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Wessenden Marketing, the UK insights consultancy and author of the annual mediafutures survey, has released its overview of the UK magazine market entitled, “Good News & Bad News in 2020’s Magazine Launches”. Its main finding is that the number of magazine launches dived by almost 60% in 2020 to 113 regular frequency titles: in short, the magazine business has taken a massive hit from ongoing structural trends and the COVID-19 pandemic but is still very active. However, in a trend that mirrors the evolution of the music industry and vinyl records, Wessenden’s briefing notes argue that whilst print still has a future, it’s more as a low-volume, low-frequency, high-premium product that occupies tight, vertical niches. Other key data points from its research data show: The number of magazine deaths surged and outnumbered launches by almost 4:1: there has been a major clear-out and the size of the market, in terms of the number of magazine brands, has shrunk by 16% year-on-year. The size of launch, as measured by the number of copies distributed, dropped by 22% to an average of only 8,400 copies. The largest launch of the year, Lego Super Hero Legends, had a launch distribution of only 64,000 copies on the newsstands. Launches are squeezing into tight, vertical niches rather than filling broader-based “gaps”. Linked to that, the average cover price of all the launches jumped by 11% year-on-year to a record £4.52. This is in comparison to the £2.23 price seen in the total magazine market. Print magazines are increasingly premium-priced. Monthlies are still the most common frequency accounting for 47% of all launches, up from 44% a year ago. The number of one-shots and annuals also dropped by 60% to 177 products. Jim Bilton, Managing Director, Wessenden Marketing says, “Given the horrendous trading conditions, to see 113 new products come on to the newsstands shows that the magazine business is still very much alive. Yet it continues to change rapidly. True digital-only magazine launches are rare. The vast majority have a print companion alongside digital platforms. Yet that print product is becoming lower frequency, lower volume, higher-priced and – usually – better quality in terms of pages and paper.” Bilton also says that there has been a profound structural change in the magazine market with growth driven not by larger publishers but by smaller passion publishers, “Go back 15 years, and the launch scene was very different. In 2005, there were 33 titles with launch distributions of over 100,000 copies and three with over 1 million: Full House, TV Easy and Pick Me Up with Grazia close behind. By contrast, in 2020, the biggest launch was 64,000 copies. “Also, look at the publishing companies behind them. Fifteen years ago, it was Burda, IPC, EMAP, Condé Nast and Hachette. In 2020, the big publishers are thin on the ground. The real creativity in magazines is currently coming from the smaller, ‘passion publishers’ as the big multinationals downsize and reshape their operations.” Regarding magazine ‘hotspots’, Wessenden’s data shows that children’s magazines dominate, perhaps not surprising given many schools have been shut for prolonged periods and magazines are perceived by many parents as a safer alternative than online browsing. Specifically, children’s magazines accounted for a quarter of all launches in 2020 and additionally have some of the largest distributions. Other categories showing a healthy trajectory are again what one might expect given the circumstances over the past twelve months: Puzzles, gardening, cookery, health & fitness and mindfulness being particularly popular categories for launches and brand extensions. Wessenden also adds that lying behind the aforementioned growth areas are “the normal eccentric mix of subjects that always drive the magazine business” from Outrageous Bride to Rolls Royce & Bentley Driver to Mindful Gardening to Vape Retailer and on to Cocoa Girl. #Magazines, #US Magazines, #Start a Magazine, #Magazine Startup, #Launch a Magazine, #Love magazine, #Design magazine, #Interior design magazine, #Fashion magazine, #Inspiration magazine, #Style magazine, #Art magazine, #Small business magazine, #Motivation magazine, #Foodie magazine, #Home decor magazine, #Travel magazine, #Photography magazine, #Beauty magazine, #Food magazine, #Real estate magazine, #Wellness magazine, #Fitness magazine, #Lifestyle magazine, #Home magazine, #Architecture magazine, #Skincare magazine, #Luxury magazine, #Entrepreneur magazine

NEW YORK, March 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The global magazine publishing market is expected to grow by USD 3.43 Billion during 2021-2025, according to Technavio's latest market report. Based on our research, the publishing sector witnessed a neutral impact due to the widespread growth of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report also throws light on the pre- and post-impact of COVID-19 on businesses. The print segment will generate maximum revenue in the magazine publishing market, owing to the rising number of magazine readers. In terms of geography, APAC will present significant opportunities for market vendors due to the increasing preference for digital magazines among magazine publishers. The following factors are expected to drive the growth of the market during the forecast period: Growing penetration of smartphones and tablets Availability of a wide range of magazines High public impact of printed magazines In addition, the report identifies the rising adoption of interactive advertisements in print magazines as a major trend in the magazine publishing market. Magazine publishers are integrating interactive advertisements that can adjust to readers' actions in real-time. These advertisements enable advertisers to add personalized content to enhance the reader experience. This trend is expected to positively influence the growth of the global magazine publishing market during the forecast period. #Magazines, #US Magazines, #Start a Magazine, #Magazine Startup, #Launch a Magazine, #Love magazine, #Design magazine, #Interior design magazine, #Fashion magazine, #Inspiration magazine, #Style magazine, #Art magazine, #Small business magazine, #Motivation magazine, #Foodie magazine, #Home decor magazine, #Travel magazine, #Photography magazine, #Beauty magazine, #Food magazine, #Real estate magazine, #Wellness magazine, #Fitness magazine, #Lifestyle magazine, #Home magazine, #Architecture magazine, #Skincare magazine, #Luxury magazine, #Entrepreneur magazine

By Faisal Kalim User adoption of Acceptable Ads is growing fast. It reached 218M users in 2020, with 435% growth on mobile over the last two years, according to the 2021 PageFair Adblock Report by Blockthrough, an ad tech company. The rising acceptance of Acceptable Ads is important as they can be a powerful solution to the adblock problem. Publishers that rely on ad revenue are increasingly facing challenges because of the growing use of adblockers by users. Moreover, tech companies like Google and Apple, and multiple governments have taken significant steps to protect users’ privacy. These include privacy regulations, the phasing out of third-party cookies, and browsers with in-built ad blocking capabilities. They can significantly throttle publishers’ ad revenue. The report, based on a survey of over 5,000 internet users in the US, presents the latest trends on ad blocking and privacy. It can help publishers reconfigure their ad strategy to serve users better, as well as surmount the challenges posed by privacy regulations. “Adblocking on mobile continues its strong linear growth, driven chiefly by the rapid adoption of mobile browsers that block advertising by default,” says Marty Krátký-Katz, Co-founder & CEO, Blockthrough. “Desktop adblocking also shows a moderate rise for the first time since 2016, possibly on account of more people using laptops and desktops to browse the web at home due to worldwide Covid-19 restrictions.” Mobile and desktop adblocking grew 11% and 9% to reach 586M and 257M users respectively, by the end of 2020. 37% of respondents said they began using an ad blocker within the last two years. The remaining 63% have been long-time users. Most users say they use adblockers to avoid bad ad experiences. This is a change from a 2017 survey in which security concern was the leading cause. 74% don’t mind advertisements People are also increasingly concerned about online privacy and want control over their data and its usage. 56% of users rated it “extremely important.” 74% said they don’t mind being advertised to if the ads don’t compromise their privacy and meet certain quality standards. An encouraging finding is that adblock users are more than twice as likely to consent to Acceptable Ads to comply with “adblock walls.” 63% of the respondents to the survey said they are willing to accept light, non-intrusive advertising to support web publishers. On the other hand, 68% said they would exit the website if it blocks access because they are using adblock. 15% were “likely” to purchase a paid subscription to get access to the content. The survey also looked into the adblock monetization strategies used by the top 100 Comscore-ranked publishers. 63% of them are using at least one adblock monetization strategy, up from 56% in 2020. Majority of them (52), use Acceptable Ads. It was found that adblock users “overwhelmingly prefer a light, non-intrusive advertising experience across the Web, compared to all other strategies combined, such as complying with whitelist requests or paying to access content on a per-site basis.” “Consent-based advertising (via Acceptable Ads) and messaging-based tools (such as adblock walls) are the two leading strategies publishers use to engage their adblocked audience,” the report states. “The Acceptable Ads ecosystem enables publishers to engage their adblock users with light, consented advertising,” it adds. “The rapid growth of the ecosystem and high opt-in rates make ad recovery via Acceptable Ads the most effective and respectful technique for monetizing adblocked inventory.”

By Jakub Parusinski Why so many predictions about the future of media are consistently wrong “The future equilibrium for news media seems obvious: 1. A handful of super-bundles (NYT, WaPo, WSJ) that can spread costs over a massive subscriber base. 2. A long tail of superstar individuals who monetize their audiences via Substack/Patreon/etc. The middle market is toast.” These words greeted me from a vocal tech policy specialist (whom I won’t care to name, that’s not the point of this column). It’s an increasingly common refrain – a couple of huge players are going to eat all subscriptions, super-stars will launch their own thing and everyone else is doomed. Nor is this the first gloomy future to be predicted. In fact, it’s just the latest in a series. A big hit in the Winter/Spring season of 2019/20 was “The New York Times would devour everyone” (later softened to winner-takes-most, including WSJ and a few others). Before that we had “(almost) all privately owned media will fail, no one wants to pay, only non-profits and state-subsidized will survive” (especially for local news). Yes, 2020 has been a huge pain for a lot of publishers. But a lot of media also had a great year – even local publishers. Newsletters are booming, and while the attention is on the stars, a lot of smaller writers are also doing fairly. Podcasts are taking off. Every industry suffers from bad takes or temporary manias. Yet media seems to be uniquely rich in predictions that predict the future with great confidence and then turn out to be wrong. I think there are basically four reasons why we constantly, and incorrectly, predict the end of history. 1. Technological environment as a constant Arguably the most serious mistake with media analysis is a constant technological environment. Yes, subscriptions are booming now, largely because of easy payment processing, well-designed subscriber product solutions, and people generally getting comfortable buying digital goods. That is actually a relatively big shift from just a few years ago (in most countries), and a huge one from a decade back. On the flip side, the consistent decline in ad revenue going to publishers has been determined by how social media have eaten up this space (which in turn was made possible by a dotcom boom that led to massive fiber-optic capacity being built). Why would we assume that the current situation would be an end-state? Changes in technology and the resulting social trends and movements have consistently driven innovation in media. Sure, the behemoths may have more resources to take on the next challenge, but it seems like hubris to assume “this is it.” Consider how important vertical video became after TikTok pushed everyone to launch their version of stories. Or how Substack got the right mix of usability and monetization for newsletters. Now think about the potential impact of regulatory-driven break-ups of the tech giants. 2. Assumed passivity of market players Second, and almost as important, is the assumed passivity of market players. Forecasts and predictions typically claim that revenue model X will take off – and they can very well be correct. Next, they claim (again, reasonably), a few players will benefit the most. But this fails to consider is the behaviour and adaptive techniques deployed by the rest of the market. Often, the opposite happens. While plenty of media end up being passive witnesses to their own destruction, a handful of second-tier players (those who made some, but not most of the money from model X), is driven to find new solutions. A lot of innovation comes from necessity, as they say, or from trying to work around market constraints. 3. Complexity vs. shiny new objects News media are a fairly complex business. Typically, we’re talking at least 3 or 4 sizable but very different revenue models, sometimes more. They often run on different cycles, as we saw with the case of advertising and subscriptions during the pandemic. But new developments often get hyped up and spiral out of control. Subscriptions are a unique case in point. Both tech giants like Netflix and heavyweight media like NYT or WaPo saw subscription revenue boom over the past year. As a result, reader revenue has become a shiny new object, the crux of every hot take. But many legacy media only earn 20-30% from digital subscriptions. That’s just not enough to base a model on. 4. No player-driven innovation This one probably favors the big media players, but it’s still an important gap. The rise of reader-revenue has pushed some publishers to be profitable, and even seriously profitable. By that, I mean beyond regular expected economic profits. Typically, a portion of that is re-invested into innovation. In the media sector it’s been so long since we saw companies able to invest in R&D, that we’ve basically forgotten it’s an option. But this is actually the norm in most industries. That’s a new variable in the ecosystem, and potentially super exciting. Some new money will probably go into AI and Machine Learning, but there may be even more exciting innovations in terms of business models. There is no reason to think that the current version of subscriptions is where the game will stay for long – and for the first time in years media will have something to say about what comes next. A less gloomy future Yes, there is probably a lot of consolidation to come, and definitely a “winner-takes-most” aspect. But the industry is right now in the process of going from super-fragmented to just fragmented. It’s still a while before we see a Coke-Pepsi duopoly. Moreover, the past few years have shown that the media industry can be both volatile and vibrant. The future looks brighter than it has in a long time – and we should probably reflect a bit of that opportunity in our forecasts, not just the doom and gloom.

New York, NY – Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) today released its Annual Marketing Report: The Era of Adaptation. The report delves into how marketers are revamping their strategies after facing and mitigating the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It found that while marketers at organizations of all sizes rank customer acquisition as their top objective in 2021, smaller companies are more focused on customer retention than large companies. To achieve both of those goals, social media, search and video rank as the top channels companies will invest in over the next 12 months, but they need to go beyond only these channels to acquire and retain customers. As marketing and advertising programs rebound, brands need to be intentional about which strategies and tactics they deploy to consumers, whose habits and preferences continue to shift. Nielsen found that for companiesl sizes, awareness around which channels and platforms to consider, including which approaches to take, vary greatly. “The pandemic exponentially challenged marketers, requiring them to take a hard look at the strategies they’ve historically used to reach audiences across the consumer journey and to adapt and redefine those decisions with data,” said Jamie Moldafsky, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Nielsen. “As brands of all sizes chart their paths forward, the ability to access data and marketing analytics tools with speed and quality will be key to both navigating the follow-on effects of COVID-19 as well as establishing a more agile approach to future shifts in consumer preferences and emerging channels.” The research, based on a Nielsen survey with marketers at more than 250 U.S. brands with marketing budgets spanning from less than $1 million to over $10 million, found that: Connected TV (CTV) and addressable measurement present a wealth of new opportunities for marketers. But internal knowledge gaps about the newness and nuanced nature of connected TV (CTV) rank highest among the challenges marketers face in implementing CTV into their marketing mix. Omnichannel goes beyond the point of purchase. As consumers now use digital channels for more than just making purchases, marketers are modifying their omnichannel strategies to create a holistic experience for consumers, not just moving them to the point of purchase on a select few channels. Marketing analytics tools are critical to ensuring marketing spend is well allocated, especially as cookies go away. The data showed that three out of four advertisers are unsure about how to accurately measure ROI. Fortunately, many modern marketing tools are no longer out of reach for small- and mid-sized companies. That’s a key change, notable for two reasons: enterprise solutions have historically been too expensive for smaller companies, and smaller companies feel the pinch of budget cutbacks more severely than larger ones Regardless of budget size, marketers struggle with data quality and accuracy. Although companies with smaller budgets find it less problematic, all brands should have maximum confidence in their data quality with the importance of person-level connections rising. In fact, 86% of marketers from companies of all sizes recognize the importance of first-party data, despite their lack of confidence in their data overall. #Magazines, #US Magazines, #Start a Magazine, #Magazine Startup, #Launch a Magazine, #Love magazine, #Design magazine, #Interior design magazine, #Fashion magazine, #Inspiration magazine, #Style magazine, #Art magazine, #Small business magazine, #Motivation magazine, #Foodie magazine, #Home decor magazine, #Travel magazine, #Photography magazine, #Beauty magazine, #Food magazine, #Real estate magazine, #Wellness magazine, #Fitness magazine, #Lifestyle magazine, #Home magazine, #Architecture magazine, #Skincare magazine, #Luxury magazine, #Entrepreneur magazine

By Faisal Kalim There is a lot of talk about print publications being in decline, but some publishers have been using their strengths to adapt their print publications to the current environment and getting positive results. “The old trope that print is dead is just lazy thinking,” says Linda Thomas Brooks, President, and CEO at MPA—the Association of Magazine Media. Transforming less into more Several publishers who are successful in the print media are focusing on niche audiences who are willing to pay more for a higher grade product. They are creating higher quality products for them, and some are also cutting down on the frequency. Adi Ignatius, Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Business Review, calls the print version of HBR their “crown jewel.” Yet a couple of years back he cut down on its print frequency and bought down the number of issues from 10 to 6 a year. This was not because he wanted to cut back on losses from declining interest in print. The move led to a 10% increase in subscribers. The growth has been attributed to a combination of smart positioning, creative new digital benefits, and heavier investment in the six print issues. Bonnier Publishing reduced the frequency of its magazine Popular Science from monthly to quarterly last year. At the same time, it increased the cost of subscriptions. As a result, it saw a 30% year-over-year increase in subscription yield. Bonnier was also able to convince advertisers about the viability of reaching out to higher value consumers that spend on their magazines. The majority of Bonnier’s titles including Popular Science, Cycle World, Outdoor Life, and Saveur exceeded their print ad goals for 2018. "Instead of trying to put out a smaller editorial folio and reducing the paper stock, we’re doing higher quality paper stock and increasing the editorial folio to give the subscriber something of worth when it arrives. But we’re also charging them more money for it." Gregory Gatto, Executive VP, Bonnier Media Basking in the “halo” According to Michael A. Clinton, President, Marketing and Publishing Director at Hearst Magazines, print enjoys a sense of credibility that other platforms lack, he told Folio, “We’re living in a very tipping-point moment, where consumers and advertisers have begun to step back and say, ‘What are the environments I can trust? What is the content that I can trust? How do I know real people are reading this content, that it has true authority?” This was substantiated by The 2018 Ofcom News Consumption Survey, which found that magazines are the UK’s most trusted source of news. "The good news for printed magazines is that their credibility has a halo effect on the magazines’ websites, which gives them a competitive advantage over their digital-only competitors. People may be buying fewer magazines, but they still associate them with quality and reliability." D. Eadward Tree Something Facebook probably had in mind when it launched its print quarterly Grow which is available in select airports and railway station business lounges. The social media giant which has faced criticism and scrutiny for its mishandling of user data also extensively used the print medium to issue apologies to the public. Terri White, Editor-in-Chief of the film magazine Empire from the Bauer Media Group says, “The digital space is a hectic, loud, cluttered landscape with bloggers, influencers, journalists, editors, writers, marketers all shouting into the void – their voices surfacing, or not, depending on SEO or algorithms.” In contrast, she adds, “The intimacy is unrivaled” when readers hold print in their hands, “a visceral, powerful connection” is created. “In this increasingly digitized world, you cannot underestimate how much people just want to feel something real.” “See beyond the transaction” According to MPA’s Magazine Media Factbook 2018-2019, in the United States, “the top 25 print magazines reach more adults and teens than the top 25 prime time shows. And, despite generational differences, magazine consumption is strong.” "Marketers and consumers want and need print. We are living in a very crowded media ecosystem and magazine brands provide a shortcut to quality. Magazines – in all their forms – are alive and well." Linda Thomas Brooks, President, and CEO, MPA – The Association of Magazine Media Whit suggests, “Brands should hire great storytellers, let them tell their fantastic stories. Invest in great photography. See beyond the transaction – strive to create a robust, emotional bond with the audience. Capture their heart (audience) and they’ll buy whatever you’re selling – whether that’s a subscription to a magazine or a top in the sale.” #Magazines, #US Magazines, #Start a Magazine, #Magazine Startup, #Launch a Magazine, #Love magazine, #Design magazine, #Interior design magazine, #Fashion magazine, #Inspiration magazine, #Style magazine, #Art magazine, #Small business magazine, #Motivation magazine, #Foodie magazine, #Home decor magazine, #Travel magazine, #Photography magazine, #Beauty magazine, #Food magazine, #Real estate magazine, #Wellness magazine, #Fitness magazine, #Lifestyle magazine, #Home magazine, #Architecture magazine, #Skincare magazine, #Luxury magazine, #Entrepreneur magazine

By Steve Daniels So you’ve got an idea for a print magazine. You have the perfect social movement to capture in matte CMYK. Perhaps a glossy lifestyle that Instagram just doesn’t do justice. You’ve come to the right place. This week marks my first as an advisor to Makeshift. I have stepped down as Executive Director, leaving my baby in the hands of a team I am proud to have attracted over the last four years. Their passion and expertise has transformed an idealistic Kickstarter-backed vision into a functioning media company. Now is my moment to reflect on this process. For the many of you who have asked me how to start a print magazine of your own, what follows is the best advice I can offer. This is not a guide to the nuts and bolts of finding a printer and selling subscriptions but a contemplation of the major elements that will set you up for success. By the end of this piece, you’ll understand that “How do I start a magazine?” is actually the wrong question to ask. The cards are stacked against you If you happen to be afflicted with the same mental delusion that struck me four years ago when I decided to revive the art of print, the reality you must accept is that you’re going to be dealt a difficult hand. You are David facing a Goliath of distributors, retail chains, and competitors. Consider the typical magazine supply chain: you print your copies, sell to distributors, who in turn sell to stockists, who in turn sell to your readers. Right? Wrong. The first hard truth is that nearly all retailers stock your title on commission, meaning they only pay the distributor when they sell a copy, meaning the distributor only pays you at that time, meaning you take on 100% of the risk of printing. Print fewer copies than you think you need to start, and send distributors fewer copies than they ask for. This is especially true for large distributors, some of which charge you by the pound for taking on your title and are, therefore, incentivized to ask you for many times more copies than they will actually sell. And then there’s the large retailers who charge fees for reasonable shelf placement. The second hard truth is that you will initially have a very difficult time selling ads due to the low circulation of most independent magazines. Few have ever broken through the circulation threshold needed to build a business on advertising while maintaining the ethical and journalistic integrity that is core to why most of us started in this industry in the first place. Your weapon to fight back is smart partnerships: many Davids together have a better chance against a Goliath. Get involved in groups like the Indie Publisher Club and Little Magazine Coalition, where you can seek general advice, trade tips on specific distributors, and even find partners to pool with to attract advertisers. (The organizers of these groups have asked me to kindly inform you that they’re open only to publishers of existing print magazines. Please do not request to join unless you meet this criterion.) Partnerships with other magazines have paid off for Makeshift. Last winter, Makeshift led an effort to create a Little Magazine Gift Guide, inviting 19 fellow publishers to list their titles on our microsite and offer readers a holiday discount. Many pitched in to a pool of funds used to purchase Facebook ads for the site. The result was our best sales season ever. Out of this project emerged a second opportunity. One of the titles invited us to distribute together in a new geography under an agreement that flipped the above supply chain on its head by redistributing the risk more fairly. Indeed, amidst the gauntlet of obstacles, there is success to be had for the creative and collaborative. Start with your audience One of the biggest mistakes I made off the bat was to place too much emphasis on the stories I wanted to tell over the stories a particular audience wanted to hear. I didn’t even know who my audience was. No matter how much craft we put into our product, it was grounded in a completely inside-out vision. Over time, Makeshift has refined its target audience — globally conscious creatives — and listened to their needs. We all start magazines out of a passion for the content — otherwise we’d go work for BuzzFeed. But this passion needs to be aligned with an explicit market opportunity. The two magazines I’ve seen do this best are Offscreen and Hello Mr., who focused on software designers and gay men, respectively, and filled a gap in media serving those audiences. In both cases, their readers also write for the magazines — often for free — and are active advocates for those publications on social media. Your readership can be your biggest asset. Make them a core part of your strategy, and cultivate them as a community. [wherever] calls its readers “members” and offers them access to exclusive events. Once you’ve identified your audience, use that to drive your brand and content. Print magazines are no longer about information; the ones that are have become a commodity easily replicated online. Today’s print magazines are lifestyle products. The question is not “What does my audience want to read?” but “What does my audience want to buy?” In our redesign last year (outlined in another post), Makeshift thought deeply about this question. The result was a rebranding effort that spoke directly to globally conscious creatives. Makeshift became a “field guide to hidden creativity,” and its form factor and storytelling followed suit. The magazine is not your product By now, you’re starting to see the picture that running a magazine is more complicated than putting stories to paper. But I would put forth a more extreme proposition — that the magazine is not your product at all. The reality is no independent magazines survive on the traditional model of magazine and ad sales. You will become a B2B company as much as a B2C company. The challenge will be to keep things simple, integrating the B2B and B2C components as tightly as possible so you can stay focused. So if the magazine isn’t your product, what is? Consider what differentiates you from other publications for a particular set of business customers. Monocle realized it was its high-income audience and has used advertorial content to position brands for its readers. The Collective Quarterly realized it was its brand and partners with other brands in each issue to develop its content. Vice realized it was its expertise and started a creative agency to help clients target millennials. For Makeshift, it was our contributor network. We have 400 professional journalists, videographers, and researchers across more than 80 countries. This was not always true. For our first few issues, nearly all content was assigned based on ideas from the editorial team; now, nearly all content is assigned through inbound pitches. As a result, we recently launched Makeshift Studios, an agency that produces content for clients in collaboration with the contributors and creatives we’ve worked with and vetted over the years. As a bonus, we distribute some of this content through our quarterly magazine and YouTube channel — a symbiotic relationship between our B2B and B2C models. There are many creative revenue strategies you can experiment with. Makeshift, along with other titles like Offscreen, generates significant revenue from sponsorships. Monocle also sells products through brick-and-mortar retail. Hello Mr. forms brand partnerships on Instagram. The Bold Italic runs live events. In each of these cases, the magazine has become a platform on which to build other businesses. You may not have the right model up front, but it will benefit you to form a B2B vision early and keep an open mind to experimentation. For now, there is no single proven model. Use digital strategically Print magazines often struggle with their digital presence. And for good reason — there is an inherent paradox every publication must face when it decides to go digital. It goes something like this: Publication needs a digital presence Publication has lots of content already and decides to digitize it Publication doesn’t want to cannibalize print sales, so it adds a paywall The problem here is, from a business perspective, you’ve just completely lost the benefit of digital content, which is to drive traffic to your website and generate sales or ad revenue. Content behind a paywall (or, worse, locked in a PDF or app) is not shareable. This is what Makeshift has done, and it’s not inherently a bad thing. Our digital subscriptions have sold decently well, and many of our articles are unlocked so they can be shared. But this cannot be the full extent of your digital strategy. Your digital presence must reflect the way of the internet, which is to share. That’s why, in addition to our quarterly content, Makeshift maintains a blog, YouTube channel, email newsletter, and multiple social media accounts. The goal of all of these channels is to keep readers engaged between issues, enable them to share your content, and ultimately drive them to your website and into your sales funnel. This, of course, assumes, your website is optimized for e-commerce, though you may also be generating digital advertising revenue. Makeshift has taken great care to optimize our sales funnel, regularly checking analytics to see where potential customers are dropping off. While you may need to invest in multiple social channels, double down on a particular channel that you think works best to your advantage. Each has intricacies to growing followers, and it’s unlikely you’ll have the resources to adequately invest time across all of them. Facebook has been most successful for Makeshift because we can easily promote posts and link back to our website. Meanwhile, Hello Mr. has invested most heavily in Instagram, where its account currently has 12 times more followers than its Twitter account. That’s where its readers are, and its brand is very visual. Go for it! Running a magazine can be an incredibly rewarding experience. I’m proud of our team, wowed by our products, inspired by our contributors, and in love with our readers. I started Makeshift because I believe magazines are the best way to capture a perspective on the world, and Makeshift has achieved that for the thousands of makers whose stories we’ve told. While this piece outlines many challenges of running a print magazine, I have no intention of scaring you. I simply wish to equip you better than I was when I began my journey. But what I lacked in expertise I made up for in fearlessness. Take up the challenge and start making. #Magazines, #US Magazines, #Start a Magazine, #Magazine Startup, #Launch a Magazine, #Love magazine, #Design magazine, #Interior design magazine, #Fashion magazine, #Inspiration magazine, #Style magazine, #Art magazine, #Small business magazine, #Motivation magazine, #Foodie magazine, #Home decor magazine, #Travel magazine, #Photography magazine, #Beauty magazine, #Food magazine, #Real estate magazine, #Wellness magazine, #Fitness magazine, #Lifestyle magazine, #Home magazine, #Architecture magazine, #Skincare magazine, #Luxury magazine, #Entrepreneur magazine

In an age when digital content is omnipresent, there’s actually tremendous value in print publications. Not only does print cut through the noise, but it also commands a certain level of value that its online counterparts cannot. If you’re interested in launching a print magazine, read on to discover what it looks like to be successful in the midst of the digital age If the year were 1988, the idea of starting a print magazine would seem totally sane and normal. But it’s 2020, and you’d be crazy to even think about launching a print magazine venture…right? Well, maybe not. There’s no question that print magazines have taken a huge nosedive over the last decade and a half. While the staples of the industry—publications such as Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Reader’s Digest, National Geographic, and People magazine—are still doing quite well, the smaller ones have dropped like flies. It’s for this reason that the notion of launching a new magazine with no history or existing reputation seems so crazy. But perhaps it’s just crazy enough to work. Half of this business is about attracting eyeballs, and the other half is about moving people to action. In a world where thousands of new blogs and online publishing platforms are launched on a weekly basis, trying to make it in traditional digital circles is extremely challenging. You have to publish so much content and invest in so much marketing and promotion that you have very little time to actually focus on the quality and message of the content you’re creating. As you can guess, this is highly problematic. Print magazines are different. They offer something tangible in a digitized marketplace that’s predicated on virtual experiences. They stand out—and for all the right reasons. By no means is it easy to start a successful magazine, but the opportunity exists for those who are willing to put in the energy and effort. If you think you’re that person, here are some tips for success: 1. Determine Your Timeline “Magazines are typically released monthly, quarterly or annually,” the Issuu blog explains. “How much time will each issue need for content to come together? How frequently should this content be shared? In the strive for quality and quantity, it is important to ensure that one does not sacrifice the other.” You want to give yourself enough time to produce quality content, but you don’t want to spend so much time between issues that your audience forgets about you. Monthly or bi-quarterly is a good starting point. 2. Understand How the Supply Chain Works Most people enter the magazine industry with an improper understanding of how the supply chain works. You don’t print copies and sell them to distributors, who in turn sell them to your readers. It’s not quite that easy. “The first hard truth is that nearly all retailers stock your title on commission, meaning they only pay the distributor when they sell a copy, meaning the distributor only pays you at that time, meaning you take on 100% of the risk of printing,” industry insider Steve Daniels writes. You’re also going to have trouble getting space in most major stores. This is prime real estate, and those stores are going to reserve that space for publications with high circulation. Keeping both of these issues in mind, strategic partnerships become very important. You need inside access. Otherwise, you’ll suffer through anonymity. 3. Find a Reliable Print Partner There’s no sense in going to a massive magazine printing company right off the bat. Your circulation numbers will be low on the front end. And there are really only a few things you’re looking for: good prices, reliability, and hands-on customer service. Smaller companies can offer magazine printing services that the bigger guys don’t. For instance, they offer one-stop printing, quick proof approvals, and fast turnarounds. 4. Accept Criticism with an Open Mind You’ll never last in this industry if you aren’t willing to accept criticism. In fact, it’ll take a while before you consistently receive positive feedback. Until then, it’s imperative that you buckle down and apply the criticisms you receive. This is the best way to optimize and improve. #Magazines, #US Magazines, #Start a Magazine, #Magazine Startup, #Launch a Magazine, #Love magazine, #Design magazine, #Interior design magazine, #Fashion magazine, #Inspiration magazine, #Style magazine, #Art magazine, #Small business magazine, #Motivation magazine, #Foodie magazine, #Home decor magazine, #Travel magazine, #Photography magazine, #Beauty magazine, #Food magazine, #Real estate magazine, #Wellness magazine, #Fitness magazine, #Lifestyle magazine, #Home magazine, #Architecture magazine, #Skincare magazine, #Luxury magazine, #Entrepreneur magazine

Whether you're passionate about food, fashion or fast cars, starting a small print magazine might be an appealing idea, particularly if you've got previous writing, editing or page-design experience. While starting a magazine might seem like too daunting an enterprise to attempt, it can be done with some careful planning and dedication. Do market research. Examine how similar magazines are being distributed, how much they are charging, and what content they are offering. Determine how your magazine will be unique or how it will fill a need in the market. Create a business plan that explains the ins and outs of your magazine. It should state what the content will be about; how many pages it will be; how much it will cost; to whom, how often and how it will be distributed; and how you expect to get content and advertising for it. Also, be specific about how much you expect to make from your magazine enterprise, and how much startup expenses and overhead you will have. Plan out how you will market your magazine. Get the content. You may have to write some of it. However, you may also find others who are enthusiastic about your idea to write some articles for the initial issue as well. Once you launch the magazine and have revenue coming in, you'll be able to pay freelancers as independent contractors to do much of the writing. Create the magazine on your computer. You can do this using a program like Adobe InDesign or PageMaker and Microsoft Publisher. Make a template using the number of pages you'd like your magazine to have. Add elements that will appear in every issue, including a header, copyright information and a cutout subscription coupon. Place the name of your magazine -- in a large, attractive font and color -- on the top of the front page. If your magazine has a logo, use that as well. Lay out the content. Use photos and other graphic elements to complement the text on your pages. If you can't take photos to go with the stories yourself or get contributing writers to do so, use stock photos and other graphics. Create the cover. Place a large photograph of something that correlates to your feature story. For instance, if your feature story is "Ten Quick Summer Beauty Tips," a photo of a girl with beach-swept hair; a glowing, tan complexion; and shimmery lips might be appropriate. Add a headline or teaser text. Add elements such as teaser text for other articles as you deem necessary. Find advertisers. Start close to home with business owners in your community. If your magazine is about food, approach local restauranteurs and grocery chains about advertising in it. Your advertising should complement the subject of your magazine. Market your magazine. Advertise in areas that are populated with people most likely to be interested in the subject of your magazine. Make a website, and have it set up so people can subscribe to your magazine. Set up a fan page for your magazine on Facebook, and have a Twitter account for the magazine as well. Print your magazine. Use a professional print shop to achieve high-quality magazines. Try to work out a deal with the print shop so that the more magazines you print each month (or whenever new issues come out), the less you pay per issue. Distribute the magazine. You may be able to work out bulk-rate shipping deals with the United States Postal Service or private shipping companies depending on how many subscribers you get. Work out deals with retailers with magazine racks to sell your magazine. Distribute free magazines to professional offices with waiting areas to put your product in front of people most likely interested in it. #Magazines, #US Magazines, #Start a Magazine, #Magazine Startup, #Launch a Magazine, #Love magazine, #Design magazine, #Interior design magazine, #Fashion magazine, #Inspiration magazine, #Style magazine, #Art magazine, #Small business magazine, #Motivation magazine, #Foodie magazine, #Home decor magazine, #Travel magazine, #Photography magazine, #Beauty magazine, #Food magazine, #Real estate magazine, #Wellness magazine, #Fitness magazine, #Lifestyle magazine, #Home magazine, #Architecture magazine, #Skincare magazine, #Luxury magazine, #Entrepreneur magazine

The co-founder of new fashion and culture publication ALL-IN tells us why he's not crazy – and why print is more important than ever. As print magazines fold each month, fledgling writers compete to work for digital media companies, and young people increasingly live their lives online, is there still a place for the print magazine? And is it total and complete lunacy to start a new one? I can only speak to my experience, being a twenty-two year old having just launched my first magazine, ALL-IN, with my friend, Allison Littrell. When we decided to launch the publication a year ago, there was no practical reason to start a print magazine. We started ALL-IN because we felt like we had something to say, and a magazine felt like the authentic way of expressing our message. Everyone has heard that print is dead. Print magazines almost all have robust digital presences, and some have reduced their printing cycles or disappeared entirely. Digital publications have clear business models - less production cost and infinite advertising potential. There's usually no cost to readers, so one could potentially reach millions of people around the world instantly. If you're reading this article, you're engaging in a digital publication and already know this.Growing up in the 21st century, I have always felt alienated by digital culture. Representing my thoughts and being online has felt too close to real life, yet frustratingly distanced from it. Masahiro Mori describes this sensation in his essay "The Uncanny Valley," which states that one's response to digital beings is dependent on how lifelike they appear. The "uncanny valley" is where a being appears almost human, but isn't, causing one to reject it. In The Travel Almanac 9, Collier Schorr speaks on photography, "What's next? CGI ads that move? Something like a Harry Potter book, where you open the magazine and suddenly there's a hologram? … after you've spent all that time and money, and you went all over the place, in the end all you want to do is find Earth, go home and have a sandwich. So that's where I come in." There are already magazines pointing towards their version of the future - AnOther magazine released the first magazine with a digital cover this year - and we're representing what we think it means to be alive now. I find that to look forward, most of the time one needs to look towards the past. We started ALL-IN as a print publication for that reason. While there are amazing things about being able to reach people around the world at any given moment, we wanted a direct connection with our audience - to step backwards. We live in an age of instant gratification. I'm a member of a generation which has lived most of their lives expecting everything for free now. Personally, I think this is an issue. Nothing is free - everything has a cost, whether it's hidden or transparent. Websites conceal those costs more easily than print magazines; you can see and feel the cost of a magazine, while we've been conditioned to assume digital as free. Through consumer data collected by websites, and the passive consumption of branded content and subliminal advertising, online browsers unconsciously enter the market economy and become commodities without consent. A print object also feels more timeless and solid than online content. We assume that what exists on the Internet will be there forever. This isn't true. Cory Arcangel discussed this in ALL-IN while reflecting on early websites, "It's funny to see sites from that era because they all show up so small now since monitors used to show only six hundred forty pixels. The sites looked really big then but now they're literally shrinking on the Internet." The Internet's architecture will become outdated and eventually decay. This relates to our experience viewing the Internet - one scrolls the Internet searching for something of value to us. Often, this content doesn't exist or isn't immediately available, as it's among a sea of endless information - we become dissatisfied. When one holds a printed publication, a few parameters are set: time, a relationship to physical space, and an intention for that object. There's immediate value. We wanted to create a publication that had intention. While there are many printed magazines which have nothing to say, and many digital publications with a lot to say (i-D is on this list), we had to set out on our mission the best way available to us. As two people in their early twenties, with school and jobs on the side, we wouldn't have been able to produce content of value every hour, day, or week. What seemed authentic to us was to start a bi-annual publication. That's how we started ALL-IN - with the idea that having something to say and a way to say it, we can make a difference. #Magazines, #US Magazines, #Start a Magazine, #Magazine Startup, #Launch a Magazine, #Love magazine, #Design magazine, #Interior design magazine, #Fashion magazine, #Inspiration magazine, #Style magazine, #Art magazine, #Small business magazine, #Motivation magazine, #Foodie magazine, #Home decor magazine, #Travel magazine, #Photography magazine, #Beauty magazine, #Food magazine, #Real estate magazine, #Wellness magazine, #Fitness magazine, #Lifestyle magazine, #Home magazine, #Architecture magazine, #Skincare magazine, #Luxury magazine, #Entrepreneur magazine

From the 1960s onward, cheaper production and relatively cheaper costs of maintenance has caused an upsurge in printing technologies that deliver faster and more optimized designs and reproductions. This has caused a surge in magazine printing, giving rise to a lot of household names in this particular print media. However, in the internet age, where every facet of human life has gone online, it has increasingly become rare for people to go for print media, especially with the Internet’s accessibility, ubiquity, and a wide variety of offerings. Still, even though these online digital platforms offer a variety of forms and methods from which to deliver the same work, these cannot totally replace that unique experience that print media can bring about to its users. Yes, print is not dead; it has only taken on a different niche, although not exactly a different genre. Below are three reasons why magazines have retained their social and cultural value and will continue to do so in many years to come. Goes Beyond Sight Due to the proliferation of digital media and the slow decline in print, people are beginning to realize that print has more to offer than just visual. With magazines, you touch the pages’ tips and feel its weight and texture, the smoothness of the glossy paper, and appreciate the distinctive aura of matte. You hear the distinct rustle whenever you turn a page or, if need be, tear it off. And since print media uses paper, you can’t waste a page on merely bad writing; doing so would be an affront to nature. Established Over Time Think about the names of famous magazines. Way before a thousand blogs, both reputable and otherwise, emerged in the internet, these popular publications have not only been in the print media industry for many years, but have also become an important part of popular culture. And thanks to their great time in the limelight, their brand names are already associated with quality content. With the saturation of countless popups and ad banners over the web, print media provides a sense of distinction, as it does not have the overwhelming amount of clutter on that you usually find on websites. Also, the identity and status that magazines have created over time will always be associated with reliability. A Part of Readers’ Lives As it were, the aesthetics of digital media and its subsequent communication transpires in real-time. While that may seem like a great advantage over print media, it is still undeniable that magazines still get a lot of reader response. The value that loyal readers give their favorite magazine proves that print media’s appeal with its audience is greater than popular blog sites that can be found in local media news feeds. The internet may be a new place where we read pop culture articles and find ads, but magazines still remain as a reliable source of information, entertainment, and will definitely remain as that for many years to come. And who knows? Maybe it will become so much more in the future. #Magazines, #US Magazines, #Start a Magazine, #Magazine Startup, #Launch a Magazine, #Love magazine, #Design magazine, #Interior design magazine, #Fashion magazine, #Inspiration magazine, #Style magazine, #Art magazine, #Small business magazine, #Motivation magazine, #Foodie magazine, #Home decor magazine, #Travel magazine, #Photography magazine, #Beauty magazine, #Food magazine, #Real estate magazine, #Wellness magazine, #Fitness magazine, #Lifestyle magazine, #Home magazine, #Architecture magazine, #Skincare magazine, #Luxury magazine, #Entrepreneur magazine

By HADAS GOLD Michelle Obama is the guest editor for the next edition of More magazine, the publication announced on Thursday. Obama directed every aspect of the upcoming issue and will appear on its cover, her third one with the magazine. “Everything is linked to Mrs. Obama,” More editor-in-chief Lesley Jane Seymour told the New York Times. “Every column was done from her point of view.” The issue focuses on subjects close to the first lady, encouraging children to lead healthier lives, supporting military families, encouraging higher education past high school, promoting education for women and girls around the word, as well as columns about women who inspire her like her long serving chief-of-staff Tina Tchen. "What I want readers to understand is that impact comes in all forms, shapes and sizes. And hopefully through this issue, what people will see is that you can have impact as a military mom changing careers, or you can be a young person starting a business or you can be the first lady and start a whole initiative," Obama said in a statement, according to the AP. The first lady's issue is perhaps one of the biggest moments in ongoing trend for women's focused magazines to shift toward politics. In the last year or so, several magazines including Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Glamour have hired Washington insiders for new roles as politics or Washington editors. Some of them, like Cosmopolitan, even began endorsing candidates. Earlier this year, former NBC "Meet the Press" executive producer Betsy Fischer Martin joined More as contributing editor for Washington. “The First Lady is the ultimate More woman,” Seymour said in a statement. “She is the perfect combination of passion, intelligence, beauty and glamour, and her gift for moving people to action is the reason I invited her to be our first-ever guest editor. After reading the issue, I hope our readers will be moved to make a difference of their own.”