Build it and they will come

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, April 1, 1992 by Rachel Drucker

Five months after the birth of her son Eric, Debra A. Hoeft, a publishing neophyte, started a magazine for parents like herself.

Hoeft's son, now a year old, is one of 250,000 Americans born with Down Syndrome. The Holtsville, New York, mother immediately saw the need for information on coping with Down Syndrome that support groups and newsletter were just not providing. The idea for a nonprofit quarterly, says Hoeft, "was something that came to me easily."

Financed by a $3,000 loan that her husband-a New York City fire-fighter - took out, publisher Hoeft worked out of her home using a computer purchased with the aid of a credit card to put out the first issue of Down Syndrome Today in February.

She knew she needed publicity, so she contacted The Associated Press, which ran her start-up story in December. Within a month, she sold 600 subscriptions priced at $16 a year. Publicity generated by The Associated Press and other media vehicles - from local papers to CNN - brought forward financial contributions as well as donations of paper, advertising support, typesetting, mailing and connections for distribution. Professional writers, marketers and production staffers are also volunteering their time.

The premier issue, which features Chris Burke, the star of TV's "Life Goes On," on its cover, has a circulation of 5,000. An executive vice president from Barnes & Noble put Hoeft in contact with Eastern News Distributors. Eastern is distributing 2,000 copies to select Barnes & Noble stores as well as to newsstands nationwide. The remaining issues have been sent with press and media kits to doctors' offices and major corporations, among others. Cover price is $5; free subs are provide to parents who cannot afford to pay.

Standing columns are written by medical experts. Features cover all aspects of Down Syndrome.

The cost of a lack-and-white ad page is $2,940. According to Hoeft, the publicity has already attracted the attention of one major corporation, with Kodak expressing interest in buying space.