Expert insight from the co-founder of PC and Macworld magazines! Starting & Running a Successful Newsletter or Magazine gives you the practical know-how you need to put together a profitable publication. Whether you're publishing creating simple newsletters, or a sophisticated magazine and website, it provides all the information necessary to start and run your business. Starting & Running a Successful Newsletter or Magazine covers the ins-and-outs of: -raising start-up money -attracting the best help -choosing the right marketing strategies -creating a solid subscription base -building loyalty among readers and advertisers -competing effectively against even the biggest adversaries What's new? The 5th edition explores the latest trends in Web publishing -- including blogging -- and how to integrate online and print strategies into a unified front. It also provides tips on selling ads on your website and other ways to make money online.

Smart Publishing Introduction Over the years, I've worked with and studied hundreds of successful publishers. Most make a good profit. Some, organized as nonprofit corporations, define success not in dollars and cents, but in their ability to affect public policy or educate people. And still others look at their publications as a way to increase profits in a separate business, often consulting. No matter how these publishers define success, all have had to do the same two things to create a thriving, successful publication: Create a great product and build a solid business operation. First, creating a quality publication will help to establish a bond with the readers and advertisers in your market. This is the creative side of publishing, the art of it. Creative publishers consistently deliver informative products that meet the needs of their readers and advertisers, even as those needs grow and change over time. This may sound easy, but it isn't. Besides the obvious communication skills that are involved, it takes a healthy dose of imagination to come up with ideas for products that are both innovative and useful. Second, having created a great publication, a publisher must build an efficient business operation to keep the publication afloat. From increased competition to a shrinking market to a surge in paper prices, publishers face critical business decisions every day. A publisher needs to make long-term goals and strategies to guide business operations. And at the day-to-day level, a publication must be run efficiently, which means its publisher must get the most from every dollar spent. These considerations make up the business side of publishing, which often presents the most difficult challenges to new publishers. Any publisher will succeed who can make a good product that is responsive to the needs of people in a growing market, and who also can organize an efficient business operation. Unfortunately, very few people master both the creative and the business sides of the publishing puzzle, which explains why it takes a team to win at publishing. Underlying both the creative and business skills needed to run a publication is the ability to work with people. Publishing is by nature a collaborative enterprise. Every publisher has to organize a group of helpers -- vendors, employees, freelance contractors, editorial contributors, and the like -- to produce a good product consistently. The great majority of successful publishers, even those with tiny niche publications, are skillful with people and know how to inspire them. Fortunately, you don't need to be skilled at every key publishing task, so long as you know your own limitations and get help in areas where you are weak. Throughout this book, I will suggest many creative ways publishers have developed to make the most of their own skills, get the best from their resources, and ultimately achieve success in a challenging periodical publishing market. A. Three Publishing Options There are many different ways to organize a publishing business. Some magazines target mass audiences, while most newsletters speak to a small number of carefully selected readers. Some publications are funded by billion-dollar publishing empires and others by the sweat equity and moderate savings of a few people. And many of the biggest, most popular publications are published by nonprofit organizations, including Sierra, published by the Sierra Club, and Modern Maturity, among the world's most widely read magazines, published by the American Association of Retired People.

 

Expert insight from the co-founder of PC and Macworld magazines! Starting & Running a Successful Newsletter or Magazine gives you the practical know-how you need to put together a profitable publication.

Introduction 1. Smart Publishing Three Publishing Options Finding Your Place in the Publishing World Creating Relationships Surviving Through Efficiency The Publisher's Golden Rules Smart Publishers -- Some Examples 2. Building the Reader Relationship The Qualities of a Good Audience Learning About Your Audience Choosing an Editorial Mission Evaluating Your Competition Designing Your Publication Making Business Decisions Making a Test Issue Gearing Up Your Operations 3. Developing Your Circulation Strategy Targeting the Best Subscribers Choosing Efficient Marketing Channels Running Successful Promotions A Sample Marketing Plan 4. Subscription Budgeting and Profitability Renewals and Conversions Estimating Subscription Revenues Estimating Publishing Expenses Using Break-Even Analysis Making a Budget 5. Building Your Advertising Business Creating Advertising Relationships The Publisher's Job: Strategy The Marketing Director's Job: Communicating The Sales Job: Building Relationships The Publisher/Advertiser Relationship 6. Adding More Products Strategies for Adding Products Choosing the Right Products Some Well-Executed Products 7. Raising Money and Working With Investors The Financial Stages of Publications Your Financial Attitudes Writing Your Business Plan Persuading Lenders or Investors Sources of Money Sample Fund Raising Strategies 8. Gathering and Using Financial Information Financial Challenges Using Numbers to Make Good Decisions Get Numbers You Can Trust A Sample Publisher's Scorecard: Cruises Update 9. Getting Help From Other People Making Limited Resources Work Vendors Consultants and Independent Contractors 10. Managing Employees How to Find Experienced People Encouraging Collaboration Developing Your Own Experts Avoiding Common Hiring Mistakes People Give Back What They Get 11. An Internet Publishing Strategy Essentials for Start-Up Websites Niche Strategies Are Working New Revenue Opportunities Have Arrived Building Your Online Business Profitable Sites on Modest Budgets 12. Making Strategies Why Publishers Need Strategies Goals and Strategies Planning 13. Troubleshooting Recognizing Trouble Strategic Problems Fixing the Most Common Problems 14. Resources for Publishers Associations Books Courses and Seminars Periodicals Publishing Industry Services Software Accounting Publishing Business Software Websites, Electronic Mailing Lists, Newsgroups, and Online Bulletin Boards Index

"The business expertise that all publishers need is well-presented in this book... Woodard's professional qualifications, coupled with her clear writing style... make this book a must-read for would-be publishers."

 

"If you have the will to publish in today's changing print and digital media, then let this book show you the way. It is absolutely teeming with essential, practical information."

 

"I really wish I had this book when I started publishing eight years ago. It's the only book I've seen that provides all the crucial information publishers need to know."

 

"Contains many cautions and bright ideas..."

 

Cheryl Woodard Cheryl Woodard learned the publishing business like most people do -- by jumping bravely into it without any preparation whatsoever. She co-founded PC, Macworld, PC World and Publish magazines, concentrating her attention on ad sales, circulation marketing and business management issues. In 1993, Cheryl began consulting with book, software, newsletter and magazine publishers. Author of Starting & Running a Successful Newsletter or Magazine, she specializes in helping business owners or chief executives sort out marketing and overall business strategies. Woodard teaches business planning at the Stanford Professional Publishing Course and other professional development programs. She also serves on the board of directors of the Independent Press Association in San Francisco. She lives with her husband and two children in Berkeley, California. She can be reached via her Web site at: http://www.publishingbiz.com

 

Starting & Running a Successful Newsletter or Magazine by Cheryl Woodard
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