Easy Reader

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May 1, 2004

Byline: Marina Krakovsky

Name a fast-growing pastime of the educated and affluent that could support a new magazine. Pilates? Gardening? How about book clubs? Since 1994, the number of book groups has jumped from between 400,000 and 500,000 to well over 750,000, says Rachel Jacobsohn, president of the Chicago-based Association of Book Group Readers and Leaders (ABGRL).

Those groups, from men's groups to mother-daughter groups, have become a staple of modern life. They may be truly serious about literature or perhaps it's just an excuse to socialize, but book groups share a need for reliable tips on what to read and discuss next. That's where Bookmarks, a bimonthly started by two novice publishers, is carving its niche. Publisher Allison Nelson says that reading groups are such a key part of her magazine's circulation that each issue now profiles a different book group.

Nelson started Bookmarks in the summer of 2002 with Jon Phillips, a friend from Harvard Business School. Both had been Silicon Valley executives who were looking for meaningful work they could do from home. They pooled $50,000 and hit the books.

UNFULFILLED NEED

Why Bookmarks? Because there's nothing more profitable than a literary magazine, quips Phillips. The serious answer, according to Nelson, is that they identified an unfilled market for easy-to-digest information about the overwhelming choices facing book buyers. The pair, both 35, say that friends and focus groups confirmed their hunch: People just didn't know what books to read, book groups were growing and individual recommendations provided hit-or-miss results.

Their solution: summarize and aggregate book reviews from sources such as The Atlantic and The New York Times. The editorial includes snippets from reviews and a one- to five-star rating system.

While most of the reviews come from other sources, Bookmarks has a budget for freelance writers who summarize the reviews and write the original content. It's not too highbrow, says Bill Jourdan, the newsstand buyer for the Borders Group. But, it has caught on with customers. We think of it as the core of our book review titles now, he says, adding that Bookmarks tends to outsell Pages, a competitor that includes reviews, profiles, genre fiction and book publishing trends. Bookmarks also sells through Barnes & Noble stores, Canada's Chapters chain and many independent bookstores.

The magazine, which launched ad-free, now boasts a rate base of 20,000 and is taking advertising from a handful of publishers and independent bookstores. The quoted rate is $1,300 for a full-page ad. A listing in a directory spread featuring books by self-published authors runs $175 for a slot that's about one-ninth of a page. Still, ads, including those for Bookmarks' products (such as gift subscriptions, T-shirts and tote bags), make up only four to five pages of a typical 72-page issue.

The unaudited magazine is flying below the radar of most ad buyers. So, for now, the owners have focused on boosting circulation. To make the $24.95 yearly subscription price more attractive, they upped the sticker price from $4.95 to $5.95, and ask readers in house ads to subscribe and spread the word. Nelson and Phillips, who serves as the editor, run Bookmarks out of their homes and fulfill back-issue requests from Phillips' garage. Nelson says they broke even last summer and have stayed in the black ever since.

GRASS-ROOTS GROUPS

Perhaps the best thing that has happened to the startup has been the demise of Book, the glossy bimonthly that Barnes & Nobles funded and discontinued last fall. Ever since, Nelson says, Bookmarks has seen a large spike in subscription inquiries and single-copy sales.

Now the founders are working on ways to leverage the reading-group phenomenon, but they remain elusive marketing targets. There are no comprehensive lists. Jacobsohn of the ABGRL acknowledges that her estimates are little more than professional guesstimates. "Because this is a grass-roots effort, there are no specifics and demographics available," she says. To reach more readers, Bookmarks owners are planning a direct-marketing campaign and Barnes & Noble end-cap displays. They recently signed a deal with Amazon to provide the online bookseller with critical summaries of the books in each issue's "New Books Guide."

But all that is just a start. To capitalize on customer loyalty, Bookmarks will branch out into higher-margin products such as greeting cards and nonfiction books. "Five years from now, if we're still just publishing this magazine", says Nelson, "I think we'll feel as if we've failed."