Courtesy / WoodenBoat
Matt Murphy joined WoodenBoat as associate editor in 1992 and succeeded founder Jon Wilson as editor in 1994.
Updated: January 27, 2022
Q&A: New owners of WoodenBoat Publications detail their plans for the future
Courtesy / WoodenBoat
Andrew Breece, publisher of WoodenBoat Publications’ magazine division, partnered with longtime WoodenBoat magazine editor Matt Murphy to buy the multi-pronged Brooklin enterprise from founder Jonathan Wilson earlier this month.
On New Year’s Eve, WoodenBoat Publications founder Jonathan Wilson finalized the sale of the multi-pronged Brooklin business to a partnership of Matt Murphy, longtime editor of the company's WoodenBoat magazine, and Andrew Breece, publisher of the magazine division.
In addition to WoodenBoat, founded in 1974, the enterprise includes Professional BoatBuilder magazine, Small Boats magazine, the WoodenBoat School, the WoodenBoat Show and the WoodenBoat Store. Wilson, 76, arranged a 10-year lease for Murphy and Breece to continue operations on the 61-acre seaside campus that has housed the enterprise for decades.
Breece grew up in Orono, graduated from Bates College in 2008, worked as the annual fund coordinator for Mystic Seaport, then served as development director for the Maine Island Trail Association. He joined WoodenBoat in 2014, and soon after became publisher.
Murphy grew up in Salem, Mass., graduated from Colby College, then completed a master’s degree at the University of Rhode Island. He has sailed and worked on wooden boats since age 10. He joined WoodenBoat as associate editor in 1992 and succeeded Wilson as editor in 1994.
Wilson continues to direct a nonprofit he founded in 2004, JUST Alternatives, which supports victims and survivors of violence and violation.
Mainebiz asked Murphy and Breece about their plans for the enterprise going forward. Here’s an edited transcript.
Mainebiz: When did the exit conversation with Jon unfold?
Matt Murphy: We’d been talking about it for about a year.
Andrew Breece: Matt and I are passionate about the mission. I think deep down we always wanted to be part of the future but maybe didn’t know exactly what that meant. The day Jon brought us into his office and said, ‘Here’s what I’d like to do’ — that came out of the blue.
Courtesy / Wilson/Streeter Family
WoodenBoat founder Jon Wilson around 1981.
MB: How has the magazine’s mission unfolded over the years?
MM: The core mission is to provide access to the experience of wooden boats. But interpreting that is where adaptations might occur. For example, ocean conservation themes have become hot in recent years. We did a piece on a tuna-fishing vessel in Australia and another piece on a scrimshaw artist. With those, we have companion articles about the conservation situations around tuna and whales, while still maintaining the focus on wooden boats.
MB: What does your network of content providers look like?
MM: We have hundreds of writers around the world. Some are more active than others. We might not publish somebody for a couple of years. But we’ve got them in the Rolodex, so to speak.
MB: How do you develop that network?
MM: There’s no one way. Boat shows are huge for making connections. We have a brilliant photographer from the Chesapeake region, Jay Fleming — I found him through a Google search and he’s one of our mainstay photographers now.
MB: What are your plans for the future?
AB: Matt and I will stay very true to the mission statement that Jon started 47 years ago. Our big quest is to expand down other avenues. We’ve had this incredibly successful print magazine and we’ve been able to attract and cultivate this great audience. What are some ways that we can continue cultivating this audience and also grow it?
MB: Ideas so far?
AB: One thing that was born out of the pandemic, which we started in 2020, was a video series. We couldn’t open the school. We realized there were people who still wanted to get this education on wooden boat construction, restoration, lofting. So we had the idea to start online video classes. We named the program Mastering Skills; 2021 was its first year. It was wildly successful. Now Matt and I have decided to make a big investment in this. We’re redesigning the website and user experience.
MB: What did the 2021 series look like?
AB: There are 12 sessions. Some are multi-part. We added a new video every month. You become a member and you get access to the library.
MB: How will you continue to roll out the series?
AB: For 2022, we’ll produce a video per month. We’re working with [Yarmouth website design and internet marketing firm] 50Fish to do a massive facelift of this product. We cobbled it together for 2021 to see if the business model made sense. Now that we’ve proved the pilot project works, we said, 'Let’s make it into cornerstone product.'
MB: How many members did the series attract in 2021?
AB: We just passed the thousand mark.
MB: How are you marketing the series?
AB: Primarily through our own channels — WoodenBoat ads, dedicated email blasts, social media, both native posts and sponsored ads. The new site will be launched hopefully in April.
MB: What will make the new site better than the pilot?
AB: The platform will be designed for and dedicated to this video series. Right now, it’s on [ecommerce site] Shopify, a basic platform that’s not designed for this. In terms of user experience, it will be aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate and within the WoodenBoat style.
MB: Who’s producing the content?
AB: Rich Hilsinger [recently retired as director of the WoodenBoat School]. He had the summer off from the school in 2020, and since retiring has stayed on as a freelance contributor to host this program, and he has his own army of contributors and instructors, whom he’s recruited for this. He either brings them to our shop or he goes to their shop.
MB: Other initiatives?
MM: Small Boats magazine is an online publication and membership site. That’s been operating since 2014. We have 5,500 subscribers and the site gets about 60,000 unique visitors every month. It’s been growing 25% per year for the past three years consistently.
MB: Since Small Boats is already proven, how does that help you move forward?
AB: We view that as a guinea pig: Can we figure out online publishing? Yes, we can. Matt and I have ambitions now to complement our flagship — which is WoodenBoat — with a membership site, with benefits such as having digital access to the entire archive. That would be new.
MB: When might the membership site roll out?
AB: I’d like to start the project within a year.
MB: Does WoodenBoat have a future with younger generations?
AB: That’s one of our goals, to continue to cultivate our current audience and grow it with the next generation. We have a very active social media account — Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest. On Facebook, we have over 150,000 followers. We have a dedicated audience on social media. That’s been a great way to cultivate the younger generation. We know millennials love to watch online videos. We’re hoping our new digital offerings will appeal to them.
MB: Do you have a way to tell if younger generations are interested in wooden boats?
AB: You can look at the demographics of our followers. We’re seeing a big uptick in younger ages following us on social media and interacting with our posts.
MM: One of the most popular sections of our magazine is ‘Launchings’ [news of boats built by amateurs and professionals]. There are a lot of high school age kids on those pages, building themselves kayaks and dinghies and daysailers. That’s really heartening. We’re seeing boatbuilding clubs springing up in high schools.
MB: What does magazine distribution look like?
AB: Distribution is split — 45,000 subscribers, 15,000 on the newsstands. We’re shipping around the world.
MB: At one time, WoodenBoat had 100,000 readers. What happened?
AB: The decrease has been in newsstand sales. That remains a struggle for everyone.
MB: WoodenBoat comprises four segments. What’s your overall revenue breakdown?
AB: Magazine division: 40%; WoodenBoat Store: 25%; WoodenBoat School: 30%; WoodenBoat Show: 5%.
MB: What’s your outlook for the future?
AB: When news of the sale of the company came out, the response was incredibly positive. I think people were happy and thankful that Jon sold to two long-time employees rather than to some big publishing house that would gut the company and try to make as much profit as possible. Matt and I will put mission ahead of profits.
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