The Surfer's Path Subscribers

20/08/2024

Please note our working hours are 8.00 - 4.30 Monday to Friday please email merch@surferspath.com we do pick them all up and usually have an auto reply on, but note it hasn't always been working.

 

19/08/2024

Calling For Reader Stories

One thing that has come out of our survey is the love for reader/regular surfer stories, if you've got one, pleaswe get in touch. Photographically it doesn't have to be amazing, it's all about the tale. 

18/09/2024

We are planning on having our distribtuion office and future editorial office open in Cornwall in Ocotber, we will have a partially manned office there and we'll release times for contacting/calling etc. 

16/09/2024

We commisioned an independent report to look at the last five years at The Surfer's Path, to look at what has gone right and wrong, so we can move forward. The report below is quite blunt and there are a lot of nuances within it which aren't talked about for reasons of confidentiality but it gives everyone of an overview, and that we are on a level platform going forward.

 

The Surfer’s Path Official Report

Summary

The Surfer’s Path team, consisting of Kirsty Moran (Product and Distribution), Alan Carter (Editorial Consultant), and Sam Barnes (Accountant), was tasked with analysing the performance of The Surfer’s Path (TSP) over the past five years. This analysis covers Editorial, Distribution, Delivery, and Accounts, offering an overview of the challenges faced and the current strategies for recovery. The full TSP Ltd. accounts will be released after an expected HMRC rebate.

Distribution

  1. What Went Wrong?

The Surfer’s Path initially had a strong proposition, but distribution was heavily impacted by COVID-19. While this disruption was significant, the primary issues stemmed from poor decisions made after the pandemic. Key missteps include:

  • Partnering with unsuitable distribution companies post-COVID, and taking poor/coercive business advice.
  • Delays in seeking external assistance, particularly regarding merchandise.
  • A missed opportunity post Covid -19 to refund customers and restart the process based on the altered distribution and cost landscape.

Positive Note: There is enough product stock to fulfil all orders multiple times over, confirming that the breakdown was due to lack of business experience rather than a lack of product or malpractice.

  1. Addressing Missing Issues and Merchandise

Currently, over 75% of orders have been fulfilled up to Issue 110, including merchandise (T-shirt and book). Of the remaining customers:

  • 189 have not responded to communications.
  • These customers’ orders have been set aside and will be delivered if contact is re-established.

Due to GDPR restrictions, mass emailing or sharing subscriber details is not possible. Efforts to reach out to these customers will continue.

  1. Moving Forward

To streamline operations, three permanent roles are required, including a Distribution Manager. This will ensure timely delivery of remaining issues and merchandise, and following this, the role can transition into a part-time permanent position.

Stock Analysis

Recent returns from a bankrupt distributor have clarified stock levels:

Issue Number

Stock Quantity

101

                                           3,745

102

                                           2,982

103

                                           2,367

104

                                           1,875

105

                                           1,654

106-110

    100 (minimum in stock; printed on demand in batches of 50)

Accounts

The accounts for The Surfer’s Path Ltd. reveal past errors, largely due to poorly advised business structuring between the magazine and the photographic image rights company. These issues led to overpayment of taxes, which has since resulted in a recovery of £12,464. These were down to the way the company was advised to be set up.

Breakdown of Magazine Costs

The costs for each issue include content, printing, packaging, and distribution, all of which were impacted by the pandemic:

Issue Number

Cost (£)

101

12.80

102

12.95

103

14.60

104

16.20

105

15.95

106

12.95

107

9.80

108

9.95

109

10.25

110

10.40

Other Costs:

  • T-Shirt Cost: £18.00
  • Average Book Cost: £24.00
  • Total Cost for a Lifetime Subscriber to date: £167.45

Recommendations:

  • Future pricing strategies suggest that the magazine should be priced around £20 per issue to remain sustainable. Additionally, the magazine size should increase to justify this price point.

Editorial Analysis

The editorial section, while more subjective than accounts and distribution, shows that:

  • The magazine's editorial tone was strongest in Issues 101-106, under the previous ownership. Issues 107-110 were still well-received but lacked the same editorial experience and depth.
  • Recommendations:
    1. Hire an experienced Editor-in-Chief to provide consistency and quality.
    2. Undergo a full redesign to solidify the magazine’s identity. The previous design was suitable for its time but now requires updating.

Survey data (to be finalised by October) indicates that readers generally favour the magazine’s current content mix. However, the broader surfing community has shifted, with the sport becoming more of a hobby than a core lifestyle, leading to a natural decline in magazine sales. Achieving a sustainable sales target of 200-600 copies per issue, priced at £20, with enhanced quality and doubled page count, is deemed realistic.

Concluding Analysis

The initial business plan of The Surfer’s Path was sound, but the combination of COVID-19, poor business advice/decisions, resulted in major setbacks. The magazine's accounting was made over complicated, caused by the dual structure between the magazine and the image library, further exacerbated these issues. It’s clear this was down to a lack of experience, and some very poor advice and in some cases coercive involvement from outside parties.

Despite this, the company is now in a stable position:

  • Large stocks of back issues have been recovered, enough to cover potential missing issues multiple times over.
  • Contact efforts with remaining unresponsive customers will continue on an individual basis, as per GDPR guidelines.
  • The foundations are now in place for TSP to begin regular publishing once again.

Final Recommendation: The creative collective is beneficial, but a clear operational structure is necessary. The following roles are essential for efficient decision-making and communication:

  • CEO/Publisher
  • Head of Distribution and Subscriptions
  • Editor-in-Chief

With these roles in place and the current challenges resolved, The Surfer’s Path is well-positioned to move forward with regular publishing and renewed confidence.

12/09/2024

Issue 111 will publish on November 27th

Issue 112 will publich on March 1st

08/09/2024

We are curently sorting out our distribution office in Cornwall, it has taken much longer due to previous tennant, but there will be contact details comign soon.

 19/08/2024

Hello. We are going to be away for the next two weeks, a combination of moving office and lots of us on holiday, most notably Kirsty and her team who have been handlign all the distribution. Kirsty will still be with us all through September and will be completing the book delivery and if there are any missing issues we'll make sure they are delivered during that time. 

T-Shirts all have been dispatched unless they were ordered last week.

Books - 70% of books have gone, we are waiting on the next batch of Numb and Dispatches From A Plastic Planet mostly, plus a few of the other books. 

Magazines - If you're missing any from 101-110 drop Kirsty a line - merch@surferspath.com and we'll get those sorted. (for the next two weeks this will be the only live email, just for a short while)

We will be posting  a full subscribers report on here and sending to representitives as well. That should be ready this week once some details have been recieved on distribution. It will also map out the future as well. 

Thankyou for all your support as we have brought things back in line, we still have work to do, but we are getting close to where The Path should be.

Please do the first survey if you have time as well, thank you. 

 

 

17/7/2024

Welcome to the new subscriber’s area. 

At the moment there is no password to get in, it's an area purely for information, when we start updating the archive issues they will go directly to each individuals personal account.

For the moment there are three areas of interest for subscribers  -

News, which is this page, this will be updated regularly, the date at the top will indicate when the last update was.

Accounts page, we intend to become a community cooperative/interest company, which is not a charity not a limited company but we need to publish our balance sheet every month and there is six months available now, these are not idependentaly audited yet and will be replaced by those, when they are. This has to be public so there is no requirement for passwords to see it. We will be publishing all of the final accounts for the previous companies as well for clarity, and also a breakdown of all expenditures. 

Finally, there will also be your own digital account. To access this you click on the little human symbol at the top of the page and it will prompt you for both email and password of your account, that email would be the one you ordered with originally. You can reset password etc. on that link as well. In there will be your order history (there is a glitch where some peoples orders have been duplicated when we transfered info over, this is being rectified), the current address and all digital issues you have. The delay on this page has been making sure any address changes connect to our CRM which they do now, so if it appears wrong in there please update and we'll get the change. 

That's the technical aspects.

Where are we now? If you have been communicating with us you have mostly likely met Kirsty and she is here to deliver all magazines and Merch up to issue 110 by the middle of August so here is her update.

 

Back Issues – When we hear any back issues are missing, we post the day you email, so if anyone who hasn’t contacted me directly and is in the UK has any missing issues, please email me on – merch@surferspath.com - we have enough back issues to fullfill all missing issues and we will also replace any damaged issues for collectors.

Issue 108 and 109 – They started shipping on Friday and I’m glad a lot of you have received them. They will continue to arrive this week and into next week. We have had three addresses flagged by the post office and I have contacted those people.

Issue 110 – It will be back with us on Friday 26th so slightly ahead of schedule, and will start shipping that day.

T-Shirts – We’ve put in all of the orders now, if you haven’t ordered no problem just email – merch@surferspath.com – and we are putting in orders as they come now. Originally we expected the main order back this week, it looks like it will be but not until late Friday. We will upgrade the shipping to 1st class for these so everyone still receives them by the end of July.

Books – These have been more problematic than expected I’ll list them –

Patagonia Let My People Go Surfing – We ordered 15 and got 2. So, we will ask people to reorder, I have tried everywhere to get more.

Distant Shores – We have sent the six we had, we are not expecting more.

Wayward by Chris Burkard – We can fulfil as many of these as required and they are shipping

Numb by Ian Battrick and Tim Nunn- We have shipped five, we’ll have the main order in abut a week and will send the rest.

Dispatches From A Plastic Planet – Tim Nunn – If you’re a plastic project supporter these will be shipped directly from us when they arrive along with the impact report. This will be as advised in early August.

Tales from the blue fringe Tim Nunn, Alex Finch and Karl Christie – We are publishing this as communicated and we will let everyone know the date for that in August next week.

New books –

Gerry Lopez – Surf is where you find it – We can deliver on these immediately.

The Seaside Guidebooks – I know a lot of people wanted these and it looks like we can get them but will update.

Surf Science – May be available and re-published in the Autumn. If it is we will put in a large order for these so everyone can have one.

I will contact everyone who has placed their order personally just to update as well.

Overseas subs are all being sent this week and you will individually get notifications and tracking. We'll have a bigger update on the overseas side of things next week as plans are finalised.

Finally just a message from me distribution wise, I was brought in to tackle the merch and distribution, it was as you all know the failing of the magazine previously but a very solvable issue. If anyone is missing anything please email and I expect you all to be up to date with magazines and merch in the next month so you can move on and enjoy the next phase of the magazine.

 

The Next Steps

We are currently in the final stages of acquiring an office in Truro which will be our base, homes address, you can drop in and call. The details of which will be posted on here.

 

What’s next with The Surfer’s Path?

Our first step is to get you all up to date with mags and merch so you can start to regain confidence and bluntly to get your monies worth. The next phase is to all come together and formulate a future direction.

There are certain aspects which are dictated to us from a commercial point of view, we will return to a quarterly format after issue 110, so 111 will be out late October. This will give us time to achieve the following –

At the start of August there will be a reader’s survey, and it is quite all encompassing and it will take some time to fill in, but ultimately, we want to shape the best magazine we possibly can and so we want detailed feedback from everyone. We can solve the distribution issues, it’s a case of having the correct person and crudely throwing money at it to get it up to scratch, but the magazine requires more than that, and that’s where we all come in. So the survey will be up all August and we invite anybody to take part. Then in September we are going to set up three or four forums with subscribers, online and we will do two film nights for in person conversation as well, to draw together the findings and make some decisions.

We are also looking for a surf specific editor to lead the project. We have realised that whilst there is a lot of experience here and some good surf knowledge the depth required to deliver what we ultimately all want is quite a rare element. We are open to suggestions as well, if any of you are thinking I can do all of this better and I want to help, please join us, we are open to anything.

Once that process is done, we will start publishing again quarterly, lifetime subscribers will continue to get every magazine, there won’t be new subscriptions available, but past subscribers will get discount on new issues.