Publishing for profit: launching a magazine is a risky venture. Navigating the pitfalls requires sufficient advertising, circulation, content—and a bit of luck

Black Enterprise, May, 2004 by Marcia A. Wade

Bridal magazines have high pass-along rates, so Powell and Bonner are confident that Brides Noir will fare well, creating opportunities for them to expand into other offerings. "I want to truly maintain our position as being experts in the bridal market for brides of color, [but] our goal is to own our market in more ways than one," Powell says. "We want to expand further beyond the magazine and build an enterprise."

7 STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL MAGAZINE

According to publishing experts, the first things to do when starting a magazine are to:

1 Generate an idea and secure a target audience. To make your magazine concept a reality, first research the idea to determine if there is an audience that will support it. "People who tell me. 'This magazine is for everybody, about everything, reaching every age' [are wrong]," Husni says. "There is no such thing anymore. We are in the era of laser targeting." Brides Noir successfully identified and targeted the underserved African American bridal market.

2 Find advertisers and identify your audience. According to Cheryl Woodard's Starting & Running a Successful Newsletter or Magazine (Nolo Press; $29.99), the key is identifying an audience that is interested in purchasing a particular publication. Holding focus groups or conducting surveys can gather this information.

3 Find a distributor. More often than not, this requires the use of a circulation consulting company to get periodicals from the printer to bookstores and other retail outlets. These companies have contacts with national distributors and wholesalers. They generally charge $1,000 to $3,000 per month but can shop your magazine idea around to national distributors.

4 Monitor costs at all times. When calculating costs, keep in mind that a healthy, established magazine spends one-third of its budget on printing and production, one-third on editorial expenses, and another third on distribution. Also, in the beginning stages of starting a magazine, 60% to 70% of the startup budget will go toward or printing.

Starting and operating a magazine can be expensive, so publishers must prepare themselves for the possibility of negative revenue. "You have to plan on zero revenue for the first year." Husni warns. "Do you have enough money to publish a magazine for a whole year without getting a penny back?" If the answer is no, Husni says you may want to rethink starting a magazine, otherwise you could become one of the many publications that never make it to a second issue. To get your magazine past its freshman effort, create a five-year budget that outlines your costs.

5 Manage printing and postage. Printing is the largest expense of starting a magazine. Depending on the paper's quality and weight, printing costs generally range from 75 cents to $1.50 per copy, with the amount decreasing as the number of copies increases. New publishers are usually required to pay up front, until a printer-publisher rapport has been established. after which a payment plan is granted.

The cost of postage fluctuates regularly but is generally one-third of the magazine's production costs. Periodical rate postage can decrease your costs significantly, but requires a complex application process. The appropriate forms and statements for periodical rate applications can be found at www.usps.com/forms/periodical.htm.>