Start a magazine

[pirer]

Hi there,

I'm thinking of starting a magazine that will sustain itself with the advertising. The magazine will be free and of public interest. We will publish 80 thousand units every three or two months.

I've already have the distribution arranged so that's the key point of the proyect. It's interesting enough to make people want to advertise in it.

Wich insides could you give to someone who is just starting in this business?
What shoul I be aware of?

Thanks in advance

pirer

[IRuleYouHard]

How much are you advertising costs? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Sniper]

What is the topic the mag will cover?

[pirer]

Sniper,

Nothing and everything in particular. The content of it doesn`t matter at all if it`s reasonable.

Which costs should I be aware of? The printing, design, creating the society...

Thanks

[scotty M]

I've looked into this in the past. A few things to consider.

With the ever growing popularity of the internet, printed magazines as a whole are declining in popularity every year.

If you're going to be successful, you need a full understanding of the industry. You should know the specifics on writing, editing, publishing, distribution, and most importantly, how you're going to acquire new advertisers and how much of a profit they're going to bring you every month.

A magazine, even a small local one, is no easy task and requires a pretty large financial investment to get off the ground.

Have you approached candidates for advertising? Do you know what the going rates in your area are? Running a magazine would be a ton of work on both the creation and sales fronts.

I would recommend working for a magazine company first to get an idea of how everything fits together.

I'm not saying that it can't be done, but it won't be easy. And if you don't know exactly what you're doing, I'd put my money on the magazine failing within the first few months.

[wmspringer]

I ran a small special-interest magazine about 7-8 years ago. Our main problem was getting enough advertising; we charged $3/issue but the actual printing cost was twice that, and we ended up going back to online only because we just couldn't get enough advertisers to cover the cost.

[Sniper]

[ QUOTE ]
Sniper,

Nothing and everything in particular. The content of it doesn`t matter at all if it`s reasonable.

Which costs should I be aware of? The printing, design, creating the society...

Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

Doesn't sound like you've fully thought this thru...

If its free, you are making your money off advertising... if people don't look at the magazine, no one will see the ads... the only way you get people to look at the mag is if they are interested in the content... no readers, no advertisers... make sense?

[beeyjay]

Personally, I can't think of a single reason not to start a magazine online first and if success & demand dictate, then move into the publishing realm.

[ QUOTE ]
We will publish 80 thousand units every three or two months.

[/ QUOTE ]

Where did this number come from and how does it vary by ~160k/yr?

[kiddcheckers]

I've been in advertising and publishing for a long time, and helped quite a few magazines in my area get started.

All of them had a specific idea though. Not 'Anything and Everything'.

You need a topic, because you need a demographic because you need to sell potential advertisers on what crowd will read your rag.

I just launched a mag on 4/1 actually, but we're going online first, building revenue and then selling to a big publisher and bailing for the print side of things. This seems like a good way to go.

[Daniel Magix]

OP, might I suggest a subscription to Folio:? It's free, and it's the #1 publication ABOUT the publishing industry.

www.foliomag.com