Why do start-ups fail? 11 reasons why new magazines don't succeed

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Annual, 1992 by Jennifer Howland

11 reason why new magazines don't succeed

The primary reasons why new magazines fail can be grouped under three basic headings, according to the experts consulted for this article: the wrong editorial concept, poor management, and lack of funding. There is some overlap among these areas. A really savvy publishing team would presumably know enough to raise successfully. Also, a magazine usually fails for a combination of reasons; the autopsy shows a linkage of factors. As one consultant put it, "We all die when the heart stops beating, but different diseases lead up that point."

Undercapitalization is frequently mentioned as the primary reason for new magazine failure, but it can be an excuse that hides a multitude of other sins, these consultants add. "The money issue is often a red herring," says Rick Le Pere, of Richard L. Le Pere Inc., magazine consultants. "People will say that the reason their magazine venture failed was undercapitalization, but nine times out of 10, that's just a convenient excuse. The main reason magazines fail is ill-conceived editorial. All other reasons are a distant second."

1. The wrong editorial concept

Choosing the wrong field, or the wrong editorial concept to reach a field, is the main reason magazines fail, says James Kobak, of James B. Kobak Inc., magazine consultants. "Entrepreneurs" biggest problem is thinking they've got a great idea for a magazine the world needs. The question isn't whether the world needs it, but whether it wants it," he says.

"The biggest reason magazines succeed or fail is the field they're in," Kobak asserts. Some magazine concepts are doomed to failure because there isn't enough of a market to make them viable, he says. "My favorites are three house plant magazines," which were published several years ago, he relates. "There was Houseplants and Porch Gardens, Plants Alive and Popular Gardening Indoors. Each got 300,000 in circulation. None survived. There are only two things you do with plants, water them and talk to them. What else is there to say?"

A corollary of picking the wrong field is thinking that a field exists where none does, Kobak continues. One such failed venture was On The Sound, a magazine for people who live on Long Island Sound. "People in Rhode Island, Cape Cod, Long Island and City Island, and Darien have nothing in common. The entrepreneurs in that case misread the fact that there was a field," he states.

Entrepreneurs often believe a market exists when it is actually illusory, agrees John Klingel, of John D. Klingel & Associates, Inc., publishing consultants. "That's what happened with all the technology magazines," such as Technology, High Technology and Technology Illustrated, he says.

One aspect of these failures was offering a horizontal magazine where there were actually a number of vertical interests, Klingel believes. "Engineers are interested in articles about their own specific fields - electrical, mechanical, plastics - not general ones," he claims. "The market is highly fragmented." The same is true of magazines about sports, he adds. People want to read about specific sports, not about sports in general.

The reason so many regional magazines have failed, Klingel continues, is that they tried to take a narrow idea - one that would have been difficult to sustain on a national level - down to the regional level. "The markets just aren't big enough to make the economics work," he says. Very few "thought books," like The New Yorker, are successful on a national level, he says. A regional thought book would have an even tougher time.

A magazine can be successful only if the editorial idea translates into readership, echoes Peter Craig, president of the Magazine Acquisition Network, financial consultants to magazine publishers. "Sure, there are hundred million households with washing machines, but no one wants to read about them," he says.

Fuzzy editorial is often another problem with start-ups. This happened with Rodale's magazine Spring, Kobak says. "We got all the editors of that publication together in a room and asked them to define the magazine they were trying to put out. We got eight different answers - one from each editor. Editors need to crystallize their concept of the magazine."

"Even if the field has potential, if the execution doesn't match the readers' perception of what they want, it won't succeed," adds Ken Noble, first vice president and media analyst at Paine Webber. "Failing to offer the editorial content your readers really want is the major factor in the demise of start-ups," he says. Readership research is crucial to the success of new magazines; it's just as or more important than research on who the advertisers will be, he says.

There's no hiding from the consequences of a bad conception for a magazine, Klingel says. It shows immediately in pay-up. "If you've got a bad product, you see that in the pay-up rate immediately."

The bottom line is that all the money in the world won't make a bad idea profitable, Craig concludes.