Long Live Print
People still want printed magazines: here’s how to launch one
Ten years ago I created H2Open Magazine, which went on to become Outdoor Swimmer. One of the consequences of this is that every now and then, I receive an email from someone who is considering launching their own print magazine, asking for advice. I therefore thought I’d share some thoughts on the topic and propose some questions to ask before embarking on what could be a long exhilarating journey — or a short-lived financial disaster.
Why do you want to be a publisher?
This is the big question, obviously, but easy to overlook. My reason was that I’d experienced a family tragedy, I needed a new project to pull me out of a pit of despair and the idea, unprompted, popped into my head. I don’t recommend this. It was as far removed from the rational business planning I’d learned at business school as you could get. It was based on a hunch and initially cost me a lot of money. On the other hand, it gave me a new direction when I was desperately in need of one, and since then has provided me many wonderful and life-affirming experiences. It’s also convenient that I love swimming outdoors and publishing a magazine about it is perhaps the perfect occupation for me.
You will need your own compelling reason and it has to be strong enough to pull you through a steep learning curve and a tsunami of unexpected challenges.
What do you want to publish and who do think will read it?
Approach these two questions together. You can start with either. If you have an idea of what you want to publish, say you have a passion for a niche sport, your task is to figure out who will read it and how you will reach them. Alternatively, you may have an audience — for example, if you’re a social media influencer — and you want to publish something for people you already regularly engage with. You need to find out what they might buy.
Your initial potential audience may be small. Outdoor swimming was certainly less popular 10 years ago than it is today. I’d like to think that publishing a magazine about it has contributed to its growth. If there is already a large audience, such as in running, you will probably find there are competing titles, and rather than taking these on, you may want to target a sub-group. Witness the proliferation of running-related titles: Trail Running, Women’s Running, Ultra Running etc. The cycling market is similarly crowded.
Building your readership takes hard work, patience, luck and as much support as you can get. If you have a major marketing budget behind you, one route might be to flood the retail market with copies and in-store promotions. However, this is an outdated approach and only viable for a mass market title. I contacted clubs, event organisers and businesses in the sector, told them what I was planning and asked for their help. Mostly they said yes. Speedo provided 300 pairs of goggles to use as subscription gifts for the first people to sign up, which got things off to a promising start.
What business models could you choose?
As a publisher, the two major sources of revenue are your readers and organisations (or individuals) that want to advertise to your readers. Some publications are entirely funded through readers, usually on subscriptions. Others cover all their cost through advertising and deliver the magazine free-of-charge to readers. Many combine the two. There are pros and cons to each and the model you choose will partly depend on the market you’re in and the competition you face.
Bear in mind that selling print advertising is tough as many marketeers believe (falsely in my opinion — but that’s another story) that digital and social marketing is more effective. At the very least, there is a lot of competition for brands’ marketing budgets. Nevertheless, it can be done.
The free-to-reader model works on a combination of volume and relevance of the audience. The advantage with is approach is that you could build an audience quickly (most people love free stuff) and that is attractive to your advertisers. The disadvantage is that advertising revenue is volatile, unpredictable and, mostly, declining.
I used this model for the first few issues of H2Open while the paying readership was still small. I identified events where swimmers gathered and arranged for copies to be put in goody bags. This meant any advertising would be seen by several thousand swimmers rather than just the few hundred paying readers we had at the time. This was also good marketing for the magazine and subscriptions. As subscriber numbers increased, we could scale down the number of free copies we gave away.
The situation is now almost reversed. The coronavirus pandemic halted much of our advertising sales. We created a range of new subscriber packages, including some higher value offerings, which plugged a good part of the funding gap. The advantages of subscription revenue are that it is regular and predictable.
How will you do it?
I have met a few magazine publishers over the years, and each one of them had a different skill set and background: writers, advertising salespeople, designers, photographers, software engineers and more. Whatever background you have, it is likely you will have some of the skills needed to publish a magazine. It is unlikely you will have them all. And even if you did, unless you are publishing annually, you won’t have the time to do everything. Decide what you can and want to do, and outsource or find other people to do the rest. These other people could be freelancers initially, and may become employees later if things take off. There are plenty of firms offering printing, distribution and subscription management services.
Is there still a market for print?
Yes. 100%. And, I think, especially for specialist publications. When the coronavirus pandemic first hit the UK, we switched Outdoor Swimmer to digital-only publication when many of our advertisers cancelled. Our subscribers were understanding and supportive. But after a couple of issues, readership numbers and engagement dropped and the emails started coming in: “when are you going back to print?” In the four months following our return to print, our subscriber numbers grew by more than 15%.
I don’t want to make publishing a magazine sound easy. It isn’t, and you will need more than this brief guide to get started. However, I hope it provides some inspiration and insight. I enjoy hearing from other publishers or aspiring publishers and sharing ideas. Reach out if you want to chat.
