Starting a magazine help!

wheelrndealr

hello all, this is my first post here. I want to start a magazine. I'm desprately seeking help as I haven't got much expeirence in this area. I know what I want the subject of the magazine to be about however besides a bit of research that's as far as Ive got. I think this could be my big break as Ive been unemployed for a few months I don't have much to lose if it fails. Also can anyone tell me what kind of income I can expect to make at this business and what his or lows should I expect? and any advice on starting up would be greatly appricated! thank you in advance!

stepbar

wheelrndealr wrote: »

hello all, this is my first post here. I want to start a magazine. I'm desprately seeking help as I haven't got much expeirence in this area.

Here lies your problem.

I think this could be my big break as Ive been unemployed for a few months I don't have much to lose if it fails.

You do, a lot of money.

Also can anyone tell me what kind of income I can expect to make at this business and what his or lows should I expect?

Don't expect to make any money for at least after the first 2-3 years. First off, your lack of experience would mean that if you do get this magazine off the ground you will have to source content for same. Unless you can get a few freelance writers to provide you with free content you are screwed.

Second, don't expect people to pay for this either. You will have to hand it out for free (to start with anyhow). Therefore you will need advertisers to pay and they won't pay large amounts of money because you have no circulation. Catch 22. So you will have to run this at a loss. Even if you do start building up a circulation and then decide to charge you might find that people will just turn their nose away. Its like a lot of trade magazines - they always display a price but lone behold they end up giving them out for free.

Let me give you a large scale example - The Irish Mail / Ireland On Sunday hasn't turned a profit for its owners (Associated Press) since they bought the company a number of years ago. What chance have you?

tonyagrey

stepbar wrote: »

Here lies your problem.



You do, a lot of money.



Don't expect to make any money for at least after the first 2-3 years. First off, your lack of experience would mean that if you do get this magazine off the ground you will have to source content for same. Unless you can get a few freelance writers to provide you with free content you are screwed.

Second, don't expect people to pay for this either. You will have to hand it out for free (to start with anyhow). Therefore you will need advertisers to pay and they won't pay large amounts of money because you have no circulation. Catch 22. So you will have to run this at a loss. Even if you do start building up a circulation and then decide to charge you might find that people will just turn their nose away. Its like a lot of trade magazines - they always display a price but lone behold they end up giving them out for free.

Let me give you a large scale example - The Irish Mail / Ireland On Sunday hasn't turned a profit for its owners (Associated Press) since they bought the company a number of years ago. What chance have you?

You make some good points, but everyone has to start somewhere. No need to be so pesamistic...............

I say, do some more research, and maybe go and talk to some of the founders of some other magazines. The likes of Munster Business is just new and up and running and im sure they would be willing to help........

Best of luck

antoinolachtnai

I think that if you have something to say, you should probably try to put together a website rather than getting into magazines. If you succeed at that, then maybe do a deal with some newspaper or existing magazine. The blogorrah guys showed a taste of what could potentially be done.

The magazine business is nothing but trouble if you want my view. There is quite a lot of competition, even in the Irish-only market, not to speak of the UK magazines. Even if you succeed, you won't actually make all that much money. And there is quite a likelihood that won't succeed, in which case you will lose quite a substantial amount of money.

stepbar

tonyagrey wrote: »

You make some good points, but everyone has to start somewhere. No need to be so pesamistic...............

I wouldn't call it pessimistic, Realistic would be more like it. To be brutally honest, if the OP had a background in publishing / media etc, he might have a good chance. The fact he hasn't is a problem.

wheelrndealr

Thanks for your posts. I understand it is a hard market to break into and I need good content in the magazine. Im still going to do more research before I spend any money. what if I was to start really small with 1000 copies and give really really low rates to advertisers and just break even each month and then if the circulation grows up the prices a bit??

antoinolachtnai

Well, it's just maths. What would your content, printing and production costs be? If you don't have any experience in magazine production you will have to pay to get all of these things done, and the cost will be the same whether you print 1000 or a million.

If you aren't prepared to spend the money to have high production values, I'd say forget it. You just won't be taken seriously and you won't get the ads. Do the website thing instead.

(NB. If you do the high production values thing, you will probably still lose a lot of money.)

Advertising in something that only has a run of 1000? May not really be worth the bother.

How much will it cost to distribute it? How will this be done? Don't underestimate this.

If you do this, your main concern for the first year or two should be reader reaction, not advertising figures.

I wouldn't invest any money unless you were prepared to lose every penny of it.

Nuttzz

i was talking to an old college friend recently about a magazine he was involved with, it was talking him on average over 120 days to get paid for his ads, the web idea as antionolachtnai suggests is a good one imho

rockbeer

What is the magazine to be about? (Sport? Fashion? Current affairs?)

Do you have any specialist knowledge/experience/contacts in that field?

What sort of advertisers will the mag appeal to?

Do you have layout/design experience or will that end of things have to be contracted out? That will get expensive.

If you risk it, don't start offering low prices to advertisers. You will find it impossible to increase your prices later. Offer them discounts for long-term committment and up-front payment instead.

I wouldn't say a magazine couldn't work - quite the opposite. But you need to identify and test a market. It's a crowded marketplace so you need to know who you're selling to... Just like any other business really.

Seoid

I know somebody who actually did this about 25 or 30 years ago! Starting with no money or job, no experience in the publishing industry, no idea what he was doing but the magazine was in a niche topic and is still running today. So you can succeed from nothingl

But it's not easy, it's not cheap, and the payoff is probably not really that high, if you're a niche market....

You will have to work very long hours at a loss for 2-3 years but this isn't uncommon for someone starting any kind of business. I don't think that you would need to hand it out for free, especially if you want to see it in the shops in the not-too-distant future but it won't be easy to find advertisers without any circulation and generally advertising carries magazines, not the sale price.
I dont see why you couldn't up your advertising charges as circulation goes up but offering discounts for long term commitment and payment up front will probably be more beneficial to you, anyway.
BTW, I don't know if you have a plan for finding advertisers but my friend spend many long hours cold calling businesses who weren't interested to find advertisers so be prepared!

It depends what the subject is (i.e. is it a niche) and what your aim is - do you want to be a big glossy magazine, or a mode of expression or what? As someone said, if you want to be taken seriously as a glossy mag you will need to be prepared to spend a lot of money on having high production values. That said, for a small print run, these don't have to be through the roof.

First off though, you need a business plan. This will cover the first few years and lay out exactly what you're going to do, how you're going to do it, how you're going to pay for it, and what kind of returns you are expecting. I don't know where in the country you are but in Dublin the county council enterprise boards offer advise and help to start-ups and people like yourself.
Unless you go website-only to start or cheap n cheerful, you'll need a major loan, which is based on the business plan whether you go to banks or private investors. Unless you already have funding?

Aside from a lack of publishing experience, do you have any entrepreneurial experience? I don't think either are essential but would make life a lot easier for you.

It has been suggested before but I also think that you should probably start with a website. Though this doesn't mean that you will be able to start up for free, it is much lower risk publishing online, you can also offer advertising for a fee and you can even release in a magazine format on a regular basis, maybe even offering this for download. Update to schedule and build up readership who would be interested in buying the magazine. Having said that, not all subjects or will work online so consider your target market.

Out of curiosity, what is your subject matter?

Anyway, this has just been my experience in life but I hope it helped and good luck!

eth0_

The magazines market is saturated. A great deal of magazines went bust in the past year or two. As another poster pointed out, there are major newspapers in Ireland that still don't turn a profit, that means the publisher has to pay salaries out of their own pocket, not from advertising/sales revenue.

You have no idea how much it will cost to launch a magazine, you have zero experience and are you going to write the entire magazine yourself? Because I don't see how you are going to pay for freelancers when you are on the dole.

Which is another problem itself. You can't claim the dole once you launch your magazine, and as has been pointed out, you won't make any profit for a long time.

If I were you, I would forget this pipe dream and concentrate on getting a job! Maybe do a part time journalism course but forget about creating your own magazine, you have a 99% chance of falling flat on your face with this one.

onedmc

Seoid wrote: »

I know somebody who actually did this about 25 or 30 years ago! Starting with no money or

Starting a business that you have no experience is very difficult and dangerious, while you learn the ropes you are loosing money. Its better to start with a bang youll get to breakeven quicker.

My advice is get a job in the business, probably in the most important part of the business - Advertising. Learn the ropes get the contacts to provide the income.

In the meantine you could do the modern thing, start a website to build up your content, see what interests people, get blogging and perhaps even get some revenue.

OneDMc

Kelter

Hey OP,

The advice above is all good, but remember that when people give advice, it is always tainted with their own personal experience, good or bad. For me, when I looked at starting a new business, the best thing I did was put together a really simple spread sheet. I listed a bunch of things that I would need to pay for (just put down a number, even if it is a guess), then listed a bunch of things that I would gain income from. When I saw how much sales (of Tshirts btw) I would need, it meant that I realised that it wasn't a runner. To break even I was going to have to sell 20,000 a year.

So perhaps your magazine would be great, or perhaps terrible, but no one here knows. What does tell the truth, is numbers. Write down some numbers. The sad (or perhaps happy) truth is business... is about business... making money... And money is numbers.

Best of luck

eth0_

Stop giving him false hope - the guy is on the dole so won't get a business loan, hasn't mentioned anything about savings, no journalism or publishing skills, bad spelling - this doesn't bode well for someone trying to start a magazine.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

OP maybe you could go on a FAS entreprenuership (sic) course? Think they are free if you are unemployed. This would give you a bit of background knowledge if you eventually set up a business.

Good that you are thinking about doing something. But, not too sure about the magazine. Almost guaranteed fail imho. People just don't buy new magazines anymore.

--amadeus--

There is no harm in having hope and EVERYTHING can be turned to an advantage with the right mindset. For example he's on the dole but that opens up a whole world of funding that's closed to "ordinary" entrepruners. Micro business funding through teh likes of teh PAUL partnership is an example. Talk to the enterprise boards and get down to the library...

Likewise he has no magazine experience but the assumption is that he's big into whatever the subject matter will be (I'm making a guess that it's not a general interest mag). A dedicated DJ, surfer or steam train enthusiast won't need to be a Hemmingway to write technically interesting articles for a specialist readership. On teh assumption it's a niche interest then production values can be very low and cheap. Direct sales at events and shows (or wherever there are gatherings of whatever niche he's into) will cost peanuts. In a small community a bit of word of mouth will soon spread (assuming your content is good), other enthusiasts will start to contribute just for teh thrill of seeing thier name in print and you can then start to tackle adverts...

In other words it can be done!

Now teh reality check - it is very very hard work and all of teh posts above are valid. My 1st job was selling advertising space and I have served time in magazine publishing and it is dog eat dog. I would give the chances of this being a viable long term business maybe 1 in a 1000. As a way of buying a Ferrari and living the life I won't reccomend it. As a chance to push into journalism or passing time until a "proper" job comes along it's got to be better than just drawing the dole. And I would also vote for teh online option...

thefox84

this is a brutal business and with the economy turning it's going to be a lot worse in '08. suggest you look at something else where its possible to make a decent return

heggie

can we rename this forum the 'pimp your business forum' ? it's all it ever seems to be these days

tipptom

wheelrndealr wrote: »

hello all, this is my first post here. I want to start a magazine. I'm desprately seeking help as I haven't got much expeirence in this area. I know what I want the subject of the magazine to be about however besides a bit of research that's as far as Ive got. I think this could be my big break as Ive been unemployed for a few months I don't have much to lose if it fails. Also can anyone tell me what kind of income I can expect to make at this business and what his or lows should I expect? and any advice on starting up would be greatly appricated! thank you in advance!

Hi Wheel,did you get any further with this and what was your experience if you did?

Bandara

blue4ever wrote: »

Did you miss the 'unemployed for a few months' bit or simply ignore it in order to prostitute your business.
Amazingly unhelpful post - especially from someone in the media business. Is that all you could spare him - pimping your own business?

Did you miss "27-01-2008, 22:30" ?

blue4ever

completely!

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Burrr it is negative around here today....

OP I'd suggest approaching from a different angle. No point in getting into a business who's overall sales are declining and is over saturated. As others have said it's expensive, high risk (particularly for you as business owners loose entitlements to dole if it doesn't work out - so no safety net).

Why not try blogging, you can do this as a hobby while on the dole and then once you reach enough required traffic, leave the welfare and start monetarising. This is much lower risk and you will get great data on what readers are interested in and spend time on, unlike anything in the offline world.

More and more people are putting down magazines in favour of ipads and Kindles, I think you have more likely hood to survive in a growing market and the costs to start are less than 100quid.

tipptom

Does anyone have s ball park idea about setting up a magazine from home,what equipment as in computers and cameras etc, i would need to get to a stage where i could lay out a magazine/newspapaper to a printer to print a first edition.I know a lot depends on size and quality of the magazine but I was looking about ball park for equipment for the office and around what a printer would charge per copy to get it of the press.

antoinolachtnai

Well, computers and software would be less than 4k.

Printing would depend, buy maybe 1 or 2 euros. Have a look here. Not saying they'd be your best printer, but it gives you an idea on price. http://www.pixartprinting.co.uk/digital-litho-printing/magazines-books-catalogues/paperback-binding-corrugated-milled-and-glued/

But these are not the main costs with running a magazine.

The main issue is talent. You need talent to (a) produce the content, (b) synthesize it into a whole and (c) commercially exploit the product. By (c) i mean getting advertising and distribution, as well as commercial partnerships.

If you don't have those talents yourself, you're going to have to hire them in. Even if you do have those talents, you couldn't possibly produce a magazine completely on your own.

The market is very demanding at this stage. They expect a very high quality product, or they won't buy or even read again.

At the outset, you also need to be able to dedicate a lot of money to marketing and PR.

In practice, I think you would need to have a bare minimum of 4 very talented people working on a magazine, and probably more like 10 full-time equivalents to be realistic, especially at the start.

Cherry_Cola

I wouldn't know much about the industry itself, however a new music magazine has started up in the last few months called Molten Magazine. It could be worthwhile contacting them to get some tips on how to start etc.

It seems to be going well for them anyway.

tipptom

Thanks Atoin for the reply,hoping the printing would be more at the €1 end of the printing cost,my magazine would be slightly differant in respect of the ordinary magazine and would not be going the traditional route of ditribution.Would be probably be looking towards partners who would benifit out of being seen to be associated with it that might contribute towards printers or other costs.
Might check out the molten boys Cherry,do you know any of them?.

Cherry_Cola

tipptom wrote: »

Thanks Atoin for the reply,hoping the printing would be more at the €1 end of the printing cost,my magazine would be slightly differant in respect of the ordinary magazine and would not be going the traditional route of ditribution.Would be probably be looking towards partners who would benifit out of being seen to be associated with it that might contribute towards printers or other costs.
Might check out the molten boys Cherry,do you know any of them?.

No sorry, I don't know them personally. They should be easy enough to contact through their facebook or twitter though.

tipptom

Cherry_Cola wrote: »

No sorry, I don't know them personally. They should be easy enough to contact through their facebook or twitter though.

Thanks,will do.

Tabnabs

If you want to be successful in magazine publishing, IMO you need to know your market more so than your subject.

Niche areas are all well and good, but it will never lead to anything significant. Give them what they want, not what you think they'd like.

I do some advertising with IPC publications in the UK now and then and their stable is a good reflection of what's worth pursuing in terms of circulation and readership.

http://www.ipcadvertising.com/resource/4ivymiw81bx4udrrt0q3ccas.pdf

tipptom

Tabnabs wrote: »

If you want to be successful in magazine publishing, IMO you need to know your market more so than your subject.

Niche areas are all well and good, but it will never lead to anything significant. Give them what they want, not what you think they'd like.

I do some advertising with IPC publications in the UK now and then and their stable is a good reflection of what's worth pursuing in terms of circulation and readership.

http://www.ipcadvertising.com/resource/4ivymiw81bx4udrrt0q3ccas.pdf

Thanks for that Tabnabs,what sort of monet do they charge for advertising.

Tabnabs

It depends on the publication, size of advert, how many editions you are placing it in and how good your negotiating is. But if you look at the site, there's a wealth of information.