A friend of mine is thinking of starting a monthly mens magazine, something similar to Maxim or Ask Men. He has gotten together a couple of writers and a photographer. Where does he go from there? How / where does he get the first issue published? How much would it cost?
Starting a Magazine
- Thread starter El_Mariachi
- Start date
It will cost $millions$ to get started.
And he will for sure need a good print media advertising sales rep or two.
Since I already have a job... not much chance of finding any.
And he will for sure need a good print media advertising sales rep or two.
Since I already have a job... not much chance of finding any.
He presumably needs to hustle up advertisers. Lots and lots of them (those mags are not cheap to produce for the paper costs alone). In order to do this, he'll have to convince them that his mag will get widespread distribution. He will thus also have to convince the relevant actors to carry his fledgling mag.
Is there any way that he could funding or subsidizing under various Can-con programs, or have those all been axed by now ? He ought to look into it if he hasn't thought of it already.
Is there any way that he could funding or subsidizing under various Can-con programs, or have those all been axed by now ? He ought to look into it if he hasn't thought of it already.
You might have something there.
He could say the theme of his mag is to keep men in Canada.
Chagre the government about $2.2million$ for $10grand worth of advertising. Then claim about another $500,000. in expenses for a few rounds of golf and a bottle of wine that anybody could get for $5,000. Then lose all the money and double invoice them. Then say..."I don't remember" 24 times over and over if there are any questions.
And retire.
Good plan.
Why did I not think of this before?
He could say the theme of his mag is to keep men in Canada.
Chagre the government about $2.2million$ for $10grand worth of advertising. Then claim about another $500,000. in expenses for a few rounds of golf and a bottle of wine that anybody could get for $5,000. Then lose all the money and double invoice them. Then say..."I don't remember" 24 times over and over if there are any questions.
And retire.
Good plan.
Why did I not think of this before?
Set up a corporation
get investors
get advertisers - maybe offer free advertising for first issue
later
get a subscription base
advertise in newspapers
set up first issue launch party at a swank bar (the spoke club which is a private club/bar for the who's who of the entertainment/writers/actors/directors would help with getting the magazine out there or The Drake would be alright too)
what kind of content is important to cost
if it is articles and maxim like content - we are talking about millions of dollars for start up(assuming interviews with celebs-high gloss cover/ not getting advertisers right away-paying staff)
or
you could do gorilla style-don't pay staff/ take pics withou celeb consent like paparazzi type pics
many ways to cut cost
but mainly you need advertisers and subscribers
get investors
get advertisers - maybe offer free advertising for first issue
later
get a subscription base
advertise in newspapers
set up first issue launch party at a swank bar (the spoke club which is a private club/bar for the who's who of the entertainment/writers/actors/directors would help with getting the magazine out there or The Drake would be alright too)
what kind of content is important to cost
if it is articles and maxim like content - we are talking about millions of dollars for start up(assuming interviews with celebs-high gloss cover/ not getting advertisers right away-paying staff)
or
you could do gorilla style-don't pay staff/ take pics withou celeb consent like paparazzi type pics
many ways to cut cost
but mainly you need advertisers and subscribers
Normally I would encourage entrepreneurs, but when they want to either open a restaurant or start a magazine I would discourage them. The Canadian publications market is a wasteland of failed magazines. Why would someone buy a watered down version of Maxim when they could buy the real thing? Is Canadian men's culture that different from American? I doubt it. Not to mention it won't be marketable anywhere but in Canada, where there's already a smaller market. Making the magazine is the "easy" part; getting it distributed will be a nightmare. Not to mention they don't know what they're doing yet they've already started the business. Can you say "business plan"?
To be truly successful in business, you've got to be a leader/innovator not a follower. If they were putting the magazine out 10 years ago before Maxim was around, then it would be a great idea. But now it's just hopping on the gravy train and hoping to strike it rich, which won't happen.
A friend of mine has the same problem. He's always coming up with get-rich-quick schemes and trying to get me to come in on it with him. But he never has a truly original idea. He's always copying what someone else has done. That's why my friend is still poor. And why I won't go in on such a scheme with him.
To be truly successful in business, you've got to be a leader/innovator not a follower. If they were putting the magazine out 10 years ago before Maxim was around, then it would be a great idea. But now it's just hopping on the gravy train and hoping to strike it rich, which won't happen.
A friend of mine has the same problem. He's always coming up with get-rich-quick schemes and trying to get me to come in on it with him. But he never has a truly original idea. He's always copying what someone else has done. That's why my friend is still poor. And why I won't go in on such a scheme with him.
Okay I lied. It's not even close to being something like Maxim. It's more of a newsletter, but in magazine form. It will be targeted towards young adults. We have young writers, 25 and under voicing their opinions about sports, fashion, politics, club reviews, movie reviews etc. It will be a Toronto based magazine only. We are thinking of printing about 5,000 copies and distribute it freely across the GTA for the first month. We still have to approach advertisers, but finding an investor may be difficult.
El_Mariachi said:
well in that case, forget about incorporating for now
don't bother with the magazine launch party
if one of the writers is a smokin hot chick, get her to become 'friendly' with a dude at kinkos for the free copies
select format of magazine/write articles/get photos
then follow where eye and now magazine place their mags, then place your newsletter beside them
go to every bar in the annex, college area, high park area, queen street area and ask if you could leave a stack of your newsletter there so patrons at the bar could pick it up and glance/read/use as toilet paper or catcher sock
cheapest way
and post nude pics of your hot female writers on terb in exchange for this advice
Speaking from experience, find a good distributor... the main one in Canada has a stronghold or monopoly if you want to call it that. They own all the smaller guys. They killed my mag. They may be good to you.. I suppose you need to grease them to make sure your publication gets to its intended audience. Good luck!
