Newsstand launches – dos and don’ts

Some years ago, I was handling new business for a major distributor. A publisher rang. He had 30,000 copies of his magazine printed and sitting in a warehouse. Could we get it on the newsstand for the following week?

This might sound extreme, but it’s far from the only example of a publisher who’d taken the utmost care to write his magazine, sell his advertising, and get it printed. Yet getting it on to the newsstand was seemingly an afterthought. Surely it was just a matter of transporting it from his warehouse to the newsagent…?

Let’s start with a few statistics:

* Approximately 3,500 titles are available for potential newsstand distribution.
* About 400 new titles are launched each year.
* Survival rate is under 50%.

1. Research your idea

Before you pick up the phone and talk to a distributor, take time to research your idea’s potential. Ask:

* Who is the target reader / audience?
* How many are there out there?
* How well served is that audience already?

Be brutally honest. If three or four similar titles already appear on newsstands, then yours – unless it’s really a unique addition to the marketplace – is not worth the time, money and effort.

2. The newsstand

The newsstand is not the only route to market. There are four main parts to any publisher’s print distribution model. The other three are:

* Subscriptions
* Free or bulk distribution
* Direct to retail

Different titles will have a different focus, but all are inter-connected, so to push one area will impact on another. An essential part of the planning process, therefore, is deciding the importance of newsstand against other distribution channels.

3. Get it right first time

It might sound obvious, but the launch issue is your best, and perhaps only, chance of getting your title known to your potential reader. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you can always put it right next issue; there may not be one. Invest as much time, effort and energy as you can into that all important first issue.

4. Title

A title must convey what the magazine is about, but don’t be too clever. I have often been presented with a title which means absolutely nothing to me, while the publisher insists that "our audience will recognise it". Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. It is also advisable to include a permanent strapline that can be more descriptive about the title. Above all, though, don’t confuse or mislead the potential buyer.

This applies to the newsagent too. A great deal of effort goes into telling the retail trade where your title should be displayed. But when the parcel of magazines is being unwrapped in the newsagent, probably by someone who has never heard of it, how easy is it for him to identify the right position on the shelf? Confuse him and your title may end up in the wrong section entirely.

5. Front cover

This is your shop window. Take time over it. Use it to attract readers to something they have probably never heard of.

Visit a large newsagent. Spend half an hour watching people choose their magazines, ideally from the sector you are launching into. Note how long (or more likely how short a time) they take to choose. Your cover - and its coverlines - must sell your magazine.

Also bear in mind that only the largest newsagents will give you a full-facing. Expect the majority to give you a (probably left-hand) partial display. Try and ensure, therefore, that your logo is easily identifiable under these circumstances, and position coverlines on the left hand side to ensure visibility and stand-out.

When planning a covermount, remember to lay the cover around it so that it doesn’t obscure your strongest coverlines. Ensure that whoever is doing the mounting is aware of just where on the cover it should go.

You will spend a lot of time looking at your front cover in isolation. Ask twenty people for their opinion and you’ll probably get twenty different opinions. Take a cover pull to a newsagent, and ask him nicely to let you put it on his shelves next to the opposition for a moment or two. Take a long, hard look. Be honest with yourself. Does your cover stand out? How easy is it to find it?

6. Cover price

There are no hard and fast rules as to the right cover price, but there are some ground rules to consider:

* Be aware of the opposition. If they are £3 and you launch at £4, what are you offering that is worth the extra money. Perception is all-important. Few people (except your competitors) will bother with paginations or advertising / editorial ratios. If, however, your magazine feels thinner than the opposition’s (because, say, they have more advertising), the buyer’s perception could be that they offer better value.
* It might be worth offering your first issue at a special low, sampler price. But make it clear that this is a one-off, to get the magazine into people’s hands. Persist for too many issues and your buyers will desert in droves when you make the steep change to the ‘correct’ price.
* Magazines can be too cheap as well as too expensive. Nowadays, people expect to pay between £3 and £4 for a glossy monthly. To offer it at £2 might suggest it is ‘cheap’ – not quality. After all, if someone offered you a new Rolls Royce for £10,000, wouldn’t you be suspicious? Magazines, too, have a perceived value.

7. Find a distributor

You will, almost certainly, be using a distributor to market your magazine to the newstrade. Ensure that you leave yourself plenty of time before the launch to:

* Select the right distributor for you.
* Enable the distributor to do the best job of ‘selling-in’ your title to the newstrade.

Like most things in life, magazine distributors come in various shapes and sizes. It is important to talk to several, and not to be overwhelmed by their glossy presentations. Be prepared to ask critical questions. Treat them as your partners and you will forge a mutually profitable relationship.

A good distributor will put great emphasis on the circulation planning process.

This is a detailed plan, based on agreed objectives, outlining:

* Their role
* The proposed activity
* The timing of this activity
* The implementation
* The personnel involved

There is absolutely no point in a publisher going to a distributor with a proposition along the lines of, "I need to distribute X,000 magazines. Now get on with it."

You’ll be politely, or not so politely, shown the door.

Think back to those questions you posed yourself at the outset: about your potential reader, your marketplace, what your magazine is about. Your distributor, and the wholesalers and retailers he will have to sell your product to, will ask those self-same questions.

Waste is a major factor in the newstrade. So why send bundles of your precious magazine to wholesalers and retailers who do not want them, and who will promptly send them back? Think of the unnecessary cost, not to mention the wasted trees.

Remember, the objective of all parties is to sell magazines. So focus on getting your magazine into the right retailers, and supplying them with the optimum quantity.

Finally, leave plenty of time for the distributor to do his job properly. You wouldn’t expect an editor to put a magazine together in weeks, so plan on giving your distributor at least four months before publication.

8. Promotion

Most importantly, take time to plan an effective promotion for your magazine. Simply placing copies on the newsagent shelves and hoping your reader comes across them will not work.

You’ll need copies of your magazine in major high street outlets such as WH Smith, where it is most likely to be seen, and sampled. But that shelf space is not free. There will be a cost, often in the thousands of pounds, in persuading key retailers to stock your magazine: a rule-of-thumb is £1 to £2 a copy.

And make sure you publish when you say you will, however tempted you might be to wait for that extra page of advertising!

Most retail promotions are only for one or two weeks. If your magazine isn’t ready, the retailer will not move the promotion. But, he will charge you for it.

How is your target audience going to find out about your magazine? If yours is a specialist title, then ask yourself where else your audience might be looking, or listening? Don’t forget PR. An original stunt can be low cost and very effective when picked up by other media.

Direct mail to your audience, via say a membership list, can be equally effective as you are appealing to a well defined audience.

Email can be a cheap but effective selling tool.

And don’t ignore the competition. You could do contra-advertising deals with your competitors.

9. Look beyond the launch

Remember, the launch is just the start. Look beyond the first issue. Have an ongoing circulation strategy in place. Publishers are natural optimists, but when you do your financial planning, be pessimistic, and base your forecasts around that. Don’t expect to sell 70% of your print run. You won’t. Expect to sell 40% and you could still have a viable magazine in six issues’ time.

By having a circulation strategy in place pre-launch, the whole supply chain – from distributor, through to wholesaler to retailer – knows what is expected of them.

Of course, events – and opportunities – can throw the best laid plans off course, and you will have to deal with them. But if you keep your distributor up to date with everything that is going on, he’ll prove a valuable ally. And you’re going to need all the allies you can get.