts or goods, use them as prizes attract more members to your magazine. Check local printing places that do print calendars and see if they would want a section in the print for advertising (if so great and they might give you a discount off or print them for close to free) If they dont want to do that then compare them with other print shops that do that same, being a smart shopper always helps get you the best price, ask if they match other printing places and beat thier price. If getting the forefront for the money is tight, you can always do a group buy on sl-i and other legacy forums (legacygt.com, nasioc, legacycentral) have collect a down payment to insure their spot for a calendar and to ensure you that you can get them printed.

And there you go a business plan summed up within a paragraph hahaha, I was just writing from my head, that what you would like from it, love reading your mag and i bet others do too, and to have a hardcopy of something I'd pay for one!

Hit that one... Calendar would be GREAT for 2011. I'm pretty sure you could get a ton of members not just this forum but others to buy one cause i know i would(especially if my b-day month was my car LOL). Keep up the great work... a great subaru DIY mod or typical maint. service page step by step would be a good idea.

Wow, how did I miss this!?!?

That was awesome!! You do great work, I always wanted to be a photojournalist for an automotive magazine.

I'm honored though, front page even..thanks!

edit:: If you do go public with a magazine and need an extra hand or photographer..let me know! haha

If I am truly going to go full steam with this idea, it will not be a for-real magazine for another year most likely (at least). Based on what I'm taking in, there is a lot of homework I will be doing: fleshing out the whole game plan for the for-pay magazine, lots and lots of research, and among other things, I am going to have to get my butt out there and start going to car shows!!!

And of course, you, the fellow reader, carry a lot of power because you decide, on the basic level, whether whatever Subaru magazine is in existence will fail or flourish. I literally won't be able to make money unless you buy the mag. Literally.

I grew up reading Super Street, Import Tuner, and Sport Compact Car. I wish I would have archived SCC issues (instead of merely throwing them out or donating them away) now that they are no more. Import Tuner (as far as I know) is gone, and Super Street is still around - looks like it redesigned/reinvented itself (or just changed); I remember looking through page after page of photos of cars when I used to read it regularly (back in college in '98, '99, and 2000). The magazine industry looks like it's changed.

As a result, there are lots of naysayers telling me stuff like "don't bother" or "the Subaru segment is too small" or "a magazine sounds like a great idea if the internet never existed."

Thank the Lord I'm not listening to them.

Merry Christmas!

















































God bless you all. Later!

Once again, another great issue. Love the Impreza wagon at the end. I also have a first gen Impreza wagon ['99] That I sprayed white, added some JDM goodies, and boosted...love it!

great read as always

awesome read like always thanks!

So cool to see my ride up there! Thanks so much for the write up!

I no longer own a BK (aka: Eet Snau) but I'm still here, and always come back to this post to see what's next.


Thank you again Ryu, for doing another amazing job and continuing to post up these awesome features!!!

yes! Loved it

Thank you Ryu for doing what you do, there's some tasty cars in there. Love the Leggy's of course, but Shale's imprezzy is really hot.

Nice. it was a good read.

Well done and thanks for the feature!! More great rides out there, it's good to see the diversity in membership. I'm excited to see more of the other models!

Cover baby, yeah!! ;)







awesome

bummer didnt make the cut, nice mag tho

I completely forgot that you did an article on mine! ended up reading through almost 3 magazines... I love how nice you are to everyone's mods and cars. There's no "it sucks" sentences anywhere, completely nonjudgmental. Nice work! I liked the "Leaving driving simulators behind" thing.

Great reading again Ramon!

Good work!

If you need any help with assembly / design let me know i got time for most SLi projects these days.

-Chuck

Time to continue on with the next issue!

once again awesome edition. Thanks for the spot, couldnt have done a better job if i tried. Keep it up