Magazine publishers launching new titles should consider offering a preorder service through newsagencies as a means of gaining consumer appeal. This could provide feedback in time to adjust print runs and thereby avoid sell-outs or over supply. Newsagents are used to offering such a facility for regular titles – called the putaway service. Indeed, putaways are a key point of difference newsagents offer magazine customers.
Offering preorders could be particularly useful for mass market titles. The Home and Away souvenir one-shot earlier this year was a good example. We ended up selling three times our allocation. I expect that a smart preorder campaign would have provided sufficient guide in a few days to provide better data with which to forecast our sales.