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Getting Your Magazine on Newsstands by Scott Cullins There are many benefits to selling your magazine on newsstands. Publishers, however, should not expect to profit on newsstand sales—these sales basically generate revenue roughly equal to your production and distribution cost. Newsstand sales can increase your circulation, which justifies your advertising rates and helps demonstrate to advertisers the strength of your brand. In addition, newsstand sales should ultimately result in more subscriptions, larger distribution, more revenues and justification for increasing advertising rates. So, it's a no-brainer. If your publication is a consumer title targeted at the general public, getting on national and/or regional newsstands is a must. But where do you start? My first recommendation to clients is to secure a UPC (Universal Product Code). With this bar code, you will be compatible with retail booksellers' and newsstands' bar code scanning systems. Next, there are three primary distribution channels to consider. If your title has national appeal and national advertising, you need to get on national newsstands. National bookseller chains, like Barnes & Noble, use distributors like IPD (International Periodical Distributors) and Ingram Periodicals. These distributors will initially review your publication to determine its sellability. In my experience, if it's a professional looking publication, they will assign an account rep to you, take a small marketing fee (e.g., $250), add the magazine to their catalog and shop it around to their retail bookseller clients to get orders. After several weeks your account rep should be able to give you an idea of sales orders. Don't expect too much. A few thousand orders for a new title is decent. The second distribution channel is regional distributors. If your publication has regional content and advertisers, this channel is important. Even magazines with national appeal should consider this channel, Regional distributors like The News Group can get your magazine on newsstands for regional supermarket chains, smaller bookseller chains and independent book stores/newsstands. These distributors have regional offices covering individual states, multiple states and/or portions of larger states. They typically do not charge any fees to market you magazine the their retail clients. Of course, if they do sell your title into any stores, you will pay a fee that includes their commission plus shipping and handling. Specialized retailers like Walmart, are the third distribution channel. These are large chains with in-house divisions that handle distribution directly with the publisher. In my opinion, this would be a channel to go after only once you've exhausted the first two. If you have a dedicated circulation manager, then by all means, push for all three channels as time permits. Most of these distributors will ask for a production schedule, so that they can close sales in a timely fashion, and place orders prior to your print production. When you get your newsstand orders, have your printer ship directly to your distributors. If all this seems like a lot of work, you can hire a consultant to set up and manage your distribution. I recommend, however, that you learn all you can about distribution so that you are capable of jumping in and assuming control if necessary. Scott Cullins has been in the publishing business for more than 18 years. He is the founder and principal of Canyon Media, a company that provides magazine design, production and launch consulting for startups, publishers and corporate clients. Email Scott now. << Back to Publishing Resources Home | Next Article >> |
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