Meet Ray Lee of Speedboat Magazine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ray Lee.

Ray, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was “recruited” by my partner and then sole Owner/Publisher-in-Chief, Chris Davidson, in 2013 to come onboard Performance Boats Magazine (the name of the publication prior to us changing it to Speedboat Magazine in May 2014) to take the role of co-publisher and help elevate the magazine. I had been an avid boater since I was a child and a regular staple within boating industry events, so I was excited at the opportunity. Since then, we have greatly increased our circulation of the magazine nation and worldwide. We are the only regularly published magazine to cover high-performance boating and we print nine high-quality issues per year. We’ve also built up a large social media presence of nearly 200k followers combined and travel the country (and beyond) to cover all of the happenings in performance boating to bring to our readers.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
With anything worthwhile, there were challenges. Chris and I didn’t quite see eye-to-eye in the beginning but he’s since turned the reins over to me to run the book, as I think would be most beneficial to the publication. We now work very well together, along with the rest of our team–and we feel that the magazine is stronger than ever. The rapid and steady growth of our numbers tells us that we’re definitely on the right track.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Speedboat Magazine – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We are the only regularly printed magazine that covers the wild and exciting world of high-performance boating. The others have gone by the wayside or gone to a strictly digital format. While this is obviously the trend of today (and a less costly avenue), our boating community still appreciates and craves a good magazine to hold, read and save. I take pride in the quality of images we run, the details in the stories we feature and to see our finished product on the newsstands of big name retailer outlets. The deadlines can be rough but its well worth our team effort when the book is printed and shipped.

I feel that the reason for my success is because I truly LOVE the sport, the industry and the whole community. It’s more than just a job for me. I have a deep passion for all things boating and it still hasn’t gotten old or tiresome for me. The people are some of the most generous, caring individuals I have ever met and it’s heartening to see it month after month, event after event.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We strive to keep moving onward and upward. The industry is strong and the economy is booming. This allows more of the enthusiasts to either finally enter the world of high-performance boating or return to it. We also are working to do more multi-media coverage. We have big things in the works and we look forward to sharing them with our readers.

Pricing:

• New Subscriptions: $34.00 (Nine issues / year)
• Renewals: $29.95 (Nine issues / year)
• T-shirts, hats, calendars, stickers, back issues, can coozies, etc.: $20.00 or less

Contact Info:

• Address: 9216 Bally Ct. Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
• Website: Speedboat.com
• Phone: 702-313-1400
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sb.mag/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/speedboatmagazine/
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/groups/speedboatmagazine/

Image Credit:
Todd Taylor, Brian Branson, Mark McLaughlin, Kenny Dunlop

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