Helping independent magazines

I receive more calls and emails from independent publishers in response to this blog than any other single group.  I’m grateful for the contact, it has made me aware of challenges they face which I had never considered.  The discussions are usually robust and, helpulf for them as well.

The challenge is how we help independent publishers find a market for their titles.  They don’t have the financial resources to invest in marketing collateral like we receive from Pacific or ACP.  They are not big enough to have a contract which requires their share of the best real-estate in our shops.  Their distributor relationships rarely go beyond a logistics function.

Independent titles represent a key point of difference for newsagencies.  We need them as much as they need us for the moment if we are to fully service the niche / special interest marketplace.

So, how do we help independent magazine publishers?  Here are some suggestions for independent publishers:

1. Provide more newsagents with marketing collateral, cover run-ons and posters.  Good material means your title is more likely to be displayed.
2. If there could be confusion as to where the title ought to be located include a cheat sheet with every issue.  Be clear – but not too many words, newsagents are time poor.  Tell me other titles your title is more likely to sell with.
3. Reward me, get beyond 25% and reward my efforts to grow your business.  The more you treat me like a business person than a process worker the better I’m likely to respond.
4. Make sure I have stock on time – police the distributors and make sure they have stock for newsagents before you post your subscription copies.
5. Include a putaway request card in the magazine – let me sign up putaways and lock customers in rather than the subscription cards you include.
6. Give me a contact point so I can send you photos and feedback.  Communicating like this will help both of us.
7. Consider going outside the traditional magazine distributor controlled channel.  If your title works well in a specific demographic, target those newsagents for direct supply and pay a higher commission out of what you save by not going through a distributor.  See point 3 (above). We have excellent technology which can provide day by day sales and other data to support this.

Here are my suggestions for newsagents:

1. Embrace independent titles – feature at least one each week, they are your key point of difference in the magazine category.
2. Find a place you can promote a whole category of independent (or niche) titles at or near your counter.  Such subject areas could include: aircraft, remote control models, science, dogs, cats, craft, art.
3. Create your own marketing collateral to promote titles you want to push – we have found that B&W copies of the cover blown up to A3 work well as a wallpaper background and costs little.
4. Create a staff picks display like you see in good bookshops.  Encourage your staff to pick independent titles.
5. Move categories around so that customers browsing the shop stumble across your range in the lesser known magazine categories – if you’re quiet about these titles you can’t expect people to find them.

These are just some thoughts on how we can embrace independent magazines in newsagencies.  While we can’t retire on the gains, we can reinforce a point of difference and thereby extend the relevance of our newsagencies.