September 2025
23 years publishing and I’m still a delivery boy, but last month I announced changes at Nautical Mile that took a few wild turns.
Digitizing the magazine is the end goal but I don’t want pages of advertisements like Coastal Angler’s magazine. If people wanted that they’d go back to using the Yellow Pages.
I first built multiple digital magazines to cover various regions of Florida but decided to merge everything into one. Lee county remains in print plus it has a digital edition with a few more pages, then another digital magazine with the same “coastal” theme is also published monthly, but that one has 72 pages.
We have a social media following from all over the world so the one digital monthly publication has no borders, it’s just boating, fishing, and living the coastal dream wherever you’re from.
The digital magazines are “live” meaning that each page is a clickable link which takes you to a webpage or our office website which has articles in a readable format since it’s difficult to read magazines online. Next month I’m incorporating software which allows uploading video onto pages.
I had the magazine evaluated a couple years ago when I thought about selling it. A retention rate in a local newspaper or magazine that remains consistently high for 23 years is an easy sell, but hard to let go of. It also involves no stress, no staff, and no heavy lifting, and I can run most of it from a cottage on Ramrod Key, so I decided to keep it.
One area of focus is to maintain the magic that keeps support retention so high, which is likely the unique flavor between the pages, as opposed to piles of ads with little usable content. Some think back-to-back ads is where the money is, I think there’s more money in long term support.
As it is with any company, customer retention is associated to value. I’ve heard competitors brag about how many advertisers they have, then I see them out replacing clients when a contract expires.
Nautical Mile has never had sales staff, which saves an advertiser 20% right off the top, and we’ve never used contracts. Contracts are used when a company has a hard time keeping customers. Could you imagine a restaurant contracting (forcing) you to pay for a meal a month for a year if you wanted to eat there at all?
Anyway, the winds of change are blowing and I ask that readers and business supporters bear with me as I modify things hourly because I can’t make up my mind. The end results will be worth it.
Last month over 2,000 people joined our social media following and another 600+ subscribed to get Nautical Mile online. I created a Facebook group for each magazine and I don’t know where the people are coming from but all of the groups are growing. I’m getting 200+ notifications a day and I’ve set a goal to have over 100k followers. And if you can get 100k, you can get 200k. And the wheels on the bus go round and round…..
I also made a GoogleMap for every restaurant in Florida who offers dockage. I didn’t know where this would lead but the map got over 30k views in within a month and it’s growing hourly. It’s downloadable, but you’ll have to get a 12-year old to help figure that out.
I was looking through back-issues and ran across an old article I wrote about Yellowtail Snapper fishing. I rewrote it and republished it this month for those interested in learning the technique of free-lining.
Some of those back-issues brought back a lot of memories, and I’m a always surprised at how many supporters we had 15 years ago who are still with us, contributing writers and advertisers both. The first issue was saved on a floppy disk that I can’t access but I have a hard copy.
At the time it was called “The Cape Coral Boater” and you could tell a very inexperienced publisher put it together. The first Nautical Mile was actually a brochure I gave to boat waxing customers when I was the “Wax Man” 24 years ago. I still haven’t learned to type.
It’s interesting to think the first Nautical Mile was stored on a floppy disk.
On the cover this month is a Floyd Skiff, one of the most respected names in the business. They’re based in New Smyrna Beach, which is on Florida’s east coast just south of Daytona. They just introduced a new Skiff, the “10-WT” which is turning some heads in the industry.
Brian Floyd brought a skiff to our event at the Lee Civic Center and had an electrical short. The aisle cleared out thinking there was a fire. He commented how HOT the show was….
Go to our website and click the “subscribe” button. There’s no advertising or soliciting. Once a month we send out the latest magazine plus we maintain a calendar of upcoming nautical events.
Get out on the water, and stay hydrated!
Jim Griffiths
Publisher, Nautical Mile
