The official website for the fledgling ROUTE Magazine went live Wednesday, a few weeks after print copies of the Route 66-focused magazine arrived in Barnes & Noble bookstores and some motels along the Mother Road.
The website is offering print subscriptions for U.S. and Canada readers. Rates are $55 for the U.S. and $72 for Canada for the bimonthly publication.
Editor Brennan Matthews acknowledged in an email Wednesday the subscription price may sound steep for some.
“[I}t is conservative pricing, actually,” he wrote. “Producing a high-quality magazine is a very expensive endeavor, and we have no control over the U.S. Postal System and related costs. We are by no means trying to take advantage of readers. We have actually tried to reduce the cost to readers at every turn.”
Matthews said print subscriptions will begin with the second issue.
Free, one-year digital subscriptions will be offered to foreign readers but not to U.S. and Canada readers. After a year, an international digital subscription will cost $22. Matthews said he’s offering digital subscriptions to international readers because the cost of shipping print magazines overseas is steep.
However, Matthews posted on the magazine’s Facebook page he can ship a copy of the first issue to foreign readers with PayPal accounts for $27.
If interested, please make the needed payment and send an email noting your order to ‘info@routemagazine.us’ with your exact mailing address and full name please. It is important to include all relevant information, including your zip/postal code. Also, please confirm the exact issue that you are ordering, for example, February/March 2018 (premiere), and how many copies.
Matthews said some distribution gaps for the magazine popped up in Amarillo, Texas, and Joplin, Missouri. He said those problems should be addressed by ROUTE Magazine’s April/May issue.
Matthews said Barnes & Noble sold out of its copies, and future print runs will be larger.
“We have really been delighted with the tremendous response that the magazine has gotten. Exciting time,” Matthews wrote.
Matthews also said issues of ROUTE Magazine will be sold at Fran Houser’s Sunflower Station shop in Adrian, Texas, and the Roadrunner Lodge in Tucumcari, New Mexico. He said he plans to find more distribution points in the Texas Panhandle for the next issue.
The inaugural 74-page issue of ROUTE Magazine contains profiles on author and actor Michael Wallis, Amboy, California, owner Albert Okura, author Jim Hinckley, former Midpoint Cafe owner Fran Houser, must-stay Route 66 hotels or motels, “Women on the Route” and other stories. (Disclosure: Route Magazine uses some excerpted content from Route 66 News.)
(Screen-capture image of ROUTE Magazine’s website; cover image of the inaugural issue of ROUTE Magazine)
I just subscribed and then also emailed the magazine so that I could get the inaugural issue as well. The editor himself responded quickly and was very helpful. Looking forward to it.
I am wanting the 1st addition (February/March) of the new Magazine “RouteMagazine”. The Barnes and Noble store in Tulsa did not have it.
David, it’s been sold out for several weeks. You might check with eBay later to see whether someone is selling it.