Your budget - $100,000 , Your Product - a Magazine!

[IslandCEO]

How would you manage/budget a magazine that only makes $100,000 a year. I'm looking for some honest feedback!

[akula]

the question is not specific enough

[ZingerIntl]

Find your hard cost to print an ad. Say its $500
Figure out a price to sell that ad at. Say its $5000
Offer a barter system to companies that would like to be in the magazine but can not afford it. Say they a hotel. They give you $5000 worth of vouchers which cost them next to nothing since lots of rooms go empty every night. You sell those hotel room vouchers at half price in your magazine. your $500 ad made you $2500. I have lots of other examples of this too. It would help to know your magazine and its subscriber base and target market.

[nickbaker]

First, hire me as a writer.
Second, sell ad space in it.
Third, make sure its easy for your target audiance to get/find.
Fourth, advertise it! the more copies you sell the more you can charge for ad space in it.

[IslandCEO]

the question is not specific enough

Hey in other words, If you had 100k to start a Lifestyle, Entertainment and Fashion Magazine aimed at a demographic of 13 - 35 and a starting subscription base of 5,000 teens and young adults, how would you budget "advertising, salaries, office essentials (rent, computers etc), printing cost...."

Would a profit sharing (aka each person is paid .65 cents per magazine) type of system work the first year?

What type of outsourcing opportunities might you explore?

What is your suggested Ad pricing?

Besides Ads, what other type of revenue-raising options are available?

etc, etc.

(And remember, you're only projected to make 100,000 a year)

Find your hard cost to print an ad. Say its $500
Figure out a price to sell that ad at. Say its $5000
Offer a barter system to companies that would like to be in the magazine but can not afford it. Say they a hotel. They give you $5000 worth of vouchers which cost them next to nothing since lots of rooms go empty every night. You sell those hotel room vouchers at half price in your magazine. your $500 ad made you $2500. I have lots of other examples of this too. It would help to know your magazine and its subscriber base and target market.

this is an AMAZING IDEA! Thanks alot!!! It's definitely an amazing start.

[Anthony Tori]

Why not an online mag? You'll have higher reach, lower costs and great opportunities from advertisers once you generate traffic. I just don't think there will be many people reading magazines in the demographics you stated above in the near future. I no longer read magazines unless it's online.

The barter idea was a good one though if you're set on making a physical magazine.

[rogercbryan]

Yikes... the fact that you are considering a magazine in an economic cycle where publishers of this medium are getting killed is a red flag that you are more dreams then you are planning. Your SWOT Analysis would show you that this market segment is saturated and that advertising incomes are significantly lower then their five year averages (price you can sell an ad for). Production costs are up as are the underlying commodities needed to print your product (paper & ink). Distribution costs are up (postage for delivery). What type of real research have you done if any? You don't start with a budget and work backwards. You start with a plan and then develop your budget. If you try to reverse this process you end up underestimating costs while over estimating income in order to meet your imaginary budget target. This is a recipe for disaster!

Someone mentioned and online magazine. Now this person has a good idea. This allows you to build out marketable content while creating a brandable name. If you goal for circulation is 5000 units from a print product how do you expect to sell that many magazines if no one has ever heard of the your brand?

It's great to dream... its better to plan. I think you've done a little to much of the first and little to none of the second. That doesn't mean you have a bad idea (well I think you do) it means you need to do real planning and research. Based on what I've seen from this tread you have a long way to go before you print your first magazine in volume.

Good luck!

[IslandCEO]

Yikes... the fact that you are considering a magazine in an economic cycle where publishers of this medium are getting killed is a red flag that you are more dreams then you are planning. Your SWOT Analysis would show you that this market segment is saturated and that advertising incomes are significantly lower then their five year averages (price you can sell an ad for). Production costs are up as are the underlying commodities needed to print your product (paper & ink). Distribution costs are up (postage for delivery). What type of real research have you done if any? You don't start with a budget and work backwards. You start with a plan and then develop your budget. If you try to reverse this process you end up underestimating costs while over estimating income in order to meet your imaginary budget target. This is a recipe for disaster!

Someone mentioned and online magazine. Now this person has a good idea. This allows you to build out marketable content while creating a brandable name. If you goal for circulation is 5000 units from a print product how do you expect to sell that many magazines if no one has ever heard of the your brand?

It's great to dream... its better to plan. I think you've done a little to much of the first and little to none of the second. That doesn't mean you have a bad idea (well I think you do) it means you need to do real planning and research. Based on what I've seen from this tread you have a long way to go before you print your first magazine in volume.

Good luck!

Believe me, I have planned and thought this through. Starting this thread in and of itself, is all apart of the planning process.

I hear you, I really do, but your reasons for not embarking upon this venture sounds lot like the excuses given for not starting a business: "the economy is down" "sales are bad" "publishers are getting killed" - to me that is AMAZING news. It equals a less saturated market and as one business closes it's doors, it allows for mine to open. Remember it is the "pessimist who sees the difficulty in every opportunity while the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

I've done lot more planning and research before and after this thread started and contrary to your prediction, it's going to be a short period of time before the first circulation.

Thanks though, for the pessimistic fuel, needed to make this "dream" a reality.

[Encrypted]

What's the topic of the Magazine?

[rogercbryan]

Believe me, I have planned and thought this through. Starting this thread in and of itself, is all apart of the planning process.

I hear you, I really do, but your reasons for not embarking upon this venture sounds lot like the excuses given for not starting a business: "the economy is down" "sales are bad" "publishers are getting killed" - to me that is AMAZING news. It equals a less saturated market and as one business closes it's doors, it allows for mine to open. Remember it is the "pessimist who sees the difficulty in every opportunity while the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

I've done lot more planning and research before and after this thread started and contrary to your prediction, it's going to be a short period of time before the first circulation.

Thanks though, for the pessimistic fuel, needed to make this "dream" a reality.

WOW... your reasoning is... well backwards... when you go to start a new business you examine the market for your product. You are basically trying to launch a product into a dead industry. This isn't because of the economy it is because technology has made the magazine (in print) obsolete. This is like saying you want to start a company that makes typewriters. I like the motivation but unless you move from a print publication to an online publication you will fail. No need to argue about that.

[BMX]

An internet magazine would be a good idea.

[Gaulkin]

You should first say this to yourself. "deposit 95,000 dollars into bank account, take 5000 dollars and be prepared to lose it all on your magazine business idea." The fact of the matter is, the magazine business is saturated. Strippers even have there own magazine in the club now, good luck.

[IslandCEO]

@Encrypted - the latest in lifestyle /in dept analysis of themes aimed at teens, young adults and young professionals. It caters to thoes three demographics.

@BMX - Definitely. We'll be examining all markets and distribution channels.

@Gulkin - Will keep your words in mind. Worse case scenario, I learn what not to do and get the opportunity to try something else. Best case scenario, I succeed and establish a strong media corporation. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

@rogercbryan - I've examined the market very closely. You analogy about the type-writer makes no sense as people still use the product (in abundance) which I am investing in. The reality is, you assume this product is being launched in the United States - it is not, not immediately anyways. It is actually being launched in a third world country where there are great opportunities for magazine launches and more so, there's very little competition. Also, considering the said country's relationship with North America and the fact that many products purchased by consumers in that country are are from the States, it offers great marketing potential to connect sellers with persons of that demographic. Maybe in your country "print media is dead", in mine, it is just beginning to flourish and whereas I live here and you don't, there is certainly no reason to debate that.

I quote from an article on youngentrepreneur.com:


"“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain.. and most fools do.” – Dale Carnegie

There will always be naysayers. And some of them may have even been right in the past about an idea, thought or event. In most cases, the saying applies: ‘a broken clock is right twice a day.’ Even if they have been right about something in the past, it doesn’t mean that they’re opinion is always correct.


Remember:

1. “Children just aren’t interested in Witches and Wizards anymore.”

–Anonymous publishing executive to J.K. Rowling, 1996.

2. “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

–Ken Olson, Founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.

NOTE: Olson’s business made big business mainframe computers.

3. “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”

–Decca Records executives rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

4. “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.”

–Western Union internal memo, 1876

5. “Everyone acquainted with the subject will recognize it as a conspicuous failure.”

–Henry Morton, President of the Stevens Institute of Technology, on Edison’s light bulb, 1880.

6. “You better get secretarial work or get married.”

–Emmeline Snively, Director – Blue Book Modelling Modelling Agency, to Marilyn Monroe in 1944.

7. “The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty, a fad.”

–The President of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford’s lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Co., 1903.

8. “Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible.”

–Simon Newcomb; The Wright Brothers flew at Kittyhawk 18 months later

9. “I would say that this does not belong to the art which I am in the habit of considering music.”

–Alexandre Oulibicheff, reviewing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

Note: He sounds just like Simon from American Idol!

10. “Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy.”

–Associates of Edwin L. Drake mocking his idea to drill for oil, 1859.

11. “How, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you, excuse me, I have not the time to listen to such nonsense.”

–Napoleon Bonaparte, when told of Robert Fulton’s steamboat plans, 1800s.

12. “I’m sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.”

–The San Francisco Examiner, rejecting a submission by Rudyard Kipling in 1889.

13. “Very interesting Whittle, my boy, but it will never work.”

–Cambridge Aeronautics Professor, when shown Frank Whittle’s plan for the jet engine.

14. “The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.”

–Sir William Preece, Chief Engineer, British Post Office, 1878.

15. “A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.”

–Response to Debbi Fields’ idea of starting Mrs. Fields’ Cookies.

16. “Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan.”

–Mary Somerville, pioneer of radio educational broadcasts, 1948.

…and my personal favorite, for it’s elaborate description.

17. “To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth – all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances.”

–Lee DeForest, Inventor of the vacuum tube, 1926."

That said, thanks again for the pessimism! It's greatly appreciated!!!