Unless you are producing a magazine that is completely subsidised by the organisation for which it is produced, you will need to have a plan for raising income.There are different ways in which you can generate funds, for example through paid advertising, sponsorship, donations, subscriptions, sales of single issues, etc. This chapter will concentrate on three main sources of income:

Sales

If you are not functioning as a not-for-profit business, you will probably need to raise income through sales of your magazine and possibly associated products and services, including your mailing list. And even if you are not-for-profit and your magazine goes free to staff or members, you may wish to sell additional copies to others outside your organisation.

Ways Of Raising Finance Through Sales

There are various ways of selling magazines and some of them are as follows: You can include details of the cost inside each issue so that those who would like to receive it can send you the appropriate sum. You can advertise it in various ways, for example in relevant local, national or trade papers. You can ask existing purchasers or subscribers to publicise it to other people they know. You can ask local shops if they are willing to stock it – preferably on a ‘sale or return’ basis or for a commission on sales. You can promote it on your website, or via email networks and you can ask others to mention it in their own emailed newsletters.

Although you can sell single issues of your magazine, it is more effective – and administratively simpler – to sell annual subscriptions and you may wish to offer a free trial issue, deferred payment, a discount for an annual subscription, or something like fifteen copies for the cost of twelve if people take out a subscription with you.

You can also offer your mailing list for rent (either on a one-off basis, or for a particular period of time). If you do sell your mailing list, you must make sure that names are only included of people who have indicated that they are happy to receive mailings from other people or organisations, and you should also decide whether you will provide the names as sets of labels or on a database.

Although there is no easy way of ensuring that purchasers of mailing lists do not use the list for more than the occasions they have paid for, a good principle is to include ‘sleepers’ in the list; sleepers are names and addresses that are put there simply as a check on when the list is used – if the list is used on unauthorised occasions the sleepers will receive a mailing and you will then know that another mailing has been sent out by the purchaser (or by someone who has used the list without payment at all).

Payment Handling Processes

If you are going to sell copies of your magazine, you will need to consider what processes to use – cash sales at retail outlets, cheque payments, credit card payments (face-to-face, on the phone, on receipt of a form or on-line) or standing orders/direct debits are common methods.

If you wish to have debit/credit card or standing order/direct debit payments, these require arrangements with banks or merchant services and can involve you in some up-front costs, as well as the loss of a small percentage on each transaction with some of the services. You may also have to wait several weeks to receive your money if dealing with some credit card services.

Setting A Price For Your Magazine

You will need to consider what to charge for your magazine and this can reflect its apparent value to readers, market rates for similar publications, and the extent to which you are willing to be flexible in order to attract income. It is possible to have one price as the ‘cover price’ – i.e. what is printed on the magazine itself, another price for annual subscriptions (or longer periods) and another price for ‘discounted’ subscriptions (e.g. introductory offers, special rates for particular reader groups, and so forth). It is useful to look at rates charged by other publications when doing your initial research, although you should be aware that the cover price is not always what readers pay for the publication.