new magazine looking for capital.

[JazzyJay]

I'm looking for capital to start my magazine co, I'm looking for about 25-30k if anyone is interested please feel free to PM me and we can discuss more details.

I have great ideas and my project has already started, My main needs for the funding are for publishing/marketing/design purposes.

Thanks

Jazzy

[David Rocci]

What type of magazine is it? Who is your target audience? Do you plan a regional or national distribution?

-dr

[boneill]

I usually prefer to invest through a third party, such as www.prosper.com

[David Rocci]

I did some research in college about starting a magazine for a case study I did. In fact, I just dug through my bookmarks and found a couple sites that may be helpful to you.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/starting...e160238-3.html
http://www.mrmagazine.com/ - Dr. Samir "Mr Magazine" Husni...

Good luck!

-dr

[biz-doggy]

It's a good business idea. Best wishes for your magazine business!

[JazzyJay]

The magazine is an entrepreneur geared magazine thats all I can say, I don't want to say to much But if your interested we can deffinatly talk more.

My hopes are to distribute 6000 to 8000 copies throughout 3 major cities(2000 - 2500 copies each) in the U.S. to hopefully provide a large base of readers. Offering a 6 month free subscriptions in the first issue hopefully expanding subscribers to an ever larger base.

[crackah]

Im sure no one is going to steal your plans and do it.

The more info the better we can help really.

[David Rocci]

JazzyJay: How do you plan to make the magazine profitable? will you charge subscribers? or pursue advertising revenue? will you distribute through newsstands? or mail to people's homes?

From what I've read there is a catch-22 with magazines. you need a subscriber base to get advertisers but you need advertisers to afford the printing and distribution to the subscriber base.

So, you either need enough money to carry the magazine through a few distribution cycles until you get the advertisers to support the magazine.

And lastly, I agree with crackah (for once! :P), the more info you provide, the more we can help. I think you'll notice this thread has been geared towards helping you so far...

-dr

[JazzyJay]

I plan to setup a distribution, For the phase 1 of the launch I will setup at news stands / stores / online order / word of mouth.
I hope to have enough capital to support the release of all 8000 copies, with enough left over to work with for the second issue strategies(marketing/advertising).

Like I said the first 6 month subscription is free AFTER purchasing the first issue & subscribing for 1 year, so if all goes well and the launch is successful I plan to bring in roughly $40,000 not including costs, subscriptions, or advertising.

subscription rates would be in the ballpark of 8.99 for 12 issues, 17.95 for 24.

What are your thoughts on this plan?


PS: All this info is just a basic rough idea of my plans and probably need a lot of revision and research.

[biz-doggy]

1st 6 months free subcription, means customers get to read your magazines at 1/2 the price. Or, to put it another way, they get to read twice as much material as they paid for. Sounds good!

[akhan]

I guess we all know that content is king, so the question is from where will you get the good content?

[JazzyJay]

Content will come from many resources, First of all im located in Seattle, a very competitive market for business w/ many options.(also a great college University of Washington)

First...

Online resources such as about.com and other blog websites for technical writers that are looking for a business opportunity(we all know the blogging community is huge right now. so I'm sure theres alot of willing participants to make the cut.)

Theres multiple resources online to obtain articles from.

Second...

The University, I know a few students currently in technical writing programs and I'm sure I can advertise on campus that I'm looking for young business savy writers for a new magazine.

Thrid...

Outside marketing such as ad's / newspaper / television / radio.


My main focus for the funding will be put into content(paying for highly skilled writers and graphics designers) to really give that first issue a BANG!


P.S. What do you all think about my 25-35k for startup cost? Is that too low for my estimated startup?

[JazzyJay]

Any comments?

[k3nn4]

JazzyJay,

Please correct me if I'm wrong. 25k-35k for startup cost? I personal think is way too low tho.. Don't you need to hire the Editor or Writter ?

Oh ya.. guys.. can any one of you help me with this question here?

1. What are the job position needed in a small magazine company?

Thanks

[David Rocci]

I think that should be enough to get through the first couple distribution cycles. I know nothing about printing costs and I presume that will be your biggest expense. Next biggest is distribution. If you are mailing these magazines to customers you will need to budget 8000 * $.41 = $3280 just for postage. And, I don't even know if you can get a standard first class rate on a magazine size mailing or if you can get special pre-sorted/volume pricing. Hopefully this is something the printing facility can also help with. Have you received any rough quotes from these places?

I would try to develop a "pilot" magazine. A sample draft, printed out with content and everything. Then I would try to talk to the people you expect would be your potential advertisers. You won't make money on the subscriptions - I don't think any magazine actually makes money on the subscriptions. You need to make sure your content and layout is geared for the advertisers that will be spending big money with you.

With the pilot/prototype you can also conduct cheap focus groups (especially if you are on campus and they are your target audience) and get feedback on the content, writing styles and layout.

-dr