Is Readership “Buy-in” Necessary?

We’ve encountered a few companies during our growth with thoughts of publications—publications with potential and publications that needed to be rethought. So we’ve had several conversations amongst ourselves and we want to share some key thoughts that continue to surface.

Do readers “buy into” your publication? By this I mean do they pay for a subscription to receive your publication? Do they place a value on your product? (I don’t want to get into the conversation regarding e-magazines. I’d rather stick with printed magazine for this post.) We’ve come up with several conclusions, but the main idea is if you ask your readers to make a monetary contribution to your publication in the form of a subscription, then you are more likely to be self-sustaining through the years and your readers will be more loyal. What this means is when you first begin talking about producing a publication, you need to also assign a subscription rate to, one, offset the costs to produce a printed publication, but also to put a value on your publication. Think of it in these terms. If you pick-up a free magazine at your local eatery, are you likely to read it or toss it? If you subscribe to a magazine and it arrives in your mailbox, are you likely to read it or toss it? My guess is you’ll read the magazine you paid for. Why? Because you spent money on it, and nobody wants to throw money into the trash.

Don’t magazines with subscriptions take more time to get off the ground? Yes, it is challenging to produce a new magazine with a subscription attached. You will need to do lots and lots of research before the first issue hits the press to make sure you are investing your time and monetary capital in something readers want. Partnering with groups, associations, or other magazines is a great first step towards securing and growing a readership. But always keep the subscription at the forefront of those conversations. If you find a market in which to launch your publication and the subscriptions are there, then you know you have a viable product. If you don’t find this, then you may want to rethink your publication before launching.

But why can’t I just offer my magazine for free? We have found it is more challenging to quantify your readership if your publication is free, especially as a start-up. Why do you need to quantify your readership? Well, my guess is since your publication is free, you are relying solely on advertising to subsidize your production expenses. Advertisers want quantifiable readership data to determine if their investment is worth it. They also want to know who your readers are so they know they are reaching their market. Your publication is one of many depending on your market, and if advertisers are comparing you to your competition and your competition has solid readership data, then my instinct tells me their advertising dollars will be spent with your competition. What this means to you–it will be harder to produce your free publication without or with little support from advertising.

So, let’s summarize. When planning a publication, it’s always better to research, research, research. Ideally, determine a subscription rate to build value in your product and to help offset production costs, allowing you time to build your advertising base with solid, quantifiable readership data.