PUBLISHING YOUR OWN MAGAZINE

HOW TO GET STARTED

PAGE TEN

FINANCING

As you have already learned, I was fortunate to be able to publish the first three issues of my magazine free of charge in return for advertising and sponsorship through my employers. This went a long way to getting my magazine firmly established so you need to consider the various options for getting your community magazine into print for the lowest possible cost.

SPONSORSHIP

Perhaps you work in an environment where you have access to a suitable printer or photocopying machine. If you do then contact your employers and ask about the possibility of using their equipment to reproduce copies of your magazine in return for some form of advertising or sponsorship deal.

You can incorporate their company or business logo on the front cover under the heading ‘Sponsored By’ which is always a nice touch or simply allow them space within the magazine to promote their business activities.

Maybe you know someone personally who operates their own business and would be willing to offer some kind of financial support or facilities to offset the costs of production in return for promotion of their business activities. Outside sponsorship is certainly possible once your magazine becomes firmly established but until it does many companies may well view your intentions with more than a little caution.

ADVERTISING

Accepting local business advertisements is another way to generate revenue but again, until you become firmly established and have a respectable circulation it will be difficult to entice local businesses to support your efforts no matter how competitive your rates are.

Don’t be discouraged, explore all the avenues at your disposal and do take some time to contact local businesses regardless. Once you begin obtaining some support it often proves to be the incentive for others to follow suit.

In time you will find that you no longer have to go out canvassing for additional advertising because the success of your magazine and the interest it generates within your community will bring that business to you, especially from the more local sources.

COMMUNITY FUNDING

It is worth exploring the possibility of local community funding as most local councils usually have the facilities to provide grants to help establish activities within the community that would prove beneficial to its members.

I am not aware of the procedures outside of my own District but I would imagine that other areas of the country have similar procedures in place for the distribution of community funding.

You may find that applications will only be accepted from community ‘groups’ and that an individual application will not be considered but in my own experience, don’t let that deter you from trying.

You will find it is to your advantage to first become closely associated with at least one of your local councillors and to gain his or her support for the publication of your community magazine. Explain all the advantages that a community magazine would offer members of your community and that it could also be used to convey the latest news from within the community. Offer them the opportunity to compile a monthly column that you could publish on a regular basis and explain how you feel that would benefit everyone resident in the town by keeping them informed of local developments.

If you have more than one local Councillor then suggest they take it in turns to compile a monthly column if the demands of doing so on a regular basis are felt to be too great for one person. Most councillor’s have a hectic schedule and frequent meetings to attend so try to make it as easy as possible.

Once you have some support from members of your local council then you can enquire about community funding. The councillor’s themselves normally have the final word regarding the distribution of funds set aside for community funding so any obstacles apparent at the beginning may not be quite such big hurdles as previously thought!

A community magazine, if produced correctly, will prove of great benefit to your local town, helping to promote it on a wide scale, so do try to explain all the advantages it has to offer.

REVENUE FROM SALES

I have no doubt that you will be wondering if a community magazine is a saleable commodity and in my experience I would have to say the answer is a resounding ‘yes!’

It may take you two or three issues to fully appreciate the reaction of your readers but you will soon learn that a mixture of articles and photographs along the lines previously suggested on this website will ensure a ready and eager market for your magazine or other publication.

Once you have decided on your preferred method of getting your magazines printed, you will then have to consider the price at which you can sell your magazines for a profit taking into account any sources of revenue already obtained and with a clear vision of the future.

Certainly you should ask a minimum of £2.00 per copy for a magazine comprising between 16 and 24 pages, even if you choose to print your magazine from home on plain A4 paper. This will allow you a handsome level of profit if you can attain sales around the 1,000 copies mark to begin with. Once you have a regular clientele to sustain that number every month you can then consider opting for commercial printing at the earliest opportunity in the knowledge that you have a set a price that will cover the additional expense without having to increase the cost of your magazine.

The biggest mistake I made was not setting a realistic price level from the outset. I was concerned that few people would be interested in a community magazine and felt a low price was required to generate the required interest, but this proved to be false economy. My doubts were completely unfounded and the magazines were like a breath of fresh air to people within the community.

People are much more susceptible to price increases, even if only by a few pence, so set a price with a view to commercial printing and aim to get it right before you begin rather than having your readers digging deeper and deeper into their pockets each month.

Hopefully you will supplement sales of your magazines with additional revenue from regular advertisements and it will be your continued objective to increase both the number of advertisements and the circulation of your magazines over the next few months.

BUSINESS BANK ACCOUNT

At an early stage you should enquire about opening a bank account for the exclusive use of your magazine publishing business. All transactions associated with your magazine should be kept separate from your personal daily expenditure and adequate records kept for all your business transactions.

I discovered that it was not possible to open a personal bank account at LloydsTSB for the exclusive use of what at that time was in all effects a hobby and that I had to register for business banking and open a business bank account. The drawback with a business bank account is that you pay bank charges on all your transactions, even when depositing cash into your account. Many banks, including LloydsTSB, allow you a free period of banking after which you get an extended period of discounted charges offering you the chance to become established before bank charges begin eating into your profits.

Make enquiries at several of the leading High Street banks and ask about any free banking incentives to offset these costs until you become established.

In spite of the amount of work involved with publishing a magazine keeping a detailed record of your accounts and transactions is a relatively easy task.

If you choose to have your magazine commercially printed then your only major out-goings will be the bill from your printers and perhaps postage for any copies mailed out on subscription or ordered as back issues. Other than that you will need to enquire about assessing the cost of using equipment in and around your home such as computer equipment, electricity, telephones, heating and any costs involved through the use of your own transport in the course of your business.

It is beyond the scope of this report to offer details of the methods of keeping correct business accounts and so you are advised to seek further assistance and information from an accountant or other professional body.

At the time of writing it is a requirement to inform the Inland Revenue of your activities and register as self-employed, even if you operate in only a small way, which will probably be the case in the beginning. Even if you are already in full-time employment and paying normal Class 1 National Insurance contributions, if your annual profits are expected to be in excess of £4,000 then there is the possibility that you may also have to pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions, which currently amount to a little over £2.00 per week.

The Inland Revenue web site provides details about registering as self-employed and offers additional information regarding self-employment and your obligations. From there you will also be able to get the latest information regarding current rates of National Insurance contributions and thresholds.

Michael Norfolk.

To be continued....