Research on Distribution

I decided to do some research on how my magazine would be distributed in real life, so when I write my CCR I have one less thing to worry about (my future self will thank me).

I want my magazine to be distributed through print (for many reasons I will be discussing) and to publish 9 issues per year.

I found this article, HuffPost: The Best Food Magazines: A HuffPost Deathmatch, which lists some of the best "under the radar" food magazines. Out of the 16 magazines it listed, most were published quarterly. Here is a pie chart I made on Meta-chart to display the data:

These magazines are not mainstream, but I still wanted to get an idea on how often all food magazines are published.

I also researched how frequent the food magazines that have been my inspiration publish (Saveur, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit). Here is what I discovered on Wikipedia:

Saver publishes 9 issues a year 

Food & Wine publishes monthly

Bon Appetit publishes 10 issues a year.

The more popular magazines publish more frequently. I decided for my magazine to publish 9 issues a year because it is a good amount between quarterly and monthly. Also, one of the aspects of Saveur's magazine is travel (which is one of the aspects of my magazine and the special issue I am doing) and they publish 9 issues a year). I think quarterly isn't frequent enough, so that is another reason I want to do 9 issues a year.

I mentioned earlier in my post that I want my magazine to be distributed through print. This is because of the FreeportPress article I found about print vs. digital.

They had some really great bar graphs on how frequent people read print vs. digital magazines. Here are the graphs that stood out to me:

1-2 magazines was answered more than none, which shows more people read magazines than not.

More people answered with none than 1-2, which shows a lot of them do not read digital magazines.

The amount of subscriptions is low, but higher than digital subscriptions. 

None was answered WAY more than 1-2 digital magazine subscriptions, which shows most read print.

More people read print magazines for 30 minutes than not reading them at all. I was surprised that people spend a good 30 minutes reading print magazines.

This shows again that digital will not be a good way to distribute my magazine.

This is who answered the survey:

There were slightly more females answering the survey, and the 3 highest ages were 36-65. This works out well because the target audience for my magazine is females ages 35-45.

My magazine will be subscription based like Saveur, Food & Wine, and Bon Appetit. I think this will be better since my magazine is intended for an older crowd, who aren't very tech savvy.

Also, according to the Forbes article on subscription businesses, 

"In the month of April 2017, subscription company websites had about 37 million visitors. Since 2014, that number has grown by over 800%."

This article refers to businesses such as Birchbox, but I think it is still relevant to magazines because it is discusses how subscription businesses in general are popular. 

My next blog post will be about exactly what I am taking pictures of since production begins next week. So my other posts this week is planning for production.

Citations:

Create a Pie Chart. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2018, from https://www.meta-chart.com/pie#/display

Orchant, R. (2013, May 14). The Best Food Magazines: A HuffPost Deathmatch (PHOTOS). Retrieved March 14, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/14/best-food-magazines-deathmatch_n_3268893.html?slideshow=true#gallery/225211/13

Print vs. Digital: How We Really Consume Our Magazines – 2017 edition. (2017, October 01). Retrieved March 14, 2018, from http://www.freeportpress.com/print-vs-digital-how-we-really-consume-our-magazines/

Kestenbaum, R. (2017, August 10). Subscription Businesses Are Exploding With Growth. Retrieved March 14, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardkestenbaum/2017/08/10/subscription-businesses-are-exploding-with-growth/#380362a26678

Bon Appétit. (2018, March 12). Retrieved March 14, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_App%C3%A9tit

Saveur. (2018, March 12). Retrieved March 14, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saveur

Food & Wine. (2018, March 13). Retrieved March 14, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_&_Wine