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More than a dream September 13, 2006

Posted by Niels in : Magazine , 3 comments

If I remember correctly, the idea for the magazine came up as Craig and I were driving around Seattle.  “Hey, that would be a cool magazine,” we said.

We looked into it a little more, talked about the types of articles we would have, made a list of people to contact.

I went back to New York, ordered some books off Amazon, and sent out a few emails.

And then everything hit the fan.

Everyone we’ve contacted has been ridiculously enthusiastic.  Craig and I made a list of our “dream team” advisory board, and so far even our longshots have been coming through.  Talking to random people on the street in New York, everyone has a cousin or a friend in publishing whom they want to put us in touch with.  An amazing graphics designer with magazine experience fell in our lap outside Barnes and Noble.  Every day this silly idea becomes more and more real.  This is actually going to happen.

Incredible.

Your thoughts?

Magazine startups are expensive August 23, 2006

Posted by Niels in : Magazine , 1 comment so far

As I do more research into the launch procedure for a startup magazine, it has become more and more apparent that raising the capital to do this right is going to be difficult, if not impossible.  We have a few aces in a few holes that we can pull out, but we’re crafting Launch Scenario, Plan B just in case.

Ideally, we would have somewhere between $500,000 and $5 million to launch our magazine.  That would allow us to do things right, with focus groups and direct mail tests, and thousands of subscribers across the nation.

More realistically, we will likely have no money from venture capitalists, who aren’t willing to wait the five years it takes for a magazine to become profitable.  Hence, Plan B.

Plan B involves a lot of hard work and a lot of risk.  We can’t afford to test on focus groups, so we’ll have to trust our gut instincts.  We can’t afford to hire a magazine designer, so I’ll be learning Quark.  We can’t afford to hire a circulation consultant, so we’ll have to learn the intricacies of direct mail marketing ourselves.  If all this flies, we can get by on a shoe string until the very last minute when we’ll need a few hundred thousand dollars for the direct mail subscription campaign.

It’s going to be exciting.

Your thoughts?

What’s the big idea? August 15, 2006

Posted by Niels in : Magazine , add a comment

The planning stage of the magazine continues.  Craig and I are having no problem coming up with ideas for the editorial content of the magazine.  That’s a really good sign.  We’re aiming to have two years (12 issues) worth of content fleshed out by Thursday.  If we’ve got that, the next step is putting a pilot issue together and formulating a business plan.  It’s incredible how fast this is happening.

Once started, it cannot be stopped…

Your thoughts?

Starting a magazine August 11, 2006

Posted by Niels in : Magazine , 1 comment so far

I’m diving in.  I bought How to Start a Magazine and have been reading it every chance I get.  It’s a great resource and lays out the process step by step.  The most encouraging fact so far is that while 90% of magazines fail, the author claims a 70% success rate for those magazines that take their time, plan in advance, do focus groups, direct mail marketing tests, and so forth.

It looks like my original plan of whipping up a magazine before the spring semester is not going to work out.  But I’m hopeful that we can get a pilot issue out by then.

Craig and I talked for a while today to come up with a 10-word catchphrase that describes what our magazine is all about.  We didn’t have any trouble, and got quite a few clever ones, which I find encouraging.  Next step is planning out two years worth of editorial content.  This will be tougher.  We’re giving it 24 hours.

Your thoughts?