Playing it smart: going global means finding readers, managing editorial, delivering the goods, and getting paid in currency you can use

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Nov 1, 1990 by Susan Hovey

Another sevice getting a second look by the postal authorities is maritime transportation. "The rates for surface mail are very attractive," says Leavey. "But we admit the performance is unsatisfactory." Use of the service has dropped off in recent years, in part because of fewer sailings by carriers with whom the USPS contracts, but mainly because "most companies can't live with transit times that amount to five, six weeks or sometimes more." One idea being examined is to allow mailers to drop ship at the bulk mail center in New Jersey, with the entry being timed to coincide with sailings.

Those publishers who use more than one printer may find their magazines leaving the country through a number of different services. If so, there is probably money to be saved through consolidation by one vendor. "We publish 23 different magazines, and all have a portion of international circulation," says Jerry Okabe, director of circulation for Miller Freeman Publications. The company uses four different printers, each with its own method of shipping copies out of the country. "In the past, we've gone with whatever has been most cost effective for that printer. But it's become apparent that there might be some savings gained by using one shipper for all of that. It would certainly make it more convenient to follow up on questions if we only had to go to one source."

While visiting a West German music festival last spring, Okabe was surprised to learn that as many as 150 subscribers to Guitar Player and Keyboard--both monthly publications--received their copies by surface mail. "My impression was that most people outside the United States expect to received their magazines later," he contends. "These are not news publications. The people I talked to didn't really mind if it was a month later than the cover date."

While that may be the case, PennWell's Dromgoole suggests a magazine can do a lot for its image by getting that first copy to a new subscriber as soon as possible--"even if you have to establish a special back copy procedure," he explains. "With some of our publications, we also send a 'warm-up' card, or order acknowledgement, telling them they soon will be receiving their first issue and a bill." PennWell has 13 titles with foreign circulation, including the weekly Oil & Gas Journal.

Getting paid

When it comes to payment, "forget about your own convenience," says Goodloe, who suggests listing a number of foreign equivalent next to the cost in American dollars. "Think about your customers' convenience. If you make it easy for them to pay, you will find your cash registers ringing with Japanese yen, French francs and so forth."

Herman Danz, managers of KLM's Publications Distribution Sales & Services says one of his clients saw a 14 percent increase in subscribers in 1988 from use of KLM's caging/cashiering service, compared to a 3 percent rise in those countries where subscribers had to send a U.S. money order.

A good way for U.S. publishers to view the situation is by putting themselves in the shoes of their subscribers. "Imagine how you, as an American, would react if you were trying to buy a French magazine, but had to do so with French francs drawn on a French bank," says John Luker, managing director of Nordic Subscription Consultants Limited (London). One of the major advantages of using a foreign subscription agent is that most collect payment in local currencies and then remit to the publisher in U.S. dollars. Luker estimates that roughly 80 percent of the international circulation for medical, scientific and technical journals is obtained through agents, since they provide large corporate libraries and government institutions with the ability to use one central purchasing center for all thier publications.